This may not be the best question for this community, but I believe it should be open ended.
The reason I have been thinking about this question is because someone once said: "as soon as you turn 18, card companies will start sending you offers and advertisements". How do they get that information? Is it through my bank or something else I naively signed up for?
I am a big "opsec" nut. I take steps to not give out my information. I do not give information to social media websites as I do not even have an account on most of them. I only just closed my only bank account I ever had. I do not have any subscriptions or services. And you can assume the rest.
I think this would be a good test to see what may have leaked to companies so far.
I don't know many other ways I can ask the question. I just want to be prepared and be unknown.
Not exactly asking for advice, just what precautions everyone else has taken in their life. If I am asking in the wrong place, I hope I can get good redirection.
I'm assuming you're American... If you have an SSN, you will get credit card offers. It's called prescreened offers. They get that information from credit bureaus, which already have your SSN. You can opt out if credit card offers and the bureaus selling your data for 10 years I think.
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/prescreened-credit-insurance-offers