The unwanted solicitation of credit card and loan offers can be both an annoyance and a serious risk. While you may just want to reduce your junk mail, credit card solicitations present a far more serious problem. A credit card solicitation is proof of creditworthiness that, if lost or stolen, can result in someone else claiming to be you and receiving a credit card in your name. To prevent this type of identity theft, you can stop these unwanted solicitations from ever being sent out.
Step 1
Go to the OptOutPrescreen.com website or call 1-888-567-8688. Both the website and phone number connect you with a service that can opt you out of receiving prescreened or preapproved offers. This service is directly linked with all of the major credit bureaus, which provide data to the companies that send you offers.
Step 2
Select whether you'd like to be opted out for five years or permanently removed from prescreening offers. If you choose to opt out for five years, you can do so through the website. If you want to permanently stop these offers, you'll have to print a form and mail it in.
Step 3
Go to the Direct Marketing Association's website. Create a user name, then request that credit offers no longer be mailed to your house. Taking this action will ensure that any credit solicitors that do not consult the consumer credit reporting companies when making their solicitation lists cannot send you mail for three years.
Step 4
Monitor your mail to ensure that you do not receive any further solicitations. Your updated preferences will be submitted to the credit bureaus within five days of your request, but the offers may not stop immediately. If you continue to receive offers a month after opting out, contact the senders individually to alert them that you should not be receiving solicitations.
Tips and Warnings
- If you opt out from credit solicitations using OptOutPrescreen.com, you can always opt back in; just go to the website and re-enroll. The Direct Marketing Association website can also help you opt out of receiving catalogs, magazine offers and other promotional mailings.
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