No matter how many times you move, you probably find credit and insurance offers in the mail nearly every single day. Sometimes they’re easy to spot based on the company name listed on the envelope. Other times you get tricked into opening one because of some official-looking text.
Either way, it can be stressful and annoying to constantly go through the piles of prescreened offers. You have to decide which ones you actually need, then figure out how to dispose of everything else. The good news is that you don’t have to go through this cumbersome process anymore.
You can actually request to opt out of receiving the majority of prescreened credit and insurance offers, so you can eliminate the burden of analyzing stacks of mail each day. Read on to find out where all of this junk mail comes from and what you can do to stop it from arriving.
Why do you receive so many credit card offers?
Credit card companies buy information about consumers from the major credit bureaus, including Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Credit bureaus collect your financial information to help lenders and credit card companies evaluate your credit application. They also sell that same information to lenders and other creditors who want to send targeted offers to consumers.
They can tailor their prescreened credit card offers based on specific credit criteria they know about you. This includes your credit score and anything else that appears on your credit report.
Likewise, insurance companies may send you a new offer to entice you to switch policies. The process might sound like a conflict of interest. However, it’s perfectly legal according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Prescreened Offers Based on Your Credit
You might be pleasantly surprised to discover that the prescreened offers you receive are legitimately based on your credit history. This could be a positive thing if the terms are favorable, and you need a new credit card or loan.
Alternatively, you might not appreciate that your personal financial information is being used by others to make a profit, especially when it comes from you taking out new lines of credit.
Both pros and cons come with these prescreened offers, so carefully consider what is more important to you before making a decision.
Can opting out help prevent identity theft?
One of the most significant perks of opting out of credit marketing materials is preventing identity theft. It won’t be a cure-all situation, but it will help a lot.
That’s because the safest way to dispose of unwanted and unused credit and insurance offers is to shred all the corresponding paperwork. But most people don’t do that. Instead, you might just chuck the whole thing in the trash or rip it up a few times, at best.
This makes it easy for an identity thief to dig in the trash for credit card offers and fill out the information as if they were you. From there, they can open up a credit card account and enjoy spending without worrying about the bills. Why?
Because they’re attached to your credit report! And if you don’t monitor your credit report regularly, you could go months or even years without realizing that you have a fraudulent account open under your name.
Identity Theft Victims Face Months of Hassle
It can take months of bureaucratic paperwork and hassle to track down the origins of the credit card. In addition, it takes time to get all the negative information removed from your credit report.
For this reason, we suggest a minimum of two simple steps for preventing identity theft:
- Opt-out of prescreened offers.
- Check your credit report at least once a year.
Another option to prevent fraudulent credit cards from being opened in your name? Implement a credit freeze, which is now a free service through each of the credit bureaus. As a result, lenders and credit card issuers won’t be able to pull a copy of your credit report to verify applications. This can halt the approval process for would-be identity thieves.
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Best Identity Protection Services
Why You Should Consider Opting Out
In addition to preventing identity theft and all the damage that comes with it, there are other benefits to opting out of credit marketing offers. To put it plainly, junk mail is annoying, and it wastes your time. Imagine if you added up how many minutes a day you spent flipping through the mail you don’t even want.
Over a lifetime, it would end up being a huge amount of time. Plus, it creates unnecessary clutter in your house if you don’t have the chance to attend to those piles of envelopes right away. And think of all that paper and how many trees were cut down. Not to mention the money wasted on the supplies, postage, and gas to deliver each of those envelopes.
Environmental Impact
The amount of environmental and economic waste is huge. By opting out, you can save both natural and human resources while spending more of your own time doing the things you actually enjoy.
Another major advantage of opting out? You limit the amount of temptation to take out credit you don’t actually need. You might think that a new rewards credit card looks spectacular, but do you really need to be charging additional expenses? Probably not.
Opting out helps keep your credit score in check because you’re not constantly peppered with credit requests, loan offers, refinancing options, and other nuisances.
What are the disadvantages of opting out?
Receiving prescreened offers of credit and insurance in the mail can be helpful if you’re actively looking for a new credit card, loan, or insurance policy. This is especially true if you like to stay on top of the best offers.
You’ll be provided with product choices and may even be given unique offers that aren’t available to the public. According to those who send you these offers, you’ll enjoy the benefits of being able to better comparison shop. Plus, you’ll potentially receive more buying power.
