Annoyed with all of the pre-approved credit card offers you receive in the mail? Not only are these offers a nuisance and a waste of resources, they are also an easy way for someone to steal your identity. If a criminal steals your mail and sends in the application, they’ve just applied for a credit card in your name!
There is an easy solution to avoid pre-approved credit card offers. Created by the four credit bureaus, OptOutPrescreen.com allows you to send in a request for removal from pre-approved credit card and insurance offers. What you have opted out of are unauthorized credit checks. These are what allow a company to prescreen you for a credit card. If you change your mind and want to opt in, you also have that option at OptOutPrescreen.com.
So what about the rest of the junk mail you get? The average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail a year—which wastes time, money, and many valuable resources—and 44% of it goes unread and winds up in a landfill. As a result, junk mail in the United States consumes 100 million trees annually, as reported by the Center for a New American Dream.
What can you do to help? Here are a couple solutions that don’t require too much effort but will leave your mailbox tidy while saving the environment.
· Register with the Direct Marketing Association to remove your name from national mailing lists. www.dmachoice.org
· Catalog Choice is a free service that will prevent you from receiving paper catalogs you don’t want. www.catalogchoice.org
· ProQuo, also a free service, allows you to remove your name from marketing lists while also giving you the option to choose which businesses can use your information. www.proquo.com
· Want to save time and protect the environment? For a fee, these two organizations will contact direct mail companies on your behalf and eliminate about 90% of your junk mail. Plus, a portion of the fee goes to a good cause.
o www.greendimes.com offers 5-year junk mail protection and will plant five trees on your behalf with the purchase of the Premium ($20) or Bundle ($36) service plan.
o www.41pounds.org, a nonprofit service, also helps eliminate junk mail for 5 years for a $41 fee—over 1/3 of the fee is donated to a nonprofit affiliate of your choice.