'Notice of Sale' sent to our Address but addressed to wrong name. What do we do?

muchacho

We received a letter the other day addressed to our address but a name we've never heard of before.

It was from 'Mackenzie Hall Debt Purchase Limited' and it was advising us that a balance of X assigned by Quick Quid has assigned all of it's rights to Motormile Finance UK Limited.

The problem here, is none of us have ever used QuickQuid or either of the other 2 companies mentioned and we don't know the name this has been addressed to.

When we tried to contact them, it gave us an option to press 3, if the letter had been sent to the wrong address and then it said it wasn't accepting any incoming calls.

Very strange.

Has anybody heard of this happening and what you'd advise we do? Ignore it?

sariebeth

I would imagine that someone has fraudulently obtained money in someone elses name and your address.

Check all of you accounts/credit cards etc to double check that no money has been taken from you - but since it's not in your name I don't think you are the victim of the fraud.

Also contact the police about this, as I suspect someone somewhere is the victim.

Although I might be wrong, but something similar happened to my uncle so that's my guess.

chalkie99

muchacho wrote: »

We received a letter the other day addressed to our address but a name we've never heard of before.

It was from 'Mackenzie Hall Debt Purchase Limited' and it was advising us

If it was addressed to someone else it wasn't advising you.

If the letter isn't for you then write "not known at this address - return to sender" and pop it back in the post.

Red_Cat

If it wasn't addressed to you, i.e. not your name, why did you open it?

I would have returned to sender marked "Addressee unknown".

muchacho

Red_Cat wrote: »

If it wasn't addressed to you, i.e. not your name, why did you open it?

I would have returned to sender marked "Addressee unknown".

Obvious really. We knew it was financial and it had every bit of our address correct - and we knew it wasn't anybody else on the street.

Thanks for the replies will send it back as sender not known but will photocopy/scan the letter for any needed future evidence.

cattie

Isn't it an offence to open mail addressed to another person, when you haven't been given permission by said person to open it?

I still don't understand why, if it wasn't your name & you knew it was nobody else on the street, you didn't just return it, unopened, marked 'Not known at address'? I suspect your curiosity just got the better of you!

muchacho

cattie wrote: »

I suspect your curiosity just got the better of you!

I do have a couple of loans so suspected it may have been related to that.

Anyway, it's done now - I opened it. Whether it's legal or not makes no difference to what I should be doing now and it's been helped by a few further up, so thanks to those.

Apples2

cattie wrote: »

Isn't it an offence to open mail addressed to another person,

Don't open that can of worms, it will ramble on for pages.

I think (after about 50 pages of arguments) it generally ends up that it is only an offence to open someone elses mail if you INTEND to use it's contents fraudulently.

muchacho

Apples2 wrote: »

Don't open that can of worms, it will ramble on for pages.

I think (after about 50 pages of arguments) it generally ends up that it is only an offence to open someone elses mail if you INTEND to use it's contents fraudulently.

Or if it comes through my letter box! :D

Anyway, thanks for the 2 people who I clicked 'thanks' on and the thread can be closed anytime.

wnoktnwbr

It's an offence to open someone else's mail in transit (before delivery) but if it's been delivered to your property with your address on it you're allowed to open it.

A person commits an offence if they without reasonable excuse intentionally delay or open a postal packet in the course of transmission by post or intentionally opens a mail bag.

A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, opens a postal packet which they know or suspect to have been delivered incorrectly.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/26/section/84

You had reasonable excuse; it was a financial letter (implying debts of some kind) addressed to your property.

DCFC79

cattie wrote: »

Isn't it an offence to open mail addressed to another person, when you haven't been given permission by said person to open it?

I still don't understand why, if it wasn't your name & you knew it was nobody else on the street, you didn't just return it, unopened, marked 'Not known at address'? I suspect your curiosity just got the better of you!

the offence occurs when you happen to do something with the info you shouldn't do eg fraudulantly