Opting out

I'm on a mission to reduce the junk mail that I get. I figure it'll reduce the time I waste sorting through it, and help the environment at the same time. Each time I get a catalog that just gets thrown into the trash, instead of throwing it away, I put it in a little pile in my office, and when I need a break from whatever I'm doing, I'll call up the company that prints it and ask them to remove me from their mailing list.

Today I found a way to opt out of many of those pre-approved credit cards. There's a website called OptOutPrescreen that is used by the major credit reporting firms (Equifax, Experian, etc.) in the USA to remove your name from the list they give to companies wanting to send preapproved/prescreened offers of credit or insurance. This website asks for personal information, including your SSN, so instead of filling out the form blindly, I surfed to equifax.com and clicked “Contact Us”, and found a phone number for, “Opt-out of mailing lists”. On that call they referred me to the OptOutPrescreen website as an alternative method of opting out, which made me feel comfortable that the website was legit. The website uses cookies, so be sure to enable them if you want to use it.

I chose the option to permanently remove my name, which requires you to print out a simple little form, add your signature and date, and mail it in. Here's what the top of the form says:

The following is a confirmation of your Opt-Out request. In order to complete your Permanent Opt-Out election, you must print and mail the Permanent Opt-Out Election form. Please click here to print a confirmation of your Opt-Out request and the Permanent Opt-Out Election form.

In the interim, we will complete a 5 year Opt-Out request on your behalf within 5 business days. We will make your request permanent when we receive your signed Permanent Opt-Out Election form. Although your interim request becomes effective with Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion within five business days of your request, you may not see an immediate reduction in the amount of offers you receive. This is because your name may have already been provided to some companies that have not yet mailed their offers to you. You may continue to receive certain firm offers for several months.

While your name will be removed from the lists that Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion provide to businesses for the purpose of making you a firm offer of credit or insurance, you may continue to receive offers from sources that do not use Consumer Credit Reporting Companies to compile their lists.

So if you're also interested in lowering the amount of junk mail you get, take a few minutes and do this. We'll see how well it works...