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Comment by g051051 | Hacker News Reader

Freezing your credit means no company can get access to your credit history. If credit companies can't pre-screen you, you won't get any credit card offers.

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> If credit companies can't pre-screen you, you won't get any credit card offers.

Not necessarily true. I have a friend who had a $10k limit credit card opened by someone when their credit was frozen. The company never checked their credit because they recently had a card with them.

That's a different situation. That had nothing to do with a CRA, since the company didn't try to check his credit.

That's a great side effect. If you need a credit card you can solicit one yourself.

For anyone here that likes to earn points, AMEX physical mailers are usually the best signup bonus offers by far, and they are once per person + product so don't burn the bonus applying online for less.

Yes, exactly. I put a promotional block on my file over 20 years ago, and the number of credit card solicitations went to zero. It's never stopped me from obtaining credit whenever I wanted it, though.

Wait how do you put a block on? I'd love to stop receiving cc offers every other week.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0148-prescreened-credi...

There you go. Enjoy.

Awesome thanks!

>>If credit companies can't pre-screen you, you won't get any credit card offers.

Now I'm intrigued...

You can permanently opt-out of credit card and insurance offers via this web site:

<https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t>

That's not at all what it means, unfortunately. A credit freeze stops most hard pulls. That leaves soft pulls and pre-selected offers that can still be used to access the entirety of credit history.

You're right, and I was wrong. From the FTC FAQ:

> Does a credit freeze stop prescreened credit offers?

> No. If you want to stop getting prescreened offers of credit, call 888-5OPTOUT (888-567-8688) or go online. The phone number and website are operated by the nationwide credit reporting companies. You can opt out for five years or permanently. However, some companies send offers that are not based on prescreening, and your federal opt-out right will not stop those kinds of solicitations.

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