It’s also helpful because you should be able to get a better idea of valid offers for your credit profile. Since the credit card issuers purchased your personal information, they have a general idea of what kind of terms and conditions you might qualify for.
There’s no guarantee of a pre-approval until you go through the formal application process. However, you can at least get a good idea of what to expect from creditors in general.
What’s the best way to find loan and credit card offers?
If you don’t want to deal with a mailbox full of prescreened offers, you can still view your pre-qualified and pre-approved credit card offers online.
You may also want to find out which offers you qualify for by taking a look at your credit report. It’s easy to do by just visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.
There you can either fill out an online form, send a written request, or call to get a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. Unfortunately, they don’t offer a free credit score, but you can find out what pieces of information are influencing it.
Free Educational Credit Scores
You can get a free educational credit score from various websites like Credit Karma. Just know that these types of credit scores use a different method than the more popular FICO score and VantageScore. So, they may not be entirely accurate.
If you want the most accurate representation, you can order a single credit score directly from FICO or VantageScore for less than $20.
Knowing your credit score helps you understand what type of credit range you’re in. Then, if you have good or excellent credit, you can shop around for prime offers from creditors.
Poor Credit Lenders
If you have average or poor credit, you may need to look for lenders and credit card companies that specialize in working with consumers who have less than perfect credit.
We make it easy by providing reviews of the best lenders for each type of credit. You can then request a pre-approval from each one to compare loan terms. You can find similar reviews for credit cards on any of the top comparison sites.
Preapprovals typically only entail a soft inquiry on your credit report. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about hurting your credit score until you actually submit an application.
How to Opt-Out of Credit and Insurance Offers
If you decide that opting out of credit bureau information sharing is the best decision for you, it’s a straightforward process.
Want to opt out of lists for pre-approved offers or direct marketing campaigns? You can remove your name from any marketing list compiled by a credit bureau by either visiting a website or making a phone call.
In fact, a single phone number and website are endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission. It has been created specifically for this purpose, so you don’t have to contact each credit bureau separately.
Opt-Out Services
Here is the information you need:
Call 1-888-5-OPTOUT or 1-888-567-8688 to opt-out by phone, or visit www.optoutprescreen.com to opt-out online.
If you prefer, you can also opt out directly through each of the credit reporting companies. You can find their contact information here.
You’ll need to provide your current name, Social Security number, address, and date of birth. Since this information is so sensitive, make sure you’re on the right website or have called the correct phone number before proceeding.
If you opt out electronically, your request is only valid for five years. However, you can opt out permanently by sending a form in through the mail, which you can find online. You can always change your mind and opt back in through the website or phone number. It takes just a few moments.
Does opting out get rid of all credit and insurance offers?
Unfortunately, opting out won’t solve all of your junk mail problems. You’ll still probably receive new offers from creditors you already do business with.
For example, your credit card company might send you an offer for an upgraded card, or your bank might attempt to get you to take out a personal loan. Of course, you can contact the creditor directly to get off their internal solicitation list, but there’s no guarantee it will work.
Other companies also send blanket credit offers even without buying your information from a credit bureau. The opt-out request gets you off the credit bureaus’ lists, not anyone with access to the White Pages.
All the same, you’ll see a noticeable reduction in the number of unsolicited offers you receive each day when you opt out, which can still be a huge relief.
How to Opt-Out of Other Types of Junk Mail and Telemarketing Phone Calls
The opt-out contact information listed above only works for offers that originate with the nationwide credit bureaus. But you still probably receive tons of other unsolicited mail as well. Don’t worry, it’s possible to help lighten the load from those advertisements as well.
You can do a five-year opt-out of mail ads by filling out the form at Direct Marketing Association (DMA). However, this only applies to companies who work with DMA, so it won’t be the absolute end to unsolicited mail. But it’s a great start to emptying your mailbox, especially when combined with the credit opt-out.
‘Do Not Call’ Services
If you receive lots of calls from telemarketers, you can also get taken off those lists as well. To do so, call 1-888-382-1222 or visit www.donotcall.gov.
You can register one or more phone numbers to be placed on the Do Not Call list. Just remember that organizations like non-profits, political campaigns, and polling firms are still allowed to call you even if you’ve filled out these forms.
It might take a few minutes to contact each of these organizations to opt out of various offers. But that time is meager compared to how long you’ll save when you eliminate the hassle of overwhelming stacks of junk mail you bring inside every single day.