Store card opened by someone else using my address

Homebuyer1_2

I have just opened my post today without checking the names on the letters as I never do and have just seen this.

It is a letter thanking someone, who I have never heard of, for opening a store card with a well known retailer. It goes onto say that they are assessing their credit score via Experian.

I don't know what I should do because I'm aware that I shouldn't have opened the letter but I just picked it up along with the rest of my post. The name on it is not the person who lived here previously.

Does this mean that someone is trying to open an account based on the credit rating of our house? Should I try and contact anyone because I don't want to be liable for any bills which they may run up?

Thank you

YorkshireBoy

Houses don't have credit ratings...people do.

Seal it up and put in back in the post marked "not known at this address".

Homebuyer1_2

Thank you, I didn't realise it wasn't the address they use.

Will it matter that I have torn the envelope open if I send it back?

terryw

Don't worry about opening the envelope. You have done nothing wrong.

Personally, I would contact the firm rather than merely returning the envelope to try and nip this in the bud. It may just be a simple clerical/computer error.

You will not be liable for any debt raised by this person.

bengal-stripe

Send it back to the CC, add your name and your address: "Opened in error. Not known at this address."

It might just be a muddled-up house number, not a fraudulent application.

pqrdef

I think I'd wonder what this other person is using for ID. Either they've put themselves on the electoral roll at your address, or they've faked up some other form of ID, or nobody did any checks.

Or, they opened the account using their own address and correct ID, and somebody has then mis-entered their address into the computer. In that case, they've committed a breach of data protection, they owe somebody compensation, and they need to get their procedures sorted out so it doesn't happen again. Anybody can make a mistake, but data protection says it's their responsibility to make sure nobody does.