<p>I thought that credit card companies were no longer allowed to send unsolicited pre-approved offers to under-21’s. I remember that when the law went into effect last winter, D stopped getting the offers. But they’ve started filling up the mailbox again.</p>
<p>I’m not a lawyer. Did I misunderstand the new law? Is there anything we can do to stop these unwelcome and (I thought) unlawful solicitations?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.optoutprescreen.com/[/url]”>http://www.optoutprescreen.com/</a></p>
<p>I got this info from googling and found this government web page:</p>
<p>[Prescreened</a> Offers of Credit and Insurance](<a href=“http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre17.shtm]Prescreened”>Prescreened Credit and Insurance Offers | Consumer Advice)</p>
<p>My 20 yr old D still gets solicitations from American Express and Discover. I thought the new law said they couldn’t issue cards to under 21’s without a cosigner, I didn’t hear anything about sending out solicitations. The pre-screened ones don’t mean instant approval, they can still deny your application. I’m not sure they are paying attention to the ages of the recipients of their solicitations.</p>
<p>The opt-out linked above has worked for H and me - we still get new offers from companies we already have cards with, but it has stopped the ones from other companies that we have no current affiliation with.</p>
<p>This also I don’t get. We do get offers from companies that we already have cards with too. Why do they want to have more accounts to manage when they already have our business? It is not like I can spend more money with more accounts, or maybe they think I can?</p>
<p>mamabear: The new law says that even if an under-21 applies, the card cannot be issued unless the applicant either has a co-signer or enough income to qualify on their own. It also prohibits the companies from sending out those pre-approved offers if they know the recipient to be under 21. The trouble is, they get these mailing lists from who knows where, and don’t waste alot of time verifying ages.</p>
<p>So this morning, I put on my best protective-mama voice and called the company. They did confirm that under-21s shouldn’t get the solicitations, and took her name off their list. The man I spoke with apologized repeatedly, especially after I told him that if she gets another offer from them, I’d contact the feds.</p>