CardTrak.com - Most Trusted Source of Credit Cards Since 1986

By Julia Spencer, CardTrak.com

Response rates to direct mail credit card offers slipped to a new low last year as the volume of solicitations climbed to a new high. For 2005, Americans received 6.06 billion credit offers in the mail as the response rate hit 0.3%. The percentage of U.S. households receiving an offer each month increased above the 71% reported for 2004. According to Synovate's "Mail Monitor," household penetration peaked at 79% in 2001 when issuers extended their offerings to less credit-worthy or sub-prime households. The research firm says the high level of clutter has caused response rates to drop to the all-time low from 0.4% in 2004.