A simple way to stop the influx of mail from the credit card companies is to OPT OUT by calling 1-888-567-8688. Most of the offers you receive that seem to good to be true are! The CC companies do a soft inquiry (meaning they're just checking your scores, not pulling your entire report so supposedly no points are taken off your scores) to see where you rank. Many CC companies offer consumers with bad credit teaser rates that they won't really qualify for (predatory lending). Once you fill out the application,  you have given them "permissible purpose" to pull a hard Inquiry which will affect your scores. While the Credit Bureaus claim Opting Out won't affect your score, I have seen that it does by reducing the number of inquiries. Your score may actually go up in 30-90 days. Beware of companies that tell you to fill out an online application and that they will have several companies compete for your business. I had this happen once--4 companies were supposed to compete--instead, they hit my credit 10 times affecting my scores.

 If your credit is truly sub-par, you are better off to start developing good credit by applying for a secured credit card at your bank. (By getting an unsecured credit card with low scores, you will usually have to pay an annual fee just to have the "privilege" of having a high interest rate credit card. Also, until you get your spending habits under control, you won't be tempted to spend more than you actually have!) Make sure it reports to all 3 bureaus so call before sending in an application. Don't use more than 25 to 30% of the available credit and make sure they report the available credit (some companies don't--so whatever amount you spend each month--it looks like you've used all your credit!). Make sure you pay prior to the due date. Some companies have odd cutoff times so if your payment was due today and their cut-off time was 1 pm and it's now 1:01 and they just opened your envelope, your payment is late, resulting in penalties, fines, and higher interest rates. It may also make you go over your credit limit, then the phone calls start from the creditors.