Getting even with bullshit credit offers..

The BBQ Pit
1

Don’t know if thisd is the best forum for this, but here goes…

I got in the mail a credit offer from a company called Credicorp, Inc. out of Dallas, TX. It claimed that I was already approved for $10,000 credit and only 12% interest for a “Gold Card.”

Now, I am not stupid. I get credit offers all of the time and since I am not someone who is desperate for credit, I only take things which are clearly explained and advantageous to me.

I do a little Google search and I find the following information on this company:

http://www.creditmania.com/alerts.htm
http://www.bbb.org/alerts/credicorp.asp
http://www.webbbox.com/business/c/creditcorp.htm
http://www.infozine.com/z0003/c-nixon.shtml
http://www.ago.state.mo.us/113099.htm
http://www.cardweb.com/cardtrak/pastissues/ct_dec92.html
http://datcp.state.wi.us/cp/cpnews/cpnews_credit.htm
http://www.cencal.bbb.org/library/19990201.html
http://www.dallas.bbb.org/alerts/19990202.html

As you can see, they offer credit for their own catalog only, there ain’t nothing “Gold” about it, you can’t see this catalog until you pay their $30 “annual fee.” When you get it, it contains overpriced generic merchandice that you have to pay for with advance “down payments” in order to purchase, on top of the “credit.”

I am getting even the following ways:

(1) I am printing out all of the above URL’s and sending them back in the postage-paid envelope they helpfully provided.

(2) I sent an e-mail to Kim Jacksoon (kljackson@gnames.com) who, according to the same Google search, is the accounts rep for the company which maintains all mailings for Creditcorp. My letter is as follows:

So, consider this a heads-up to you if you get this offer, a helpful hint as to what you should do with it, and (to make this pit worthy) a huge FUCK YOU to Credicorp, Gnames Advantage and anyone else trying to rip people off!

Yer pal,
Satan

TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Four weeks, one day, 21 hours, 18 minutes and 12 seconds.
1195 cigarettes not smoked, saving $149.44.
Life saved: 4 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes.

2

Don’t feel bad, I got one of these credit card offers many years ago and not having the benefit of the internet, I sent them the $25 or so for the membership.

In return I got a card and a cheap-ass “Spencer” type catolog. I was supposed to pay half in cash (more than anything they had was worth), and the other half went on the card at 22% interest.

Now I admit I’m not the smartest guy in the world (see my sig.) but that card hit the round file fast. God, some of those folks really take us all for jerks.

Hope your OP helps someone, but I doubt if anyone stupid enough to fall for that shit would be reading this anyway…Hey, I said I was young, damnit.

(Sorry about all the shit going down lately, good to see you posting again)

3

Hey! O Evil One, didja already send that nastygram?

My brother was pestered by repeated mailings and phone calls from one of these loser outfits a couple years ago. He solved the problem when he realized they were so foolish as to send him a return postage guaranteed envelope. It only took a minute to wrap up a large brick in butcher paper and tape that envelope to the outside. Never heard from those assholes again.

4

Alas, speakeasy, but that stunt just won’t (or didn’t) work. See what the master himself says about it…

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html

I did mail the item, and in fact I had to modify the envelope slightly to make all of the pages I printed up fit into it, but hopefully they will still get charged for it, as it’s still the actual envelope and stuff that’s in it.

Yer pal,
Satan

I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
One month, 13 hours, 41 minutes and 48 seconds.
1222 cigarettes not smoked, saving $152.85.
Life saved: 4 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes.

5

I routinely send all of the junk in unsolicited offers back in the postage paid envelope. I take these as a direct insult to my humanity. Do these people think that I am sitting on my sofa day & night wishing that my phone would ring so somebody on the other end could offer me credit?

I get this CreditCorp nonsense at least twice a year, but it never looked interesting enough to open. It always gets heaved into the trash along with the Columbia House & Ed Macmahon.

I am in the process of closing down all my credit cards except for one- whichever bank does the lowest limbo with their APR can have all my business.

I really hope that high schools have added some sort of financial awareness class to their graduating requirements. IMHO, learning about the credit monster is infinitely more valuable than learning how to bake a quiche.

Manual sig line #36

6

I do one better, and put the post-paid envelope on a brown grocery bag wrapped around a brick. This costs them several dollars to retrieve. Doesn’t even the score by a long shot, but you don’t feel like such a perpetual victim.

7

Bad short-term memory Fonz?

(Scroll up about three posts)

8

Butcher paper? That would never work.