I was going through a bunch of mail lastnight and I noticed that I was generating alot of shreddage from all the credit card and other personal info containing papers that were going into the shredder.

I was going to call one of the companies to request that they STOP! When, I noticed a nice little block at the botton of the application giving an 888 number to call, the friendly pre-recorded announcement gave the following URL: www.optoutprescreen.com

The page advises:

[snip] Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion, (collectively the "Consumer Credit Reporting Companies"), encourage you to make an informed decision about receiving firm (preapproved / prescreened) offers of credit or insurance. [snip]

I've gotten tired of getting offers that I need to open, review and then shred. I figure that if I want another piece of caustic plastic for my wallet I can set out and find a company that actually offers a good rate and then apply.

Now all I need is to find an optout for all the mortgage insurance offers that I've been getting. Maybe I need to read the fine print before shredding the next one...