# Join my anti-credit card campaign

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/join-my-anti-credit-card-campaign/273162>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 5, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/join-my-anti-credit-card-campaign/273162 "2004-11-05T12:39:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/join-my-anti-credit-card-campaign/273162/21 "2004-11-06T20:11:50Z")

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> [@Jadis](#):
>
> The reason you get credit card offers in the mail is because the big 3 credit companies sell your credit profile to credit card companies. Complaining to the bank that’s sending the offer won’t do much, because every time they request a new list of potential credit candidates from the credit reporting companies, your name is right back on the list. The most expeditious thing you can do to stop credit card junk mail is to simply contact the credit companies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) and opt out of having your info included in credit profiling.
> 
> Voila…no more junk mail.

Exactly. complaining about it doesn’t help, nor does sending back their junk mail. Just opt out, and bang, no more junk maiil. It’s a good idea from an identity theft perspective as well, since filling out someone else’s pre-approved credit card application and the stealing the card from their mail is one of the more common methods.

Disclaimer: I worked for Experian for more than a year… making junk mail. But I worked in the product samples division, so every day I was sending tens of thousands of people diapers, tampons, shampoo, or other cruft (mostly from Procter & Gamble).

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**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/join-my-anti-credit-card-campaign/273162/22 "2004-11-06T20:25:19Z")

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Occasionally, the government actually does work for us. If you go [here](http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/optoutalrt.htm), you’ll find a nice little article on how to opt out of pre-approved credit apps, get onto the national _do not call_ list, **and** tell direct mailers to go away.

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