Giving credit where it's not due

Published in the Home News Tribune 8/07/00 By CHERYL SARFATY STAFF WRITER Attention Central New Jersey kids.

There are probably enough of you with preapproved credit-card applications to make up an entire Little League team -- and maybe even sponsor it.

Several children in Middlesex and Union counties have received credit-card offers in recent weeks. Just what is going on with banks and credit-card companies? Are they really poised to dish out megabucks of credit to children?

"Obviously, it's not our policy to solicit minors, so there was an error made on our part," said Brian Goerke, vice president of communications at PNC Bank.

As reported in the Home New Tribune last week, Brittany Frederick, 10, of Avenel, received an application for a preapproved PNC Bank Platinum Plus Visa card with a credit limit of up to $100,000.

Christopher Balberchak, 5, of Sayreville, received the same offer, according to his mom, Tracy.

"There's also an offer for a free $50 savings bond," she said.

Balberchak speculated that young Christopher might have made the bank's marketing list because the family holds a PNC bank account in his name.

Goerke said PNC is working on the problem.

"We're in the midst of identifying the exact nature and extent of that issue at this point," he said. "We have spoken with customers who have made us aware of this issue and apologized to them."

Visa U.S.A. does not directly solicit people for preapproved credit cards, according to Elizabeth Tung, account executive at Ketchum Public Relations in San Francisco, the firm representing Visa.

"It's the issuing banks that (send those offers out), so Visa actually has no mailing list," Tung said. "You'd have to go to each individual bank and ask them where they get those lists."

Discover issued a statement on the heels of the Andrea "Tiny" Kaminski story also reported in the Home News Tribune. Tiny is the 9-year-old Linden girl who was targeted for a Discover Platinum card.

"We buy our lists, and our lists are cleansed, meaning those lists go through a process to weed out inappropriate names, such as people under 18," said Beth Metzler, director of public relations at Discover's home office in Riverwoods, Ill. "We do make every effort to make sure that these kinds of things don't happen. Unfortunately, sometimes it does happen."

Patty Mannino of Linden said that her 2-year-old daughter Caitlyn had received a preapproved American Express Platinum card application, which the family tore up and discarded.

"It's ridiculous. The kid's only two how can she charge anything?" Mannino said. ""I don't even have an American Express card. It's nice to know my children have great credit."

Mannino said that her 6-year-old son, who could be on a mailing list or two because of memberships in a book club and a Lego club, has not received any credit-card offers to date.

But someone else's son has.

"My son's entire senior class was solicited for a credit card a few years ago," said Robert McKinley, president and chief executive officer of CardWeb.com, a Frederick, Maryland-based company that provides consumers with an online comprehensive research outlet of credit issuers. "We came to find out that the school's photographer sold a list of the home addresses of each student."

One thing the experts agree on is that credit-card issuers are getting names from all kinds of lists.

"For the most part, these credit-card companies buy lists from direct marketers," said Genene Morris, director of communications for the state Department of Consumer Affairs. "Every time a consumer takes out a loan, that person's name gets put on a list that eventually gets sold to credit-card companies or any other company that's looking for customers."

Colin Crowley, one of three partners who founded creditcardmenu.com in 1996, said he hopes that his Web site will help consumers make informed choices about which credit cards to apply for.

"Our site allows consumers to come in and compare credit cards, the rates, annual fees and special offers," Crowley said, adding that his company also assists people in applying for credit online.

In five years, one out of every six credit cards issued will be obtained online, according to Forrester Research, Crowley said.

Perhaps this method of applying for credit will weed out minors, as well as prevent any potential criminal activity.

Judith Linde of Woodbridge said that both of her children, Matthew, 3, and Amanda, 14, received the preapproved PNC Bank credit-card offers with a maximum $100,000 credit limit.

http://www.thnt.com/news/hnt/story/0,2109,294167,00.html

-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), August 08, 2000