A pre approved credit card offer is not a firm offer but a conditional offer, provided your credit report fulfils the requirements of the credit card issuer. Such offers are usually marketing driven offers made to entice you to submit the credit card application which contains details about your financial data.
Credit card issuers procure your contact details and preliminary credit information from consumer credit bureaus like Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. Based on this information, they make you a conditional offer of issuing a credit card if you complete and send the application form. Then they run another credit check with your updated information and compare it with what they received from the credit bureaus.
If your current credit situation is as per the bank’s terms, you will be issued the card. But if your credit situation has degraded significantly, the credit card company will offer you a different card with a higher APR and lower credit limit which is not exactly the same as that which was promised in the pre approved offer.
In the case of having a poor credit rating and you are unable to get a credit card; a pre-approved credit card offer can be a ray of hope. If the bank issues you the card, you will be levied a high interest rate for late payments. However, you can use the opportunity to improve your credit score by paying all outstanding amounts every month.
Pre-approved credit card offer letters usually have the following wordings -
“Dear Customer, as a valued member, you are invited to apply for the No Annual Fee Platinum Visa Card. Specially designed to meet your financial needs like savings, security and reliability, this unique card offers you superior purchasing power, saving features, 24/7 customer service and upgraded fraud detection. Some of the great benefits of this card are – introductory 0% APR for balance transfers and cash advances till Dec 2009, Gasoline rebates of 5%, Travelers checks and much more. Request your card today by sending us the completing the application form. Or call us on our phone number for an instant decision.”
Many pre-approved credit card issuers provide an invitation number in the invitation letter which you can use to fill up the online application form.