There was a time when I would get so many credit card offers in a week I would have to empty my shredder at least twice weekly. The largest culprit was the Capital One “No Hassle” crew. I guess it was only no hassle if you actually owned one. One day I opened the box and removed not one but four offers from them three for me and one for my wife. I was so infuriated I actually located the home address of the actual director of marketing at Capital One and was going to start forwarding my offers to him. It took a little research but that name on the letter isn’t a real employee so don’t call and ask for them. But I digress.
The next time you get one of these offers look at it carefully as it should include the following statement:
You can choose to stop receiving “prescreened” offers of credit from this and other companies by calling toll-free 1-888-567-8688.
What they mean by prescreened is they obtained information from your credit report indicating you meet specific criteria they deem worthy of extending a sweet credit card to. That in and of itself is creepy to me, these credit card companies are poking at my credit, for a fee I am sure, without me knowing or really approving of it. Enter the toll-free number. By calling the number you will be able to prevent that poking at your credit for ever, there by eliminating, or at least drastically reducing, the number of crap credit card offers you get in the mail. Let’s walk through the steps of the call and the information you will need to get this done:
- Call the number on your offer
- Enter 1 for English then 3 to remove your name permanently
- They will ask you for your home phone number (they use it to get your name and address)
- Once they get your address they confirm your name
- Enter your SSN
- Enter your DOB
- Blammo they will remove your name for 5 years and mail you form to complete the permanent removal.
You can also complete this process online at optoutprescreen.com, where you can read about the “benefits” of getting these offers. I recommend you skip reading about the benefits and just opt out. If you need a credit card I am sure you can find plenty of suggestions on line.
This will remove your name from the Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and Transunion marketing lists where the credit card companies get their names. You could still receive some offers from people who have your name but haven’t sent out their “invites” yet, additionally you could get offers from people who get your name by some other means. I will say that this has dramatically cut down on the amount of junk in my mailbox.
Photo: (mujitra)
{ 1 comment }
Thanks for this guide – very handy stuff, especially for those who get freaked out about these offers (like when they show up on your credit report). That’s also very funny about the fake director. Nuts to that. I think those credit card guys are overdue for a version of that Verizon CEO megaphone prank.
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