Capital One sent me a credit card offer. I applied, and they actually decided to give me a credit card! So I can now count myself as a real person in the USA. Too bad MBNA, you missed out. (MBNA wouldn't give me a card of my own despite the fact that I've actually been on my wife's account for years. They up her credit limit practically every month – who do they think pays the bills?)
Anyway, somebody at Capital One is a human being and not a computer looking at credit scores. It is still laughable that my new card has a limit of $1000, when I have in my wallet already many times that amount of credit.
In related news, you can get your credit report online now at Annual Credit Report. Wonder what my score is? Not worth checking, I bet.
Now, I remember hearing about a credit card company that could hand out temporary numbers: the idea being that you (an existing cardholder) go to their website and get a credit card number linked to your existing account, but the new number is only valid for a month. Ideal for monthly online service signups that you don't intend to continue past the free month.