Kind of ironic

[Alelou]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/busin ... ef=slogin#

Here's an interesting article from today's Times about how banks actually target customers who are struggling with credit issues.

[Aquarius]

That was an enlightening (and somewhat chilling) article. I mean, if you actually read those offers, you KNOW you're getting profiled somehow and it's no secret that our personal data is being bought and sold like crazy...but that last mailing campaign they mentioned, where they took a satellite picture of your neighborhood and highlighted your house??!! Some of that behavior would probably fall under some states' stalking laws if it was committed by a private individual instead of a business!!

Oh, no, corporations don't control everything...

[Alelou]

Well, actually, it's a bit heartening that the response on those satellite letters was so low they immediately realized that was creeping people out.

Believe me, those offers you get are tested. (If the bank has any smarts with its own marketing budget, anyway -- not all of them do.) Direct mail is very expensive. Only the packages that work get rolled out.

What I don't understand is what kind of long term profitability they expect from people who are already in trouble. Do they expect they'll be able to milk them enough in interest charges to make up for the great likelihood of default? Is this because of the change in bankruptcy laws? Or is it just the incredible short sightedness of American business, where the profits this quarter trump any long-term thinking about what happens a few years down the road -- when I guess the current executives figure they'll be able to take their golden parachutes and head for the hills?

[blacknblue]

Well, actually, it's a bit heartening that the response on those satellite letters was so low they immediately realized that was creeping people out.

Believe me, those offers you get are tested. (If the bank has any smarts with its own marketing budget, anyway -- not all of them do.) Direct mail is very expensive. Only the packages that work get rolled out.

What I don't understand is what kind of long term profitability they expect from people who are already in trouble. Do they expect they'll be able to milk them enough in interest charges to make up for the great likelihood of default? Is this because of the change in bankruptcy laws? Or is it just the incredible short sightedness of American business, where the profits this quarter trump any long-term thinking about what happens a few years down the road -- when I guess the current executives figure they'll be able to take their golden parachutes and head for the hills?

Yes.