Tired of all those "pre-approved" credit card applications you get in the mail? I dislike credit cards as well as all the wasted paper. I was just about to write to a company that sent me one when I noticed this little gem on the back of the application:
PRESCREEN & OPT-OUT NOTICE: If you do not want to receive prescreened offers of credit from us and other companies, call the consumer reporting agencies toll free at 1-888-5-OPTOUT; or write to:
Those are the three major credit reporting agencies, which you can get free credit reports from once per year. It’s good to check and see if who has been checking your credit and what kind of information they have on you. You can request the free credit reports here, which is linked from the Federal Trade Commission’s website.
*UPDATE* I tried calling the number, and it was awful. It was completely automated, and the robot tries to figure out your address by listening to you say (not spell) it. My last try the feminine computer voice asked, "Did you say 12011 380,000?" Which I emphatically replied "no" to, and hung up. They have the option for you to just leave the address as a message, but I have no more faith in humans to hear/spell than computers without interaction.
What I really wanted was an online opt-out, so I turned to Google. And as always, Google came through. I found an online opt-out website, which I verified as being legit due to its linkage on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website. I also found a great article from the NY Times about stopping junk mail called "Don't Call, Don't Write, Just Let Me Be" which also linked to that site.
For the online opt-out, the easiest way is to just sign up for the 5-year opt-out. They ask for your social security number and birthdate, but you don't have to give it to them. They said it may not go through without that information, but in that case I would just go the snail mail route and write letters. So far though, so good.