Credit cards are getting scary

[StrangeRanger]

So, I decided to actually open/read one of the bazillion credit card offers that clutter my mail box every day. I liked the fixed for life balance transfer offer so decided I'd hope online and do it.

I filled out the info etc., hit submit and I swear in less than 15 seconds I got my "You're approved!!" notice and my balance transfer will take place in the next 24 hrs.

I have decent credit and all, but dayum! Should it really be that easy? And folks wonder why there's such a huge personal debt problem in this country.
j

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: StrangeRanger
So, I decided to actually open/read one of the bazillion credit card offers that clutter my mail box every day. I liked the fixed for life balance transfer offer so decided I'd hope online and do it.

I filled out the info etc., hit submit and I swear in less than 15 seconds I got my "You're approved!!" notice and my balance transfer will take place in the next 24 hrs.

I have decent credit and all, but dayum! Should it really be that easy? And folks wonder why there's such a huge personal debt problem in this country.
j

Welcome to the internet.

 

[Queasy]

It's that easy because the credit bureaus made all the credit data they store about you accessible via the internet and worked with the credit card companies to develop decisioning engines to take the human factor out of the decision.

Your credit amount is based off of your credit score, income level, etc. If you had bad credit, bad income, etc... you would not have gotten a credit card.

 

[DT4K]

The hard part was already done when Fair Isaac figured out the formula they would use to rate your level of credit risk, the 3 big credit bureaus setup a way for all your creditors to report your info, and the credit card companies decided that the way the bureaus and FICO did it worked well enough. So there's no reason for them to manually look over your application and your credit report. They just check your score and if it's over their threshold, they approve you. So there's really no reason for it to take longer than 15 seconds.

 

[compuwiz1]

Car loans are getting scary too. I got a $69000 approval for a customer within 20 seconds yesterday. :shocked:

 

[BurnItDwn]

Why should getting credit be hard or time consuming?

 

[Boztech]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Why should getting credit be hard or time consuming?

Why don't you ask Countrywide, when they've got free time away from laying off 50% of their employees.