Credit Reports and “Trigger Leads”

How to Opt-Out

Have you ever applied for credit and shortly after seen an increase in telemarketing calls from other financial institutions? This is common and is a direct result of credit bureaus selling consumer information, called “trigger leads”, to companies interested in knowing who is in the market for a loan.

It has become such a big problem that federal legislation has been passed requiring the credit reporting industry set up an official site where people can Opt-Out: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

What you should know about opting out:

• It takes 5 days to g into effect.
• It’s only good for 5 years.
• If you want to opt-out permanently, you need to complete the request through hard copy US Mail (more information is available on the FAQ page).
• If you opt-out after your credit is pulled it still takes 5 days until those companies can no longer call.

If you’d like to see this process improved, we encourage you to contact your government officials to address it through legislation.