Mail guides
Credit-offer controls
Separate prescreened offers from customer marketing and fraud concerns.
Check credit-offer mail controls before deployment
An active-duty alert includes removal from credit-bureau marketing lists for two years unless you ask otherwise. Check the eligibility rules on the official fraud alerts page before placing one. The alert does not stop a bank’s own customer-list promotions or ordinary catalogs, so plan those separately.
Compare a credit freeze with a prescreen opt-out
Use prescreen opt-out for unwanted firm offers based on participating credit-bureau lists. A credit freeze addresses a different problem by restricting access to your credit report. A fraud alert prompts identity checks. Those protections deserve their own decision if you are worried about credit being opened in your name.
Treat a credit offer for a child as a verification task
A credit offer in your child's name is worth checking before you throw it away. The letter alone can't tell you where the sender got the name or whether any credit record exists. Write down what the envelope shows, keep the letter at home, and follow the FTC's child identity theft guidance. A marketing removal request can wait until you know more.
Plan prescreen choices for two adults at one address
Each adult decides about prescreened offers for their own record. Sharing an address does not let one person opt out for the other. Give each adult a separate checklist, and have each person complete their own request through the official prescreen service.
Does stopping prescreened mail affect your credit score?
Prescreen inquiries do not lower your score, and opting out does not improve it, according to the official OptOutPrescreen FAQ. Choose the marketing preference because of the offers you want to receive. You can still apply for credit or insurance after opting out.
Handle bank promotions after prescreen opt-out
A prescreen opt-out covers offers based on major credit-bureau lists. It does not cover all advertising or a bank’s own customer-list marketing, so your own bank's promotions can keep arriving after you opt out. Ask that bank directly to stop mailed promotions while it keeps sending your account communications.
Choose five-year or permanent prescreen opt-out
The official prescreen opt-out service offers two choices: five years or permanent. Permanent removal has an extra requirement. You must return a signed election form. If you are not ready to sign and return that form, the five-year option is the one you can finish without it.
Review marketing mail after an extended fraud alert
An extended fraud alert includes five years off the credit bureaus’ marketing lists unless you ask otherwise. That does not cover a company’s own customer list or every other advertising source. If a credit or insurance offer arrives, identify how it was selected before treating it as a problem with the alert.
Finish a permanent prescreen request you started online
Starting the permanent option online does not complete it. Permanent removal requires returning the signed election form. To finish, find the form, check the details on it, sign it and return it the way the official instructions say.
Do you need an SSN to opt out of prescreened offers?
No. OptOutPrescreen’s official FAQ says a Social Security number or ITIN is not required to process an opt-out through its site. The service encourages providing it because it helps match the request to a credit file. Decide whether to provide that optional identifier only on the official service.
Review prescreen mail that still uses an old address
Start by writing down the exact name and address on the offer, then compare them with the details you gave the official prescreen service. A difference between the two tells you what to check next. It does not prove where the sender got your address.
Reach the prescreen opt-out without using a mailer QR code
Leave the QR code alone. On a device you trust, type consumer.ftc.gov into the browser and open the FTC page on prescreened offers for credit and insurance. That page points to the official opt-out service. You then reach it by a route you chose, instead of one printed by an unfamiliar sender.
Find the official route to receive prescreened offers again
The official service offers Opt-In for people who previously opted out and want to be eligible for firm offers again. Use that option on OptOutPrescreen. Rejoining a marketing list is separate from applying for a credit card, loan or insurance policy.