WASHINGTON -- If you're sick of junk mail packed inside your mailbox, there's now a way to keep the mailman from delivering it in the first place.

The Direct Marketing Association has a new free service that lets you opt out of mailing lists by individual brands. You also can select specific catalogs you want to receive. And if you don't want to get any, you can do that too.

"You basically have three choices," said DMA Executive Vice President Steve Berry. "You can opt in to a company or a charity, you can opt out of a company or charity, or you can opt out of all the organizations' mailings."

Steve Berry talks about using credit card to register for junk mail opt-out service

To get started, go to www.dmachoice.org and click on: DMAChoice - DMA's Suite of Preference Services. Next, select: How to remove your name from mailing lists. Before adding or removing your name from a list, first you must register. You'll be asked to give a credit card number. DMA says this is used only to validate a person's identity and mailing address. Your credit card statement may show an authorization pending for 3-7 days, but there will not be a charge to your monthly bill.

Once registered, you can use your user-id and password to log back onto the website to change your preferences for up to three years.

"The consumer gets more of what they want and less of what they don't want, and the businesses they don't have to spend money sending information to someone who doesn't want to receive it," said Berry.

If you're worried about handing over your personal information, DMA says it will not keep personal, identifiable information and will not use the information for marketing purposes.