In my short time as a member of FT, I've observed that the more lucrative sign up bonuses are all targeted. (Personal and Business AMEX 75k , Chase Ink 80k, and the SPG 30k to name a few) In the past year or so since I've been on the look out for miles to collect I've only received 1 targeted offer for 50k with United.

I know there are ways around the targeted offers and that with the right CSR you can get them even if you're not targeted, but what's the secret to getting the offers directly? Are the reasons for being targeted all over the map? Or are there a couple of things one can do to receive more targeted offers?

If there's a strategy other than checking all options in your current account settings to allow companies to contact you directly and send your email and mailing addresses to all of their partners (including changing any Facebook or Twitter account privacy settings to achieve the same result), I don't know what it is.

The problem essentially is that each card company uses these promotions to stimulate a certain type of customer or business. A company making a profit is always looking for ways to increase that profit. Maybe they have plenty of customers over the age of 40 but want to increase their market share under that age: boom, a big offer gets targeted to those under 40. Substitute other age ranges, income levels, gender, and geographic factors into the equation, and the company sends tons of different offers to various groups--thus, the concept of "targeting." Now, multiply that idea across the numbers of card companies, each of which will have different targets they're trying to hit at different times, and you can start to get a feel for how difficult it is to guess the behavior that will get any individual more targeted offers.

When you think in this way, the one behavior that ironically is least likely to get you many targeted offers is to be a longstanding, profitable customer for a card company. If they're already getting a good return off you, there's no reason to offer you a promotion. Unless, of course, the company would like for you to increase your spending at grocery stores or restaurants or on a specific airline. Or if one of their competitors figures out you might be a good "target" for an offer that might make you switch card companies or, at least, supplement your current card spending with another card.

I think those are the general principles. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. . .

Agree completely with poster above. Get on all marketing lists that you can, that starts with having all options clicked in your profile for your airline programs, hotel programs, etc. Eventually you will get more offers!

Best,

PedroNY

So basically I either have to check a junk email address or get my real email address filled up with loads of crap.... I guess I can shovel out some crap for bonus miles.

I was hoping for a more streamlined approach, but I guess I should have known that I have to open myself up to receiving tons of offers I don't want just to get a handful of offers that I do want.

Opt in for all credit card offers through the FTC.

I used to not get any credit card offers via US mail, but once I signed-up, I started getting more offers.

Now, not all of them are lucrative enough, but I now have a better selection from which to choose!

I have 2 gmail accounts to solve this. One for junk and another for personal uses. I have the personal gmail account automatically fetch mail from the junk account and automatically label it as so, therefore the clutter is reduced. Has worked extremely well so far and my personal account has stayed organized. Otherwise it would be hell, my junk account receives 30+ junk emails a day.

Thanks for this tip. We'll see how well it works for me. I do feel a little bad about all of the new junk mail I will be creating though.

This site collects all the personal information an identity thief would want. It seems to be operated by the credit-reporting agencies, not by the FTC, but at least it's (evidently) not operated by a teenager in a Moscow apartment.

Ref: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...dit/cre17.shtm

Counter intuitive, but I found that the more i applied for, the more offers I got.

You get on their radar by applying and getting new cards. As you get in the industry and your information becomes available to other companies your offers should increase.

You're right that it is operated by the credit-reporting agencies and a link to it appears on the FTC website.

But don't the credit reporting agencies already have all the information an identity thief would want?

I'd note, by the way, that just because you take steps to get more targeted offers, you may not necessarily get more good targeted offers. I've opened up my Amex account settings to receive more offers by email. Today, I got an exciting offer for a Starwood Amex with 10000 Starpoints after first purchase--with no offer of any additional points, such as the longstanding Starwood Amex offer of 10K on first purchase and an additional 15K after spending $15,000 within six months. I've received several additional offers, none of which has tempted me and none of which hasn't been recently topped by a generally available offer without a specific ID code discussed on FT.

Since I think the Starwood Amex is possibly ripe for a more decent offer soon, perhaps 30-40K points for a spending amount reduced from the current $15,000, I think I'll pass on this targeted offer and wait to see what pops up on FT.

Yes, I'd say patience is one the big keys. I had a similar experience at Priority Club (Chase PC Select Visa): I had to ignore oodles of 60k public offers over many many many months, until they finally sent me a targeted 80k offer.

But you also have to monitor FT. Sometimes the targeted offer never comes, but a better public offer is found by someone (that you would not likely have heard about had you not been monitoring FT).