The Secret Is Out (What the credit card companies don’t want you to know)

Well friends, here is something the credit card companies don’t tell you. Do you know that each time you apply for a credit card, it has a negative impact on your credit rating? It does my friends. And that’s regardless of whether you actually get approved for the card or not. Let me share with you the story of how I became enlightened to this fact:
My girlfriend has the unfortunate circumstance of having less than perfect credit. Without going into too much personal details, she cosigned a loan for her ex-husband who in turn defaulted on the loan, which of course damaged her credit as well. Since this, she has applied on occasion for a credit card, only to be denied. Okay, fair enough -actually it’s not fair at all because it wasn’t her fault- but I’m not here to argue whether the credit card companies could have approved her for a credit card with a small line of credit to get her back on the road to good credit or not. I’m here to share with all of you what lead to my confrontation with the credit card company and their disclosure to me that applying for too many credit cards hurts your credit rating.
After pretty much giving up on credit card applications, my girlfriend received in the mail one day an offer for a "pre-approved" credit card from one of the major credit card companies. Well, you can imagine her happy surprise at this "generous" offer by Chase. She filled out the application and sent it back in the postage paid envelope. A few weeks later, she received the discouraging response in the mail that she was in fact not approved for a credit card due to her less than perfect credit. Well, needless to say, her and I were both quite angry and offended that Chase would send a pre-approval offer if in fact they could not follow through. I sent a rather uncomplimentary letter back to them and voiced my deep dissatisfaction with them. The letter I received in response stated basically that they send these mass mailers out to potential customers, but it is only after the person responds to the application that they investigate their credit history and approve or deny based on their findings. My question, which was never satisfactorily answered is this: Why do they state "pre-approved" on the offer if they can’t guarantee a credit card.
Well anyway, several weeks went by and one day what should appear in our mailbox but another offer for a "pre-approved’ credit card from Chase. Now I was completely indignant. I called the toll free number and asked to speak to the highest ranking person I could possibly speak to. I was transferred to a customer service manager. I told him that it was an insult added to injury that the credit card company would send my girlfriend a second offer only weeks after rejecting her application. I mean, didn’t the right hand know what the left hand was doing at the credit card company? He gave me the same explanation that I received in the above mentioned letter. These are mass mailings that go out to thousands of people. I asked why they could not "flag"in their system the people who had previously been denied credit cards to ensure they are not sent these mailers again. Well, that is just not the way it’s done, that would result in the loss of too many potential customers (read cash cows) for the credit card companies. Hello, who’s credit is going to be restored to it’s pristine condition in just a short time anyway? I also took issue with the gentleman that my girlfriend had never given her permission to be put on their mailing list or received compensation from the entity who sold the list to the credit card company. She’s off that mailing list now, folks!
Now to get to the whole issue at hand, and a word to the wise is sufficient, my friends. This kind gentleman at Chase informed me that every time you apply for a credit card, it has a negative impact on your credit, regardless of approval or denial! When I explained to him that I had never heard of that before, he said it is the public’s responsibility to educate themselves about how credit works. Excuse me, but firstly: who has the time? Secondly: how would anyone even know to ask a question like that or research it on the web? You have to know a little something about a topic to even know the right questions to ask. I appealed to him that I felt the credit card companies should feel a sense of responsibility to inform the public about this fact. His response again was that we needed to educate ourselves on these matters and that the credit card companies are in business to make money. Well friends, they are indeed making money, in part due to our ignorance. You see, they have a vested interest in keeping us ignorant because the potential loss once we become better educated about these matters is detrimental to their bottom line.
How many times have you sent a credit card application in only because you received it in the mail and even though you already have one or more credit cards? Most people do just that, after all, it’s a postage paid envelope so it doesn’t cost me anything right? Well, now we know the answer is a big WRONG! It does cost us something, our credit rating.
Friends, if the credit card companies are not going to step up to the plate and take the moral high ground, I will. That is why I am circulating this email and posting it on several blog sites and sending it to news papers to be published in their "letters to the editor" section. Next time you get a "pre-approved" mailer from the credit card companies, simply rip up the application and send it back to them in their own postage paid envelope along with a little note that you wish to be removed from their mailing list or else compensated by whoever sold your name and demographic information to them. While your at it, see if you can stuff a few more things in the envelope to make the return postage higher. Our friends at the credit card companies can afford it.