One of the companies my wife and I deal with has done something evil, and sold our names to a host of banks. Banks that want us to use their pre-approved credit cards.
Now, we have a credit card. We’re happy with it, especially because they were nice to us and provided us a hefty amount of credit when no other company in the U.S. would. So I’m not about to go adding to my non-existent debt, and we’re certainly not going to hop over to any of these companies that wouldn’t look once, let alone twice, in our direction when we first moved here.
But these banks don’t care. They just keep sending, and sending, and sending out applications. Last week it hit a ridiculous point, where the same company sent us 7 applications in 4 days.
So we’re sending them back, thanks to the handy-dandy postage paid envelopes they include in all their correspondence.
Sometimes I include a note saying “take me off your mailing list”. Sometimes I fill it with confetti (composed of their application). Sometimes I just lick the empty envelope closed and let them treat it like a zen koan.
Join my campaign! It takes no time at all, it lets you fight back against spammers, and not only does it not cost you anything, it costs the spammers money!
Interesting Idea. But is the focus of the campaign anti-credit card, or anti-credit card spam? I only have one credit card and am glad of it. I always pay my bill on time and have great credit on that card. But it’s costing me dearly now. I just bought a car last week and the scarcity of my credit history meant that I got a monstrously huge rate on my financing.
But I digress. Ever since I got a shredder, I’ve actully enjoyed getting credit apps and other spam. Just because I like shredding it. I’d like to say that it was for purely idealistic reasons but the truth is that I really just like using the shredder.
I hear ya! I love my shredder. I think it’s the sound it makes that attracts me. That and the fact that it eats staples. Definitely one of my favorite toys.
The envelopes you send back to the bank do not end up in the hands of the evil geniuses who decided to spam you in the first place. They end up in the hands of low wage corporate drones who are not going to say to anyone in charge “hey, boss, this Barbarian dude keeps sending us back our return envelopes with confetti instead of a filled-out application.” They will probably just shake ther heads at the injustice of a world where they have to bear the brundt of someone’s rebellious actions.
The money was already spent. The spammers don’t pay any additional postage if you ,ail the envelope back. The postage is paid whether you mail the envelope back or add it to your compost heap.
Do not attempt to place any powdered substances in a return envelope as a joke, or you could end up in Guantanamo as an “enemy combatant”.
Despite all of the above, I like the idea, and would do it myself, but it’s actually easier for me to drop the envelopes in my recycling bin.
Just to weigh in, probably about the only thing one person can do to stop or disincentivize this sort of thing is to NOT get a credit card based on a pre-approval mailing like that.
That’s what I did… for both of my credit cards I did research and applied at the bank’s website. If all of us did that, all the banks would realize that the junk mail was getting them no new business and quit sending them.
Of course, there’s always going to be a few idiots who ruin it for the rest of us. (Sigh.)
I kind of wonder about some of the credit card companies - specifically, Capital One. I get an offer from them at least once per week, sometimes more. Do they think I’m going to say “well, I didn’t want this card the last 30 times it was offered, but suddenly I find it incredibly appealing!”? Obviously, their primary market is people who have the brain damage from Memento.
If their company doesn’t mind taking up my time, I don’t mind taking up theirs.
With all material shredded, unless someone really likes puzzles, I don’t think they would even have a way to track it back to you.
I thought they didn’t have to pay for the postage unless they received it back.
Ah, but if everybody started doing this, they’d have to hire more people to open envelopes!
Don’t you see, this stragegy will create jobs!
Ergo, it is good for the economy!
So send back all your business return envelopes! And don’t forget the six postcards they put in every single magazine! It is your Patriotic Duty!
[sub](Yes, I realize that actually, it’s not. Don’t be a spoilsport with your actual knowledge of economics.)[/sub]
Good point. Even less reason to do this. It certainly won’t stop them from targeting you specifically.
I’m pretty sure they have to pay upfront for the envelopes. I don’t think they get billed an additional amount for each piece they receive back. I don’t have a cite, though.
Lately, I’ve been getting solicitations in the mail for the United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa card, which is mystifying as I already have this card. You would think they would check their mailing list against the list of cardholders.
Sure, they had to pay for the paper & ink to make the physical envelopes, but I’m pretty sure they only have to pay postage on those business reply envelopes if you actually send them through the mail. That’s why, when charities ask for money, they sometimes send you one of those business reply envelopes that you don’t have to put a stamp on, but they ask you to put a stamp on it anyway “as an added gift.”
That’s educational. Can I tape the return envelope to a brick and send it to the evil perpretrators of junkmail? Or will I just be punishing my poor postalworker?
The reason you get credit card offers in the mail is because the big 3 credit companies sell your credit profile to credit card companies. Complaining to the bank that’s sending the offer won’t do much, because every time they request a new list of potential credit candidates from the credit reporting companies, your name is right back on the list. The most expeditious thing you can do to stop credit card junk mail is to simply contact the credit companies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) and opt out of having your info included in credit profiling.
I wonder about Columbia House CD/DVD/Video Club. They’ve been sending me “We want you back” missives on a regular basis for something like twelve years now, even following me through a change of address. You’d think it would dawn on those marketing geniuses that the inexorable passage of time would mean that I’m no longer in their target demographic.
But I guess I don’t really mind. Wood stove heating season is almost here, and I need the kindling.
Ah, but because I’m a canuck who only recently moved to the U.S., I don’t have a credit rating with Transunion, Experian, and that other company. I know, because I’ve checked, and I’m not in the system, I’m tabula rasa, as bereft of info as a ghost in the machine, which is why I had difficulty getting a credit card in the first place.
The campaign continues: today’s haul is one United Airlines Visa, one Citibank Capital One application.
