Question regarding address missuse
Discussion
Need some advice please guys,
We've been living in our house for exactly a year now, we still get the odd bit of junk mail for the previous owners,but recently we've also received credit card cheques, credit card bills, 2 weeks ago we received a new V5 for the old owners car showing the new registration number that he'd just had put on his car! Today we received a road tax reminder for his motorbike, again still registered at this address. I don't know if he's just forgotten to change the address on the bike, but the reg change on the van would need him to write his address on the transfer forms.
Anyone got any advice as to what we should do now? I spoke to the DVLA this morning, and they said for the tax reminder we should just write to them telling them that he's not at this address and they will take him off, but because there is another car, they said we should contact the police, because fraud could be involved, which seems a little bit excessive.
Help please
ps we've only opened letters that have not been marked private and confidential, everything esle had been RTS
We've been living in our house for exactly a year now, we still get the odd bit of junk mail for the previous owners,but recently we've also received credit card cheques, credit card bills, 2 weeks ago we received a new V5 for the old owners car showing the new registration number that he'd just had put on his car! Today we received a road tax reminder for his motorbike, again still registered at this address. I don't know if he's just forgotten to change the address on the bike, but the reg change on the van would need him to write his address on the transfer forms.
Anyone got any advice as to what we should do now? I spoke to the DVLA this morning, and they said for the tax reminder we should just write to them telling them that he's not at this address and they will take him off, but because there is another car, they said we should contact the police, because fraud could be involved, which seems a little bit excessive.
Help please
ps we've only opened letters that have not been marked private and confidential, everything esle had been RTS
If you know for sure that the previous owner/occupier is still using your address for the registration of motor vehicles and bank accounts, then I would contact your solicitor who acted for you in the conveyance/purchase of your home, who in turn can contact the other person’s solicitor to raise your concerns.
What you are experiencing is a regular problem/issue for landlords like myself, with tenants moving on/out without notifying their banks, mail order catalogue companies, HMRC and DVLA of their new addresses, and even when they do, that information is not always acted upon by the same. There are also the unscrupulous types who use an old address, or any multi occupied tenanted property as a “mail box”, running up large credit/bank debts and parking/driving road traffic offences.
There is always the temptation for the receiver (you) of the mail to either open or bin the mail, both incidentally an offence, and both actions that will not stop further mail being sent to your address. I tend to first have a word with the local postal sorting office, and then if the mail still keeps arriving, to write to the sender of that mail banks, HMRC, DVLA etc. etc., keeping a copy of my letter, then if more mail arrives to just write on the envelope “Return to sender not at this address”, and to place the same in the Post Box.
I have one rental property that I have owned for over 12 years, and I am still getting Bailiff’s letters for tenants that were there prior to me owning the property, for many of these debts are simply sold on by these companies, and those companies one might even contact by telephone simply either don’t care or simply don’t want to believe what one is telling them.
What you are experiencing is a regular problem/issue for landlords like myself, with tenants moving on/out without notifying their banks, mail order catalogue companies, HMRC and DVLA of their new addresses, and even when they do, that information is not always acted upon by the same. There are also the unscrupulous types who use an old address, or any multi occupied tenanted property as a “mail box”, running up large credit/bank debts and parking/driving road traffic offences.
There is always the temptation for the receiver (you) of the mail to either open or bin the mail, both incidentally an offence, and both actions that will not stop further mail being sent to your address. I tend to first have a word with the local postal sorting office, and then if the mail still keeps arriving, to write to the sender of that mail banks, HMRC, DVLA etc. etc., keeping a copy of my letter, then if more mail arrives to just write on the envelope “Return to sender not at this address”, and to place the same in the Post Box.
I have one rental property that I have owned for over 12 years, and I am still getting Bailiff’s letters for tenants that were there prior to me owning the property, for many of these debts are simply sold on by these companies, and those companies one might even contact by telephone simply either don’t care or simply don’t want to believe what one is telling them.
mungo said:
matt172 said:
they said we should contact the police, because fraud could be involved, which seems a little bit excessive.
Help please
Help please
Police wouldn't be remotely interested in that!
RTS it all
Edited for language
Edited by mungo on Saturday 9th December 15:37
thought it was a bit of overkill from the DVLAI have had a similar experience recently, but the ramifications may be more serious. Mail for a certain gentleman - always from banks, mortgage lenders and loan companies - has been delivered to my home address over the last month or so. Not just the odd letter or two misaddressed, but loads of them.
Then my wife opened one by mistake. It referred to a substantial mortgage which was being advanced on our property. Hang on a minute here. We purchased this property 19 years ago! What's going on. So my wife phoned the mortgage lender. She said she had opened the letter by mistake, but expressed her concern. She said this person had never lived in this property and certainly did not own it. Had he fraudulently applied for the mortgage? The woman at the other end said there was nothing to worry about. It was just a clerical error and to return the letter to them.
More and more of these letters kept turning up. So my wife called the Police. They said open them - 2 that had arrived that day. One was about an appointment the next day for a credit consultant to come round and discuss the mortgage for 80 grand that this person had taken out on our property. Alarm bells start ringing now. What the ffff is going on.
We contact them. They cancel the appointment and tell us to call Birmingham Midshires about this mortgage. They take us seriously and listen to what we have to say. They say they will call us back. Which wasn't much later, to tell us they had handed it over to their fraud department! Apparently, if you live in England and take out a mortgage on a property in Scotland, there are no checks or safeguards.
So it looks like this person or persons have taken the banks and mortgage companies for 100s of thoasands of pounds, if the amount of mail we have received is anything to go by.
Now we are worried about our credit rating. However it appears a credit rating refers to an individual not an address. We shall see.
Then my wife opened one by mistake. It referred to a substantial mortgage which was being advanced on our property. Hang on a minute here. We purchased this property 19 years ago! What's going on. So my wife phoned the mortgage lender. She said she had opened the letter by mistake, but expressed her concern. She said this person had never lived in this property and certainly did not own it. Had he fraudulently applied for the mortgage? The woman at the other end said there was nothing to worry about. It was just a clerical error and to return the letter to them.
More and more of these letters kept turning up. So my wife called the Police. They said open them - 2 that had arrived that day. One was about an appointment the next day for a credit consultant to come round and discuss the mortgage for 80 grand that this person had taken out on our property. Alarm bells start ringing now. What the ffff is going on.
We contact them. They cancel the appointment and tell us to call Birmingham Midshires about this mortgage. They take us seriously and listen to what we have to say. They say they will call us back. Which wasn't much later, to tell us they had handed it over to their fraud department! Apparently, if you live in England and take out a mortgage on a property in Scotland, there are no checks or safeguards.
So it looks like this person or persons have taken the banks and mortgage companies for 100s of thoasands of pounds, if the amount of mail we have received is anything to go by.
Now we are worried about our credit rating. However it appears a credit rating refers to an individual not an address. We shall see.
CharlesW said:
I have had a similar experience recently, but the ramifications may be more serious. Mail for a certain gentleman - always from banks, mortgage lenders and loan companies - has been delivered to my home address over the last month or so. Not just the odd letter or two misaddressed, but loads of them.
Then my wife opened one by mistake. It referred to a substantial mortgage which was being advanced on our property. Hang on a minute here. We purchased this property 19 years ago! What's going on. So my wife phoned the mortgage lender. She said she had opened the letter by mistake, but expressed her concern. She said this person had never lived in this property and certainly did not own it. Had he fraudulently applied for the mortgage? The woman at the other end said there was nothing to worry about. It was just a clerical error and to return the letter to them.
More and more of these letters kept turning up. So my wife called the Police. They said open them - 2 that had arrived that day. One was about an appointment the next day for a credit consultant to come round and discuss the mortgage for 80 grand that this person had taken out on our property. Alarm bells start ringing now. What the ffff is going on.
We contact them. They cancel the appointment and tell us to call Birmingham Midshires about this mortgage. They take us seriously and listen to what we have to say. They say they will call us back. Which wasn't much later, to tell us they had handed it over to their fraud department! Apparently, if you live in England and take out a mortgage on a property in Scotland, there are no checks or safeguards.
So it looks like this person or persons have taken the banks and mortgage companies for 100s of thoasands of pounds, if the amount of mail we have received is anything to go by.
Now we are worried about our credit rating. However it appears a credit rating refers to an individual not an address. We shall see.
Then my wife opened one by mistake. It referred to a substantial mortgage which was being advanced on our property. Hang on a minute here. We purchased this property 19 years ago! What's going on. So my wife phoned the mortgage lender. She said she had opened the letter by mistake, but expressed her concern. She said this person had never lived in this property and certainly did not own it. Had he fraudulently applied for the mortgage? The woman at the other end said there was nothing to worry about. It was just a clerical error and to return the letter to them.
More and more of these letters kept turning up. So my wife called the Police. They said open them - 2 that had arrived that day. One was about an appointment the next day for a credit consultant to come round and discuss the mortgage for 80 grand that this person had taken out on our property. Alarm bells start ringing now. What the ffff is going on.
We contact them. They cancel the appointment and tell us to call Birmingham Midshires about this mortgage. They take us seriously and listen to what we have to say. They say they will call us back. Which wasn't much later, to tell us they had handed it over to their fraud department! Apparently, if you live in England and take out a mortgage on a property in Scotland, there are no checks or safeguards.
