Opting out of “pre-approved” credit card offers
Some of you may already know about this, but I didn’t. The Big Three-And-A-Half* credit agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis) have a Web site where you can opt out of being on lists they sell to companies offering “firm offers of credit”, i.e. pre-approved credit-card offers. The opt-out site is at optoutprescreen.com.
This is not for general junk mail; this is just for pre-approved offers of credit and insurance. And not even all of those — just the ones that come via mailing lists sold by the big credit agencies. Still, I’ll bite.
Their Web form asks for your Social Security Number, which raised my hackles, but I did some poking around and they seem to be genuine. For example, LifeHacker speaks favorably of their site, and here’s a Wall Street Journal article that talks about them. Pretty good recommendations in my book.
There’s also a phone number: 1-888-567-8688 (1-888-5-OPTOUT). I assume it’s the same deal, with asking for your SSN and all. I used the Web form.
* Sure, everyone’s heard of the Big Three credit agencies, but Innovis? Who the heck is Innovis?
Well, whoever they are, they’ll be selling a little less of my info now…