Many credit card companies find potential customers by sending credit card offers in the mail to select people. The companies use the credit bureaus to find prescreened individuals who meet specific credit criteria and are likely to be approved for the card if they apply. If you do not want to receive offers, you can opt out without affecting your credit score at all.
Soft Inquiry
When a company sends you a credit offer, it usually prescreens you by accessing your credit report. However, this does not affect your credit score at all. This is because the credit-reporting companies differentiate between soft inquiries and hard inquiries. Soft inquiries are those that are not related to credit or that you do not initiate, such as prescreened credit offers. These appear on the credit report you see, but do not affect your score at all. Only hard inquiries, which are those that you initiate by applying for credit, hurt your credit score. Therefore, opting out of getting prescreened credit offers will not help your score because they weren't doing anything to your score when you were receiving them.
Remove Temptation
The only way that opting out of prescreened credit offers can help you is if you had been getting more credit than you would have if you were not receiving offers. Every time you respond to an offer and apply for a credit card, this generates a hard inquiry that lowers your credit score. In addition, the new account temporarily lowers your credit score. Therefore, if you stop getting offers and stop getting credit you don't need, that can help your score.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Although credit score is not a consideration when deciding whether to opt out, there are some other factors that come into play. Opting out reduces the clutter in your mailbox, saves paper and reduces the number of personal documents you need to shred. It also reduces the chance of identity theft due to someone stealing your mail and responding to one of the offers. However, opting out also reduces the availability of special credit card offers. Companies often send out prescreened offers that are not available to the general public. Therefore, if you are in the market for a new credit card, you will get the best offers if you stay on the mailing list.
How to Opt Out
If you are still interested in opting out of prescreened credit offers, it is a simple process. The easiest way to opt out is to go to OptOutPrescreen.com and fill out the online form to remove yourself from mailing lists for five years (see Resource). You also can opt out for five years over the phone by calling 888-567-8688. If you would like to opt out permanently, you must complete a preliminary request online and then print and mail a form to complete the process. Regardless of the method you use, you must provide your full name, Social Security number and current address.
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