Credit card offers and stopping junk mail

I get a lot of credit card offers. From time to time, I purchase something like a car or major appliance and will apply for a card or two offering 0% interest for a year so I can pay off the purchase over a long period of time at no extra charge. So while I find the credit card offers annoying and incredibly wasteful, I pay attention to them. money

Last week a friend asked me if I knew of any credit cards offering 0% balance transfers to finance a new refrigerator and dishwasher. Instead of going through my junk mail, I went to the interweb. After a great deal of crazy and masterful searches on the google I found the incredibly obscure yet highly useful site: money

• www.creditcards.com

I clicked on their balance transfer cards link and was able to quickly dig into the fine print to find some options with no balance transfer fees- one of three keys to using this technique without paying one cent. (The other two keys are to pay the minimum balance on time every month and pay the balance in full before the 0% ends.) v

Then I realized... "I don't need this junk mail." money

I used my mad google chops and found the Federal Trade Commission instructions for stopping unsolicited junk mail credit card offers. This page includes a number of steps to opt out of advertising abuse. The sad news about all this is that these blocks are temporary and even worse- in fine bureaucratic form- the time periods are not the same. This sadness is offset a bit by the astonishing fact, that the time periods are listed! Well except for when they are not... money

• Call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (567-8688) 2 years
  
• Write the three major credit bureaus Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion and tell them to quit sharing your info with advertisers (click the link for addresses and a form letter to use). Not clear how long this will last.
  
• The site to stop telemarketers is also included: www.donotcall.gov 5 years
  
• And lastly, the Direct Marketing Association’s information is included so you can contact them and tell them to leave you alone. 5 years

I put myself on the do not call list and immediately (well after a few weeks) noticed a almost complete end to telemarketing calls. If the credit card offers list works half as well, the Lorax will be one happy mossy, bossy man-like creature. money