moving house ,and debt collection agency

Old_Git

I have bought a house ,not moved in yet but the previous owner didnt pay his Tesco credit card bill and now letters are arriving from a debt collection agency . There is no mail redirect ,and I am not sure it would make any difference as he is unlikely to pay .He did leave an opened letter in the house ,so he knows they are after him.
What are my options to stop these letters .If I write return to sender how long before they take the hint .

I am not concerned about my credit being affected ,just dont want debt collectors calling.

ballyblack

best way to bin them!

not ur problem

anotherginger

Don't bin them, just put back in the post with 'Return to Sender' written aross it. You might eventually get a knock on the door from a debt collector but they'll go away when they know you're not the right person.

ballyblack

Return to sender mostly doesn't work

They think the real person is trying it on!

RikM

ballyblack wrote: »

Return to sender mostly doesn't work

They think the real person is trying it on!

Yes, but when they do attempt further contact you've already indicated that the letters aren't reaching the target.

I've found previously that DCAs can be quite persistent even when you've had direct contact with them. But it's nothing to worry about as they can't do anything to you.

Bigcammy

Return to sender with a note on the front stating previous occupier gone away since May 2013 or whenever. Keep doing, even when you get sick of it. It's when you get calls on your new phone number which belonged to someone who moved on and the DCA doesn't believe you that it gets really frustrating, personal experience speaking here!

Chipman_2

We had a similar experience and should have got suspicious at the start when the previous occupant told us that as he wasn't moving too far away he wasn't going to be putting a mail re-direction into the Post Office, he instead insisted on us holding his mail and he would call back regularly to collect it!! This started to get on our wick before too long...

The debt collectors did call after a couple of months or so, there was no threatening behaviour from them or anything like that. They just asked if I was Mr. X, I said no I have just moved in do you want to see any ID, they said no, sorry for bothering you and went. Thankfully never saw yer man again though!