For the most part, when people turn 18 years of age, they begin to receive their first credit card offers in the mail. Occasionally the type of offers being received are ever-so-slightly out of the ordinary, whereby the offer arrives for a member of the family who is far too young, or for family members who are not even human.
Here are some examples of cases where credit card offers are verging on the outlandish.
Max (The Cat) Receives Credit Card Offer
Mike and Debbie Gavaghan decided to buy a new entertainment center after investing in their first home together. However, on the warranty card for the entertainment center, they added their cat Max’s name rather than their own – just for fun, of course.
Max was made out as a father of five kids who was self-employed and earned $500,000 per year. He also owned his own boat. Not long after, Max the cat started receiving offers from a variety of companies – country club membership offers, sweepstake subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, and from grocery delivery companies, all intent on getting Max to sign up to their terms.
However, the offer that really stood out was an MBNA pre-approved Platinum Credit Card with a limit of $100,000. On that very same day that Max was offered his credit card, his owner received an offer, also from MBNA, although with a $50,000 limit.
Max though has yet to take up his offer.
Sign Here Please, Sir!
John Hargrave was becoming somewhat frustrated that each time he used his credit card for purchases, nobody ever bothered to check his signature. After all, what if his card was stolen or lost? It would be extremely easy for someone else to use it.
He therefore determined to write crazy signatures, at least until someone pulled him up on his prank.
As time progressed, his signatures became ever-more strange. He signed with a variety of scribbles. He also signed with a simple “X”. He signed as Beethoven, Mariah Carey, as well as Zeus – the ruler of the Olympian gods – according to Greek mythology.
No-one ever noticed. The prank signatures continued – “Porky Pig”, “Please check ID”, “I stole this card”, but still nothing…
Finally, after months of ‘trying’, and after attempting to spend some $16,800 on electronic goods at Circuit City, someone did check his signature.
So you may be asking, “what’s in a signature?”
Deceased Dog Receives Credit Card Offer
Kelly Sloan fought hard with the Capital One credit card company to cancel his father’s account after his recent death. But as much as he tried, Kelly continued to receive requests and notices from the company for his deceased father.
Kelly became so frustrated with the continuing flow of credit card mail that one day, he decided to fill out a further credit card application in his dog’s name – Spark – and send that off to Capital One as a form of reprisal.
One day, after opening up a further letter from Capital One, Kelly couldn’t quite believe what he was reading. The letter was intent on having the addressee apply for a ‘special’ credit card offer. The letter stated, “We’re not offering our low long-term rate to just anyone.”
The letter however was not addressed to Kelly’s father this time. It was in fact addressed to Kelly’s dog, Spark, who had died 10 years previously. And regardless the dog’s demise, he was eligible for as much as $30,000 credit, with an interest rate of 5.99% over a 3 years period, guaranteed.
3-Year-Old Receives American Express Credit Line
A writer at CNNMoney – Jessica Dickler – was amazed when her 3-year-old daughter received her very first credit card application from American Express.
Dickler, obviously confused, contacted the credit card company in an attempt to find out why her daughter had been offered a credit line. As it happens, some furnishings or clothing which was previously purchased and then sent directly to her daughter was the reason. The retailers had sold their customer list on to American Express.
Dickler stated, “My daughter has a piggy bank and occasionally collects coins and adds them to her lot. Sometimes, she spills out the contents and enjoys putting each coin back in the bank through the slot at the top one at a time. But I wouldn’t say she’s good with money.”
Seems you don’t have to be good with money to receive some extraordinary credit card offers!
Photo credit jcarter via Flickr
