Letters arriving not in my name.

roxy28

In the past 2 weeks 3 letters with different names, hard to read names never mind pronounce.
I have had no bills or demands except bills in my own name,so what shows up exactly on a online credit check and is it worth doing.
Also any advice about the letters.

matttye

Just put the letters back in the post and write 'RTS- not at this address' on the top.

jamesd

They aren't addressed to you so they won't show up on your credit report. Credit reports do not include random people at the same address, only those you have a financial connection with.

It isn't worth paying for a credit search when they aren't in your name.

You can open them and see what they are about. If you're feeling kind you can tell the firms involved that they are using an address where the addressee isn't known.

izools

Although opening someone else's mail is technically a criminal offence. My OH reminds me of this regularly :rotfl:

tom717

izools wrote: »

Although opening someone else's mail is technically a criminal offence. My OH reminds me of this regularly :rotfl:

This comes up quite often on this forum. I don't remember the exact wording but apparently it depends on what your intent is.

matttye

izools wrote: »

Although opening someone else's mail is technically a criminal offence. My OH reminds me of this regularly :rotfl:

tom717 wrote: »

This comes up quite often on this forum. I don't remember the exact wording but apparently it depends on what your intent is.

Yes exactly. It's only if you're intending to cause damage to the intended recipient.

Opening the mail so that you can inform a company the intended recipient doesn't live there can only be described as helpful.

izools

I'll remember that next time I'm going through the mail and accidentally open one of the OH's letters Thanks!

rizla_king

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/26/notes/division/4/5/2

128. Subsection (3) makes it an offence for a person, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, to open a postal packet which he knows or suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him.

StuC75

assuming there is no intent to benefit from whatever has been mailed then there is no problem. If the address is your property (and not been delivered in error then ok to open), As I once had mail delivered to my Number \ Street name.. but with a different town & post code on it!! So simply just put that back in the post.

Yes any such activity wont count against your credit file - but I would be more cautious as to what somebody would be running up.. E.g. Act early to avoid any issues of Bailiffs etc turning up at the property, and having to explain yourself down the line.

dktreesea

We have lived at our address for nearly a decade. We have a few letters a year (they are dwindling) from various collection agencies for a particular individual who, according to our neighbour across the stair, who has been here for ever, never lived at this address. I send them back RTS - not at this address, but the stream keeps coming. Once we had a debt collector turn up at the main door. I didn't let him in so he rang all the buzzers trying to get someone to let him through the security door. He was quite aggressive and when I looked down from the window, had a head like a battering ram. I called the police. So did two of my neighbours. And blow me down if they didn't turn up! I'n not sure what they said to him, but he left quick smart and the police said he "wouldn't be bothering us again".

Then there is this other guy who didn't ever live at this address but had our phone number before it got allocated to us. Every now and then a debt collector calls. These seem to be people who have bought the debt for pennies on the pound. This guy must have gone on a spending spree. Some of his debts are huge. As in £4,000 huge. They can get really aggressive. They "insist I give them my address", say things like "It's obvious I am Mrs xxx", and "fraud is a criminal offence". I say stuff to them like "You need to calm down. At the rate you're going , you'll give yourself a heart attack", and "have you been to see your GP? I think you need an anger management course."

p00hsticks

matttye wrote: »

Opening the mail so that you can inform a company the intended recipient doesn't live there can only be described as helpful.

It may not be unlawful, but I'd argue that it's not particularly helpful unless you are then going to go to the trouble of following up on the now opened letter by either calling the company or sending a separate letter back to them to tell them....

Just as effective and cheaper and more convenient for you is to do as mattye suggests - simply cross out your address on the front of the unopened letter, mark it as 'Return to Sender - Unknown at this address' and put them in the nearest post box next time you go past one. Let Royal Mail deal with it !