To stop getting loan offers in the mail, file a prescreening opt-out at OptOutPrescreen.com or by calling 1-888-567-8688. One request covers all four major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis — and tells them to stop selling your name to lenders who want to mail you pre-approved credit offers.1Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance The online form takes about five minutes.
Those offers aren’t random. Lenders pay the bureaus to generate lists of consumers who meet specific criteria, like a certain credit score range or an existing mortgage balance that suggests you’d qualify for refinancing. The bureaus run a “prescreening” check against your file and hand over your name and address if you match. It’s legal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act as long as the lender makes a legitimate offer of credit.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports Prescreening is a soft inquiry, so opting out does not affect your credit score.1Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance
Filing the Opt-Out
The form asks for your full legal name, current home address, and date of birth. It also asks for your Social Security number. That field isn’t required, but providing it helps the bureaus match your request to the right credit file, which matters if you have a common name or recently moved.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports – Section: Election of Consumer to Be Excluded From Lists
Prefer not to use the website? Call 1-888-567-8688 (1-888-5-OPT-OUT) and give the same information by phone. Either channel reaches all four bureaus with one request.
Five Years or Permanent
The system offers two durations, and the difference catches people off guard.
The five-year opt-out is finished when you submit the online form or complete the phone call. Nothing else is required on your end. After five years, the bureaus automatically resume selling your information unless you renew.
The permanent opt-out starts the same way, but it isn’t complete until you take an extra step. The system generates a Permanent Opt-Out Election Form that you have to print, sign by hand, and mail to the address printed on the form. Your election then stays in effect until you actively reverse it. Keep a copy of the signed form before you drop it in the mail; if a dispute ever comes up about whether you opted out, that copy is your proof.
When the Mail Actually Stops
The bureaus are required to process your request within five business days.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports – Section: Election of Consumer to Be Excluded From Lists You will still see offers trickling in for a few weeks after that, because many mailings were already printed and queued before your request hit the system. That’s normal. It does not mean the opt-out failed.
Moving or Changing Your Mind
Your opt-out is tied to your name and address. When you move, the election does not automatically follow you. The bureaus ask for your previous address if you’ve moved within the last six months, but the safest approach is to submit a new opt-out request from your new address once you’ve settled in. Otherwise, lenders pulling prescreened lists for your new ZIP code will start finding you again.
You can also reverse the opt-out at any time using the same website or phone number. That might make sense if you’re actively shopping for a mortgage or credit card and want to see competitive offers. Mailings typically resume within a few weeks after you opt back in.1Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance
Mortgage Trigger Leads
One of the most aggressive mail and phone solicitations used to happen the instant you applied for a home loan. Credit bureaus would detect the hard inquiry and sell your contact information to competing lenders within hours. Those “trigger leads” produced a wave of calls and mailers from companies you’d never heard of, sometimes designed to look like they came from your actual lender.
The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, which took effect on March 5, 2026, largely shut this down. The law amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit credit bureaus from selling mortgage trigger leads unless the requesting lender already has an existing financial relationship with you (such as holding your current mortgage or a deposit account) or you’ve specifically opted in.4Congress.gov. H.R. 2808 – Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act If you’re shopping for a home loan now, filing an OptOutPrescreen request layers additional protection on top of the new rule.
Offers From Banks You Already Use
Here is the gap that surprises people. OptOutPrescreen does not stop your own bank, credit card company, or mortgage servicer from marketing new loan products to you. A lender you already have an account with can use your transaction history to target you with loan offers, credit line increases, and balance transfer pitches without touching a prescreened list.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires these institutions to send you a privacy notice explaining how they share your data and giving you the right to opt out of certain information sharing.5Federal Trade Commission. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act The notice includes instructions, usually a phone number or mailing address. Most banks now let you adjust these preferences in your online account under a privacy or marketing menu, which is faster than calling.
Once you submit the request, federal regulations require the opt-out to remain in effect for at least five years. The lender cannot shorten that period, even by sending you a renewal notice before it expires.6eCFR. 16 CFR 680.27 – Renewal of Opt-Out You’ll need to do this separately for each financial institution where you hold an account. There is no centralized portal for lender-specific opt-outs.
What Opting Out Won’t Reach
Even after you’ve filed every request above, some mail will keep coming. Knowing what falls outside the prescreening system saves you from thinking something went wrong.
- Mail addressed to “current resident” or “occupant” isn’t tied to your name, so no opt-out database can filter it.
- Political mailings are exempt from every commercial opt-out registry and rise and fall with election cycles.
- Catalogs, donation requests, magazine pitches, and retail flyers travel on direct-marketing lists that have nothing to do with your credit file. To reduce those, register separately at DMAchoice.org, which costs $8 online and lasts 10 years. Allow about 90 days for the volume to drop.7ANA. DMAchoice Registration8ANA. Consumer Choices FAQs
- Account statements, bills, and legal notices aren’t marketing and cannot be suppressed through any service.
Loan Offers Addressed to a Deceased Family Member
Mail keeps arriving for someone who has died because marketing databases don’t automatically learn about a death. Two steps stop it. First, register the person on the Deceased Do Not Contact List through DMAchoice.org, providing their name, address, and email. The suppression is permanent.9Federal Trade Commission. How To Stop Junk Mail
Second, notify at least one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) by sending a certified copy of the death certificate along with the person’s name, Social Security number, date of birth, and date of death. Reporting to one bureau typically triggers notification to the others, and once the credit file is flagged, prescreened offers tied to that profile should stop.