How to stop junk mail: official opt-outs and apps (2026)

What each route stops and costs

Each opt-out covers a different kind of mail, so you’ll usually need more than one. Here’s what each one does, based on the services’ own pages and the FTC’s guide.

Route	What it stops	Cost (October 2026)	How long it lasts
OptOutPrescreen.com	Prescreened credit and insurance offers	No fee listed by the FTC	5 years, or permanent with a signed form
DMAchoice.org	Catalogs, magazine offers, donation requests and retail promos from companies you haven’t dealt with	$8 online, $9 by mail	10 years
Contacting the company	Mail from companies you’ve bought from or donated to	Free	Until you buy or donate again
USPS PS Form 1500	Unwanted sexually oriented ads	No fee listed	Ongoing
PaperKarma app	Most mail addressed to you by name	$3.99 a month or $24.99 a year	While you subscribe
Catalog Choice	Catalogs and other junk mail, including for past residents	Donation-supported; check before you sign up	Varies by mailer

Stop credit card and insurance offers

Start here, because the FTC lists no fee for this opt-out. The FTC says you have two choices: opt out for five years, or opt out permanently.

For five years, go to optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688). For a permanent opt-out, you start the same way, then sign and return the Permanent Opt-Out Election form they send you. The FTC notes that the website and phone line are run by the major credit bureaus.

They’ll ask for your name and address. They’ll also ask for your Social Security number and date of birth, which the FTC says is optional, though the site says it helps them process the request. Type that on a device you trust; if you have any doubts about yours, our guide on how to check a laptop for a keylogger covers the basics.

One note: OptOutPrescreen.com only works from US internet connections. We couldn’t open it from outside the US to check its current wording, so the details above come from the FTC and DMAchoice.

Cut marketing mail with DMAchoice

DMAchoice reduces mail from companies that treat you as a prospect, meaning you’ve never bought from or donated to them. It’s run by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), a trade group, and says it has existed in some form since 1971.

You choose which kinds of mail to stop, such as catalogs, magazine offers, donation requests and retail promotions. DMAchoice estimates you’ll see an 80% reduction in that prospect mail, and says to allow 90 days because many mailings are printed well in advance. You can register up to five mailing addresses and five versions of your name in one profile, which helps when marketers misspell it.

Cost: DMAchoice’s FAQ lists $8 to register online or $9 by mail, and your preferences last 10 years. The FTC’s guide, last updated in July 2022, still says $6 and $7. Go by DMAchoice’s own page.

What it won’t stop: DMAchoice is clear about its limits. It doesn’t cover:

bills, statements and other transactional mail;
prescreened credit and insurance offers (use OptOutPrescreen);
political mail;
mail addressed to “Current Resident”;
mail from companies or charities you’ve bought from or donated to in the past two years.

DMAchoice also runs free lists for mail sent to a person who has died (the Deceased Do Not Contact List) and to a dependent in your care. The FTC says a name registered on these lists stays on the opt-out lists permanently.

Mail from companies you already deal with

Anything from a company you’ve bought from, subscribed to or donated to in the last two years has to be stopped at the source. DMAchoice says it can’t remove you from these lists.

Look for a privacy policy or “Contact us” page on the company’s website and ask to be taken off its mailing list. DMAchoice notes that some companies already offer options for receiving less mail, so check your account settings too. Charities can be the hardest, because some share or sell donor lists. PaperKarma’s own help pages warn that if a charity has sold your details to other nonprofits, getting off every list can take a while.

When you donate or order something, look for a box that says not to share your details with other organizations. That’s the cheapest fix there is.

“Current Resident” flyers and what USPS can do

Mail addressed to “Current Resident” or “Postal Customer” is the hardest to stop. Much of it is sent through USPS Every Door Direct Mail, which lets businesses send postcards, menus and flyers addressed to “Postal Customer” to every address on chosen routes. With EDDM Retail, a business can send 200 to 5,000 pieces per ZIP code per day.

Because it isn’t addressed to you by name, name-based opt-outs can’t block it. DMAchoice says its opt-out “will not work to stop EDDM mailings” and suggests asking your local Post Office whether it will honor a request. PaperKarma also says it can’t handle mail with no named recipient, or loose inserts like grocery flyers.

USPS does have a formal tool for one category. PS Form 1500 lets you get on the Postal Service’s list of people who don’t want sexually oriented advertising, or get a Prohibitory Order against a specific mailer. The form lists no fee. You take it to any Post Office, and mailers that keep sending after 30 days are in violation.

Apps that do the work for you

Apps are the shortcut for named junk mail the official routes miss. You photograph the mailer and the app sends the opt-out request.

PaperKarma. A 2013 Gadget Daily News post recommended PaperKarma when it was a free app. It’s now paid: after a free trial, PaperKarma’s FAQ lists $3.99 a month, $15.99 for six months or $24.99 a year, as of October 2026. You snap a photo of the mailer’s name, logo or return address. PaperKarma says it identifies the sender from a database of over 100,000 mailers and processes most requests within 24 hours. It claims to remove about 90% of junk mail addressed to you, with visible results in two to four months (its pages give both). Those are the company’s own figures.

The drawback is the subscription. Everything PaperKarma does, you can do yourself for free by contacting each mailer. You’re paying to save time.

Catalog Choice. You search for the sender of a catalog or other junk mail and submit an opt-out, and Catalog Choice handles the request. It can also cancel mail for someone else, including a previous occupant or a family member who has died. Its site says it has helped over 2 million users and asks for donations. Check the sign-up page for any fees before you register.

Fewer catalogs and flyers is also an easy cut to your household waste. For more ideas, see our guide to the best apps to reduce your carbon footprint.

What to do next

Opt out of prescreened offers at optoutprescreen.com or 1-888-567-8688. Return the signed form if you want it permanent.
Register at DMAchoice.org ($8 online, as of October 2026) and add every address and name spelling you get mail under.
Spend 15 minutes asking the companies and charities you already deal with to stop mailing you.
For mail that keeps coming after three months, use PaperKarma or Catalog Choice, or ask your local Post Office about “Current Resident” mail.

How to stop junk mail