If youre like me, you receive about a billion pre-approved credit card offers in the mail each week. If so, youve probably asked yourself Where do these come from and how can I make them go away? The bad news: It is common practice for the three credit repositories (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) to compile and resell consumer data to marketers. In fact, they make a lot of money sharing our names, addresses and other demographic information. The ironic thing about these pre-approved offers is that the marketers do not know enough about you or your credit to approve you without a full application – so youre not really pre-approved after all. The good news: You can remove your name from all of this. Under Federal law you have the right to opt-out from all pre-screened offers by calling (888) 567-8688 or going online to optoutprescreen. A 1996 amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act required that the credit bureaus provide an opt-out opportunity for consumers who do not want their names and addresses sold to credit grantors for solicitations. Consumers can and should take advantage of the right. If you arent tired of shredding pre-approved credit card offers and dont mind having your personal information shared with third parties, there is another reason to opt-out of prescreened offers: identity theft. Imagine a pre-approved credit card offer going to a previous address, whose hands is this application falling into? Eliminating the risk can stop ID theft before it starts. You can go onto the FTC website for further information about opting out at ftc.gov. By opting out you will no longer receive pre-approved credit offers. If you are interested in learning more about how the credit game works and how you can maximize your credit scores, I recommend picking up a copy of The Credit Road Map at Amazon or TheCreditRoadMap. I hope you have found this information useful and informative. If I can ever be of service to you or your friends/family, please don’t hesitate to contact me anytime.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 05:22:09 +0000
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