Banks and pre-approved credit cards

[Maitre]

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30 seconds after being put on hold, the bank guy says I will be getting my new credit card within 7-10 days.  He also says that my initial credit limit will be $10,000  :wacko:
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My wife and I have three credit card accounts between us. The one we use is the Shell MC that give rebates toward free gasoline. This card has a 3K limit, so we generally have space for any kind of emergency, even when travelling. We each have a card that is just ours that we've had since before we got married, usually only use these for gifts to each other so we don't have to see what the other spent, though we usually end up paying the bills together so it rarely works out that way. My old card has a ridiculous limit of about 15K. It does have some benefits for travel insurrance that are nice, but I never travel any great distance, unless it's for business.

The other thing that will get you tons of "pre-approval" letters is making a large purchase (car, house). The wife and I bought our first house last fall, and we get 3 pre-approval items a week between us. Before we moved, we'd get maybe one. As Occhi says, most people are not as disciplined with spending as they ought to be, but god nows the benefits are becoming clear to me. I didn't have to get a phone call declining my mortgage application. I don't walk into a store and worry that I'll end up with an 82 inch TV without realizing it. It's a matter of thinking how many weeks of groceries will I have to forgo in order to get something. Sort of like the Wendy's dollar menu comercial, but with boxes of pasta and frozen veggies instead of Jr. Bacon Cheese Burgers.