Shopping harassments
We have seen this before, but as the holiday season comes in full swing we all get to deal with salespeople pushing credit cards, extended warranties and trying to gain personal data including email addresses and phone numbers. This unemployment pushing 10.2% (as of Nov 2009) the last thing any of us need is another credit card and companies pushing them is just sick. Consumers end up paying huge sums of money in the form of high percentage rates and fees that are never fully disclosed unless you read all the fine print. What does this have to do with disabilities? It turns out that the disabled are marketed to for this kind of insanity much more than able bodied consumers. They realize that most of us do not have that much left over to buy electronic toys and other goodies let alone dealing with medical bills and hour and car repairs. So the swan song of credit is pushed on us and at the same time the sales people are trying to get personal data that they do not need. For regular purchases you do not need to give out your email or phone number as they will be used to market to you. That same data is sold to affiliates that will also market to you by sending junk mail to you, spam to your inbox and phone calls asking about products and services tied to credit. We do not need this and you should watch out for it. It is hard to stay away from stores saying they have huge sales that look good selling things that you really don’t need. The more cash oriented you stay the fewer bills you need to worry about so you can deal with medical and other issues. (Source: New York Times)
If you have any credit cards open with money on them you should be trying to pay them off as soon as possible. You cannot write off credit cards and if you are on SSDI, you don’t pay income tax so there is nothing to take off anyway. Unless there is a large price item that you need like a stove or dishwasher to replace the one that broke last month, save up for what you want. There are many groups trying to say they are here to help but end up creating even more debt that you do not need. The last thing you want to do is deal with bankruptcy because things got out of hand and now you are losing everything and trying to just hang on to the house. Watch the stores that you purchase from and ask them to be taken off of their marketing as well as their affiliate list. Virtually all companies sell your personal data you give them and won’t say anything about it. That is how you get a zillion letters for credit cards and other companies that you have never done business with but somehow have your address and other personal data. That should be scary enough for someone to make sure that these companies never have access to your address or email address.
The same thing goes for buying cards that you get from various companies like Winn Dixie. These cards are supposed to save you money by cutting costs of items you purchase. In this case Winn Dixie is paying you to let them track your purchasing practices. That information is then sold to the companies that you buy products from which then start to market directly to you. It is easy to fall into this kind of trap where you think you are saving money, but instead are selling your personal data to the grocery store. There are other cards like this used by companies around the world but they work the same way – your store is not there to save you money but to make money. They do that by either raising prices or by selling your data. Remember that companies are willing to pay for your buying habits, the produts you buy, days of week you do your shopping, how yo pay for your purchase, and how many items were on sale and did the sale make you buy more of the product than you normally do.,
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