# Dear Bank: Fuck You. A sleazy life insurance sales pitch is NOT "Important Account Information:. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231 "2009-11-11T21:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/21 "2009-11-12T05:08:14Z")
A few vigilante lynchings of bankers would cure this shit toot sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/22 "2009-11-12T07:26:11Z")
My tactic for scams like this: Take the little pre-paid reply envelope, tear up some of the paper that came with the advertisement and place it inside (make sure nothing has your name or address on it), and mail it back to them. That way, the company has to actually pay for the delivery of the reply envelopes and the wages of some schmo to open them up. It’s a small thorn, but at least it gets them in the pocketbook. ---
**Author:** ![BuickGNX1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@BuickGNX1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuickGNX1987)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/23 "2009-11-12T08:26:18Z")
> [@Pullet](#): > > My tactic for scams like this: > > Take the little pre-paid reply envelope, tear up some of the paper that came with the advertisement and place it inside (make sure nothing has your name or address on it), and mail it back to them. That way, the company has to actually pay for the delivery of the reply envelopes and the wages of some schmo to open them up. > > It’s a small thorn, but at least it gets them in the pocketbook. Thats awesome.🆒 I bet if a bunch of people did that, that would at least significantly slow their bullshit down. Better than nothing I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/24 "2009-11-12T13:17:26Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > We once got a certified letter, return receipt requested. We had to make an extra trip to the post office to sign for it. > > It was junk mail for refinancing our house through some random mortgage company. Last week I came home to a tag saying Fed-Ex has missed me. They were trying to deliver an Urgent overnight envelope from my mortgage company. Silly me, I thought this might be IMPORTANT. I rearranged my schedule so I could be home the next morning. It was a piece of junk mail trying to get me to refinance ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/25 "2009-11-12T17:50:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I think there should be laws about how banks are allowed to address notices like this. If a notice is actually about a change to your existing account, they should say so; if it’s nothing but a message trying to upsell you on some service or another, they should not be allowed to label it “Important Account Information.” > > I called them and told them to stop sending me this crap. I pointed out how the letters are bald faced lies. They acted offended but promised to “opt me out of the service”. Service??? > > We really need legislation that junkmail has to look like junkmail. > > A few vigilante lynchings of bankers would cure this shit toot sweet. Those comments are from various posters. Clearly, we need legislation that all companies must ask consumers to opt INTO these various marketing ploys, and not make them opt out. Since nobody in their right minds would do so unless they had an incentive, the companies would have to pay consumers. And it’s not the bankers we want to lynch, necessarily, but the marketing departments. And I don’t care what business the marketers are in, they probably need a few lynchings just to Set An Example. My credit union had an option for me to choose whether or not I would allow them to share my information with their marketing partners…however, credit unions are generally much more understanding about these things, since their members are also their shareholders. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/26 "2009-11-12T18:01:35Z")
> [@Pullet](#): > > My tactic for scams like this: > > Take the little pre-paid reply envelope, tear up some of the paper that came with the advertisement and place it inside (make sure nothing has your name or address on it), and mail it back to them. That way, the company has to actually pay for the delivery of the reply envelopes and the wages of some schmo to open them up. > > It’s a small thorn, but at least it gets them in the pocketbook. I’m in! ---
**Author:** ![Vorpal\_Blade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@Vorpal\_Blade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vorpal_Blade)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/27 "2009-11-12T18:37:39Z")
> [@Pullet](#): > > My tactic for scams like this: > > Take the little pre-paid reply envelope, tear up some of the paper that came with the advertisement and place it inside (make sure nothing has your name or address on it), and mail it back to them. That way, the company has to actually pay for the delivery of the reply envelopes and the wages of some schmo to open them up. > > It’s a small thorn, but at least it gets them in the pocketbook. Or better yet, send spammer A the promotion from spammer B and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/28 "2009-11-12T18:42:12Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Do you use my bank? They pull this shit all the time. Every few months they also send me a stack of “checks” that draw on my credit card account. How convenient! :rolleyes: Discover does that to my wife and Chase used to do it to me. EVERY SINGLE TIME I get those checks I call them up and ask them to stop (even threatening to close my account). The problem is, they are sending checks to me that I’m not expecting. If for some reason that piece of mail would get stolen, my account could be in trouble before I even knew I didn’t get them. At least when I normal checks I’m expecting them and if they don’t show up I can deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/29 "2009-11-12T18:55:50Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > \ > We really need legislation that junkmail has to look like junkmail. You are creating all kinds of lovely pictures in my mind here - one version has the junk mail just reeking - if it stinks, it’s junk and can be shredded. Or maybe they have to use ugly brown envelopes that look like they have been stepped on and dropped in puddles. ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/30 "2009-11-12T18:58:53Z")
I got a letter from the British Red Cross today marked ‘URGENT’ in big red letters. Upon opening it I was met with ‘Did you know that for just £3 a month… blah blah…’. I already donate £10 a month through Direct Debit, piss off. It made me reconsider my future donations. If I get any more letters like that well… There are plenty more charities, or I can just offer to pay more for my Big Issue. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/31 "2009-11-12T21:03:31Z")
