Credit cards here, credit cards there…

Credit cards everywhere. In the last 72 hours, I’ve been given the hard sell to open up a new credit card multiple times, and I’m not even including the offers that flood my mailbox on a daily basis.

With the state of the economy and the bulk of the media blaming it on Americans’ reliance on credit, one would think credit card companies would lay low. One would be wrong.

The people who approached me to open a new credit card had no idea I have excellent credit. Okay, maybe one of them (WaMu) has a good inkling of my credit worthiness, but still it seems somewhat amazing to me that credit card companies continue to push us to spend, spend, spend. Here’s the rundown:

Over the weekend I went to the mall to buy the last of my Christmas presents. At almost every store they asked if I would like to open up a [store name] credit card to save 10-15%. I already had a card at one of the stores (though I rarely use it unless there’s a promotion going on) and I declined at the rest without even thinking about it.

Then, at the airport on my return trip to Texas, I was walking through the terminal when a guy accosted me to see if I’d be interested in a US Airways credit card. As I rushed by, I politely told him I have all the credit cards I need but he persisted, yelling after me, “But this one will help you save money!” First of all, it wouldn’t because I use US Airways about 1% of the time I fly and secondly he obviously didn’t realize the irony of saying I’d save money by spending money that I don’t really have. Or at least that he didn’t know I had.

To make matters worse, I walked back by him about 15 minutes later to get to my gate and he gave me the same pitch, obviously not recognizing me or realizing he’d already tried and failed to sell me a new credit card. Better work on your sales skills, buddy…

Then yesterday I received a phone call (at work no less!) from WaMu telling me they were doing a “credit card blitz” and that I was eligible for a credit card charging 0% interest for 6-12 months, including free access to my credit report. While these might be attractive features to someone without a primary credit card, I am perfectly happy with my Chase Rewards Visa card.  Another irony: technically if I was to take WaMu up on their offer, they’d be stealing my dollars from Chase, their new parent company.

There’s been a glut of stories in the last few weeks about credit card companies canceling unused accounts, lowering spending limits and turning down new applications to reduce their risk. In practice that sounds great, but in reality the companies seem to be pushing just as hard, if not harder, to bring in new cardholders.

If that’s the case, I just hope people – especially those who can’t afford more credit – are able to resist the temptation.

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