"Opt Out" & Stopping Credit-Related Junk Mail

[DollazSense]

I read somewhere many years ago that requesting removal via the Opt-Out Prescreen actually worsens the problem. 

Has anyone experienced this?

How do you get lenders to stop sending you offers for crappy, personal loans and Credit-One-esque credit cards? I get envelopes from Republic Bank's Elastic, every other WEEK, it seems. 

I'm tired of shredding these envelopes, and I'm tired of the assault on my ego. LOL. People with great credit don't get this crap in the mail. When my score rose to the 700s in fall 2015, I began receiving product offers from well-known, more selective lenders, e.g. American Express Green Card, Citi Double Cash Card.

Hmpf!

My credit score is in the high 600s and I feel like these offers are better suited for the low 600s and below crowd. But even those people don't always want to see such offers in the mail. 

I feel like all of this started after a couple P2P lenders (Avant and Upstart) rejected my personal loan consolidation application in late 2016 and I found myself being directed to [Name of Potential MyFico Competitor Redacted by Yours Truly]. I foolishly entered some information into a website and started receiving an influx of snail mail from no-name/sky-high interest companies that reeked of predatory lending practices targeting desperate (and ill-informed) consumers. So, I don't think it's solely my credit score. For a brief period in 2012, my score dropped to the high 500s and I never received such offers.

P.S. I am aware that opting out of the prescreen offers won't allow me to use those "Pre-qualified" features online.  

[RobertEG]

Opting out will not ensure that you no longer receive unsolicited offers for credit.

It will simply remove your name from any listings obtained from a CRA of consumers who meet specified criteria.

The FCRA offers a service to potential creditors, who can submit criteria to a CRA and have the CRA scan those criteria against their files and identify consumers whose files meet the stated criteria.  It is a way for creditors to limit sending of offers to only consumers who are likely to qualify for their offer.   The listing provided by the CRA includes the name and contact address of qualifying consumers, but is prevented from including any account specific information.  The creditor can only then obtain a full credit report if the consumer bites by initiating a request for the offered credit.

If a creditor obtains your name/address from any other source, then opting out will not prevent their sending of offers for credit.

[Anonymous]

I've opted out months ago and I still recieve  pre qualified credit offers from sub prime lenders.

ALso another downside is that i cant pre-qaul on chase or citi websites because ive opted out of prescreened offers and it says it when i try to prequal

[Anonymous]

My experience with Opt-out is that I no longer receive unsolicited offers for credit as was mentioned by another poster. Suspect it may be YMMV based on where our information has percolated in the world of marketing. Always applied for credit so it did not change my life other than eliminating the unwanted marketing information.

[iced]

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@DollazSense wrote:

I read somewhere many years ago that requesting removal via the Opt-Out Prescreen actually worsens the problem. 

Has anyone experienced this?

How do you get lenders to stop sending you offers for crappy, personal loans and Credit-One-esque credit cards? I get envelopes from Republic Bank's Elastic, every other WEEK, it seems. 

I'm tired of shredding these envelopes, and I'm tired of the assault on my ego. LOL. People with great credit don't get this crap in the mail. When my score rose to the 700s in fall 2015, I began receiving product offers from well-known, more selective lenders, e.g. American Express Green Card, Citi Double Cash Card.

Hmpf!

My credit score is in the high 600s and I feel like these offers are better suited for the low 600s and below crowd. But even those people don't always want to see such offers in the mail. 

I feel like all of this started after a couple P2P lenders (Avant and Upstart) rejected my personal loan consolidation application in late 2016 and I found myself being directed to [Name of Potential MyFico Competitor Redacted by Yours Truly]. I foolishly entered some information into a website and started receiving an influx of snail mail from no-name/sky-high interest companies that reeked of predatory lending practices targeting desperate (and ill-informed) consumers. So, I don't think it's solely my credit score. For a brief period in 2012, my score dropped to the high 500s and I never received such offers.

P.S. I am aware that opting out of the prescreen offers won't allow me to use those "Pre-qualified" features online.  

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People with good credit get spammed too. You call them "offers from well-known lenders", but they're still unsolicited junk mail. I'm as annoyed at the constant American Express Platinum and Discover IT mailers as you are about Credit One or some other fly-by-night bank.

I have found that opting out is hit and miss, depending on bank - some fall off a cliff once you opt out, others just slowly trickle down but you'll continue to get junk for a while.

[DaveInAZ]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've opted out months ago and I still recieve  pre qualified credit offers from sub prime lenders.

ALso another downside is that i cant pre-qaul on chase or citi websites because ive opted out of prescreened offers and it says it when i try to prequal

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I opted out last year and the unwanted credit offers stopped within a few weeks. I carry some sizable balances on CCs, all 0% intro or BTs, and was getting a couple personal loan offers per week. Most offers had pre-qual codes and we were having a problem with mail theft in the area so that concerned me, and as I have the savings to payoff the CCs when the 0% ends I'm not very interested in paying 15% interest for a loan to pay off the 0% sooner.

Opt out does prevent you from getting offers from CC pre-qual sites, but I'm not in the market for new CCs so no loss for me. 

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've opted out months ago and I still recieve  pre qualified credit offers from sub prime lenders.

ALso another downside is that i cant pre-qaul on chase or citi websites because ive opted out of prescreened offers and it says it when i try to prequal

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I opted out last year and the unwanted credit offers stopped within a few weeks. I carry some sizable balances on CCs, all 0% intro or BTs, and was getting a couple personal loan offers per week. Most offers had pre-qual codes and we were having a problem with mail theft in the area so that concerned me, and as I have the savings to payoff the CCs when the 0% ends I'm not very interested in paying 15% interest for a loan to pay off the 0% sooner.

Opt out does prevent you from getting offers from CC pre-qual sites, but I'm not in the market for new CCs so no loss for me. 

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I'm still getting offers here and there, definatley not as much as I used to, but It's just annoying because Im mainly curious to see if I can pre-qual for chase, citi and cap one, but I cant because I opted out of offers.  I opted back in again but I know that will take a long, long time to kick back in

[DaveInAZ]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm still getting offers here and there, definatley not as much as I used to, but It's just annoying because Im mainly curious to see if I can pre-qual for chase, citi and cap one, but I cant because I opted out of offers.  I opted back in again but I know that will take a long, long time to kick back in

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Let us know how soon you can get pre-qual offers again after opting back in. I don't think it will take that long, I would guess a week or so - the opt out/in site is electronic, so the CRAs should update within a few days. Cap One is a good test case, when I tried it tells you that you have opted out of offers, others just say they can't find any offers.

[DollazSense]

Thanks for all of the tips and stories, everyone!

After reading through the replies, I think I'll just wait to see what happens when my score improves. I'm curious. I will eventually opt-out one day because I really don't need offers of any kind. I don't need to be invited to apply when I can do that on my own volition. And I have zero interest in applying for a new card while I pay off debt.

When I'm done, I'm going to close most of my average and unnecessary cards (e.g. most, if not all, Synchrony accounts and Apple Barclays, to name a few) and be VERY selective about any new cards. I'll probably apply for ONE new card for folks that have excellent credit. ;-)