Debt Collecting

Terrier_Jimlad · 27 Mar 2011 at 23:48

Evening all,

I keep getting letters from debt collecting companies chasing up for money for let's say Mr A, however Mr A never lived at this address, it was his brother Mr B and his wife, and they left over 3 years ago. I tend to get in touch with the companies when the letters arrive and notify them not to make contact again, however when I ask them how they got this address they always say they get the information from a wide range of companies such as Callcredit, Experian and Equifax etc etc

Does anyone know of any organisation or official body that I can write to, to ensure that both the debt collecting agencies, and the information sharing companies take Mr A's reference to my address off their databases for good?

Is this something that the FSA get involved with?

Cleeecooo · 27 Mar 2011 at 23:56

I woukd check up with credit rating agencies. Maybe you were a target of fraud? NEVER TAKE CHANCES.
If they are threatening you then you can call the police

fidget · 28 Mar 2011 at 00:05

You are opening mail not addressed to you or "the occupier"?

Believe it or not, if you open a letter that arrives to your address and not in your name/the occupier it's a criminal offence:

Section 84 of the Postal Services Act 2000 creates an offence for anyone interfering with the mail
84(1) A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he-

(a) intentionally delays or opens a postal packet in the course of its transmission by post, or
(b) intentionally opens a mail-bag.

You should just write "gone away" and put it back in a post box without opening..

BloodyL · 28 Mar 2011 at 00:07

One thing i've always wondered, what happens if both parties end up as goneaways?

cm1179 · 28 Mar 2011 at 00:08

Terrier_Jimlad said:
I tend to get in touch with the companies when the letters arrive and notify them not to make contact again

don't bother doing this. just write 'not known at this address' on the front of the envelope and put them back in the post. happened to me for the first 3 months or so of me moving in to my place and it is a bit of a pain but don't stress over it.

CharlieAlbert · 28 Mar 2011 at 00:47

Is it the letters or the fact this is history on the house that bothers you?
That may change what you could do

dowie · 28 Mar 2011 at 01:09

IMHO register with experian etc.. and check your own credit rating - as long as its not affecting you in any way then don't worry about it - return the letters to sender stating no longer at this address.

If some debt collector types do come round then a) don't let them inside under any circumstances and b) explain to them that the person they're after is no longer present at the address.

Werewolf · 28 Mar 2011 at 02:31

fidget said:
You are opening mail not addressed to you or "the occupier"?

Believe it or not, if you open a letter that arrives to your address and not in your name/the occupier it's a criminal offence:

You should just write "gone away" and put it back in a post box without opening..

The key words in the Law are "transmission by post", and "mail bag".

Once it arrives at the destination address on the front of the letter/package it's deemed to no longer be in "transmission by post" as it's arrived at the intended address (the law is intended to protect the post during, well the post

).
Otherwise the likes of sending a young child a card/package and their parent opening it for them would be illegal, as would the fairly common practice in many businesses of secretaries etc opening the mail.

It is perfectly legal to open post that arrives at your address to find out who sent it and return it - it's also a fairly good idea with some sorts of post as it can save a huge amount of hassle (especially if someone is using your address for fraud, or to give the police a false address).

Fr0dders · 28 Mar 2011 at 03:59

Werewolf said:
The key words in the Law are "transmission by post", and "mail bag".

Once it arrives at the destination address on the front of the letter/package it's deemed to no longer be in "transmission by post" as it's arrived at the intended address (the law is intended to protect the post during, well the post).
Otherwise the likes of sending a young child a card/package and their parent opening it for them would be illegal, as would the fairly common practice in many businesses of secretaries etc opening the mail.

It is perfectly legal to open post that arrives at your address to find out who sent it and return it - it's also a fairly good idea with some sorts of post as it can save a huge amount of hassle (especially if someone is using your address for fraud, or to give the police a false address).

thanks for clearing that up

I had an argument wtih a debt collection agency chasing our previous owner.

A woman working at the agency had a go at me saying i shouldn't be opening other peoples mail. The fact they'd left over 6 months ago and deliberately not left a forwarding address because they were doing a moonlight flit (didnt pay any of their utility bills and loads of other bills such as their student loan) feel on deaf ears as a valid reason for opening the post.

MrMoonX · 28 Mar 2011 at 06:44

you should never open post not addressed to you, why would you do that? whats wrong with writing gone away return to sender on it and putting it in the post box

Rainmaker · 28 Mar 2011 at 07:59

MrMoonX said:
you should never open post not addressed to you, why would you do that? whats wrong with writing gone away return to sender on it and putting it in the post box

The fact that they tend to ignore such returned mail (if they indeed receive it), for a start. I was in a similar position to the OP after moving house in January. We were getting more mail for the previous occupants (CCJs, DCAs, solicitor's letters etc) than we were for ourselves.

I got sick of writing 'No longer at this address: Return to sender' on them as they just kept on arriving, even up until this month. I was literally returning up to ten letters a DAY at one point. Eventually I just started opening them and phoning the companies up. They apologised, amended their files and that was it. Simple really.

OP, just give them a call. If they were chasing YOU mistakenly that'd be a different matter. Since they're merely corresponding to someone who doesn't (and didn't) live there, it won't do any harm to give them a ring.

Tunney · 28 Mar 2011 at 08:31

MrMoonX said:
you should never open post not addressed to you, why would you do that? whats wrong with writing gone away return to sender on it and putting it in the post box

People don't want bailiffs knocking on their door at 6am. Virtually all of the post I receive addressed to previous owners is from debt collection agencies.

Gammawolf · 28 Mar 2011 at 09:18

MrMoonX said:
you should never open post not addressed to you, why would you do that? whats wrong with writing gone away return to sender on it and putting it in the post box

The company will ignore it, what stops the person in debt doing that? I'd imagine you get this kind of thing all the time, "Oh so and so is not at this address anymore.."

edscdk · 28 Mar 2011 at 09:20

call the agency, explain the situation would be the first step

wnb · 28 Mar 2011 at 10:18

I bought a house which was a rental, tuned it into my office and we get mail for the last two occupiers. They go straight into the bin.

[Olly] · 28 Mar 2011 at 10:19

I've had problems with this exact situation recently, I ended up calling the company and they asked me to send in a copy of my council tax bill to prove I was the resident in the property.

Very annoying I know, but it was worth it just to clear the whole thing up. Not heard from them since.