How to Stop Pre-Approved Credit Card Offers for Good

To stop pre-approved credit card offers, submit an opt-out request through OptOutPrescreen.com, the official site run jointly by Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis. An online or phone request removes you for five years. To make the removal permanent, you also have to print the Permanent Opt-Out Election form the site generates, sign it, and mail it in. The service is free, and your right to use it comes from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.¹

The Five-Year Opt-Out

Go to OptOutPrescreen.com and choose the electronic opt-out option. One request covers all four bureaus.² If you’d rather use the phone, call 1-888-567-8688 and follow the automated prompts. Either route gives you a five-year opt-out.

The removal takes effect five business days after the bureaus receive your request.¹ Expect a few more offers to trickle in for several weeks anyway, because some lenders pulled your name before the cutoff and already have mailings on the way.³

Making the Opt-Out Permanent

An online or phone request alone only lasts five years. To stop prescreened offers indefinitely, start the request the same way, then select the permanent option. The site produces a printable Permanent Opt-Out Election form.⁴

Print it, sign it, and mail it to the address printed on the form. That physical signature is what the law requires to convert the opt-out to permanent status.¹ Once the signed form is on file, the election stays active until you decide to opt back in.

What You’ll Need to Provide

Online, by phone, or on the mailed form, you’ll be asked for four things: your full legal name, home address, Social Security number, and date of birth.⁴ Include any suffix (Junior, Senior) so the request doesn’t land on a relative’s file. If you’ve moved recently, add your previous address to help the bureaus match your record.

The Social Security number requirement makes some people hesitate. The FTC states that information submitted through OptOutPrescreen.com is encrypted and can only be used to process the opt-out.⁴ The site is run by the credit bureaus, which already hold that number.

Effect on Your Credit

Opting out does not affect your credit score or your credit history. Prescreening shows up as a soft inquiry, which never factors into your score. You can still apply for cards and loans normally after opting out; the only change is that lenders can no longer pull your name from the bureaus’ prescreening lists.²

One boundary worth knowing: a credit freeze and a prescreen opt-out are different tools. A freeze restricts access to your credit report when someone tries to open new credit, but it does not stop prescreened offers on its own. OptOutPrescreen.com is the tool for the mail.

What This Doesn’t Cover

OptOutPrescreen.com handles only prescreened credit and insurance offers. Catalogs, retail flyers, and other promotional mail come through separate channels. To reduce general marketing mail, register with DMAchoice, run by the Association of National Advertisers; it costs $8 online or $9 by mail and lasts ten years.⁵⁶⁷

Changing Your Mind Later

If you decide you want prescreened offers again, go back to OptOutPrescreen.com and use the opt-in option. It works whether your original opt-out was done online, by phone, or by mailed form.² Offers will start reaching you again once the bureaus put your name back on the prescreening lists.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
2
OptOutPrescreen.com. OptOutPrescreen.com
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can I Make Issuers Stop Sending Me Credit Card Offers in the Mail
4
Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance
5
ANA. DMAchoice Registration
6
Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
7
Federal Trade Commission. The Do Not Call Registry