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Opt Out of Credit Card Internal Marketing
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We recently received a new Privacy Notice from Citi for 2009, which looked a lot like this online form, and never really appreciated how marketing happens behind the scenes. I implicitly understood that there was some marketing involved but when it’s all spelled out in a privacy document it can be a little disconcerting because the document pretty much covers every potential type of marketing, not the ones they actually do.
For example, they talk about sharing information with other companies in the Citigroup family thought I’ve never received a solicitation from another company at Citi. They also talk about third party nonaffiliated companies, but I’ve also never received anything there (probably because I opt out of junk mail as part of our do it yourself identity theft protection)
Regardless, since we want to reduce all of our junk mail for both environment and identity theft reasons, we wanted to opt out of all this marketing. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a way to do this online (at least in the fifteen minutes I spent looking) so we can either fill out the form or call customer service. Since the form would take 30 days and a 44 cent stamp, we’ll be calling 1-888-214-0017.
Citi isn’t alone, this is a standard industry practice, here are a few more privacy statements including how to opt out of the marketing:
- American Express: Internet Privacy Statement, call the number on the back of your card
- Bank of America: Privacy Policy for Consumers, call 1-888-341-5000 to indicate your preferences.
- Capital One: Capital One Privacy and Opt-Out Notice, call 1-888-817-2970 to change your opt-out choices.
- Chase: Privacy Policy, call 1-888-868-8618 to change your options.
- Discover: Discover Card Privacy Policy, call 1-800-225-5202 to change your preferences.
If your credit card issuer isn’t on the list, just type “[credit card issuer's name] privacy policy” into Google and it should be one of the first few results. Then look for “opt-out” or “preferences” in the document, it should give you instructions on how to change your preferences.
(Photo: loopzilla)
{ 12 comments, please add your thoughts now! }Related Posts
 By Jim |
 Stumble It! Bookmark reddit.comTags: American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Credit Cards, Discover, Identity Theft Jan 04, 2010 | Read more in Personal Finance |
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If I remember correctly, Citi’s privacy phone system is fully automated. I don’t remember needing to talk to a person to opt out of all offers.
You can opt out of BoA mailings at http://bankofamerica.com/privacy
Thanks for the tip. I never thought of marketing opt outs as a way to help with identity theft.
Thanks for the info. I have to admit that, since I stopped carrying a balance on my cards, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the misc. mailings that the credit card companies send me. I see my two card companies listed here and I think I’ll call them and see what opt out options are available to me.
I’m going to look in to these opt out options. I’d really like to opt-out of those annoying credit card checks that I get all the time. I guess I’ll be calling Chase later.
Let us know! I’d love to stop receiving those “checks” as well!
I’ll be watching for your answer also. Those “checks” are easily stolen and are filling up my shredder!
Thanks in advance for a recap of your experience in getting them stopped.
I think Jim’s articles are doing more to help consumers than the stimulus plan
i am tired of credit cards’ marketing efforts..thanks for the tip
I thought I was the only one nerdy enough to read those small print privacy policies haha. Needless to say I called in and opted out.
I believe you have to do this annually???
Buying a shredder for all these “offers” was the best thing I did a few years ago. I don’t even open them.