Advice Needed: Previous Occupant of my home running up debts!

proxima_2

I bought my house about eighteen months ago, and up until that point the previous owner had been renting it out to a couple and their kids.

I found out that they had not paid the last few months' rent, and that they also walked out of the house without settling any of their bills - council tax, power etc. This wasn't too much of an issue since I made sure I informed the companies involved that the previous tenants had moved out and the date we moved in.

The problem is, that periodically since we moved in I have been receiving red letters demanding payment for loans, credit cards, store cards - all in the name of the previous occupant. I have told all of these companies that the woman involved no longer lives at my address, but she has been taking out these cards and loans and using my address AFTER she moved out. She is using her maiden name too, in order to get credit.

So, my question is - what can I do to:

a) Stop her taking out agreements against my address (long shot)
b) Find out if all of these bad debts she has run up will adversely affect my own credit rating.

Anybody got any ideas or advice? Getting a bit worried about this since I am planning to buy a new car soon and need to ensure I will be able to get the credit for it. Thanks

vicshippers

Get your own credit repost to verify that your credit has not been affected and simply return all the post you get with 'not at this address'.

Zooxanthelle

vicshippers wrote: »

Get your own credit repost to verify that your credit has not been affected and simply return all the post you get with 'not at this address'.

I agree, generally if post of this nature is returned the accounts get frozen and it can affect future credit for the named person until they get in touch with the companies.

You have my sympathies, I had a similar situation at a previous address.

pinkshoes

Other than returning all the letters with "not known at this address" to the sender, there's isn't a lot you can do. You could always write a letter saying that this person has not lived at this address since <date> so you would appreciate it if they stopped sending you letters.

A credit rating will be for a person, not an address, but it won't hurt to check this.