recieving mail for someone elses debt

gary_d_a

hi all hope someone can help:
a few years ago i bought a repossessed house, used to get mail for the previous person but returned to sender and all was fine, baliffs used to visit and neighbour would say that the guy they wanted wasnt there as he knew the bloke's surname and obviously would say he has long gone and the bloke that lives there now bought the house after the bloke with debt was thrown out.

we had a gap of about 2 years with silence, then one day the bloke saw my neighbour on the street and started swearing at him and threatening him, neighbour being 72 and carer for his housebound wife decided police action was the best way to go and now the guy would get in trouble with police if he comes near neighbour.

it was about this time the post started again, i opened a letter with no return address on it (i know, i know) and it turns out he is telling people he doesnt live where he has been found (i am guessing electoral roll search) and the bills are coming here :eek: everything previously has either been returned to sender or if it had no return address was thrown in the bin, is it worth phoning this people and telling them i am not the guy they want and he has been gone for years? there are potentially about a dozen as he owed a lot of money all over the place

reason i am asking now is the latest ones dont have return addresses on envelopes

camuk81

The difficulty you have is if you phone please don't give your name. I would be tempted to phone and tell them you still live here and there is no truth give me a few minutes and I'll dig another post out to help or another more experienced MSE will pop on to help out on the situation.

camuk81

Still looking.

Found this link which may help.

Make sure when you phone them you are recording calls.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-1679920/Debt-collectors-get-the-wrong-address.html

neverbefore2011

try to avoid becoming paranoid!

I moved into a similar situation some years ago, and although some of the DCAs were less friendly than others, they all responded immediately to my calls, and stopped writing or calling

Only one of them asked for proof of my ID etc, which I sent them, and I think I gave my name to most of them

BlushingRose

I've had a similar issue before moving in with Mr BR and all I did was ring them up, tell them it wasn't me they wanted and, on occasion, sent them copies of a utility bill. That solved the issue for me.

give_them_FA

Why bother? If there's a return address return it. If there isn't open it and if its from a DCA then bin it. They simply go away after sending a series of template letters.

Or if you have a pet gerbil the letters make good bedding, thereby saving you money.

AGB863

when debt collectors sell debts to other debt collectors - they will always give the last known address of the person they are chasing to the purchaser of the debt - thus although you may have told the first collector they do not live there - the new collectors starts to trace the debtor with the information that they have been given

gary_d_a

as long as they dont start pursuing me or giving me hassle thats all cool then

cpjackso

I've had this before - I just made sure I returned all post and I knew the new forwarding address so included that in a note on the returned post.

It shouldn't cause you a problem on your credit rating.