I had been talking with one of my lenders the other day about ways to help my clients improve their credit scores and he shared with me something that I thought was a great for everyone to use.

We all know that credit card companies and companies that send lines of credit screen our credit on a regular basis to see what our credit worthiness is. They do what is called a soft hit and all the credit bureau’s allow this to happen. By opting-out for each credit bureau’s, you will stop the soft hits which can help increase your credit score between 15-30 points.

The attached website https://www.optoutprescreen.com/opt_form.cgi allows you to safely opt-out of all credit soft hits. Not only will your credit score increase but you will see a decrease in junk mail because this information will be restricted. Keep in mind that creditors that you currently do business with will still have access to screen your credit but the vast majority will be locked out.

It was suggested to only do the 5 year time and not the “Permanent Opt-Out by Mail. If you do the permanent opt out it is very difficult to get this changed back if you decide you  want to receive this information in the future. This opt-out does take time to take effect. Plan on a minimum or 30 day for this to reflect on your credit scores.