Call from 'bank' about an unknown CC

GrammarGirl

Hi all, hope you can offer your opinions/advice on the following story. The first thing to note is that the person this story concerns has never knowingly taken out a credit card.

My friend received a telephone call on her landline the other day. The caller said they were from her bank (Lloyds) and it was regarding a missed payment on her credit card. The caller asked her to confirm her address, which she gave, but it was different from the address on file. The address the caller quoted was somewhere my friend had lived 10 years ago. The caller did nothing to prove they were from Lloyds.

The caller said her payments were £20 a month but one had been missed due to a bounced direct debit. On checking her bank account, she saw that £20 had indeed been coming out of her account. She doesn't know how long this has been happening.

First of all, the caller rang my friend's landline, which is obviously connected to her current address. Also, she has a current account with Lloyds, which is registered to her current address. But this phantom CC is registered to an old address she hasn't lived at for 10 years. She's lived at two different addresses since that time, too.

She currently has an overdraft with Lloyds but no other forms of credit. 10 years ago, while living at the address the CC is registered to, she took out a loan which she has paid back in full. She's never had a credit card or store card.

So, she and I are baffled by the situation. At first I thought identity theft but I don't understand how someone could set up a CC in her name, with her bank account details, from the same bank as her current account, but have it registered to another address? I know I couldn't do this when I opened a CC from the same bank as my current account. Is this possible? If anyone could shed light on the situation, we'd both be very grateful. She's obviously doing all she can to find out what's going on, including:

Going to talk to her bank in person and obtaining statements from as far back as she can
Setting up internet banking to keep a closer check on her outgoings in the future
Ordering her credit report from Experian

Is there anything else she should be doing? She has no details about the CC other than it's with Lloyds and she's missed a payment.

Thanks for your help in advance.

never-in-doubt

GrammarGirl wrote: »

Hi all, hope you can offer your opinions/advice on the following story. The first thing to note is that the person this story concerns has never knowingly taken out a credit card..

Hey stranger

She should SAR Lloyds in the first instance and stop the payments. Did she have an ex or someone that may have done it? Did she sign up to one and just forget?

A SAR will prove whatever happened and whatever has been done on all her accounts/dealings with Lloyds.

Template here (remember the £10!) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=24057211&postcount=6

p.s are you married yet? Haven't seen you on sub-prime for many moons.... :hello::hello::hello:

GrammarGirl

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Hey stranger

She should SAR Lloyds in the first instance and stop the payments. Did she have an ex or someone that may have done it? Did she sign up to one and just forget?

A SAR will prove whatever happened and whatever has been done on all her accounts/dealings with Lloyds.

Template here (remember the £10!) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=24057211&postcount=6

p.s are you married yet? Haven't seen you on sub-prime for many moons.... :hello::hello::hello:

Ooooh, there must be another GrammarGirl around! I've never been on the sub-prime board and I'm still waiting for the proposal! :rotfl:

Thank you for your advice. I've linked my friend to this thread so she'll see everything and hopefully we'll get somewhere.

never-in-doubt

GrammarGirl wrote: »

Ooooh, there must be another GrammarGirl around! I've never been on the sub-prime board and I'm still waiting for the proposal! :rotfl:

Thank you for your advice. I've linked my friend to this thread so she'll see everything and hopefully we'll get somewhere.

Ooooh..... maybe there is then lol (must be one of my blonde moments!)....

Bottom line here is that if it was not her that took the account, its easily sorted.

LBG_worker

Hello,
In lloyds bank and most banks credit cards and loans work on a different system to other banking products (as they are Lending and current account and savings are classed as well savings) . Whilst the branch will know you have a credit card with them it is unlikely that they will know anything more than a balance and recent transactions. Not all files held on you will automatically link into one customer file. Sometimes you will have a separate file for a credit card or loan. The bank sort code and account number would have simply verified that you already have an account with Lloyds and looked at any white credit information they have - address information does not get automatically copied across.

A possible situation could be that your friend was approved for a credit card at the same time as applying for a loan. For example when applying for an a and l current account you can tick a box that means they will assess you for a credit card at the same time. It may be worth checking the loan application to see if this could have happened as this does explain the D/D (same D/D for the loan?).

There is the possibility that the card could have been fraudulently applied for - after all to do a credit check they need her bank sort and account number and then this can be used to set up a direct debit. If there is a large balance on the card in the first month and then only repayments this is a sign. However it is strange that a fraudster would bother setting up a direct debit in the first place but still possible as a simple tick and sign will set it up on application!

Obviously she should arrange for the card to be either blocked / closed because of the suspected application fraud.

A Data Subject Access Request should be done (banks have time frames in which to get this information to the you)

Whatever the situation check that all has been amended on the credit file once resolved. Hope this has helped Good Luck!

bert&ernie

Hang on a second - I don't see the need to do a SAR at this stage. By all means pay the £10 and wait up to 40 days for a response, but I would visit the branch first and see if it cant be sorted out informally. If the bank wont help you, then its time to formalise the dispute and start invoking rights under the DPA, but there isn't much to be gained from rushing into this.

never-in-doubt

bert&ernie wrote: »

Hang on a second - I don't see the need to do a SAR at this stage. By all means pay the £10 and wait up to 40 days for a response, but I would visit the branch first and see if it cant be sorted out informally. If the bank wont help you, then its time to formalise the dispute and start invoking rights under the DPA, but there isn't much to be gained from rushing into this.

True, but as the OP says they didn't ask for a card then a SAR simplifies things and lets the OP see exactly what the bank done wrong, prior to them covering it up! Come on, look at the bank in question - copy/paste anyone?

:rotfl: :rotfl:

GrammarGirl

Thanks all for your help. I'll ask if the DD for the credit card is the same for the loan, that sounds like a solution. Although, my friend is absolutely sure she's never SPENT on a CC, regardless of whether she's inadvertently taken one out. At a rate of £20 a month for 10 years, that's one huge balance to spend without realising!

Although she doesn't yet know how long the DD has been coming out, so we shall see.

LBG_worker

you never know she may have unknowingly applied for the card with the loan and the card could have got intercepted in the post and used? or she could have changed the pin for it and it could have got cloned in the cash machine? The thing is if you don't notice a £20 D/D coming out of your account are you going to remember applying for a card? especially given the length of time! Its a mystery! Let us know when / if you find out.