BECAUSE ANOTHER CREDIT-CARD OFFER IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED

By Barbara Kiviat

The flood of credit-card offers into your mailbox is set to increase following a court decision last week that opened the door for American Express and Discover to pursue your business more aggressively. By opting not to hear the last-possible appeal of an antitrust ruling against MasterCard and Visa, the Supreme Court ended a six-year legal battle over how the two market leaders blocked rivals from partnering with card-issuing banks. American Express announced that it would roll out credit cards with MBNA, and Discover is pursuing new partners too. The change comes at a time when consumers are already overwhelmed with pitches for new plastic--in the second quarter, a record 1.4 billion mailings went out, according to direct-mail tracker Synovate. That means the average household received 6 offers a month, up from 4.6 a year ago. New competition may mean more choice when it comes to rewards programs, says David Robertson, publisher of the industry-tracking Nilson Report, but don't expect better deals on annual fees or financing, which aren't likely to improve. --By Barbara Kiviat