Someone has opened a bank account using my address - how to check with Credit Agencies

tjw23

Hi there,

Someone has opened up a Monzo account using my address (but not my name?)

I called up Monzo and gave them the name on the card and I was told that they couldn’t tell me any more due to data protection and that I would need to contact each of the credit agencies to see if an account had been set up.

This seems like madness, someone can set up an account using my address but the bank who let them do it cannot tell me if in fact I have been scammed, they can see if they have an account against my address but won’t tell me, the owner of the property.

I assume this is a common problem given the lax security, can anyone else with experience of this advise me what to do? I have logged into the credit agency websites using MSE and viewed my reports but it may take time for this to appear. It also dawns on me that the credit reports are against my name not my address, how do I check whether someone has taken credit out against my address?

thanks in advance

JGB1955

A credit check against your address has no impact on you.... does it?

tjw23

Hi there, I don't think believe it does, unfortunately Monzo couldn't provide any assurance to that effect and simply told me to keep an eye on my credit report over the next while. It could be as simple as someone keying in the wrong address but as they can't tell me, the onus is on me to keep checking, which seems daft

maxximus75

You can't see what credit has been taken out on your address, only credit in your name.

This could simply be an issue of an address miskeyed upon application - mistakes are sometimes made. 

As you are not the account holder, it would be against the law for the company to divulge any information to you.

You should cut the card up and return it to the sender with a covering note.

tjw23

thanks Maxximus, card is cut and already on its way back, the concern is that it would have a negative impact on my credit rating but assuming it doesn't then no real harm done. It would have been useful had Monzo been able to tell me that and put my mind at ease (I did ask) but they wouldn't discuss it at all

Yahoo_Mail

tjw23 said:

thanks Maxximus, card is cut and already on its way back, the concern is that it would have a negative impact on my credit rating but assuming it doesn't then no real harm done.

It doesn't.  People have credit files, addresses do not.

It would have been useful had Monzo been able to tell me that and put my mind at ease (I did ask) but they wouldn't discuss it at all

It's not your account so they're far better not discussing anything with you. It's very possible something has been done behind the scenes to address this (such as putting a block on the account to prompt the account holder to call in so the correct details can be obtained) but they won't discuss this with a third party as it would breach the Data Protection Act.

tjw23

thanks Yahoo_Mail, I get the data protection bit but even had they been able to say 'People have credit files, addresses do not' as you have it would have helped put my mind at ease, instead they said I needed to keep checking my file to ensure nothing untoward had happened. Anyway, thanks for the input

Yahoo_Mail

tjw23 said:

thanks Yahoo_Mail, I get the data protection bit but even had they been able to say 'People have credit files, addresses do not' as you have it would have helped put my mind at ease, instead they said I needed to keep checking my file to ensure nothing untoward had happened. Anyway, thanks for the input

They may have been instructed to not engage non-account holders at all, it's a lot easier to avoid any slipups that way.  The alternative is a long list of things they can and can't say, which increases the chance someone will think they're allowed to say something they aren't.  Simply saying nothing should avoid that issue.

Plus, front line customer service staff are usually trained to a basic level on a lot of things, rather than highly trained on a few things. It's entirely possible the rep just had no idea.  Better to say nothing than tell you the wrong thing.