Should I Opt Out Of Receiving Promotional Credit Card Offers?

I often read on forums such as myFICO & credit boards that I should opt out of receiving credit card offers. Is this true, or would I be better off staying opted in?

David via e-mail

Everybody is opted in by default, there are pros & cons to opting out (or staying opted in). We’ve briefly outlined them below:

Pros of opting out:

  • You’ll no longer receive a whole heap of spam mail outs advertising crappy credit card offers and wasting paper.
  • Might be easier to get negative trade lines removed. The thought behind this is that credit bureaus make money by selling your personal information, because they can no longer sell this information that want to send you pre-approval or promotional mail outs they might be more likely to remove negative trade lines from your credit report if your trying to repair your credit. I’ve seen only anecdotal evidence that this is the case and I think this is more confirmation bias rather than any truth behind it, I think this is a popular theory because it sounds like the type of thing an evil corporation would actually do. My opinion is in reality they would be far too worried about any legal recourse to do this, plus if they no longer getting paid then why would they be more likely to help you out?

Cons of opting out:

  • You will no longer be able to see credit cards that you are pre-approved for.
  • You will no longer be able to receive some targeted sign up bonuses.

Final thoughts

To give you some indication, I am opted in for these offers. I think being able to be targeted for offers outweighs receiving all the crappy offers, although I hate the negative environmental impact. I wish they could all just be sent to my e-mail address instead (well, a sub section of my e-mail).

If you’re trying to repair your credit (and it seems like you might be if you’re on those two forums) then I’d probably opt out. That’s for two reasons:

  • You won’t be tempted to apply for new credit cards
  • It might be easier to get negative trade lines removed

Like I said, I don’t buy into that old wives tale but it might be right. Thanks for the question, if you want to opt out you can learn how to do so here.

If anybody else has any questions then feel free to ask us in the comments or by contacting us directly. We will answer as many as we can and if particularly like your question we will answer it with a bit more detail on the website.

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4 Comments
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Rapid Travel Chai
Rapid Travel Chai (@guest_66057)
January 27, 2015 16:36

Freezing Experian each time they send me a letter that I have been opted out of offers.

Hank
Hank (@guest_62010)
January 17, 2015 18:01

years ago I opted out of amex due to id fraud, before I was enlightened to the benefits of miles & points. How do I opt back in to amex?

dojo
dojo (@guest_61962)
January 17, 2015 15:15

I usually opt out of ANYTHING. There’s nothing I hate more than receiving ‘spam’. If I need something, I can do my own research and find the best solutions. Sure, if the pros outweigh the cons in your case, then being in the loop clearly makes a lot of sense.