I declined to sign the form I received through the mail with the offer.

Shortly after that I was receiving collection calls regarding a credit card I didn't know I had.  They had transferred my balance.  I was over 30-days late.  I rushed to the local store to pay as I had good credit and wanted to keep it.

The service representative I finally reached cheerfully told me that a later mailing had required that I sign a form if I did NOT want my balance transferred.

Many people, she said, thought it was junk mail and threw it away without opening it.  What did they send it in?  They refused to change the 30-day past due.

Then two months later a $69.69 charge for a travel club appeared on my "new" credit card.  I called.  They said I must have cashed the $2.50 check they'd sent and that meant I accepted the membership.

No.  I very deliberately tore that little check up because I read the conditions that stated it enrolled me in something or the other.

I don't have this cleared up yet.

Isn't this illegal at all?

Martha Scott, marthas@ccslink.com