A few places let you e-mail. You have a second opt-out right, granted by the older, Fair Credit Reporting Act. This includes your age, sex, salary, job and net worth. If you have a joint bank or brokerage account, each of you has to opt out. If only one of you does, the data may still be sold.
Institutions already see ways of selling to people who opt out.
For example, take credit unions. But you couldn't opt out if they take the dealers' brochures and send them out directly, says Kathleen Thompson, a senior vice president for the Credit Union National Association in Washington. Opt out, opt out. Every single message about privacy helps.