by Alison Storm | 05/13/10

You may notice more mail showing up in your mailbox. Credit card companies are sending out more offers in the mail because consumer confidence is on the rise and so is spending. According to the latest Synovate Mail Monitor report, offers for credit cards sent in the mail has jumped 29 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the year before. Statistics show that in the beginning of 2009, 372.4 million credit card offers showed up in Americans' mailboxes.

In the first quarter of 2010 that increased to 481.3 million. Synovate's director of competitive tracking services says the rise in offers "tells us that the issuers are not just dipping their toes in the water, they are diving in head first." Anuj Shahani also said mailing offers is one of the most expensive marketing moves for credit card companies, but it's also an effective one. But it's only effective if consumers are spending, because then they're more receptive to these offers. And according to the Conference Board, that's happening, as consumer confidence jumped between March and April.

The increase in offering mailings shows that credit card companies are interested in boosting revolving credit. Charge-offs, which is debt that is not collectible, has increased to the highest rate in more than 20 years. "We expect seasonal trends and a nascent consumer recovery to result in lower delinquency rates, which should lead to lower charge-off rates in the months ahead," said Moody's Investor Service Senior Vice President William Black in a Wall Street Journal Report. The delinquency rate fell to 5.79 percent in March, which marked the fifth month in a row of declines. The rate has now fallen to levels seen last August, according to the Wall Street Journal.