previous occupants of our new house have v bad debt

jemw

Hi

We're currently looking into buying a house, where the previous two sets of occupants both have bad debts.

How would we go about cleaning the record? Obviously need to write to experian and equifax, but is there anything else we can do and will their bad credit history affect us?

We have lived at our current property for 6 years and have no loan/creditcard/utility bill defaults, except for only one late payment, due to sheer forgetfulness. Is our credit history likely to be affected?

[Deleted User]

No, they will take their debts with them, but it will take time for their creditors to stop pestering you.

jemw

Hi

Thanks for your reply. Do you know if we should just return the mail as RETURN TO SENDER or whether we should open it and send a letter to the sender saying when they moved, etc?

dolce_vita

If you do buy the house, you will need to be proactive on this one.

Keep a constant eye on your credit record by checking it regularly (this will cost you a couple of quid, but will be worth it if you're worried) and make sure they have the correct information.

Also when any mail adressed to the previous occupants is delivered to your house, open it straight away and if it's from a bank or debt collection agency phone them and tell them the situation.
If you have a forwarding address tell them that as well.

There will no doubt someone on here who will come along and say "don't open someone else's mail" and "you'll get into trouble" etc.

Ignore them. They don't know what they are talking about.

Eventually, it will stop.

best wishes

carpetbelly

dolce_vita wrote: »

Keep a constant eye on your credit record by checking it regularly (this will cost you a couple of quid, but will be worth it if you're worried) and make sure they have the correct information.

Always a solid idea anyway as you should know what's going on with your credit file. They're not to hard to understand and banks play on the fact people don't know much about them.

dolce_vita wrote: »

Also when any mail adressed to the previous occupants is delivered to your house, open it straight away and if it's from a bank or debt collection agency phone them and tell them the situation.
If you have a forwarding address tell them that as well.

Officially you shouldnt, but I would. If you return to sender, that's the right thing to do but so many people with debts do that anyway trying to buy time the companies dont generally take much notice of that. Ring the people up.

The previous occupants credit ratings can not legally effect yours (unless they try to defraud you but that's a different matter).

silvercar

Provided you do not share identical surnames with the previous occupiers, your credit rating should not be affected. The idea of linking credit records by address went out of the window years ago.

As regards post, it is illegal to open post addressed to someone else. Mark the envelope "gone away, return to sender" and stick it in the post box.

You may get baliffs knocking at the door, so keep a utility bill in your name handy to prove you are not the previous occupiers.

Been through this and it really didn't affect my credit record.

After returning letters to sender, I did get some letters addressed to "the occupier" the contents of which were "we know you still live here" rubbish which gave me the opportunity to tell the sender the correct info.

Treat it all with a smile, and be grateful that the bad credit is chasing someone else not you!

dolce_vita

silvercar wrote: »

As regards post, it is illegal to open post addressed to someone else. Mark the envelope "gone away, return to sender" and stick it in the post box.

I said someone would be along to say this.

Ignore it and open the letters.

RabbitMad

silvercar wrote: »

As regards post, it is illegal to open post addressed to someone else. Mark the envelope "gone away, return to sender" and stick it in the post box.

Obviously if the name isn't visable in the window you can open it

daphne_descends

I wouldn't bother opening their post to be honest - unless you have time on your hands to write to companies who won't care anyway. If it's not addressed to you, return it. You don't gain anything by opening it.

Keep your passport handy as well as a bill in case bailiffs turn up.

I've just moved and my new landlord warned me that the previous tenants seem to have forgotten to let many of their creditors know they don't live here anymore. I've got better things to do than screen their mail, isn't that a PAs job?