Crafting a Firm Offer of Credit

Oct 8

What is a Firm Offer of Credit?

A Firm Offer of Credit is a required offer when purchasing credit data provided by one of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. There are a number of requirements that must be met in order to market to this data, and a firm offer must be made.

What kind of requirements?

It’s always a good idea to have someone experienced in Firm Offers of Credit to take a look, and many vendors offering this type of data require a mail piece, call script, or email approved and on file to ensure that all of the requirements are being met.

There are a few must-haves, such as:

Short and long opt-out notices
A specific dollar amount
A clear and specific offer of credit
A statement that the recipient is pre-selected or pre-qualified

Here’s an article from Experian that gets into greater detail.

Is it worth it?

Marketing to prescreened data with a Firm Offer of Credit does have a little more legwork included, and it does come with an additional cost. That said, it generally performs better than other data because of the screening criteria you can overlay to make sure the people you’re reaching will be a fit for the product that you’re offering.

To really understand if prescreened data is best for your company, you’ll want to analyze your objectives and budget. If keeping costs low is your main priority, it’s probably not going to be the right choice. But if ROI is your focus, it’s likely a solid solution for your marketing.

We’re always happy to answer questions and help you determine what data is right for you.