My insurance agent used to pull crap like this. Mail us stuff that was “urgent” about our coverage. Or leave messages on our phone to call her back because she need to go over our coverage. Then when we’d call her back she wanted to pitch us more crap coverage that we didn’t need. I finally told her she had better stop with the calls and mailings unless it was really something important about our current coverage or I was going to be finding a new agent real quick. She stopped calling. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/32 "2009-11-13T00:14:30Z")
Got another one today, an URGENT offer for bullshit “insurance” in case I ever fall on hard times and need to skip a couple payments on a credit card. It came from a card that dropped my credit line 3 months ago because I fell behind on a _different_ card. Never missed a payment with these guys, but they closed my account because my credit score decreased. Someone is getting back a pre-paid envelope of confetti. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/33 "2009-11-13T00:32:00Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Wells Fargo, however, is starting to get on my nerves. They keep calling me to try to sell me life insurance and other things I’m not interested in, as well as send me letters about refinancing my mortgage with them. I win. We just bought a house, and got a good enough mortgage with Wells Fargo. **Before** we had made the first mortgage payment, we got a very important letter from them inviting us to refinance our mortgage.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/34 "2009-11-13T01:35:29Z")
Some of the best financial advice I ever got: Credit Unions. Mine sends me crap I dodn’t ask for maybe twice a year. When I had a bank account, it was monthly. For 100 reasons, I will never have a _bank_ account again. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/35 "2009-11-13T02:20:23Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Some of the best financial advice I ever got: Credit Unions. > > Mine sends me crap I dodn’t ask for maybe twice a year. When I had a bank account, it was monthly. For 100 reasons, I will never have a _bank_ account again. You beat me to it, **furt**. So I’ll just back you up instead. I get this crap weekly from the bank that holds my mortgage, the ones that supply my credit cards, and heaven knows who else. I have never, ever gotten one piece of mail like this from either my current or previous credit union that I do my checking & savings acounts with. Not one. I get decent interest rates, high-quality customer service, and loan officers who look at more than my FICO score. And if I get offered a job that requires me to relocate to somewhere that, for some reason, only has banks but no credit unions; well, there’s not enough money in the world for me to go back to the bad old banking days. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/36 "2009-11-13T02:34:54Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Something I always remind my wife about: the more important/scary/official the outside looks, the less important the contents are. I’ve thrown out MANY crucial, important notices because the envelopes were nondescript on the outside. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/37 "2009-11-13T02:39:05Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > I’ve thrown out MANY crucial, important notices because the envelopes were nondescript on the outside. That’s the point, the nondescript ones are the important ones. ---
**Author:** ![Dripping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dripping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dripping)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/38 "2009-11-13T03:30:05Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Some of the best financial advice I ever got: Credit Unions. > > Mine sends me crap I dodn’t ask for maybe twice a year. When I had a bank account, it was monthly. For 100 reasons, I will never have a _bank_ account again. I’ve never understood what Credit Unions ARE. Can anyone join one? They all seem to be like, members-only or something, like for teachers of a certain school district, or something. How do you find a credit union and are there restrictions on who can bank there? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/39 "2009-11-13T03:53:05Z")
> [@Dripping](#): > > I’ve never understood what Credit Unions ARE. Can anyone join one? They all seem to be like, members-only or something, like for teachers of a certain school district, or something. > > How do you find a credit union and are there restrictions on who can bank there? I don’t know how to link to an individual post, but in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536934&highlight=credit+union) I posted some info on finding a credit union you can join. There are all sorts of CUs, with all sorts of affinity requirements. Some are geographical (there’s one that anyone in our county can join), there’s one that serves the teachers in our county AND the students (my 15 year old has an account there)… if you’ve got a family member who’s a member of any CU, usually you can join that regardless of your employment etc… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231/40 "2009-11-13T04:32:09Z")
> [@MJinks](#): > > I got a letter from the British Red Cross today marked ‘URGENT’ in big red letters. Upon opening it I was met with ‘Did you know that for just £3 a month… blah blah…’. I already donate £10 a month through Direct Debit, piss off. > > It made me reconsider my future donations. > > If I get any more letters like that well… There are plenty more charities, or I can just offer to pay more for my Big Issue. We used to have two Public TV channels in this area, and my daughter and I used to donate to one of them, because they showed several programs that we liked. My daughter donated before she was a teen, even, because she liked some programs so much. Then they started telemarketing to us. I told them several times that we didn’t appreciate it, and would, indeed, quit donating if donating kept us on their telespam list. They kept calling us. When their yearly snail mail reminder reached us, I took great care in saying that another charity was receiving our money this year, and that we enjoyed the programs, but that we did NOT enjoy the phone calls. I said that if they had removed us from the calling list, we would still be donating. I only hope that someone, somewhere, learned a lesson. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-bank-fuck-you-a-sleazy-life-insurance-sales-pitch-is-not-important-account-information/517231.md?page=3)