topic Opting Out Not Working in General Credit Topics

Opting Out Not Working

Booner72 — Wed, 23 May 2012 03:57:09 GMT

My brother opted out back when I learned about it, and a while back ( some months) he got a preapproval offer, and it had the "if you want to opt out from these offers" , so I know it must be a real preapproval.

So he opted out again.

Yesterday, he gets another preapproval from CITI.

What the heck?

Re: Opting Out Not Working

llecs — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:22:25 GMT

It doesn't necessarily mean the info came from the reports though. Maybe he has/had an existing relationship with Citi via a CC or store card. Maybe someone else sold his name and info to Citi. The latter certainly happened to DW and I while opted out. She kept getting offers from Amex and Discover, though the name used was a variant nowhere to be seen on her CRs.

"If you want to opt out from these offers" isn't indicative of a preapproval, though. In the past DW and I always got letters from creditors (opted in or out) and had that statement within the T&C somewhere. Most all of the time we were never approved when we app'd (throwback to our bad credit days). That statement means that "if you want to stop receiving our junk mail, you can opt out from us too". (paraphrased).

If all else fails have him check his CRs again to make sure it says "opt-out".

Re: Opting Out Not Working

rckstrscott — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:39:35 GMT

I am getting a small handful of offers still, but I am clearly opted out.. I even double-checked when I looked at my actual Equifax (I was checking my soft pulls haha) -- my soft-pulls have gone down by about 80 percent.. I still couple questionable ones, so I am thinking I might have some collections possibly popping off soon.. my guess is they established their pemissible purpose prior to opting out and can still snoop.

I assumed that I am on some other lists.. I think it will probably take a little time to filter out of every possible mailing list I am on..

-scott

Re: Opting Out Not Working

RobertEG — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:36:32 GMT

Yeah, the opt-out provision of FCRA 604(c) only prevents the CRAs from continuing to include your name in lists they provide. It is a limitation on the CRAs, not creditors.

It does not prevent a potential creditor who has already obtained the needed information from making a promotional offer for credit.

Re: Opting Out Not Working

marty56 — Sun, 27 May 2012 18:22:34 GMT

I got a recent pre-approval from Capitol One (yeah right) and they had a section about opting out and they basically said that any company they have a business relationship with they can provide your info to.

Re: Opting Out Not Working

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:28:59 GMT

@llecs wrote:
It doesn't necessarily mean the info came from the reports though. Maybe he has/had an existing relationship with Citi via a CC or store card. Maybe someone else sold his name and info to Citi. The latter certainly happened to DW and I while opted out. She kept getting offers from Amex and Discover, though the name used was a variant nowhere to be seen on her CRs.

"If you want to opt out from these offers" isn't indicative of a preapproval, though. In the past DW and I always got letters from creditors (opted in or out) and had that statement within the T&C somewhere. Most all of the time we were never approved when we app'd (throwback to our bad credit days). That statement means that "if you want to stop receiving our junk mail, you can opt out from us too". (paraphrased).

If all else fails have him check his CRs again to make sure it says "opt-out".

So if one opts out via optoutprescreen . com, then each CR will show "Opt-Out"?

Where can I find/confirm this statement on my reports?

Re: Opting Out Not Working

Shogun — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:33:02 GMT

Opting out doesn't necessarily get rid of all the unsolicited offers, but it cuts down on a bunch of the CC and Insurance offers.

Re: Opting Out Not Working

llecs — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:44:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@llecs wrote:
It doesn't necessarily mean the info came from the reports though. Maybe he has/had an existing relationship with Citi via a CC or store card. Maybe someone else sold his name and info to Citi. The latter certainly happened to DW and I while opted out. She kept getting offers from Amex and Discover, though the name used was a variant nowhere to be seen on her CRs.

"If you want to opt out from these offers" isn't indicative of a preapproval, though. In the past DW and I always got letters from creditors (opted in or out) and had that statement within the T&C somewhere. Most all of the time we were never approved when we app'd (throwback to our bad credit days). That statement means that "if you want to stop receiving our junk mail, you can opt out from us too". (paraphrased).

If all else fails have him check his CRs again to make sure it says "opt-out".

So if one opts out via optoutprescreen . com, then each CR will show "Opt-Out"?

Where can I find/confirm this statement on my reports?

You'll find it on your full report as purchased from the CRAs (or annualcreditreport). It's on one of the last pages after inquiries and is a one sentence mention. I shredded my old reports and can't remember what it said.

Re: Opting Out Not Working

ACsteel — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:42:13 GMT

I too am getting many cc solicitations in the mail, it's really annoying lol.

Re: Opting Out Not Working

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:49:45 GMT

@llecs wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@llecs wrote:
It doesn't necessarily mean the info came from the reports though. Maybe he has/had an existing relationship with Citi via a CC or store card. Maybe someone else sold his name and info to Citi. The latter certainly happened to DW and I while opted out. She kept getting offers from Amex and Discover, though the name used was a variant nowhere to be seen on her CRs.

"If you want to opt out from these offers" isn't indicative of a preapproval, though. In the past DW and I always got letters from creditors (opted in or out) and had that statement within the T&C somewhere. Most all of the time we were never approved when we app'd (throwback to our bad credit days). That statement means that "if you want to stop receiving our junk mail, you can opt out from us too". (paraphrased).

If all else fails have him check his CRs again to make sure it says "opt-out".

So if one opts out via optoutprescreen . com, then each CR will show "Opt-Out"?

Where can I find/confirm this statement on my reports?

You'll find it on your full report as purchased from the CRAs (or annualcreditreport). It's on one of the last pages after inquiries and is a one sentence mention. I shredded my old reports and can't remember what it said.

Okay I see it on my TU. But not on my EXperian. Does anyone know if EXperian puts the outed out of Promotional offferings statement on the EXperian report?

Re: Opting Out Not Working

llecs — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:45:06 GMT

Did you get the report from Experian.com? Did you opt out via the opt-out pre-screen URL? If you used the website (optoutprescreen ?) it should be placed on all 3 generally at the same time. If you did this more than a month ago and for sure it isn't reporting on EX as pulled from annualcreditreport ro experian.com, then it might be worth it to revisit that website and try again. I only did it once but IIRC it appeared on all 3 within 3-4 weeks.