Did you get your mail today? Odds are you have some credit card offers or loan consolidation pitches waiting for you. Maybe freshman year you didn’t mind the junk mail so much because, well, getting your own mail was still something of a novelty, right? But you’re older now, the novelty is long gone, and you’d rather not have all that junk in your mailbox.
Luckily, there’s an easy way to end this mailbox madness.
Read the fine print on almost any of these offers and you’ll find the magic words: “opt out.” Just call the opt-out number listed in the fine print to get your name taken off the lists that credit bureaus sell to card companies and lenders.
(Not everything’s junk mail, of course. Your current lender and credit card companies have legitimate, useful information for you, so be careful not to opt out of these mailings!)
You can do it now, online or over the phone. Go to OptOutPrescreen.com or call 1-888-567-8688 and follow the instructions.
You’ll have two options:
- Five-year opt-out – This option is less of a hassle because you can do it quickly over the phone or on the web.
- Permanent opt-out – The permanent option requires you to print, sign and mail the information you provided at the web site. Or if you are doing this over the phone, you simply have to sign and return the letter you will receive in the mail from OptOutPrescreen.com confirming your wish to be permanently removed from these lists.
Once you’ve done this, sit back and be patient. The solicitations won’t disappear overnight; the paperwork takes some time. Eventually, though, the number of credit card and consolidation offers will dwindle and you can give your paper shredder a much-needed break.
Comments (2)
genius I tell you! hahaha :) way to read my mind and the minds of many others I'm sure...day after day going to get the mail and "Oh look...ANOTHER pre-approved credit card offer! Time to take the garbage out!" Seriously it gets to be a little rediciulous if ya ask me. Thanks for the very helpful tip! :)
Posted by JGrub | January 3, 2007 7:36 PM
Posted on January 3, 2007 19:36
Very useful tip. I called the # and put in a 5-yr request. The call only took a few minutes.
Posted by Dawn | January 5, 2007 7:02 PM
Posted on January 5, 2007 19:02