Return To Sender and Do No Call!

—Credit counselors offer suggestions for reducing junk mail and sales calls

Each American household receives 848 pieces of unsolicited mail a year.¹ Our junk mail accounts for one-third of all the mail delivered worldwide.² The Environmental Protection Agency reports that over 50% of junk mail is discarded either unread or unopened (over four million tons of waste paper per year).

As if the environmental impact weren’t enough, we spend 8 months of our lives dealing with paper junk mail! Plus, we waste untold time handling telemarketing calls and deleting unsolicited email.

What’s more, those of us following a household budget will be unnecessarily tempted by catalogs for clothing, furniture, and housewares. If we really need something, we would benefit much more from comparison-shopping anyway.

Pre-approved applications for credit and intrusive phone salespeople requesting our personal information also pose great opportunities for identity thieves.

All in all, to save paper, time, money and your credit record, it’s smart to reduce unwanted solicitations. The consumer credit counselors at our Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) suggest how to do so.

Telephone solicitations

• Register your home and cell numbers online at the Federal Trade Commission’s national “Do Not Call” Registry or call 888-382-1222.
• The following states maintain their own do not calls lists. (Residents can join both the national and state registries.)
  
  • Colorado
  • Florida
  • Indiana
  • Louisiana
  • Massachusetts
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming
  
  
• Companies you’ve bought from in the past, associations, charities and political organizations can continue to call. When they do, just ask each to add you to their do not call list.

Junk Mail

“Opt-out” of receiving offers for credit, catalogs, magazines or other mail (for donations, cable and phone ads, retail offers, etc.) with the Direct Mail Association.

• Remove your name from mailing lists compiled by the credit reporting services Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion by calling 888-5-OPT-OUT or visiting www.optoutprescreen.com.
• Directly opt-out of the databases of some of the largest mass marketers in the business:
  Publishers Clearing House (by email)
  Valpak
  Acxiom
  RedPlum
  Epsilon
  
• To eliminate any other unwanted mail, write directly to the sender of each piece. Consider using a sample letter from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse or write your own.
• Envelopes with “Return Postage Guaranteed” or “Address Correction Requested” on them may be returned if you write "Unsolicited Mail-Return to Sender" on them put them back for the mail carrier to pick up. If you open it and find a postage-paid return envelope inside, use it to send the inquiry back to them with a request to remove you from their mailing list (include the mailing label they sent to you).
• Contact your credit card companies, mortgage company, cable company, frequent flyer programs, and any other groups (including non-profits) of which you are a customer and request a “privacy designation” on your name, address and phone number.

E-mail Spam

• Make sure to activate the junk e-mail or spam filters are in your email program and with your provider.
• Limit where you post your e-mail address. Avoid posting it on public Web sites, and remove your e-mail address from your personal site. If you must use it, spell it out, don’t link it.
• Block images from showing in HTML-formatted messages.
• Use one e-mail account for your family and friends and another for subscribing to newsletters, ordering online, or requesting information.
• Unless you’re very familiar with the source of e-mails, don’t reply to spam, even to request that your name be removed.

To prevent having your name sold to advertisers in the first place, consider using quick junkmail notes when you make donations, mail-order purchases or renew subscriptions. Also, stay clear of product warranty or “registration cards” and surveys.

Taking the steps outlined above will help you gain control over your time and your spending.

If direct marketers have lured you in the past and you’re facing unmanageable credit card debt, our non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling Service provides no-cost debt counseling. Call 888-656-CCCS or get started now.

1 and 2: ForestEthics