Still, that’s fine with me!įinally, for those of you interested in stopping all of your junk mail, good luck! However, a good place to start might be a website called Catalog Choice. In this case, though, I was advised that it could take “several months” before I finally see the last of the credit card mail offers. If you choose the latter, however, you will need to print and mail an additional permanent opt-out election form. You can choose to opt out for five years - or even permanently. To keep those pre-approved credit card applications from clogging your mailbox: It’s as simple as that! In my case, the credit card company said it may take up to 30 days before the request becomes fully effective. Simply call your credit card company - I used the number on the back of my card - and ask them to stop mailing them to you.To stop receiving credit card courtesy checks:

It was no trouble at all and, if I can do it, you can do it too. Thankfully, the entire credit card offer opt-out process turned out to be, well, small potatoes. With that in mind I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry, and just stop their delivery altogether. If I don’t get this junk mail issue under control now I’m going to have to start investing in potato sacks, because the day won’t be far off when I’m going to need them to store all these unsolicited credit card offers. While shredding pre-approved credit card applications and courtesy checks into confetti before putting them into the trash can virtually eliminate the risk of theft, it can’t prevent a thief from stealing them while they sit in an unguarded mailbox.Or a big enough loft for that matter.Īnyway, upon looking at all those credit card offers and promotions I immediately came to two conclusions: You know, I really wanted to include in the photo all the envelopes, brochures and supporting paperwork that came with a lot of the offers, but I don’t have a wide-angle camera lens. 7 credit card courtesy check offers (16 checks in all).Īs a visual aid, here’s a photo of all those applications and courtesy checks spread out on my loft floor.1 VISA application affiliated with the American Auto Association.13 VISA applications affiliated with Marriott.4 American Express gold card applications.10 VISA applications affiliated with Southwest airlines.2 MasterCard applications affiliated with my college fraternity.Here’s a detailed breakdown of all the mail offers we’ve received over that time: Now I know what your thinking: What is the numerical equivalent of “astounding?” Um, that would be 44. The reason I bring this up is during our most recent “shredding party,” the Honeybee presented me with a plastic grocery store bag loaded up with an astounding number of nothing but credit card courtesy checks and pre-approved credit card promotions - all junk mail, of course, courtesy of the United States Post Office. It’s one of those fun little household rituals that goes a long way toward ensuring our household credit and personal accounts remain out of the hands of nefarious people tempted to dig through the trash.

Like most people concerned about identity theft, I occasionally gather up any documents with sensitive personal information I’ve accumulated over time and run them through the paper shredder.

Opt out credit card mailings