Can signing up at optoutprescreen.com improve my credit score?
If I had a business and was able to claim a feature, I would. It's simple marketing. If in fact, opting out helped your score, the site would promote that feature.  Soft pulls for prescreened offers are not counted. No more than my constant peek at my score through Credit Karma. Opt out, if you wish.  The benefit of course is less mail, which saves trees. Less risk of identity theft, someone can take the application and try to forge from there. Less risk of an infected paper cut opening this mail (don't ask.) I am a compulsive mail shredder, so I peek and these and shred. A year ago I received an offer of $30,000 zero interest, max transfer fee $50. I sent the entire sum to my 5% mortgage. Now I refinanced and paying that back. It saved me $1500 over the year. Too much trouble for some, but how long does it take to make $1500? For 40% of this country's families, that's a week's pay. The monthly extra bill didn't bother me. This last paragraph is an anecdote, not so much addressing question. I did that first. Sounds like a case of false causality.  If somebody is taking the time to sign up at opt out sites, then that same person is probably making other smart decisions with their credit, causing scores to rise. Optoutprescreen.com does not help your score, the other actions taken might.  People seeing different results can probably be tied to the timeframe they signed up.  People who signed up then took care of their credit vs. people whose credit was already good and then signed up. A 10 pt bounce one way or the other is not significant. Some credit checks are ignored as part of the scoring process. Some companies will pull your info, to make sure you haven't become a risk. Others will inquire before they send you an offer. Since you didn't initiate the inquiry it can't impact your score. Unsolicited credit checks like that don't affect your credit score. Those checks only count if they result from you applying for credit somewhere. So No. "If you are the type of person that gets drawn in to ""suspect"" offers, then it is conceivable that if you are not signing the services offered your credit would be improved as your long term credit strengthens and the number of new lines of credit are reduced. But if you just throw it all away anyway then it is unlikely to help improve your score.  But there is no direct impact on your credit score."
"I wrote How Old is Your Credit Card? some time ago. The answer is yes, this helps the credit score, but this factor, age of accounts, is pretty minimal. Grabbing deals, as you did, I'm actually down to a ""C"" for this part of my score, but still maintain a 770 score." Credit Score is rather misleading, each provider of credit uses their own system to decide if they wish to lend to you.   They will also not tell you how the combine all the factoring together. Closing unused account is good, as it reduced the risk of identity theft and you have less paperwork to deal with. It looks good if a company that knows you will agrees to give you more credit, as clearly they think you are a good risk. Having more total credit allowed on account is bad, as you may use it and not be able to pay all your bills. Using all your credit is bad, as it looks like you are not in control. Using a “pay day lender” is VERY bad, as only people that are out of control do so. Credit cards should be used for short term credit paying them off in full most months, but it is OK to take advantage of some interest free credit. This is a good idea, but it will barely affect your credit score at all.  Credit cards, while a good tool to use for giving a minor boost to your credit score and for purchasing things while also building up rewards with those purchases, aren't very good for building credit.   This is because when banks calculate your credit report, they look at your long-term credit history, and weigh larger, longer-term debt much higher than short-term debt that you pay off right away.  While having your credit card is better than nothing, it's a relatively small drop in the pond when it comes to credit.   I would still recommend getting a credit card though - it will, if you haven't already started paying off a debt like a student or car loan, give you a credit identity and rewards depending on the credit card you choose.  But if you do, do not ever let yourself fall into delinquency.  Failing to pay off loans will damage your credit score.  So if you do plan to get a credit card, it is much better to do as you've said and pay it all off as soon as possible.   Edit:  In addition to the above, using a credit card has the added benefit of having greater security over Debit cards, and ensures that your own money won't be stolen (though you will still have to report a fraudulent charge). From what I have heard on Clark Howard if you pay your balance off before the statement's closing date it will help your utilization score.  He has had callers confirm this but I don't have first hand knowledge for this to be true.   Also this will take two months to make the difference.  So it will be boarder line if you will get the benefit in time.   Sign up for credit karma if you like.  You can get suggestions on how to help your score. "First of all, whatever you do, DON'T PAY!  Credit reporting agencies operate on aged records, and paying it now will most certainly not improve your score.  For example, let's say that you had an unpaid debt that was reported as a ""charge-off"" to the credit bureaus.  After, say, six months, the negative effect on your score is reduced.  It is reduced even further after a year or two, and after two years, the negative effect on your score is negligible. Now, say you were to pay the debt after the two years.  This would ""refresh"" the record, and show as a ""paid charge-off"".  Sure, now it shows as paid, but it also shows the date of the record as being today, which increases the effect on your credit drastically.  