Credit Card Offers in Your Mail Could Be Risky. Learn How to Stop Them Today

Those pre-approved credit card offers in your mailbox might not seem like a threat. But they are often unwanted and they contain your name and address—and often a ready-to-activate offer that can make your mail tempting to steal for identity theft. Preapprovals may also signal to burglars that you are creditworthy—and thus a potentially attractive target for theft beyond the mailbox.

Even if that risk feels remote, the more solicitations that pile up, the more opportunities there are for someone else to intercept them, submit an application in your name, or use the personal details as one more piece in a broader identity theft attempt.

The good news is you can significantly reduce the number of these offers—and most marketing mail overall—with just a few easy steps.

Step 1: Stop Prescreened Offers First 

Start by eliminating the biggest category of credit card junk mail: prescreened or pre-approved offers. Credit card issuers and other marketers get lists from data brokers and nationwide credit bureaus to make these firm offers of credit. And you can opt out of receiving them.

Start here: OptOutPrescreen is a free tool run by the major consumer reporting companies (or you can call 1‑888‑5‑OPTOUT).

You’ll generally have two choices:

1. Opt out for five years (using an online form)
2. Opt out permanently (this usually requires printing/signing a form and mailing it back)

You may wonder why you need to jump through hoops to permanently opt out. The reason is actually to protect your identity—verification is more robust when you return a signed form.

Step 2: Slow Down Marketing Mail with DMAchoice 

If you’re still receiving piles of special offers after reducing pre-screened mail, there’s another step you can take: sign up for DMAchoice.

DMAchoice is a consumer tool offered by the Association of National Advertisers that can further limit unwanted mail by stopping credit and insurance offers that are tied to credit bureaus’ pre-screen lists. It can also help stop other kinds of mail that can come from broad marketing lists.

The tool can’t guarantee you’ll stop receiving all junk mail (particularly from businesses you already patronize), but it should help reduce the overall volume.

Step 3: Seek Third-Party Help if It Keeps Coming

Even after you use these resources, some spammers may still get their junk mail through, including credit card and loan offers. In that case, you may need extra help from companies that specialize in stopping unwanted mail.

PaperKarma, for example, is one such app that automatically unsubscribes you from junk mail and unwanted catalogs, with subscriptions starting at $3.99/month or $59.99 for a lifetime. Catalog Choice is a nonprofit that offers a free service to help you opt out of certain catalogs.

Step 4: Reduce the Risk of Stolen Mail

While opting out means fewer offers appear at your doorstep, mailbox theft is still a concern. And junk mail isn’t always innocuous. Indeed, credit card offers contain not only your name and address, but may also include a unique offer code or an invitation number that can be used to start an application. In some cases they might even contain convenience checks tied to a new account, which is exactly the kind of material identity thieves look for.

A few tips to prevent mailbox theft: 

• Check and clear your mailbox daily.
• If mail is left in a common area, consider a locked mailbox.
• Enable USPS Informed Delivery so you can view daily images of incoming mail. That way, if something doesn’t show up, you’ll know quickly and can take action to contact senders, place a USPS theft report and take other appropriate steps.
• Shred or tear up credit card offers when you do receive them, and treat them like confidential financial documents.
• The USPS also offers resources specific to identity theft tied to mail and packages.

If you believe your mail is being stolen, regularly review your credit reports for unauthorized or unusual activity and consider placing a fraud alert with the credit bureaus.