So it looks like this person or persons have taken the banks and mortgage companies for 100s of thoasands of pounds, if the amount of mail we have received is anything to go by.
Now we are worried about our credit rating. However it appears a credit rating refers to an individual not an address. We shall see.
Mortgages and some loans will/may lead to a charge being taken out on your property/home, I would therefore both telephone and write to the Land Registry. Also for the sum of £3 you can do an immediate online check on your property/home with LR.
Dwight VanDriver said:
Speak to your local head Postmaster. They deliver the stuff and could well have a form to be filled in instucting them only to deliver mail addressed to your goodself.
dvd
went onto the royal mail website, and they have an email form you can fill in to tell them about incorrectly delivered mail, so have sent that off nowdvd
Whilst you are correct, you start from the position that they "think" the other person owns it, they will make a charge against it, and you are left with (a) credit rating problems in the interim; (b) "proving" they made a mistake; and (c) getting them to rectify their mistake.
Don't treat this too casually, it can be a nightmare of an experience taking 3 years to resolve.
You don't need to ask how I found out. And it turned out to be a relative!
Don't treat this too casually, it can be a nightmare of an experience taking 3 years to resolve.
You don't need to ask how I found out. And it turned out to be a relative!
eliminator said:
Whilst you are correct, you start from the position that they "think" the other person owns it, they will make a charge against it, and you are left with (a) credit rating problems in the interim; (b) "proving" they made a mistake; and (c) getting them to rectify their mistake.
Don't treat this too casually, it can be a nightmare of an experience taking 3 years to resolve.
You don't need to ask how I found out. And it turned out to be a relative!
Don't treat this too casually, it can be a nightmare of an experience taking 3 years to resolve.
You don't need to ask how I found out. And it turned out to be a relative!
Agreed.
If it were me I would be writing or phoning the person who is making the applications just to let them know that you know what they are doing.
Once they know they have been found out they will move on elsewhere.
To find a telephone number or alternative address I would contact the companies where the credit has been applied for - they must have left a current phone number or address somewhere in order to process the applications.
I think in england anyway there is a 'credit block' system where you can apply for a complete block on any credit applications with your address on them. This is specifically for people in your situation. Of course, when you do need some credit you just need to tell them the details of it and they take the block off for that application.
Hi Matt172, it does sound like the previous occupants had a one year redirection service set up that has now expired - they must be really lazy not to have changed stuff like credit card billing etc as your redirected post has wopping great big stickers on it. Our previous occupants only redirected for 3 months and we started getting loads of stuff so if I get there first before Mrs T-V I put it in a big A4(ie, higher rate envelope)and stick it in the post to them without a stamp so it costs a fortune for them to pick it up. That seemed to restart the redirections again
tonyvid said:
Hi Matt172, it does sound like the previous occupants had a one year redirection service set up that has now expired - they must be really lazy not to have changed stuff like credit card billing etc as your redirected post has wopping great big stickers on it. Our previous occupants only redirected for 3 months and we started getting loads of stuff so if I get there first before Mrs T-V I put it in a big A4(ie, higher rate envelope)and stick it in the post to them without a stamp so it costs a fortune for them to pick it up. That seemed to restart the redirections again
the previous occupants only had a 3 month redirection set up, whch you would think would be more than enough time to sort out re addressing stuff, the guy even forgot to tell the companies that were supplying his company that they'd moved, we were getting invoices for stuff from them too! Unfortunatley we don't have their new address, or I would be sticking all the delivered stuff we've got in a bit envelope and sending it on!
Justin,
If you read my OP you will see that we contacted Birmingham Midshires, who then tried to contact the individual, who had taken out the mortgage. It was then that they discovered they had been taken for a ride. They were unable to contact him. So it was at this point they put it into the hands of their fraud department. Presumably they have also involved the police.
I have also spoken to the police in the area where I live. They were not really interested as I was not the person who had sufferd a loss. They would only get involved at the request of the force investigating the fraud.
As to the point about credit rating, that was my initial concern. But the aggrieved banks we have contacted have said there will not be a problem. Also the credit rating agencies say that it is individuals who are rated, not addresses. However I will probably check this in the near future.
If you read my OP you will see that we contacted Birmingham Midshires, who then tried to contact the individual, who had taken out the mortgage. It was then that they discovered they had been taken for a ride. They were unable to contact him. So it was at this point they put it into the hands of their fraud department. Presumably they have also involved the police.
I have also spoken to the police in the area where I live. They were not really interested as I was not the person who had sufferd a loss. They would only get involved at the request of the force investigating the fraud.
As to the point about credit rating, that was my initial concern. But the aggrieved banks we have contacted have said there will not be a problem. Also the credit rating agencies say that it is individuals who are rated, not addresses. However I will probably check this in the near future.
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