Nuwber opt-out: how to remove your listing, and the older ones too

If your name turns up on Nuwber, getting it off is free and usually quick: you find your listing, paste its web address into the removal form and confirm from your inbox. The part that trips people up comes afterwards. The Nuwber opt-out works one listing at a time, and many people have more than one, built around a city they left years ago or a version of their name they no longer use. This guide covers how to opt out of Nuwber at the time of writing, and how to keep a small log so you know when the job is actually finished.

What the form asks for

At the time of writing, Nuwber's removal page is at nuwber.com/removal/link. The address is a clue to how it works: the form wants a link, meaning the web address of the listing you want gone, plus an email address. Nuwber then sends a confirmation email, and the request only goes ahead once you open it and confirm. The wait given for a removal is up to 48 hours.

That is all it should need. You do not have to open an account, pay anything or send a copy of an ID to remove a listing. If a page asks for any of those, you have landed on an upsell or a look-alike page, not the opt-out form. Type the address yourself rather than clicking a search ad for "remove my info".

If the address above stops working, look in the footer of Nuwber's home page for a link labeled "Privacy", "Remove my info" or "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information". Removal forms on people-search sites move every so often, and the footer link is usually the one kept up to date.

Two things to set up first

The first is an email address used only for removals. Every confirmation in this process lands in an inbox, and a dedicated free address keeps your main one out of yet another company's files. It also keeps all your confirmations in one folder, which you will want later.

The second is a list of every name and place to search. Write down each city you have lived in over the past ten years or so, and next to each one the names you used there: a maiden name, a middle initial, a nickname on a lease. When I worked in compliance at a consumer lender, the files that caused the most confusion were the ones where one person had been recorded three slightly different ways. People-search sites have the same problem, and it is the main reason one opt-out is rarely enough.

Finding your listings

Open a private browsing window and search Nuwber for your name with your current city and state. Before you do anything with a result, make sure it is yours: check the age range, the past cities and the possible relatives. Then repeat the search with each older city and each name variant on your list.

Each listing you find has its own web address. Open the listing and copy the full address from the browser bar, not from the search results page. That address is what the removal form needs, and it is also the most important column in your log.

You will see other people's listings along the way, including former neighbors and relatives. Leave them alone. Removal requests are for your own record, and the people on those pages can file their own.

A removal log built for Nuwber

A log takes five minutes to set up and saves you from wondering, three months from now, whether you already dealt with that old Exampleville listing. Make one row per listing, not one row per site. Here is how it might look for our fictional Jane Example, with days counted from the evening she starts:

If you prefer a plain notes file, this block covers the same ground. Copy it once per listing:

Site: Nuwber
Listing: name as shown, city, state
Listing URL:
Removals email used:
Requested on:
Confirmation email opened on:
Checked on (two days later):
Result: gone (error page) / still showing / new listing found
Next check:

Keep the confirmation emails in a folder in your removals inbox. If a listing returns or a request seems to go nowhere, the log and the emails show exactly what you sent and when, and that is the first thing a privacy contact will ask for. Our opt-out checklist can hold the site-by-site view alongside this, and it saves your progress only in your own browser.

Sending each request

With the log ready, the request itself is short. Paste one listing URL into the form, give your removals email and send it. Open the confirmation email and follow its instructions before you move on to the next listing, so you never lose track of which confirmation belongs to which request. Fill in the "Requested" and "Email confirmed" columns as you go.

Then do the next listing. One URL per request, every time. It is tempting to assume that removing your main listing pulls the older ones down with it. Do not count on that. Treat each listing as its own job until your log says otherwise.

If the confirmation email does not arrive, check the spam folder of your removals inbox first. If it is not there either, give it some time and then send the request once more, rather than sending five in a row and losing track of which link is live.

Privacy kit

• Identity-blocking roller stamp (3 pack)Hides your name and address on labels and letters before they go in the bin.On Amazon
• The Art of Invisibility (Kevin Mitnick)A readable overview of tracking and how to limit it.On Amazon
• 12-sheet cross-cut paper shredderOld statements, pre-approved credit offers and medical bills stop being readable trash.On Amazon

Chosen from specifications, policies and published reviews; we have not tested these ourselves. More in the Privacy kit

Reading the result: what an error page means

About two days after each request, open the old listing URL from your log. If Nuwber shows an error page, typically a "410" or "gone" message, that is the outcome you want. A 410 is the web's way of saying a page was removed on purpose, not moved somewhere else. Write "gone" in the log and set the next check.

If the listing is still there after the wait, first make sure the URL in your log is exactly the one you submitted, then send the request again. If a second request also goes nowhere, look for a privacy or support contact on Nuwber's privacy page and write with the listing URL and the dates from your log. Keep the message short and factual.

A search engine can keep showing an old preview of the page for a while after it is gone. Click through before you assume the removal failed. If the preview lingers for weeks, Google has its own request tools; my piece on Google's Results about you explains what they do and what they cannot.

Old addresses, and the listings that come back

The FTC's page on people search sites puts the core problem plainly: if the information in your public records changes, your details could reappear for sale. A move, a new phone line or a new name on a deed can each produce a fresh record, and a fresh record can become a fresh listing. The same page notes that your information may still appear in the reports of your relatives, neighbors or associates, which your own opt-out does not reach.

That is why the "Next check" column matters. Every three months, search Nuwber for your name with your current city and your two most recent old ones. Once a year, go through every place in your log. Anything new gets a new row and a new request. My earlier piece on why opt-outs do not stick goes into the reasons in more detail.

If you would rather hand the repeat checks to someone else, paid removal services do this on a schedule. Incogni is one of them; check that Nuwber is on a service's list of covered sites before you pay, and keep your own log anyway, since you are the only one who knows every place you have lived.

Where Nuwber fits

Clearing Nuwber does nothing about the other people-search sites that hold the same records, and a stranger searching your name will try more than one. If this is your first removal, the full opt-out guide lists the big sites in a sensible order, with what each one asks for.

For tonight, the whole routine fits on a sticky note: one listing URL per request, confirm each email before the next, check the old link after two days, and give every listing its own row in the log.