Reduce home-equity advertising while keeping statements

Separate the offer from the account

1. Check that the piece is a promotion, such as an invitation to apply, a rate or credit-line pitch, or a mailer with a reply card.
2. Keep statements and notices about accounts you hold in your usual file. They are not part of this request.
3. Contact the bank through a route you already trust, such as its official website or the contact listed on an existing account document. Do not use a number printed on the promotion.
4. Name the product line, home-equity promotions, and ask the bank to stop mailing that advertising to your address.
5. Say that account communications should continue unchanged, then write down the date and the route you used.

Existing customers can still ask

Being the bank's customer does not stop you from asking it to limit its advertising. You cannot tell from the mailer how the bank separates marketing from account mail, so name the promotion in your request and ask the bank which mail the change covers.

You do not need to close an account or change a loan to reduce marketing. If a piece claims a connection to your mortgage, check that claim through a contact you already use before you act on it. This page does not advise on whether to take any home-equity product.

Match later pieces to your request

If another home-equity mailer arrives, reply with its date and description and refer to your earlier request. If the bank's reply mentions email or other channels, read what it says about each one. Do not assume a postal change covers email, or the reverse. Mail about a different product from the same bank, such as a card offer, needs its own sentence in a follow-up.

Official sources

• CFPB: After Closing
• FTC: Notice in the Mail About Your Property