Heaping piles of unwanted, unopened envelopes in the garbage and decidedly irritating phone calls during dinner are just two of the annoyances of the new millenium. None of the amazing technological advances we see around us seem able to stop marketers from making our lives unneccessarily cluttered. First there is the volume of landfill material that arrives in the mailbox, then there is the seemingly endless string of telephone solicitations. How do they do it? How did they know you just applied for a refinance mortgage? Is somebody leaking your sensitive information to the business sector? Is somebody selling your information? Probably not, and here are two little-known ways to eliminate the clutter.

Creative and entertaining ways of dealing with telemarketing calls at dinner time has become something of a national pasttime in America. And, it is estimated that 80% of Americans sort their mail over the garbage can! If you wait long enough, you can buy everything from a vacation to a vacuum cleaner from somebody you’ve never heard of, who either calls you or sends you mail. Not to mention the subject of email spam. Marketers are a creative bunch and their techniques for finding you can seem mysterious. It’s not mysterious at all though. Marketers simply pay your credit reporting agency to provided them with a list of possible customers. “What about my privacy?”, you ask “Can the credit agencies do that legally”? Your privacy is intact and yes, they can, are the answers to those questions.

How it works

If a solicitor wishes to purchase a list of potential customers for his or her latest and greatest product, they can do so in one of two ways. They can contact the credit agencies and request a list of people who fit certain criteria (like a minimum credit score, a certain amount of time since a bankruptcy or a recent attempt to get a mortgage). The credit agency will apply this criteria to the credit agency database of information and deliver, to the marketer, a list of folks who match. The marketer never sees your credit score or the information on your credit report. They simply know that ,if your name is on the list, you fit the criteria they used to filter the results of the credit agency’s database search.

The second technique is similar. A marketer can supply the credit reporting agencies with a list of potential customers, including their desired criteria again, and the credit agency will check each potential customer’s credit profile against the criteria. The marketer again ends up with a list of matches.

If you have ever been the recipient of a piece of mail claiming the ABC Acme Mortgage Company of Maine can offer you a superior interest rate to the one being offered by your local lender 4 days after you spoke with a loan officer in your home town, now you know how they knew! It’s not because there is a hidden microphone somewhere in your kitchen.

Some people almost relish these solicitations. My wife will not allow me to discard the sales circulars that inhabit the center of the local newspaper, and she gets a peeved look on her face when she finds unopened mail in the garbage. It baffles me, but then, so does the theory of relativity. Many of us would just as soon not have to sort through this pile of trash. I have never applied for a mortgage because of a mail piece and I seriously doubt I ever will. I like human beings. I want to be able to see the person responsible for getting me the best rate and terms.

What you can do about it

The Federal Trade Commission maintains an information web page that explains how marketing companies operate and what you can do to eliminate the clutter. Most of us have heard about the National Do Not Call List, but did you know you can also “opt out” of unwanted mail solicitations?

The Opt Out Pre-Screen website is a website allowing you to do just that. It is maintained by the credit reporting agencies. It is secure, according to the FTC. And you can add your name to the list of people who prefer an uncluttered mail box. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion collaborate to provide this service. You will need to provide detailed information to sign up, including your social security number and other data. But you can have the comfort of knowing that this site is carefully watched by the FTC. Having Big Brother watching has it’s advantages! If you would rather not trust the security of the internet, you can call 1-888-5-OPTOUT to accomplish your goal.

Another little-known resource you can take advantage of is a listing that is maintained by the Direct Marketing Association. This database will protect you from direct marketing solicitations for a period of five years. Many large, national companies are members of the Direct Marketing Association. This will not protect you from a company that is not a member, but it is a beginning. You can register online or contact them at:

Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512

If you wish to file a complaint about a company’s adverising practices, contact the Federal Trade Commission. If you would like to learn more about consumer issues and consumer rights from the FTC, click here. If you have a fraud or Identity Theft issue, you can start with the Consumer Sentinel site. It is accessed by law enforcement personel around the country. If you would like to help fight the email spam problem, you can do that through the FTC as well.

There you have it! Several different ways to de-clutter you mailbox and cut down on dinner-time phone calls. You may want to bookmark this page for future referrence. Or, you can simply visit SoundBiteBlog when you need the information and use the Search Feature at the top of each page. Isn’t it time to have a quiet dinner once again?

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