By Shannon Buggs, Houston Chronicle

Oct. 25--Sometimes the check in the mail is the worst thing you can get.

Direct marketers, credit card companies and -- worst of all -- scam artists know you don't get much mail that brings excitement or good news. So they send you what looks like a bit of financial happiness.

But be careful.

Often these checks are paper-thin deceptions worthy only of a trip through a shredder.

Here's what you should look for and destroy within seconds of opening and reading them:

Fake checks

They look like the real thing, but read the small print under the signature line or at the very bottom. You will find these words or ones like them: "Has no cash value." "Non-negotiable." Or just flat-out "Not a check."

What you have in your hands is a coupon pretending to be a check.

The retailer that sent it to you wants you to take it to a store, not a bank.

The bigger the voucher, the higher the price of the item it can be used to purchase.

Automobile dealers often use this direct marketing approach to generate interest in the vehicles on their lots.

And likely, you are not in the market or the financial position to make use of this unsolicited discount. So stop daydreaming about using it and shred it.

Real checks

Sent by your credit card issuer, these checks are actually pre-approved loan documents.

Sometimes you fill out the check to get a cash advance on your credit card.

Whenever you use a credit card, you are borrowing money to buy something and promising to pay off that purchase within a set period of time to avoid paying interest on that loan.

A cash advance allows you to borrow cash up to your unused limit without buying things at the same time. But again, you are expected to pay back that money within a certain period to limit finance charges.

Other times you can fill out the check to get a loan to pay off what you owe to another credit card company and move that entire debt to the card issuer that sent you the check.

This called a balance transfer.

Usually these check-based loans come with low- or even zero-percent interest for short periods. But often, they are not fee-free, or they lack interest-free grace periods for repayment, or they impose hefty financial penalties for missing payments.

Basically, these checks have the ability to drive your debt load higher rather than lower it.

Scam checks

Fraud artists still send letters with checks for phony lottery winnings, made-up government grants and sham business opportunities.

And folks still cash these checks, especially now when home-based technology can make them look so official.

But the federal government is not sending out stimulus checks with instructions to cash them and send a portion of the money to a third-party agency to pay taxes.

International lottery commissions are not contacting you via e-mail to help you collect winnings for a game you don't recall playing.

And the offspring of a military dictator do not know how to get in contact with you, nor do they need access to your bank account to retrieve millions of dollars.

The old wisdom remains true: If it seems too good to be true, it is.

Shannon Buggs has completed the financial planning certificate program at the University of Houston. She welcomes comments and suggestions but cannot offer specific advice about individual circumstances. Contact her at shannon.buggs@chron.com.

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