Stranger's Post Coming To My Address - Demands For Debt Payments

[Proofraider]

For a number of months I've been receiving mail at my house addressed a man who doesn't live here and never has (I've been here for 19 years so I know!). (Everything is sent to his name, not mine.) A few things have been opened in error so I know it's all related to finance, usually debt. Some items were from Barclays Bank so I sent the first few back, took the next few into my local branch and told them to stop sending, then finally sent the next few to their Head Office with a letter of complaint and they acted on it and compensated me for inconvenience. Other letters have arrived from elsewhere and I've just marked them appropriately without opening them and put them back in the post for sending to any address on the back of the envelope. Yesterday another item arrived and was opened by mistake - it's from Vodaphone and they have evidently sold this man's debt to a collecting agency, who also enclosed a letter saying that they would be "recovering" the debt if it wasn't paid. I want this to stop - should I repost these letters back to the address on the reverse of the envelope just marked "Not at this address" or should I write to all these people specifically saying that I want no more correspondence sent to my address in this person's name (which will make it obvious that I've seen the letters)? I don't want to put myself at fault because some items will obviously have been opened, but neither do I want someone turning up at my house demanding a "recovery" for something that's nothing to do with me. This person has obviously just given my address to set up accounts etc - since he could well be continuing to do this, is it a police matter?

[murraymints]

just continue to send them marked..DOES NOT LIVE HERE AND NEVER HAS

[Retrochic]

It may be worth reporting it to your local Police station as it could be classed as Identity theft. Personally I would just chuck anything in the bin and not write to anyone. You owe nothing to the collection service, you can prove who you are - just leave things well alone. We have rental properties and get lots of letters through after Tenants have left -all go in the bin and new tenants told just to bin anything not addressed to themselves. If the Debt collectors try and ring simply say your name and that the person does not live there and put down the phone.

[mccfluff]

i've had post from debt collectors come through my door, i've rung the companies, told them i've opened it by mistake and that the person its address to doesn't live here and never has.

it worked for me, although i still get marketing post for him

[Retrochic]

Murray -I don't agree with that - it means nothing to them , they will probably just think it is the debtor pretending not to live there.

[VHG]

This could be worrying. A person deliberatly using your address for opening bank accounts, credit cards etc.

It sounds too organized to be an "accident".

I would report it to the police, and write to every bank etc saying you suspect identity theft (or at least address theft) of some sort.

I would keep a note of EVERY letter that arrives and the date it came and who from (just in case the police need this at a future date).

[murraymints]

retro at least you are showing you have made an effort should things escalate.....I did that for a while and things slowed down..then like you after about 9 months I shredded it all

[Retrochic]

murraymints -'you' don't have to make any effort -it has nothing to do with 'you'. Any letters addressed to a person who does not known at your property do not have to be answered and if you do answer them you will just get more and more of them.

[murraymints]

well I didn't !

[murraymints]

I got rather less till they stopped coming..any stray ones that appeared were then shredded

[ummmm]

I had lots of debt collectors letters for someone who did live here for a short while. I just phoned them and explained. I've never had anyone knocking at the door looking for him.

[Proofraider]

Thank you, everyone - I decided to phone the debt company and they seemed to be OK about it and said they'd be putting their "trace department" on to it to find out the proper address, so we shouldn't hear any more about it. I also called the Legal Advice people on our home insurance policy not a police matter at this point because it's just classified as "nuisance". I'll know to do this again when the next thing comes...

[atalanta]

Something like this happened to me - I got quite blase about the letters until a letter arrived from a County Court. I guessed that if a judgment was to be made against someone at my address, it might affect my credit. I didn't open it, but sent it back and very hastily wrote a separate note to the Court to explain that this person had nothing to do with me or my address, and I didn't want my name or address being associated with any County Court Judgment or bankruptcy. I didn't get a reply, but at least my credit remained unaffected.

[Proofraider]

Oh, and Royal Mail were no help - apparently if the address is OK they say they're "obliged" to deliver, and although you can stop mail for various reasons, somebody just using the wrong name isn't one of them.

[237SJ]

If it was me, I would get a copy of my credit report from Experien. You can get a basic copy for about £1 or £2 and you can see searches against your address from companies. You might be able to get them wiped from your address.

[237SJ]

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html

[cassa333]

They should be able to check the electoral role as well to see that the person isn't registered.

I would also wonder what other problems might be coming my way??

[Peter Pedant]

It is pretty obvious you have been cloned
If you RTS every letter - a county court claim could slip thro
in which case you would have an undefended CCJ to contend with

[ and these are a pain ]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Civil/Question1426700.html

has some quite good answers

BC of course scores highly

I dont ignore them but answer everyone
and you should write and keep copies
phoning is no good

and there is a specimen letter from BC in the answerbank ref I give

The relevant companies are meant to have tracing depts and also depts dealing with returned letters. The short answer is that they do s+d all about besides sit around on their batts drink coffee and send out a few more