Yesss! I'm Preapproved!

Sick of getting those credit card solicitation in the mail?

Head over to optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-567-8688. Tell them politely that you’re no longer interested and want to see other people. It’s best for the relationship.

You have the choice of:

  • Opt-Out and have a long break of 5 years.
  • Opt-Out permanently, since the relationship was dead 3 years ago.
  • Opt-In. Maybe you reconsidered and figured it’s not so bad.

But wait, the point of this post isn’t to tell you to opt-out. For a lot of people, there is a very valid reason to not opt-out.

FACT: Some of the juiciest credit card offers are only available if you’re opt-in.

If you have Hercules-like credit score and history, and you’re interested in receiving some pretty nifty credit card offers, you really should stay opt-in. Low prime rate cards, insanely high credit-limit, and lengthy promotional rate period—these offers are out there, but many of them are not available to the general public.

Even if you don’t have superb credit score and history, staying opt-in may be to your advantage, especially if you’re in the market for new credit cards. Although pre-approve hardly means you qualify for the credit card offer, having a gauge of what type of cards you may qualify can help a lot when your credit’s not so good. Receiving hundreds of credit card offers can also help you gauge your credit rating in the eyes of lenders. As your history and score improve, the types and amount of offers you receive will definitely vary.

Having said all that, here are some reasons to Opt-Out:

  • You’re incredibly persuadable and apply to credit card offers like it’s free cookie.
  • You may not be savvy enough (yet) to distinguishing between bad and good offers.
  • You base your credit worthiness on the amount of offers you get.
  • You’ve gone through three shredders to shred these card offers.
  • The amount of junk mail you get toppled your mail box.
  • You’re shopping for a mortgage or refinance soon and don’t enjoy refinance calls.
  • Finally, you hate how they spell your name wrong on these offers.

Hmm. Maybe there should be a change to the title of the post.