Stop Credit card companies from selling your information

So the reason for this week’s blog is I was recently approved for a card that I wanted to get that gives you all sorts of points. I got all the official “disclaimers” and what made me laugh was during my approval and when the card was sent they raised the “late fee to $38.00”.

What I did like was that they provided to me and let me point out not because they are good people but they are required by law to is give me a breakdown of what they do with my information and how they sell it and how to stop them from doing most of that but of course not all of that.

That made me realize that I do not think I ever did a blog to help everyone reading this how to stop these companies or should I say limit them from “sharing our information”. As I was told by my web guy to always use “key words” (not really sure how that stuff works I will say them throughout this blog so sorry!)

As you already know I am a credit repair expert and while I hate using that term that’s what people automatically think of when they need some help with their credit in whatever form it may be.

I have been doing this for over 12 years now and always stay in the thick of it and in the trenches to see what the credit bureaus are doing and how they are “interpreting” the new laws based on case law etc… BUT back to the blog!

 

So I wanted to point out some things to the people smart enough to read this and act on it to stop not only the junk mail but the email spam and hopefully the annoying calls you get. While this is no guarantee everything will stop as it won’t, it will lower it and I do not know about you but I would prefer less people/companies to know about me who could care less about me.

What amazed me and I checked the papers on other credit card disclaimers it says on them “When you are NO LONGER our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. However you can contact us at any time to limit our sharing”.

WOW…..just WOW….. if THATS’s not a reason to do this then I do not know what will make you take out a few minutes to stop these annoying jerks.

Many banks tell you to call them to “opt-out”. But the easiest way is to call customer service and ask them for the website to opt –out of sharing your information. Some banks use their website name and add “ /privacy ”.

I would try that first so you do not have to call but the odds are you will have to call. Once you do that it may take a bit, But there are SO MANY companies out there that take and sell our information I created a list and links to help make it easier for you.

Opt out of prescreened credit & Insurance:

www.optoutprescreen.com

**Operated by the credit bureaus & only for 5 years, to do it permanently you have to sign the form. All information requested is confidential.

Telemarketing:

The odds of this are nil as I get bombarded with calls like this regardless but who knows if I would have gotten more if I didn’t do this.

www.donotcall.gov

Mail & Email:

www.DMAchoice.org

This scumbag group ( yes I said that and when you will see why) has the nerve to charge us $2.00 (told ya)for a ten year period and you can choose to decide what mail you want and don’t want. They also offer the ability to reduce your unsolicited commercial email.

NOW, is that a joke to pay them NOT to sell your info, YES, but I look at it as it’s only $2.00 but it’s your call.

JUNK MAIL:

http://www.directmail.com/mail_preference/

This will help remove your name off the thousands of mailing lists out there, not all of course but the point is to greatly reduce it.

CATALOG CHOICE:

www.catalogchoice.com

This one requires a little more work as when you get a catalog go to the site above and login to enter the senders information, it can take up to 90 days for it to get into the system and they are a nonprofit so if you want to donate a dollar or 2 then it’s your call. I would suggest saving a bunch then entering them all in at one time.

VALPAK:

http://www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm

I don’t know about you but when I get a Valpak in mail I walk it over to the recycle bin. EVERY

Once in a while I will go through it and 99% of the time I may find something I may consider using but for me personally I got rid of this, but if you have a family and are what seems to be constantly buying things you may want to keep this for any possible deals.

Valassis Direct Mail  (RED PLUM):

https://www.redplum.com/tools/direct-mail-preferences

Same thing as Valpak only in more of a magazine type lay out.

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS:

Go to the company website, typically found at the bottom of the page there is usually a FAQ section or even an OPT OUT link to click on. Let’s face it, maybe it bothers you, maybe it does not but at least you have the information now.

And we are at the end of this week’s blog…

This of course had nothing to do with credit issues or credit repair problems but one thing I have learned in the 12 years of credit education and consulting is the smart ones know a lot about a lot of things BUT are humble enough to let people know the only reason they know this much is they have just been around a long time.

ONE THING you will never see on this site is computer advice since that is one topic you do NOT want to be taking any advice on that from me.

 

Want to learn more about how credit actually works and how lenders view you? Buy my book “The Real World of Credit” on my website www.waynethecreditguy or go to www.BN.com and get the electronic version on Barnes and Nobles website!

WANT a HARD COPY in full color? Just contact me below to get one!

OR

Get a copy of your credit report and contact Wayne to review today at:

wayne@waynethecreditguy.com

 

SPECIAL NOTE:

The below article is many, many years old but shows you just HOW MUCH companies value data. And this company Epsilon Data Services is one of the vampires sucking information about our online habits, etc…. very worth the few minutes to read.

https://www.cnet.com/news/who-is-epsilon-and-why-does-it-have-my-data/