Tuesday, January 30, 2007

PRE-APPROVED CREDIT CARD OFFERS

We are all inundated with offers of "pre-approved" credit cards, both via postal and "e" mail. The weekly offers my father receives from Capital One, both at his address and my address, is a running joke.

But it really is no joke. These constant offers are not only annoying, but they bring the potential for identity theft. All a criminal has to do is to intercept your mail and fill out one of the pre-approved applications and send it in. Then they just need to watch your mailbox for the actual credit card and when it shows up.

What can you do to stop the multitude of credit card offerings? A 1040 client of mine has informed me about the website
www.optoutprescreen.com. You can go to this site to "opt-out" of receiving these offers, similar to the way you can sign on to a "do not call" list for telephone solicitations.

The major credit card reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, Trans-Union and Innovis) are permitted to include your name on lists they sell to credit card and insurance companies. The credit card and insurance companies use the lists to send out solicitations. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FACT) you have the right to prevent the credit card reporting companies from selling your credit file information for this reason. You can go to www.optoutprescreen.com to opt-out from receiving these offerings for either five years or permanently. I would recommend you elect to opt-out permanently.

The website www.fraudguides.com reports that the “optoutprescreen” site is not a scam. The site is secure, and it is ok to provide your Social Security number, which is necessary to verify your identity. You can read more about the site at.

Electing to opt-out is not the same as signing up for a "do not mail" list for solicitations from credit card and insurance companies (which, unfortunately, does not yet exist), so it will not stop all such mail solicitations, but is should help to reduce the number.

1 comment:

Mike Davidson said...

It's an outrage that Equifax and the other credit companies can give your info to the card companies. this should be illegal.

it's rrrrreally hard to get out of these pre approved credit cards offers. I hope your method works.

We hate them and bash them at Creditor Link