How Can I Stop The Credit Card Offers?
Everyday millions of consumers get home from work to find a small stack of credit card offers in their mailbox. These offers, many of them from the same credit card issuers who sent you an offer last month, purport to offer you new credit cards. These are called “pre-approved offers of credit” and account for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue not for the credit card issuers…but for the credit reporting agencies.
The credit reporting agencies, in addition to selling credit reports and credit scores, sell lists of consumer names and addresses to credit card issuers so they can send you those offers. The list of consumers has been “screened” by the credit reporting agencies and meets certain minimum credit score requirements. For example, a bank can buy a list of consumers who have FICO scores greater than 650, thus eliminating very risky prospective customers.
What to do
Thankfully there is a way to have your name removed from those screened lists. And, even better news, it’s free to do so. By going to OptOutPreScreen.com you can have your name removed for 5 years or even permanently. But don’t worry, you can always opt back in if your mailbox starts having separation anxiety.
Opting out is easy, but giving out the amount of information you’ll be asked to give is going to be hard. You’ve got to provide your name, address, Social Security Number, Date of Birth and your phone number. They need this information to ensure the correct credit file has been “blocked” for screening purposes.
Some people don’t like the opting out idea because they can get a proxy of their credit scores by the offers they’re receiving. For example, if you’re getting Platinum style offers then you’ve got great credit scores. If you’re getting “classic” card offers with limits of “up to” $1,000 then your scores aren’t that great.
Just because you’ve opted out it doesn’t mean you’re going to stop getting offers. First off, your name is probably already on several pre-screened lists and you can’t get your name off of them after the list has been delivered to the lender. And, opting out just gets your name removed from screened lists sold by the credit bureaus. It doesn’t remove your name from other lists that are sold by other companies.
Finally, the website I sent you to is the legitimate unified “opt out” site sponsored by the national credit reporting agencies pursuant to Federal law. There are companies who, for a fee, will opt you out. Don’t get tempted into thinking you have to pay for this.
John Ulzheimer is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. Follow him on Twitter here.
Photo: mayhem