In other words, you would have just shot yourself in the foot, big-time. As others have noted, the best option is to dispute the item.  If, for some reason, it isn't removed, you are allowed to submit an annotation to the item, explaining your side of the story.  Anyone pulling your credit record would see this note, which can help you in some instances.  In any case, these scam artists don't deserve your money. Finally, you should check who is the local ombusdman, and report this agent to them.  She could lose her license for such a practice." "The comments section to Dilip's reply is overflowing.  First - the OP (Graphth) is correct in that credit scoring has become a game. A series of data points that predicts default probability, but of course, offers little chance to explain why you applied for 3 loans (all refinancing to save money on home or rentals) got new credit cards (to get better rewards) and have your average time with accounts drop like a rock (well, I canceled the old cards).  The data doesn't dig that deep.  To discuss the ""Spend More With Plastic?"" phenomenon - I have no skin in the game, I don't sell credit card services. So if the answer is yes, you spend more with cards, I'll accept that. Here's my issue - The studies are all contrived. Give college students $10 cash and $10 gift cards and send them into the cafeteria. Cute, but it produces no meaningful data. I can tell you that when I give my 13yr old $20 cash, it gets spent very wisely. A $20 Starbucks card, and she's treating friends and family to lattes. No study needed, the result is immediate and obvious. Any study worth looking at would first separate the population into two groups, those who pay in full each month and those who carry a balance. Then these two groups would need to be subdivided to study their behavior if they went all cash. Not a simply survey, and not cheap to get a study of the number of people you need for meaningful data. I've read quotes where The David claimed that card users spend 10% more than cash users. While I accept that Graphth's concern is valid, that he may spend more with cards than cash, there is no study (that I can find) which correlates to a percentage result as all studies appear to be contrived with small amounts to spend.  As far as playing the game goes - I can charge gas, my cable bill, and a few other things whose dollar amounts can't change regardless. (Unless you're convinced I'll gas up and go joy-riding) Last - I'd love to see any link in the comments to a meaningful study. Quotes where conclusions are stated but no data or methodology don't add much to the discussion.  Edit - Do You Spend More with Cash or Credit? is an article by a fellow Personal Finance Blogger. His conclusion is subjective of course, but along the same path that I'm on with this analysis." "Go ahead, switch banks (and checking accounts) as often as you like. It won't affect your credit score since any credit check will be a ""soft pull"" (unless you're establishing a credit card or loan -- or overdraft protection, then it could be a ""hard pull"" that could affect your credit score). Bad karma? Hardly. Unethical? Absolutely not. You don't owe them anything. Practically speaking, it'd be easier just to switch once to a bank that has a fee structure you can live with -- as long as they don't change the rules on you." Simply staying out of debt is not a good way of getting a good credit score.  My aged aunt has never had a credit card, loan or mortgage, has always paid cash or cheque for everything, never failed to pay her utility bills on time.  Her credit score is lousy because she has never had any debts to pay off so there is no credit history data for her.  To the credit checking agencies she barely exists.  To get a good score (UK) then get a few debts and pay them off on time. By reducing your debt you will increase your borrowing capability which will only increase your credit score. But before you start worrying about your credit score as JoeTaxpayer says I would first stop paying 18+% to the bank. Equifax has a Single Use offering for $20 for their own score or $30 for the three big guy's reports.  I am a fan of Credit Karma which offers a free service that reflects the FICO score as good as any you'd pay for. Since each reporting agency can vary slightly, Credit Karma will have a score that's in the same range. And it's pretty much real time. FICO score tracks credit, not checking or savings. Unless there was a credit line attached, no impact at all. "Build your credit history by paying the credit accounts you have on time.  Review these periodically and close the ones you do not need. Ignore your score until it is time to make a large purchase.   Make decisions regarding credit on the basis of whether the debit would be better paid with cash or credit.  Not on credit score. Keep in mind that if your income is invested in your future, your money is working for you.  The income that is paying debt is working for the lenders. Mint is a financial services industry company (Intuit).  You are their product.  Intuit makes money from Mint by placing ads on the site where you visit frequently, and by gathering data about those who subscribe to their service.  They also are paid to refer you to credit card companies to ""build credit.""" Yes you did opt into it. When you applied and were approved for any loan or credit card the terms stated they would give your payment details to credit bureaus.   You didn’t explicitly give an okay to Experian but by getting that credit card or loan, well, you pretty much did opt in. You should. The impact on the credit score is small, and probably not worth the money of the annual fee. I would only change that if you plan to get a mortgage or car loan the next month - then wait until afterwards. Credit Sesame monitors your credit score for free.  My understanding is that they make their money off of credit card referrals.