Yesterday, I wrote about a Destructoid article that leaked a GameStop credit card. It has been criticized by many for the APR of 26.99%, and is being described as evil and predatory.

Today, I received a response from a few GameStop employees that have provided some clarification on the credit card.

In the promotional images, there is an incentive shown for signing up -- 5,000 to 15,000 PowerUp Rewards points. My source said, "True... they are only offering points for signing up. You get them awarded right after you get approved."

Since it's tied to the PowerUp Rewards program, there's worry that "kids" -- aka 18-year-olds -- are going to have a card with a high APR pushed on them. To that, my source responded that "We can't offer the card to anyone under 18 let alone prescreen them."

The only real issue I had with the leaked information of the GameStop credit card is the rumor that PowerUp Rewards members are supposedly automatically approved. To this, the source responded, "We don't actually do an approval. It is a prescreen. You will be prompted for information at signup and you have to electronically say you want the card. If it was an approval, everyone would just get cards in the mail. Can't do that without breaking a few laws."

Another source told me that "only PowerUp members who's full information (home address, et al) is on file will be pre-approved; soft inquiries will be made to select account-holders' credit scores to determine the amount of credit for which they are approved. 'Soft inquiry' apparently means that it won't affect the member's credit score in any way."

According to multiple websites discussing credit, a soft inquiry is when a person or company checks your credit report as part of a background check. Some examples given are when a potential employer checks your credit, when you're "pre-approved" for credit card offers, and when you check your own credit score. They do not affect your credit score in any way, unlike a hard inquiry, which is when a credit card issuer or lender checks your credit report when making a lending decision.

That second source also said that "You have to be 21+ to be approved, rather than 18+."

We'll know more when GameStop officially releases detailed information on their credit card.