About once a week for months now, I come home to a message on my answering machine from some debt-consolidation company. It's totally bogus; they tell me that they've already sent me "correspondence" about lumping all my credit-card payments together and getting a rate "as low as 1.5%".

The thing is, I don't have any debt. None. I pay my credit card bills off in full every month, I own my own car outright. I don't even have a mortgage, thanks to an inheritance from my grandparents.

So it started getting on my nerves to keep getting these calls. This time, I wrote down the number (they ALWAYS call when I am not home and leave a message; that seems to be their M.O. to keep from getting hung up on or told "put me on your no-call list") and called them. I patiently and politely explained to the woman on the other end that 1. These calls irritate me. 2. They will never make any money off me (both because I don't carry debt and because even if I did, I wouldn't use a service that cold-called me). The woman took my name and number and said she'd put me on their no call list.

We'll see if that works.