Credit-card companies raising the bar

WASHINGTON — Fewer consumers are now getting courted for credit cards.

According to Mintel Comperemedia, a marketing-research firm based in Chicago, 1.34 billion credit-card direct-mail offers were sent out in the third quarter, down 13 percent from the previous quarter and 28 percent from a year earlier.

A Federal Reserve survey of lenders, released last week and conducted last month, found that 50 percent had raised their minimum required credit scores over the past three months.

That prompts the question: What makes a customer desirable these days?

"This is a moving target because the most creditworthy a year ago was someone with a 700 FICO score. Now it's more like 730," said Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com.

Stephanie Jacobson, first vice president of public affairs for Chase Card Services, said the company has increased its credit-score cutoffs for direct-mail marketing.

"As leading indicators began to change in early 2007, we adjusted our risk-management policies and procedures to better manage potential losses," she said.