Since 1970, it's been flat-out illegal to mail actual credit cards in solicitations. It leads to fraud, identity theft and perhaps to burdensome unplanned credit card obligations. But banks wish they could do it and are always trying to get around the law.

A few years ago, some banks tried the trick of mailing phone cards with a deactivated credit card feature that could be turned on with a phone call. Even the Fed, usually no friend of the consumer, moved at its version of light-speed, under its own authority, to shut that scam down. Now, Citibank is mailing out unsolicited Citi cards to dormant Macy's card holders. In Kathy Chu's story Citi sends unrequested credit cards in USA Today, credit card expert Chi Chi Wu of the National Consumer Law Center says that the practice is

"of questionable legality. At the least, it certainly violates the spirit of why the prohibition against unsolicited cards was enacted."

It's not just Citi. This year, GE Money reissued JC Penney store cards as general-purpose MasterCards that can be used anywhere, not just at the department store. GE declined to disclose the number of cards affected.