# Unsolicited Credit Card **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454 "2005-05-25T17:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/1 "2005-05-25T17:04:24Z")
My wife received a credit card from Chase in the mail this week. It is not a card she requested (indeed, she owns no credit cards, nor has for several years). Of course, she immediately called them up and cancelled it. Is it common practice for banks to do this (send credit cards without being asked)? If not, was she the victim of fraud (although I’d think that a fraudster would have the card sent to their own house, not ours…)? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/2 "2005-05-25T17:38:45Z")
I suggest you get your once a year free copy of the credit report- ASAP, and check things out. It’s doubtful that it’s fraud, but… ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/3 "2005-05-25T17:42:19Z")
It was an actual card? I get offers all the time with a dummy card included, but I’ve never gotten an actual working card without asking for it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/4 "2005-05-25T18:05:48Z")
I’d be worried that someone in your local post office - most especially your deliveryman - is corrupt: consider that they’re in an ideal position to intercept your mail. Someone orders a card in your name; you’re not expecting the card so wouldn’t know it had gone missing. The deliveryman (or whoever) picks out the card when it arrives, sells it on and you’re none the wiser to the fraud until you get your bill. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/5 "2005-05-25T18:33:46Z")
Long shot, but: did she have an old account with Bank One that she hasn’t used in years? Bank One recently merged with Chase, so perhaps Chase is sending out new cards to Bank One account holders so that they may better salute the logo of their financial overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/6 "2005-05-25T18:36:08Z")
According to this [this site](http://www.nbc4.com/answerstoaskliz2001/1165673/detail.html): "We checked with the Federal Trade Commission for your answer. First you should know that it is illegal for credit card companies to send you credit cards unsolicited. they are more likely to be cards you applied for and didn’t realize, or are renewal cards for ones you already own. " [removal of all caps by me] However, I also recently got a credit that I did not request. In my case, a long forgotten jc-penney store credit card was upgraded somehow to a platinum master card. This seems to be a way around the law: buy up old store credit cards and upgrade them. Maybe this happened to your wife. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/7 "2005-05-25T18:44:39Z")
Thanks for the replies everyone. The only other card she ever had was closed by her over ten years ago. She doesn’t have any other cards (other than debit cards). I don’t think she would have applied for one, as she is the type who does not like or use credit cards. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/8 "2005-05-25T18:47:05Z")
– Disclaimer - different country, different laws/policies – This happened to me. It turned out that somebody had intercepted the ‘you have been pre-selected…’ mailshot but, fortunately, had not managed to intercept the card. Check with the card company as they should retain details of any application. In my case details such as date-of-birth, occupation and income were all wildly off. ---
**Author:** ![cstamets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@cstamets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cstamets)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/9 "2005-05-25T23:40:22Z")
FirstUSA, which was bought by Bank One, which merged with First Chicago and then was bought by JPMorganChase (and I’m not even about to attempt any history of JPMorganChase), used to send out real non-solicited credit cards to pre-approved prospective customers as part of their regular marketing strategy. If you were one of the lucky receivers of such a card, all you had to do was call up and activate it and you had a live, usable credit card. Activation required you to verify your identity. Cards were sent out like this because they would get enough of them activated to make it worth their while. Sounds like they’re doing it again. This was about 7 years ago. I can’t verify the legality of it then or now, or whether they’re doing it. If the card was ordered by someone who intercepted a pre-approval form or was trying to steal your wife’s identity, it should have come in a rather plain envelope with something saying something along the lines of “Here’s the card you’ve been expecting.” If it was an unsolicted card sent by the bank in the hopes she’d decide to keep it, it should have come with some sort of promotional material explaining why she received the card. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/10 "2005-05-26T00:49:15Z")
Most credit cards now require activation by a phone call from the number of record on the account to verify delivery to the requestor and the credit card number and expiration date. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/11 "2005-05-26T01:33:40Z")
I got an unsolicited Discover card once. This was back before identity theft became a big concern, so I just cut up the card and thought no more about it. Years later, I got a credit report (my first one ever) and found that the account was still open. Of course, I called up Discover and cancelled the account. Nothing had ever been charged to the card, so it probably wasn’t any kind of fraud. These days I get a yearly credit report. ---
**Author:** ![Jeffro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/12 "2005-05-26T01:44:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I suggest you get your once a year free copy of the credit report- ASAP, and check things out. It’s doubtful that it’s fraud, but… Do you have the site address to apply for this? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolicited-credit-card/305454/13 "2005-05-26T22:46:16Z")
> [@Jeffro](#): > > Do you have the site address to apply for this? [Here](https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp)