Credit, credit everywhere

August 3, 2005 2:57 AM

JunkmailFilter: How do I get credit card companies to stop sending me applications?

I usually get at least one credit card application per day in the mail, with a peak of about 5 on a single day. I have all the credit I need at this point, and I'm sick of 90% of my mail being applications for credit cards I don't want. I've started sending back the "Business Reply Mail" envelopes stuffed with the entire envelope they sent me, but this won't stop more from coming.

Is there any way to stop the torrent of mail?

posted by borkencode to Grab Bag (11 answers total)

http://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 3:06 AM on August 3, 2005

Accept them all. Course it won't help your credit rating, but eventually they'll stop.
posted by bystander at 5:27 AM on August 3, 2005

From here:

The credit bureaus offer a toll-free number that enables you to “opt-out” of having pre-approved credit offers sent to you for two years. Call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (567-8688) for more information. When you call, you’ll be asked for personal information, including your home telephone number, your name and your Social Security number. The information you provide is confidential and will be used only to process your request to opt out of receiving pre-screened offers of credit.
posted by Otis at 5:50 AM on August 3, 2005

I stopped the influx of credit card offers by letting the credit rating agencies (I called the 3 major ones) know that I didn't want my credit rating given out unless it was for a legitimate credit inquiry (i.e. one that I had solicited). This is what the credit card companies are basing their mailings on, and I haven't had any offers since.

One important point, though...I also stopped getting other financial solicitations, such as student loan consolidation offers. If these are things that you want to keep getting, you might have to try another route.
posted by elquien at 6:25 AM on August 3, 2005

Anecdotal: I called 1-888-5-OPTOUT about 6 months ago and have seen only a small drop in credit card solicitations. My wife used the webpage not long after and still gets several. The wheels of credit reporting turn slowly; perhaps elquien's method of contacting the agencies directly is more effective.
posted by zsazsa at 6:50 AM on August 3, 2005

The website that stupidcomputernickname mentioned uses an unsecured page to collect your personal information (age, address, social security #). Seems a bit fishy to me.
posted by bjork24 at 7:34 AM on August 3, 2005

There's direct contact info for the Big Three here, a link that bjork24 can trust :)
posted by phearlez at 7:52 AM on August 3, 2005

I used 1-888-5-OPTOUT about 7 months ago. I received on average 10 a week and now receive about 1 a month.

I guess it works for some people and not others.
posted by rabbitsnake at 8:57 AM on August 3, 2005

Like rabbitsnake, it worked very well for me. Although I had to call some people individually because I have a "full legal first name" and go by a different nickname, so some companies have both my names and send identical offers to "both" of us. (fake example: Rebecca and Becky - and using the OPTOUT site only stopped the "Rebecca" offers because that's the name that is associated with my SSN.)
posted by peep at 10:17 AM on August 3, 2005

The website that stupidcomputernickname mentioned uses an unsecured page to collect your personal information (age, address, social security #). Seems a bit fishy to me.

If you go in the front door you'll arrive at a secure page, and it's worth it.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:32 AM on August 3, 2005

I heard a story, it could have been here, on The Green, about this fellow who combated junk mail using the included business reply mail envelopes. Since the sender of the business reply envelope is under obligation to pay the cost of whatever gets sent back to them in their authorized envelopes, this fellow started filling the envelopes with scraps of metal or whatever heavy material he could fit in them, driving the cost of postage up and forcing the original senders to ultimately pay several dollars for every piece of junkmail they sent him. I don't recall if his strategy worked to reduce the amount of junkmail he received but there's a certain amount of satisfying justice in fighting back.

I get a lot of terrible junk about loan consolidation, credit cards, continuing education at the community college, and mortgage refinancing. Although it's a little disheartening to open the mailbox to find that nobody loves me enough to send me mail besides people who are interested in making a buck off of me (sarcasm), I've learned to block it out and just toss all of this garbage into the hefty, 30gallon, metal garbage can that I keep in my studio (and giggle as I throw it away).

As far as I know, junkmail is a nearly perpetual curse. I mean, our names are out there in massive databases and the mail is an effective way for companies to advertise to us in a personal and specific way that costs them next to nothing. All we can do is open the mailbox, tear the junkmail into confetti, throw it up in the air, and dance around in the paper snow.
posted by Jon-o at 12:41 PM on August 3, 2005