Drowning in Credit Card Offers

How many credit card offers is too many? One Chicago family of four, featured by the Chicago Tribune, received 445 credit card applications in a single year, even in the midst of a credit crisis. That’s an average of 37 credit card offers each month or just over one a day. What’s a person to do with all that mail? Credit card companies hope you fill out the applications and send them back.

Who Gets the Most Offers

Reports say that credit card companies have cut back on the overall number of credit card offers they send, but some people aren’t receiving fewer offers. Credit card companies have continued to mail offers to more attractive candidates. That includes consumers with high credit scores, high incomes, and even a company’s current customers. In the Silbar’s case (the family mentioned above) about 25% of their offers came from Chase, who they already had a credit card with.

Stopping Credit Card Junk Mail

Many companies get your name and address from the major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It’s quite possible that the credit bureaus include a measure of your credit rating in the list.  Fortunately, you can stop most credit card offers for five years, or forever, by letting the credit bureaus know you don’t want to have your information passed out. OptOutPrescreen.com lets you tell the credit bureaus to stop offering your information to credit card and even insurance companies.

Once you’ve “opted-out” it could take a few weeks or months to stop receiving credit card offers. After that, you’ll notice a dramatic decrease in the offers you receive. Don’t expect the offers to stop all together, though. Some companies will still be able to send credit card offers. That includes companies you already have accounts with and those who get your information from a source other than the credit bureaus.

You’re still eligible to apply for credit cards even though you’ve opted-out of credit card offers. You can use online credit card listing websites like ASAPCreditCard.com and CreditCards.com to find the most competitive credit cards. Or, if you have a specific credit card in mind, you can visit that issuer’s website directly.

How to “Opt-Out”

You can opt-out online by visiting www.optoutprescreen.com or by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688). Note, you’ll have to enter some secure personal information including your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth.

OptOutPrescreen.com works for mailed credit card offers. If you wish to stop phone calls from credit card companies and other telemarketers, you can include your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry.

Opting-out can be permanent, but it doesn’t have to be. You can opt-in again if you later decide you’d like to receive credit card offers. For example, if you’re on the market for a new credit card and you want to compare terms, you might “turn on” your offers, save up a few of the best, then turn them off again.

Remember that online and phone opt-outs last for five years, so if you suddenly begin receiving lots of credit card offers again, it’s likely that that your opt-out has expired. You can sign up again online or by phone.