It really depends on a lot of other factors besides the time of the year. Interest rates, default rates, and a variety of other economic factors are at play when a CC company is deciding on its approvals.

I think it would make sense for the CC companies to approve more around the holidays. People spend more money because it's Christmas and that's how these companies make money.....by us spending it through their cards.

I'm not sure it's any easier around the holidays but they do seem to push them. I've noticed my limit gets raised near Christmas, which I think they do on purpose in hopes you'll spend more money.

patse wrote:
Patse, I've noticed that a lot of banks in my area are giving out free gifts for opening accounts. One I passed the other day had literally resorted to the old fashioned free toaster routine!

Banks have so many services to offer these days and I bet signing people up for all the extras, like credit cards, hinges on getting them in the door for a checking account.

Egghead wrote:
You know I never really thought about quotas for these places. My sister-in-law works at a bank and they are pushing them to get people to sign up for their credit card. I guess they get perks if they get a certain number of people to sign up.

Egghead wrote:
The quota philosophy makes sense to me. As we're coming into holiday season now, I've noticed the salespeople are getting much pushier about their store cards. In fact, I almost walked out of JC Penney last week without completing my purchase because the saleswoman wouldn't let up and she was making me mad.

I am pretty sure that credit card companies, like most places these days, have targets to reach in terms of how many new people they get signed up. It makes perfect sense that around major holidays that may people spend too much on would be the perfect time to tempt those who are considering credit. I would be interested to know if the parameters are relaxed at all though, as my instinct is that they wouldn't be.

I'm not sure about getting approval easier on holidays because the requirements and conditions are usually set and can't be changed easily. If they do make exceptions, it's usually in the form of special edition offers, which may change once the promotional period is over. That's how they make the profits, I guess.

Definitely, but ultimately its a business for them. Based on their analysis its still profitable to lend to those people and make get higher losses, but higher returns as well.

From a lender's standpoint, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. People get desperate around the holidays if they don't have the cash to buy what and/or as much as they would like to. Even if the same standards to get approved still apply, giving people higher credit limits than they would normally get seems like it would be asking for trouble.

Roughdraft wrote:
Really? I did not know this. I get credit card offers all the time. I didn't notice that I get more offers around the holidays. I don't need a new one right now but it's an interesting concept.

Thank u so much, this info was really helpful!!!! Now I have to research this backdoor recon #.

Typically, banks and especially store cards market their products more around the holidays. While they're expecting to sign up more members, it will still depend you what's on your reports. Most applications, especially online applications are reviewed electronically so they might be set to accept potential members based on modified parameters, but they still want to look at your utilization, etc. At anytime if you are denied you can call customer service, or a backdoor recon number and ask them to review your application. Sometimes they might ask you a few questions and you get approved, but try to have an idea of what kind of scores you need before applying, you will have a better chance knowing what to expect when you apply. If you can find old posts about people applying around the holidays, (typically between Thanksgiving and Christmas) members are surprised by the higher than average limits they receive. Good luck!

Is it easier to get approved around the holidays/xmas? Any thoughts:embarrassed: