Discussion
I'm not sure where to put this, so here will do...
We have lived in our house for almost 10 years but we keep getting credit card statements from Barclaycard addressed to a previous occupier. We don't know where they went as they rented the house, we bought it.
We've tried 'return to sender', obviously didn't work so we've tried talking to Barclaycard which also didn't work. The last time we we're told that they couldn't speak to us because of GDPR as we weren't the account holder but they didn't see the irony of this as they are happy to send us their statements ! I've contacted them through facebook as well and they're 'getting back to me'... In the past I also asked the financial ombudsman what we can do and heard nothing from them either !
It's a minor thing but it does make me wonder how common this sort of thing is in these days of identity theft, banks sending your details to old addresses.
Anyway, what to do... I've pondered attaching a large heavy, useless item (a brick perhaps?) to the 'return' address every time they send me a statement but that'd just annoy the posties and there's got to be something more inventive than just shredding them, ideas??
We have lived in our house for almost 10 years but we keep getting credit card statements from Barclaycard addressed to a previous occupier. We don't know where they went as they rented the house, we bought it.
We've tried 'return to sender', obviously didn't work so we've tried talking to Barclaycard which also didn't work. The last time we we're told that they couldn't speak to us because of GDPR as we weren't the account holder but they didn't see the irony of this as they are happy to send us their statements ! I've contacted them through facebook as well and they're 'getting back to me'... In the past I also asked the financial ombudsman what we can do and heard nothing from them either !
It's a minor thing but it does make me wonder how common this sort of thing is in these days of identity theft, banks sending your details to old addresses.
Anyway, what to do... I've pondered attaching a large heavy, useless item (a brick perhaps?) to the 'return' address every time they send me a statement but that'd just annoy the posties and there's got to be something more inventive than just shredding them, ideas??
It’s stupid isn’t it? The Halifax until recently wouldn’t let you change your address unless you went to branch, but all the branches local to me where closed, ended up switching the account to a new bank to avoid having to go a hour and a half out of my way to get to a branch that had kept open
S2r said:
It's a minor thing but it does make me wonder how common this sort of thing is in these days of identity theft, banks sending your details to old addresses
There is an easy way to avoid this for consumers, so I would have little sympathy if someone hasn’t updated their address. As for your situation I would expect Barclays to have to act to an RTS. They won’t speak on the phone though that is unsurprising.
loggo said:
If this has been going on for 10 years then we must be sending you a new credit card every couple of years............. now there is a thing
Yeah, someone less law abiding could be tempted to pass the credit card number on to someone more unscrupulous resulting in the bank / police having to sort out the mess... Barclays have also informed me that they're legally obliged to keep sending me someone else's credit card details until they've spoken to the account holder so this may go on for a while (or even longer if the account holder is no longer with us / has left the country)
A bank was sending someone else's bank statements to me for years Returning to sender didn't work. Only stopped when I wrote then a letter pointing out the address was wrong. They could confirm my address on voters roll. Sending bank statements to an address they knew to be wrong was a breach of the data protection act and I would be making a formal complaint if it continued.
S2r said:
Barclays have also informed me that they're legally obliged to keep sending me someone else's credit card details until they've spoken to the account holder...
irc said:
Sending bank statements to an address they knew to be wrong was a breach of the data protection act...
1+1=not 2 here.We rely on them for kindling substitute.
I'm in touch with the previous owners Mother as she sold us the house on his behalf after he moved away. Get all sorts of crap for him, was annoying at first but now it's entertaining going through his stuff after the Mum just kept sticking her head in the sand about it.
Best one was tax expiration warnings on a vehicle, kept telling her that her lad was going to get fined if he didn't tax his car "no no he wouldn't let that lapse, he's a police officer". The letters got quite scary before they just stopped dead, presumably after he coughed up and had the V5 changed.
Get bank statements, credit card offers/replacements and club membership letters/renewals/etc. Got bored of RTS'ing fairly early, told his mum after about 9 months that it was all getting burned from now on and it was on them to put a mail redirect in place. My only hope is that I don't end up taking the rap for his inability to organise his finances/documentation through association or whatever.
