Opting Out of Debt Marketing

Debt is the most heavily marketed product in the US today, to the detriment of American consumers. It is difficult to avoid the huge number of sales pitches that are seen and heard on TV, Radio, Internet, and through sponsorship of the arts and sporting events.

However, there are some things that you can do to keep these ‘offers’ away from you …

Opting Out

Opting out is like adding your name to the ‘do not call‘ list for telemarketing, except for credit card offers. It won’t stop everything coming your way, but it will slow the flood.

The Opt-Out Prescreen website will allow you to remove your name(s) from the lists provided by the major credit agencies. These lists are used mostly for direct marketing from credit cards and insurance companies and are the source of a lot of the dead trees that arrive in your mailbox.
There are a couple of things to know …

1. When processing your request online, the opt-out is for 5 years.
2. You can opt-out permanently through paper mail.
3. You will need to provide your Social Security Number.

BTW, I heard about this through 50 Fun Facts About Credit Cards.

Stopping Direct Marketing

Also, you can remove your name from lists used by the Direct Marketing Association here. These lists are also used to generate offers as well, although they are used less for financial services.

A couple things to understand here …

1. There is a $1 fee to use this service (online or through US Mail) which I don’t agree with.
2. Irresponsible or unethical marketers simply won’t use this mail.

Let me know if there is anything to add ….

Week 1 Homework

This lesson is titled, ‘Super Savers’ and discusses the importance of saving money and how to get the best return on your money.  This is the cornerstone of the FPU course.

The homework assigned for Week 1 is:

1. Go home and decide exactly what you consider to be an emergency, so that you will know exactly when to use your emergency fund. Also, consider what is not an emergency but might have been considered one in the past. Write both of these lists down for your own reference.
2. Fill out and be prepared to show your Basic Quickie Budget (from page 19) at the meeting for week 2. The easiest way to do this is with the tools at the FPU Member Resource Center. It will cut the time to finish this step about in half and let you focus on your budget and not crunching numbers.
3. Read Chapters 1, 2, 3, 10 in Financial Peace Revisited (it came in the kit with your materials, no need to purchase again). This is a fast and easy read, and reinforces the concepts that we are going to be using for the entire course.

Lastly, we have some additional reading on this subject, if you are interested.

01-2007 Class Schedule

Folks,

The final schedule for the Financial Peace Class is:

01/21/2007 — Super Savers

01/28/2007 — Cash Flow Planning

02/04/2007 — Relating With Money

02/11/2007 — Buying Only Big, Big Bargains

02/18/2007 — Dumping Debt

02/25/2007 — Understanding Investments

03/04/2007 — Understanding Insurance

03/11/2007 — Retirement and College Planning

03/18/2007 — Buyer Beware

03/25/2007 — Real Estate and Mortgages

04/01/2007 — Careers and Extra Jobs

No class on 04/08/2007 for Easter.

04/15/2007 — Collection Practices and Credit Bureaus

04/22/2007 — The Great Misunderstanding