Take away: Opt out of unwanted credit card offers at OptOutPrescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688).
Zero Debt by The Money Coach, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, is a 30 day program on reducing personal debt. Published by Advantage Press in 2009, this well done straightforward book is available via Sonoma County Library.
On day 1, “Stop the flood of credit card offers”, Lynnette reports that the Consumer Federation of America calculates over 6 billion unsolicited offers are mailed per year and that Synovate’s Mail Monitor says that in 2006 only 0.2% of these offers were accepted – a record low. The Mail Monitor web site had a different calculation – the total number of credit card solicitations world-wide in 2010 at 2.73 billion — a 96 percent increase over 2009.
Either way, that is a lot of paper being tossed in the recycling bin or, horrors, the trash!
You can opt out by visiting OptOutPrescreen.com, a centralized service that accepts and processes requests to “Opt-In” or “Opt-Out” of firm offers of credit or insurance. You can also call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688). They will ask for your name, address, social security number and date of birth.
If you are looking for a better credit card, take advantage of the credit card rating services. Lynnette suggests Credit.com. You can also do a web search on “credit card reviews” and “credit card comparisons” but read the fine print carefully.
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