Tired of arriving home after a long day of work, trying to rest for a few minutes and then receiving call after call from telemarketers advertising free credit reports, magazine subscriptions, and automobile loan offers?

If you live in the USA, you can subscribe to the National Do Not Call Registry, managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Once you do, within approximately a month most telemarketers should stop calling.

Note that the FTC states that "most" telemarketing calls should be stopped. Several organizations are exempt such as politicians, charities, and survey organizations. Companies with whom you have previously done business may still call. And, quite frankly, some companies may break the law. The Registry website offers more information in the form of a consumer FAQ that goes into more detail.

National Do Not Call Registry - http://www.donotcall.gov/

Individual states may offer their own Do Not Call lists in spite of the existence of the federal program. Signing up to these lists may provide you with extra rights when you make a complaint - refer to the state websites for more details.

List of State Do-Not-Call Lists from the Direct Marketing Association - http://www.the-dma.org/government/donotcalllists.shtml

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