<prompt> Human: Due to my credit history, I get a lot of these for loans and for credit cards. I usually just throw them in the trash. How concerned should I be that someone will dig these out of the dumpster and use them to open up fraudulent accounts? Should I be shredding them instead?I live in a small apartment building in a city, but in a good neighborhood.Sorry if this is the wrong place for something like this!  <response>: Shred them. Alternatively, opt-out of pre-screened offers. There are various ways to do this. One of which, if I recall correctly, is to place a freeze on your credit file at one or more of the major credit bureaus.On a related topic, if you havent already, visit USPS.com , create a free account, then opt-in to Informed Delivery. Complete the verification steps.Then usually within a week or less, youll start getting a daily email typically around 8:00 am, but sometimes comes later showing images of mail front side only expected to be delivered later that day. USPS Informed Delivery isnt perfect, but works great, overall. Excellent way to detect possibly missing or misdirected mail. 