Pre approved offers are one of the most annoying, paper wasting and risky ways for credit card companies to get business. There is unfortunately no law against this practice and how to stop pre approved credit offers is not necessarily widely advertised. Many people do not know that they have the option of opting out of these mailing lists and we’ll cover that here shortly.

The credit industry invests a lot of money in gathering leads to send pre approved offers to, and these lists of names and other sensitive information comes from no other sources than the credit bureaus. This is a major source of revenue for these companies.

Having consumer information widely distributed the way it is done today between credit bureaus and credit card companies is highly risky for the consumer, as it creates opportunities for identity theft. The pre approved credit card offers do not typically contain anything other than name and address of the recipient and normally a social security number is also required for the application to be processed successfully.

How identity theft happens with pre approved offers

As mentioned above your social security number is needed to complete a pre approved credit offer but savvy thieves can in most cases figure out the missing information either by researching public records or phishing for the information by contacting the targeted victim.

Another way that these pre approved offers can be dangerous is if the thief redirects your mail to another location where he can have access to your mail, the thief could have access to all your current credit card statements and bank statements as well and not just any pre approved credit card offers that may come in the mail. These are obviously very dangerous events especially if any of the mail you receive ever comes with your social security number.

Your mail doesn’t really have to be redirected, it can be stolen from you mailbox if your mailbox does not have a lock. Thieves will figure that if you’re getting pre approved credit card offers you must have a somewhat decent credit file. The best thing to do in cases like this is to get a P.O Box address and redirect your own mail there.

One other way that consumers may create possibilities for identity theft with pre approved offers is by throwing these offer letters in the trash whole. It is never wise to discard of any type of document that contains your name, address, phone number or especially your social security number. Putting these credit card offers in the trash without shredding them is simply asking for it. Identity thieves may sometimes resort to digging through trash to find any information they can use, this is commonly known as “dumpster diving“.

How to opt out of credit card offers

Credit card companies resort to these aggressive approaches to gain members in order to continue growing and sustain an escalating profit margin. However, no consideration is given to the risks they create by continuously mailing out these offers. When identity theft occurs, creditors will always hold the victim responsible for the debt until they can prove otherwise. When this occurs, it is the victim who must work to resolve this and credit card companies will not begin their own investigation until a police report is filed and an identity theft affidavit is filled out. So if identity theft results from pre approved offers addressed to you that you never asked for, you’re still responsible. That’s the bottom line.

Is there a way to stop this madness? Yes, absolutely. You have the right to opt out of credit card offers by visiting the Opt Out Pre screen site. This is the official site run by the credit bureaus where you exercise your right to put a stop to the trading of your information. You could also contact the credit bureaus directly but this is the quickest way.

There are limits to the time you can remain opted out, but if you have been the victim of identity theft then usually you can remain opted out longer. Once your period of opting out expires simply opt out again. Pre approved offers do not have to be a burden to you.