Your Mail

The Leak: Filing a permanent-change-of-address form with the U.S. Postal Service. When you declare a permanent move, the postal service passes along your new address to direct marketers (that is, junk mailers) who pay a licensing fee to use the National Change of Address database. They can update your profile in their databases to keep cluttering your mailbox with “special offers.”
The Plug: Instead, file a temporary change of address. Doing so will ensure that your mail is forwarded for 12 months — more than enough time to contact individually the people and businesses you need to receive mail from.

The Leak: Prescreened offers of credit or insurance. Identity thieves may intercept these and, with the right additional information, apply for credit under your name.
The Plug: Opt out of receiving these offers by calling 888-567-8688 or going online to www.optoutprescreen.com. With a single request, you can halt preapproved offers of credit or insurance that are based on information from the consumer credit-reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis.

The Leak: Catalog orders. You ordered one cable-knit sweater, and now your mailbox is jammed with catalogs you don’t want.
The Plug: Opt out of catalog mailing lists through Abacus, which compiles a database shared by catalog and publishing companies. To do so, write to Abacus, P.O. Box 1478, Broomfield CO 80038, or e-mail optout@abacus-direct.com. Include the full name of everyone in your house who should stop receiving unsolicited catalogs, your current address, and your previous address if you’ve moved recently.