Stop receiving access cheques from your credit card company

First published on August 7, 2008

Every month, mbna (MasterCard) sends me access cheques, hoping that I will pay off balances from other cards or am strapped for cash and will have other uses for them. Usually I just recycle these cheques. However, the latest batch arrived with a fridge magnet:

MBNA magnet for access cheques

I can’t even recycle the magnet (got any ideas?). Therefore, in the interest of efficiency and the environment, I stopped this once and for all. Just because you have a credit card, doesn’t mean you should be receiving anything other than your regular statements (which, for most cards, you can now receive via e-mail).

You too can call the number on the back of your credit card, speak to a customer service representative, and ask them to remove you from all direct mail and phone marketing programs.

This entry is filed under Environment and written by Peter Keung. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

8 Responses to “Stop receiving access cheques from your credit card company”

August 7th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Derek says:

I’ve been tempted to cancel my MBNA mastercard on a number of occasions simply because their marketing department is so relentless with their promotions for balance insurance, travel insurance, etc. I finally got smart a few weeks ago and told them to put me on their do not call list – so far I haven’t heard anything from them but we’ll see…

I thinking I should call them right now and let them know that if they’re planning on sending me a magnet they should reconsider if they still want me as a customer.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Leah says:

Hahaha…I got the same magnet!

That is a great tip! I’m going to make that phone call asap! I can’t stand all those stupid cheques!
August 18th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Thom says:

I might be in the minority here, but what’s so bad about a magnet?
August 19th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Bek says:

If you want to reuse the magnet, one idea is to attach a photo or something on top of the advertisement. If you have/ know any kids it’s a fun rainy day craft.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Peter says:

Thanks for the tip, Bek. I might actually do that
September 15th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Mr Montreal says:

Along the same line, any idea how to stop catalogues from tigerdirect or CAA’s travel brochures from being sent to me? Called them both, to no avail. Such a waste.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:08 am
KailuaBoy says:

Enjoyed reading your tips on controlling junk mail, so will share a tip with you and your readers. If you want to STOP junk mail, this process:
1. Deface the bar code on the junk mail you receive.
2. "x-out" your address information.
3. Circle the return mail address.
4. Write this in large letters: REFUSED
5. Place mail in the mailbox.
6. This works because the post office is required to return this to the sender and they have to pay the 1st class postage. This works especially well with catalogs, as it probably costs them $5.00 for you to send it back to them.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Mr Montreal says:

I’ll definately give it a try! Thanks!