The Federal Trade Commission recently required credit companies and the major crediting agencies to provide easy ways for consumers to opt out of unsolicited mailings. View the press release.
You can stop Equifax and the other crediting agencies from selling your information to credit card companies and other lenders by phone at (1-888-5-OPTOUT), or you can fill out a very short online form here.
You can also put yourself on a 5-year opt out list from the Direct Marketing Association, another company that provides your information to companies. The online form costs $5, but you can also mail it in for free. I think this one takes a few months to go into effect, so do it now! This site also includes a link for the Federal Do-Not-Call registry, which allows you to simply and easily remove your name from unsolicited telemarketing sales calls (but not market research surveys). Click here to view all of these options.
In addition to being less annoying, I would guess it is probably safer to not have your private information being sold left and right. Unless you really want the offers, it might be a good idea to opt out from everything. You can always search for offers when you would like them. Credit card companies certainly won't mind giving you the introductory promotion if you are promising them your business.
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2 comments:
and do it b/c it's good for the environment! so much of that paper is wasted and not recycled.
good point! :)
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