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Legal, pensions and money

Thief giving my address!!!

(32 Posts)
CariadAgain Wed 02-Oct-24 14:34:28

I received a letter to a woman I've never heard of at my house a couple of weeks ago and the postman just queried whether I'd got someone staying with me and took the letter away again when I said I hadnt.

Another one has turned up to this same name here today and I opened it and it's a red letter from a debt collection firm saying that they're acting for Paypal re some money the thief owes them.

I've rung the debt collection firm and said I've never heard of the thief and then they suggested I contact Experian credit reference agency to "disassociate" myself from her and I've done that too.

Is there anything else that I should usefully do to protect myself from her? I live on my own and have been at my address for over 6 years and so that's clear. What is a bit of a matter of concern is she's used my current housename (ie as I changed the previous housename to the one I wanted after buying my house over 10 years ago) - and yet she's used my chosen name (rather than either of its 2 previous ones). So it's in my English housename, rather than the two Welsh previous housenames it had (ie it makes it look as if she's tagged onto my house since I got it).

BlueBelle Thu 03-Oct-24 20:16:13

This seems vastly over the top, everyone around you is a thief the next door neighbour you call a thief who stole your land , you say you’ve had emails from a thief, and now a couple of letters arrive and they are a from a thief too and now you're checking FB to stalk this person
In your last post you had Chinese thieves in your former address are you sure you’re not becoming really hung up on thinking everyone is trying to harm you

When I get letters for someone else at my address I put the letters back in the letter box ‘not known at this address return to sender’ and forget about it I think you are really over thinking and over reacting to everything.

CariadAgain Fri 04-Oct-24 09:37:38

Jaxjacky

As others have said ‘not known at this address’ written on it and reposted as it is.

I believe if a persons address is "compromised" in this way that the home-owner themselves might have problems getting credit if they need it themselves. I don't anticipate having to buy anything on credit ever again and have a completely clean "financial slate" personally - but one never knows and I certainly wouldnt want to be refused credit I was due for on the grounds of my address having been compromised.

As I understand it - advice is to be careful if one's address has been misused like this.

Jaxjacky Fri 04-Oct-24 09:42:54

I really think as BlueBelle you are over thinking this and worrying unnecessarily, nothing has ever happened to me by doing as I and others suggested.
Perhaps you could find something else in your life, go out for the day, or a regular walk to occupy your time rather than fretting which isn’t good for you.

ReadyMeals Fri 04-Oct-24 10:03:46

Yes I had someone use my address - but they got the postcode wrong by one letter! And this person kept changing their name each time the police came round looking for them it was a different name but my address with that same one letter of the postcode wrong. It was easy to put the police off once I showed them my own ID and a few household bills. But so annoying getting the doorbell rung at 4am which is when the police like to make these checks.

M0nica Fri 04-Oct-24 11:21:22

CariadAgain

Jaxjacky

As others have said ‘not known at this address’ written on it and reposted as it is.

I believe if a persons address is "compromised" in this way that the home-owner themselves might have problems getting credit if they need it themselves. I don't anticipate having to buy anything on credit ever again and have a completely clean "financial slate" personally - but one never knows and I certainly wouldnt want to be refused credit I was due for on the grounds of my address having been compromised.

As I understand it - advice is to be careful if one's address has been misused like this.

All I can say is that this mistaken address problem has happened to us quite frequently , but no one has done anything to compromise my credit record.

The most damaging thing for your credit record is having none at all. You say you never plan to buy anything on credit ever again, that is really offering a hostage to fortune. It only needs something trivial to mean you need to do that even if for ony a few days and you might be very glad of it.

The main thing is to have at least one credit card that you use a couple of times a month, and clear at the end of each month.

It is like always renewing your driving licence even after you stop driving. We are asked so often to provide identification - current driving licence or current passport and if you have neither providing acceptable evidence can be very difficult.

The same with credit. You may never plan to have it ever, but you do not know. Just keep one credit card tripping along with a few purchases every month and cleared at the the end. Then if you do need credit, you do at least have a credit record.

Llamedos13 Fri 04-Oct-24 12:22:44

Return to sender not know at this address written in bold letters on the envelope does the trick. You seem to be going to extraodinary lengths to sort out letter.