I check my favorite San Francisco local comic strip - Farley - online each morning before going to work. This morning&39;s strip featured the raven character getting a pre-qualified credit card offer:

It&39;s funny and it&39;s also partially true! I&39;ve heard so many stories from our readers and customers about getting offers for credit in the mail addressed to their pets. If you use Fido&39;s name to sign up for a magazine or special offer, there&39;s a chance that you might be getting a pre-qualified credit card in their name within a few weeks. Pre-qualification works differently than pre-approval:

Pre-approval - This is when you receive a specific for a credit card or loan based on the company&39;s initial check of your credit score. Odds are pretty good that you&39;ll be approved for the account if you apply. The credit bureaus do brisk business in selling targeted lists of consumers to qualify for these pre-approved offers. If you take your name off these lists by calling 888-5-OPT-OUT, you won&39;t receive any more offers based on your credit standing.

Pre-qualification - Even if you opt-out, you still may receive pre-qualified offers like our raven friend. These offers do not use a credit check and are not always going to be a good match with your credit standing. Most pre-qualified offers use mailing lists bought from magazines, insurance companies, universities, political groups and basically any group you belong to that sends you mail. Your dog would be more likely to receive this kind of offer because credit scores aren&39;t involved. However, if Fido were to apply for the credit card, he&39;d most likely be turned down for having a "thin file."

Of course, the raven in this comic strip wouldn&39;t have an excellent credit rating if he had indeed never bought anything before. We all know that good credit scores come more from the presence of responsible credit use and payment records than from the lack of negative credit information. If he ends up paying off that bar tab on time, he could be on his way to great credit in just a few months however!