Smart Credit Card Use

Every day people get "Special Offers", "Low Introductory Interest Rate", "Transfer Balances", "Deferred Payments", "Gold", "Platinum" claims and enticements from credit card companies in the mail. Many of these urge you to accept "before the offer expires." Pictures of smiling people tease you into thinking that their wonderful credit card will open up the doors of eternal happiness, make you important, and be the answer to all of your worries.

Credit cards manipulate and take advantage of people who are not aware of the pitfalls, and many times trick people who are. Remember, credit cards make money by charging you interest and fees, and also by charging the stores and companies who accept them for payment. Credit card companies are for profit and in the business to make money for themselves.

Companies that send you new credit card offers use pre-screening to identify potential customers. You are chosen for pre-screened or pre-approved offers based on information in your credit report. You also may also receive offers on the phone or internet. Credit card companies get this information from lists that the credit bureau sells and inherently don't need your permission to distribute your general information.

You may stop the majority of telephone soliciting contacting the National Do Not Call Registry. Visit www.donotcall.gov, or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number you want to register.

You can stop the credit card offers in your mailbox by calling 1-885-OPTOUT to remove your name and address from the prescreening lists used by the major credit bureaus (Trans Union, Experian and Equifax), for 5 years. www.optoutprescreen.com. This is approved by the Federal Trade Commission. You will be asked to provide your home telephone number, name, Social Security number, and date of birth. This information will be used only to process your opt out request and is kept confidential. If you have joint credit responsibilities such as your home mortgage or car loans with another adult, you both must opt-out.

If you would like to stop many other types of offers that you receive in the mail, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), has a Mail Preference Service that lets you opt out of receiving direct mail marketing for five years. This will stop mailings from any organizations that are registered with DMA only.

You may register online at www.the-dma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.html

The truth is that credit cards used wisely, can help you in many ways, but they can quickly turn into years, or even a lifetime of nightmares if they are not used correctly.