Consumers Toss ‘Platinum’ Credit Card Offers

American consumers, bombarded by a record 3 billion credit card offers last year, tossed more of them than ever in the garbage.

Consumers responded to about 1.3 percent of credit card mail that filled their mailboxes last year, a 10-year low, said BAIGlobal, a Tarrytown, N.Y., market research firm. Last year, they responded to 1.4 percent of the offers.

“Apparently consumers are tapped out by the clutter of offers,” said Lisa Itzkowitz, marketing director at BAI.

That’s bad news for credit card issuers, which hoped to lure customers with “new” platinum cards.

About 40 percent of new offers last year were platinum cards, up from 6 percent in 1996. Less prestigious gold cards accounted for 27 percent of offers, down from 44 percent.