Davemuti’s Weblog

Are you aware that if you decide to accept a new credit card offered by a particular store to get a better discount or other perks that your information will be sold the next day to credit card and mortgage companies? Or if you submit your social security number to one of the online mortgage portals your information will be sold the next day. It is not directly sold by the store or the mortgage broker you applied with but part of the process to obtain your new credit card (including the no payments until next year promotions) involves the running of your social security number to check your credit to see if you qualify. And as I point out in Chapter Two of my book, Mortgages: What You Need to Know that is where the problem begins.

The next morning the three National Credit Reporting Agencies compile a target list of consumers who have had their credit pulled in the last 24 hours. That target list is then purchased by loan officers and firms that sell leads to credit card and mortgage banks. This practice stinks of invasion of privacy, unfair market practices, and would seem to be a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Unfortunately, this practice, known as “Prescreening,” is absolutely legal so you have to take action to stop this from happening to protect your privacy.

If you do not want solicitations, junk mail and phone calls from pushy loan officers or mortgage brokers “saying they have your approval” even though you do not know them you need to opt-out of being reported on these pre-screened target lists. You can do this electronically for 5 years or permanently by submitting a written request. To accomplish this, as well as eliminate most of the junk mail that comes from these target lists that are full of your personal information sold by the NCRA, simply call 1-800-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567- 8688) or logon to Opt Out Prescreen.

Additional resources for about the opt-out process can be found at The Federal Trade Commission’s Prescreening Information Pamphlet by clicking here.