Am I being lied to?

I accidentally opened a letter which was addressed to this house, but it was for a strange name never heard of. It was threatening bailiffs for a large debt, I phoned and said it was the wrong address and was told it would be dealt with. Sent the letter back few weeks later received another, phoned again they did not believe I was the OP. I used the power of facebook and in five minutes found the person (lived in same road, so phoned back and told them to do their job as it hadn't taing me long to trace the person. Hopefull end of matter have not heard since.

I had a similar situation but with my son. He had been living away from home for some time and had decided to move to the USA to marry his partner who he had met on line. I started getting phone calls and letters from debt collection agencies looking for him - he was already in the USA by this time. I discovered he had given my details as guarantor for several small loans he had taken out before leaving the UK and my landline number was included in these as he had said he was living with me. I told each agency in turn that he had not lived at my address for many years (16 to be exact) and that, if they did an electoral roll check , they could see that he was not listed with me at any time over those years. I also gave them his address in the USA but they told me they were unable to pursue any action there. In the end I had to create a disassociation on my credit file so his bad record would not impact my credit score. I did tackle him about it and he denied he owed any money, saying he had cleared everything before he left. I also asked him why he had given my address as his residence and he did admit he had a bad credit reference on file at his own address so he didn't want to give that as they would have refused him. My now DIL has taken control of his finances and has sorted him out - bless her - but it did annoy me that he had been able to give my details without anyone checking with me.

Studio.co.uk
Now that would make a very interesting Thread.

Dragonfly46
Well, well, well. I am waiting for a delivery today from that same company.
It took them 6 days to verify my details before they would sanction an account and they apparently bill you after the goods are received. I tried to pay instantly but they usually supply wholesale and that is why they postpone bill. Things might have changed since your experience. I can see that they made a soft search on my credit file.

GabriellaG I think they thought they had sanctioned my account by sending out the Christmas cards as it was a small transaction. What I found frustrating was that I was unable to speak to a manager or anyone in the fraud department and they seemed incapable of stopping the account when I first called them. They are clearly very inefficient as it took 5 phone calls, 3 emails and finally a letter before anything was done and in the meantime they lost £500 worth of goods.
If my M&S credit card or HSBC credit card even have an inkling of fraud I get a text message and they block my card.
It is certainly not a company I would have any dealings with.

In your place I would check with Citizens' Advice or with a solicitor whether your mother risks being held liable for any debts incurred by this young woman. There could perhaps also be issues with your mother's pension if she is suddenly seen as not living alone.

I think you need to tell her flatly that your mother does not want her or anyone else using her address and ask her to transfer the account to another address.

I doubt the bank will be willing to talk or correspond with you about this, but perhaps a solicitor's letter on behalf of your mother, pointing out that she has not given permission for her address to be used by a temporary guest might help. It might also come in useful later, if there are repercussions.

It seems a bit weird. I have a relative (bi-polar) who I think is on the straight and narrow now but has a history of opening accounts to get loans fraudulently. She got into an awful mess and it took a while to sort out. All done on-line of course, pretending to be her estranged husband as she could fake his signature. It makes you wonder who you can trust, doesn't it? Hope you sort it out.

Dew, although the situation has changed regarding an address being blacklisted; it's important that your DM is not distressed by the potential of this situation. If the gf (you haven't elaborated on why she is so dodgy but have hinted so therefore a possibility it seems) runs up debts and has given your DM's address; then bailiffs could turn up at the house demanding goods to settle those debts. I would do as others have suggested by contacting the bank in writing to tell them the address has been used without permission. Return letters with 'Not known at this address' and importantly, warn your DM that should anyone ever knock on the door demanding access to goods, she must refuse them entry. Not even for a cup of tea and chat to sort things out (which is what nice people do not realising once in they can take what they want). They cannot force entry without a court order and if they do turn up, it will give you time to contact the agency to explain the situation and avert a court order.

Of course your mum will not be liable for the gf's debts. That is utter rubbish

mumofmadboys She isn't but that doesn't mean that she might not be harassed by debt collectors.

Raise a complaint with the bank (they are more likely to take it seriously if they are defending an accusation rather than being asked to give information which would compromise them) that your mother in law's details have been used fraudulently, a debit card has been sent for someone who doesn't live at the address and is not related to the householder and you can't understand why the bank has allowed this to happen

I don't think you do need a UK address to keep an account (not what this is about I know but OPs have mentioned it) - we lived abroad for 20 years and kept a UK account and now have account in our former country of residence while living here! I think as long as it's all above board then there isn't a problem

holdingontometeeth

No credit reference agency will talk to anyone except the person whose credit file it is.
You can pay £20 for a two year CIFAS marker on your mother's file but the card with which you pay, will have to be in her name. You can also have it password protected which means that anyone trying to obtain credit in her name, would have to give random letters from the password besides any other security questions which may be asked.
Not all of the 'big 3', Experian, Equifax, Trans Union, have the same company information as it depends on the company as to which CRA they use to determine your credit worthiness.

We have had repeated visits by court officers and bailiffs to my ex's address because some complete stranger who does not pay his bills or fines has been claiming to live there. As my ex works for the Metropolitan Police this could have a bad effect on his reputation professionally. And if court officers or bailiffs were to turn up at an elderly lady's address for the same reason it would cause untold distress.
Contact the bank and let them know the conniving girl does not live there. It may not help (we kept sending back the letters to unknown people to the credit companies, banks etc but it didn't stop the fallout) but at least it should be on record that this particular account is not at home with your Mum!

dragonfly46
I received my order from Studio at 2:32 pm, well within the scheduled time frame advised by Hermes (2-4) all packaged in a box inside a heavy duty plastic bag. Order was £5.18 - free p&p. No probs. Maybe you were just unlucky to get someone incompetent when you rang...bad luck
Glad you sorted it albeit after lots of effort on your part.

dragonfly46
Here's my order.

Send it "return to sender, addressee not at this address"

Of course your mum will not be liable for the gf's debts. That is utter rubbish

It is not.
It may show as an "associated person" on credit files and debt collectors can legally go after associated persons in some cases

Do not speak to the bank about it. It "associates" you.

Return to sender
Join Check My File & get any associations removed

NanaRayna
I would have thought that a Met officer would have had more about him than to send letters back to the debt collection agency.
He needs to contact them to disassociate himself from all the debts and look on all 3 CRA files (sign up for a 30 day free trial) to see if there is a default mark.
Once he disassociates himself from the debts the DC agencies will not discuss it further with him and any court action in his name will be halted.
Best to notify Action Fraud too.

gabriella I am pleased it worked out for you. I just worry that they allowed £ 500 worth of goods to leave their premises a month after they were told it was a fraudulent account.

You cannot join a CRA and get an 'association' removed from someone else's file. That's ridiculous. Please don't give out incorrect information.

dragonfly46
What were the £500 worth of goods and where were they sent? Sounds iffy to me.

Seakay
Unless the OP has POA or a signed letter from the MiL giving the bank permission to talk to the OP on her behalf, then no bank will discuss anything to do with another person's account, fraudulent or not.

Sorry. It's the OP's mother she is talking about. I thought it was her MiL. Oops! Still, my previous uncorroborated thoughts on the matter, stand.