I can see how debt can grow into something uncontrollable and unmanageable, its weight to the point of crushing someone financially. This is what I see happening to me if I took up all the loan offers that have come my way very recently. I am agog at the stack of loan offerings that visit me daily, wondering how the companies behind these found out where I lived. After all, I don’t borrow very much — I only have a small credit card line which I pay off monthly and a reasonably sized mortgage. My existing debts may be enough to resign me to a fate filled with credit and loan junk mail for the rest of my life.
Have you ever stopped to think about how much money is dropping by your doorstep in the guise of home equity lines of credit, credit card applications, random loan deals, checking account offers (at least, there’s no evil catch on this one) and such? I mean, just think about all those juicy checks and easy dollars they dangle in front of us.
I just took a tally of what I’ve received in a week’s time. I’ve calculated almost $600K of credit and free miles ready for us to pluck and spend away. There were at least 15 credit card enticements in our pile, all pretty much saying the same thing and trumpeting similar deals, most with limits set at $2,000. We, of course, treat all of this as scrap, which means they immediately hit the confetti bin as torn, indistinguishable shreds. But I couldn’t help but think about all the people who have received the same tempting credit lines who think of these as life saving schemes, as hope for a tough day-to-day hand-to-mouth existence and as a way out of denial and constant restriction.
What about all those people who don’t say “No” to all this temptation? Don’t get me wrong. I have said “Yes” to my credit card (and spare), but the difference is that for the cards I did apply for, I recall having done some extensive research on them as I was particular about choosing those that gave me back the best rewards for my needs. I chased after them myself, not the other way around. I’ve never reached the limits I have on these cards because I pay them off every month.
So in your case, how would you respond to the lenders out there telling you how to spend their money on your bills, on travel or on home remodeling projects? I personally get annoyed that so much paper had to go in the production of so much junk. And frankly, here’s wishing that you do too.
I stopped using credit cards in 2001. Awhile ago I started getting credit card offers and needed to shred them, because I wouldn’t toss them in the trash. So I put them in a garbage bag, under my bed, waiting for me to buy a shredder. Well, I never bought a shredder. I got one for this Xmas as a present. When I pulled out the garbage bag to start shredding, I was amazed at what I saw. The actual picture is on my blog site.
Just say no! When you look at the photo you will realize how ridiculous these companies are.
I did look at your photo on your blog and let me say that your sack of would-be-debt definitely rivals my pile of would-be-debt. I get these forms and invitations each and every week and I am annoyed by the waste they produce! My confetti bin gets full way too easily.
Do Not Mail Opt-Out Law would be fair to everyone.
The proposed recent “Do not mail” is an Opt-Out law. Only those not desiring advertising mail need opt-out. Anyone desiring advertising mail can do nothing - and continue to receive it. Why deny those wishing to avoid advertising mail the power to do so?
I do not consider handling unwanted advertising placed against my will on my personal property to be a civic obligation!
The US Supreme Court said in the Rowan case in 1970, ““In today’s [1970] complex society we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes, but a sufficient measure of individual autonomy must survive to permit every householder to exercise control over unwanted mail. To make the householder the exclusive and final judge of what will cross his threshold undoubtedly has the effect of impeding the flow of ideas, information, and arguments that, ideally, he should receive and consider. Today’s merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that whether measured by pieces or pounds, Everyman’s mail today is made up overwhelmingly of material he did not seek from persons he does not know. And all too often it is matter he finds offensive.”
Furthermore, the Supreme Court said, “the mailer’s right to communicate is circumscribed only by an affirmative act of the addressee giving notice that he wishes no further mailings from that mailer.
To hold less would tend to license a form of trespass and would make hardly more sense than to say that a radio or television viewer may not twist the dial to cut off an offensive or boring communication and thus bar its entering his home. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit; we see no basis for according the printed word or pictures a different or more preferred status because they are sent by mail.”
We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders the aforementioned affirmative notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.
http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta19.html
Signed,
Ramsey A Fahel
US Postal Service won’t let you refuse mail.
If the US Postal Service would abide by its own rule, each homeowner could easily stop junk mail from getting into their mailbox by putting a written notice on their mailbox expressing their preference.
The US Postal Services practices are supposed to be according to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). The DMM contains provision 508.1.1.2 that says, “Refusal at Delivery: The addressee may refuse to accept a mailpiece when it is offered for delivery.” I interpret this rule to mean that if a homeowner wants to refuse an unwanted mailpiece (i.e. junk mail), the homeowner can do so when the mailpiece is offered for delivery. More to the point – refuse it before it is put into the mailbox!
In practical application, since the postal carrier comes to homes at different times each day, the homeowner cannot be waiting at the mailbox to dialogue with the mail carrier about each mailpiece. The only realistic way to interpret 508.1.1.2 therefore is that the homeowner should post a notice on the mailbox telling the postal carrier about the homeowner’s preference. The notice to the postal service must be specific and unambiguous. For instance, a homeowner should certainly be able to write, “No mail that is not addressed to the Jones” because that does not require the postal carrier to make a subjective judgment. On the other hand, it would not be acceptable to write “no junk mail” because the definition of “junk mail” is subjective and the mail carrier cannot decide.
Unfortunately, the US Postal Service has written to me that they will NOT honor a notice refusing mail, not matter how specifically it is worded, because the postal carrier does not have time to sort through the mail at my mailbox to pick out the pieces that are not addressed to me. Therefore, the US Postal Service is passing their sorting and disposing task onto me by putting all the mail they want into my mailbox, even though this seemingly violates 508.1.1.2.
Since the U.S. Postal Service will not abide by 508.1.1.2, homeowners need to stop unwanted mail at the source (i.e. by blocking the sender from sending it). We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.
http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta19.html
Signed,
Ramsey A Fahel
You can get rid of these offers by going to the Direct Marketing Association website to join their opt-out list. If I remember correctly, you can opt out either for two years or for life.
Be forewarned, though: if you donate money to charity or buy anything from a catalog, you’ll end up right back on junk mail lists. Be prepared to go through this exercise once every couple of years.
I’ll check out your suggestions. Unfortunately for me, I do buy off of a catalog once in a while and especially off the web. Thanks for these tips! If anyone has used these opt out mechanisms, let us know if it works….
Wow, $600K in one week seems unbelievable!!! I thought I got too many, and mine isnt a fraction of that! I do however open each of these mails and check, before heading to the shredder. If there is a juicy 0% offer, with no balance transfer fees, and the introductory 0% rate is valid for more than 12 months, and I have not applied for a credit card in the past 6 months, I go ahead and apply for it. I will then park the cash in a CD and make sure I make the minimum payments every month. And pay off the full amount atleast a month before the intro APR expires. The interest is mine to keep. In the past, when we were ignorant, the credit card companies made some money from us. It’s our turn now to recover it.
(more info in the link to my name, if interested)
Yes, the $600K adds up from a lot of home equity lines of credit. They make up huge chunks of these offers. I’d love to do some credit card arbitrage but with the time I have, I’m afraid I’ll forget to keep track of what’s going on and end up in the hole with it.
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@Ramsey - I have been able to refuse mail. I received, in one week, 30 copies of the same TV guide issue which I did not and have never subscribed to. I put them in the mailbox with a note not to deliver them anymore and haven’t seen them since. I don’t know if that would work for junk mail though.
I also receive many credit card offers - usually about 1 a week, and I have never had any credit cards or debt of any kind. Try and explain that one!