Did You Know That OptOutPrescreen.com Was a Thing?

Photo credit: Alan Levine, CC BY 2.0.

The newest episode of Gaby Dunn’s “Bad With Money” is all about credit cards: how to use them, how not to use them, the fact that Victoria’s Secret makes more money issuing store credit cards than it does selling bras. (I suspect other retailers may as well, but they used Victoria’s Secret as an example.)

The episode also introduced me to OptOutPrescreen.com, “the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website to accept and process requests from consumers to Opt-In and Opt-Out of firm offers of credit and insurance.”

And yes, it’s legitimate. Here’s proof from the FTC:

If you decide that you don’t want to receive prescreened offers of credit and insurance, you have two choices: You can opt out of receiving them for five years or opt out of receiving them permanently.

To opt out for five years: Call toll-free 1–888–5-OPT-OUT (1–888–567–8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. The phone number and website are operated by the major consumer reporting companies.

To opt out permanently: You may begin the permanent Opt-Out process online at www.optoutprescreen.com. To complete your request, you must return the signed Permanent Opt-Out Election form, which will be provided after you initiate your online request.

I chose to opt-out for five years, because that was the one that didn’t require me to print and mail something. It took me under a minute to fill in my name, address, DOB, and SSN (plus a captcha) and that was it.

If I ever decide I want prescreened credit and insurance offers, I can always visit OptOutPrescreen.com and opt back in again.

Did everyone else already know about this, or are a bunch of you going to opt out of credit card and insurance offers this afternoon?

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