Loans, credit, insurance & investment

The basic rationale for this segmentation is based on issuers’ knowledge that the demands of customers in the mass-market and mass-affluent (premium) segments are different:
Mass-market.Mass-market customers are generally price sensitive in terms of annual fees but relatively ignorant about the real level of interest being charged on their rollover balances. Rollover rates on mass-market cards are usually high while transaction values, otherwise referred to as billings, are relatively low. Mass-affluent. Mass-affluent customers are less price sensitive to annual fees than mass- market customers and more concerned about the status attached to a particular card and the level of credit limit granted. The latter is important, as the costs associated with international travel in particular can be very substantial. Anyone who has experienced having their card rejected when presented as a payment means knows how embarrassing this is, and how dangerous this can be if this happens in a country that is thousands of miles from their home. Issuers require holder of various cards to have a certain minimum income level. Someone paying with a gold credit card is indirectly making a statement about her income level.
Billings on mass-affluent cards are generally high, particularly for people using cards to pay for business trips. Rollover rates are generally much lower than on mass-market cards, however, with many holders using them primarily as charge cards and paying off the full outstanding balance each month.
By segmenting the market credit card issuers seek to extract the maximum profit possible from each segment.