I'm in touch with the previous owners Mother as she sold us the house on his behalf after he moved away. Get all sorts of crap for him, was annoying at first but now it's entertaining going through his stuff after the Mum just kept sticking her head in the sand about it.
Best one was tax expiration warnings on a vehicle, kept telling her that her lad was going to get fined if he didn't tax his car "no no he wouldn't let that lapse, he's a police officer". The letters got quite scary before they just stopped dead, presumably after he coughed up and had the V5 changed.
Get bank statements, credit card offers/replacements and club membership letters/renewals/etc. Got bored of RTS'ing fairly early, told his mum after about 9 months that it was all getting burned from now on and it was on them to put a mail redirect in place. My only hope is that I don't end up taking the rap for his inability to organise his finances/documentation through association or whatever.
The rules and regulations for banks and being "the account holder" before they will talk to you, is stupid. But it does actually stop some crime.
I'll give you a daft example from 2 weeks back.
My wife takes my 17 year old daughters cheque to the bank and paid it in via the machine. She also used her card to check the balance and then when got home no card. Thinks might have been left in the machine.
Asked me to ring them up Monday which I did and asked them was it left in the machine ? They can't tell me that, because I am not the account holder ... however I can cancel her card and get a new one. Which is what I did.
It's strange because even though not the account holder I could get someones card destroyed. But no ask where it was ....
And of course if I had said " I'll just get me daughter on the phone " and it was another female then they would not have been able to spot the difference between say my wife and her .... as we had all the account details of course.
The moral of the story is that if you have a son or daughter who lives at home and is naughty you can give them the old
if they have not quite fledged the nest yet
I'll give you a daft example from 2 weeks back.
My wife takes my 17 year old daughters cheque to the bank and paid it in via the machine. She also used her card to check the balance and then when got home no card. Thinks might have been left in the machine.
Asked me to ring them up Monday which I did and asked them was it left in the machine ? They can't tell me that, because I am not the account holder ... however I can cancel her card and get a new one. Which is what I did.
It's strange because even though not the account holder I could get someones card destroyed. But no ask where it was ....
And of course if I had said " I'll just get me daughter on the phone " and it was another female then they would not have been able to spot the difference between say my wife and her .... as we had all the account details of course.
The moral of the story is that if you have a son or daughter who lives at home and is naughty you can give them the old
if they have not quite fledged the nest yet
Arise from the dead...
I've had yet another statement from Barclays today so I've shredded some of it (the bits without the address), put it back in the envelope along with a few other bits of shredded junk mail, wrote "return to sender, addresee hasn't been at this address for 10 years" on the front and stuck it back in the post box.
If they want to keep sending me rubbish, they can have some of mine back..!
I've had yet another statement from Barclays today so I've shredded some of it (the bits without the address), put it back in the envelope along with a few other bits of shredded junk mail, wrote "return to sender, addresee hasn't been at this address for 10 years" on the front and stuck it back in the post box.
If they want to keep sending me rubbish, they can have some of mine back..!
king useless at the moment.S2r said:
I've had yet another statement from Barclays today so I've shredded some of it (the bits without the address), put it back in the envelope along with a few other bits of shredded junk mail, wrote "return to sender, addresee hasn't been at this address for 10 years" on the front and stuck it back in the post box
You're assuming there's a sentient being at the other end.Too many computers, too many systems, to many policies, no brains.
My energy company wants me to pay the balance of my bill before I can change tariff. To do this they want current meter readings, but they have somehow blocked the part of the system that allows meter readings to be entered, either by me or them.
I was a bank manager until a few years ago and we used to get this situation quite often. We couldn't change the address or disclose any information obviously but what we could do is put a mail block on the account to stop any future mail going to the address. This was pre GDPR of course, but it seems the data risk only comes from not taking action so I'm not sure why Barclaycard wont do anything about it.
At our old address Barclay Card sent me a letter every month, all exactly the same. This continued long after I closed my account and was happening right up until we left the property 5 years ago despite many calls to their service team requesting that they stop.
If you're now living in my old flat, I'm very very sorry...!
(These are just the ones I kept hold of for dramatic effect... it went on for years.)
If you're now living in my old flat, I'm very very sorry...!
(These are just the ones I kept hold of for dramatic effect... it went on for years.)
Edited by romeogolf on Monday 12th October 10:45
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