After a Loss, Prayers, Cards and . . . Junk Mail?

It's all part of a process intriguingly called "address hygiene." That's where a database of names and addresses is compared with a whole bunch of other data to weed out bad information. That can mean folding in the NCOA info.

One company, Anchor Computing, touts its ability to "suppress in a single pass addresses of all Federal Prisons, State Prisons, County Correctional Facilities and City Jails in the U.S." It just wouldn't do to send the Pottery Barn catalogue to prisoners.

So, what can we do? The Direct Marketing Association maintains something called the Deceased Do Not Contact List. (Get information at http://www.dmaconsumers.org and click on "Remove My Name From Those Lists.") It costs $1 via credit card to register each consumer (or former consumer).

The fee is to create a permanent record of who requested the transaction and to reduce fraud, said the DMA's Stephanie Hendricks .

We've done that. Now we'll just sit back and see if we can rest in peace.

Personal Touch

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While we're on the subject of mail: Not long ago I received a hand-addressed, stamped envelope. Inside was Jessica Cabell's business card. On the card was written, "Please call me about your account!"

There was no reason for me to think I had an account with Jessica or with her company, Metropolis Funding Inc. I get offers every other day from people wanting to help me refinance my house. But this one was intriguing. My account?

"A lot of times, they'll say it's false advertising or 'I don't have an account with you,' " said Jessica, who said she got my address through public records. "But it weeds through people who have a problem or issues with their mortgage."

What she meant by that is sometimes her card arrives after someone has coincidentally missed a few mortgage payments. The prospect calls her, afraid he's in trouble. He's relieved when Jessica tells him she's not his mortgage company -- but she'd like to be.

As for the "your account" business, what she really means is "Please call me about [possibly, hopefully, setting up] your account."

Sneaky? Jessica doesn't think so: "I'm not forcing anything on you, so there really should not be a problem."

Share your direct marketing horror stories -- or stories of any sort -- during my online chat. It's at 1 p.m. today. Go tohttp://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.