SOmetimes the only solution is to take away the checkbook or re-rote the mail. Period. Not joking here, but it's a legitimate tactic.

You need to step up and be serious here. The hardest transition is that of moving from being your parents' child to acting as their parent.

Time to talk to an attorney who specializes in elder issues, get on the checking account, settle these issue right now.

Good luck, It isn't easy, but necessary.

I understand full well what you're talking about.... we are the seniors that get all this mail. Consumers Report is one our biggest offenders. I write no checks, chuck it all, but still get more than enough.

Unfortunately elderly people are from a generation that trusted people. I have to be very careful to not be too trusting.... a concept that is quite alien to me. Also, PACs are also something 'we' don't quite understand.

I agree, it may be time to take control of the checkbook... if they'll even let you. Maybe you can get them to agree to always consult you before writing any checks.

You can stop junk mail just like you stop telemarketing phone calls. I rarely get any junk mail. When I do, it is from businesses I have done business with. I call them and ask them to stop. It will all stop except for financial mail, that is for another org that charges a dollar so you have to do it by snail mail. You can find both on the internet. Also if she worries about her banking stuff, have it sent to your house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Opt out

My folks got tons of the political stuff & senior notch babies stuff, mom was in that group. I looked up a bunch of the outfits sending stuff & 1 woman is responsible for at least a dozen of these organizations. Senior Collation? I think was 1 & Americans for Seniors, names like that, I still have the list somewhere I think, but some site gave the amounts she takes in for each of the 12 names of organizations. They all sound very American or include "senior" in the name. She gets over 1 million to several million dollars a year for each organization & it is legal. The gov't said "they think she has 1 lobbyist" another site said lobbyist is her daughter but they didn't know if she ever showed up in front of Congress. Mom stopped all checks & after a couple of months the mail dropped off dramatically. This all started when she was sending a local politician checks years ago.

Westelle - I agree that your generation is too trusting. You are to be congratulated for recognizing that. It's a different world now becuase of all the technology. We all have to be more careful..

Sushipup - I let them think about it for a few days and they willingly gave up the checkbook. Yeah! They still have their credit and debit cards. I will be keeping track.

EmmaR - I opted out about 6 weeks ago. Haven't notices a difference yet. Maybe it takes more time. Thanks for your suggestion of calling but there are just too many of them at this point.

Sunnyca - very interesting! How did you trace it back to one woman? What is her name? I would like to put something on change.org to remove not for profit status from these scammers. Also thinking about contacting my congressman to see if he will help.

Thanks to all for your help!

It really worked for me. Now if I could just make ATT quit. I had their mail stopped but I stopped at their store one day and ask if they had the new system in my neighborhood and can't stop them any more.

One thing, I don't give out my email address out at the store, or on the phone and never my cell phone. Many stores will ask for it and I just tell them no--politely-- Many cards are doing rewards programs and if you read the fine print, it is basically a way to get more information from you to sell to other merchants.

It took me a long time to decide that I needed to intercept my elderly father's mail and discard the endless pleas for donations. He was writing $25 checks to every organization that asked, and after awhile the asks multiplied like rabbits. He kindheartedly could not say no, whereas I recognized that his donations were simply fueling escalated marketing.

Interestingly, he doesn't seem to miss all that junk mail. Perhaps he's even relieved not to have to deal with it.

The downside is that since he's stopped giving to all these "causes," they now inundate us with phone calls. Thank God for Caller ID.

I called ATT and got the junk mail stopped at least I hope so. It takes 2 or 3 weeks for things like that to stop. I was surprised at how nice the rep was on the phone.

When my wife's church sent a request for us to fund an ongoing monthly automatic donation from our bank account for their float in the Rose Bowl parade I said uh well I said uh uh (better not say it). :-)