For a direct marketer, nothing is infra dig as long as it gets a sale.

Washington Mutual sent Mr. Woods a scary letter. Enclosed was what looked like a bill, odd because Woods doesn’t have a WaMu account. He brought it to his wife, KT, and asked her, “What the fuck is this?”

“On initial inspection, I too got that sinking feeling…it looked exactly like a bill!” KT wrote. How were they going to pay it? Visions of coupons and soup kitchens dashed across her eyes.

Then, a closer look revealed the letter was just a loan solicitation in a cheap suit. The trickery didn’t stop there, however.

Along with the bill came a blank check. $1, $100, $1,000,000, whatever! The sky’s the limit. Pay off the national debt!.

If you cash it, the mouseprint says you agree to a loan at 3% interest. Not too shabby for zero collateral, eh? And then after the “promotional period” passes, the APR shoots up to a ruinous 25.24%.

“My husband has poor eyesight and dyslexia; although he’s a smart guy, he might not have figured out that this wasn’t a bill and who knows how many unnecessary hoops he would have had to jump through before discovering that it was just a deceptive marketing ploy.”

You stay classy, WaMu!

Scans of the fell letter, inside.

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Blank check.

Misleading letter.

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