How to Stop Credit Card Offer Junk Mail

You have already been approved!

If there's a credit crunch going on, no one has told the card issuers at Chase, Bank of America, and every other lender on the planet. Credit card offers continue to roll in to the Null casa at a record clip, complete with courtesy checks, zero-interest balance transfers, and unbelievable introductory rates that I can't afford to miss.

Only I have plenty of credit cards (including two from one bank that keeps sending junk mail), and if I need a new one, I can track down an application myself.

But preapproved credit card offers aren't just junk mail, they are also major financial risks: Identity thieves and credit scammers love to get their mitts on these things, fill them out for you, and start running up the bills. These offers have to be shredded regularly in order to protect yourself... but wouldn't it be better simply not to receive them at all?

Good news: OptOutPrescreen.com is an official service letting you stop credit card offers cold. Much like AnnualCreditReport.com and DoNotCall.gov, this website is officially sanctioned to help eliminate these offers. Opting out is a simple matter. You can opt out for five years (by filling out the web form) or permanently (if you mail in a paper form), but all it takes is a simple name, address, date of birth, and SSN (the latter two are optional, but recommended for reasons explained on the site) to get the job done, whichever method you choose. What better way do you have to spend the next 60 seconds?

The catch is that it can take weeks for the offers to stop, but eventually they should trickle to a halt. Happy unsubscribing!

UPDATE: If you're uncomfortable with the web form, you can opt-out via telephone by calling 1-888-5-OPT-OUT instead. 

RELATED: GreenDimes Helps Eliminate Junk Mail 

MORE: The debate over OptOutPrescreen's legitimacy continues here...

ALSO: For those who advocate sending back business reply envelopes filled with trash in protest, this doesn't really work.