Would Credit Check reveal address to collection agency?

TweddleDee

I've an outstanding debt that I'm not in a position to pay its due to be statute barred in the next year but I'm not quite sure when. I'm a live in carer for a relative and would prefer that threatening letters don't come to this address. I can't see a way to access my credit report without linking this address which would then become available to my Creditor, is there any way around this, do any of the credit check agencies assure that they wont share that info, is there a third party that I could have check my credit on my behalf? Thank you for any advice.   

Shakin_Steve

Creditors are very good at finding people, if they really want to. You say you are a live in carer, so I presume you are receiving carers allowance at that address. 

TweddleDee

Currently waiting on the Carer's Allowance decision, relative had emergency op so situation wasn't anticipated have been told there's a backlog and could take up to 8 weeks.

Brie

I used to have a job which included helping track ex employees  - the company would send post to the last known address, it would be returned and we would hunt for a new address for the individual. 

Part of our search process was to log into the Experian website and we could see all related addresses for the individual.  So if they had any credit cards or loans taken out over a number of years or were on the vote registry we could see all the places they lived.  I suspect that this is a licensed service that Experian provides so the company was paying to access these files.  I assume a collection firm might be able to get a similar license.  

That said - there's been a lot of changes to data protection in the last few years so possibly this is not longer available.  But there are all sorts of services that are available as very often we give tacit permission to make our info public.  It could be something so simple as ticking yes to a "I agreed to the T&Cs" when logging on to a website.  And we had lots of creative ways of tracking people down via various social media sites as well - facebook is the obvious one now but there's others such as Linkedln.

TweddleDee

I was a lodger at a friends place the previous 3 years, no letters from a collection agency came there even though I was registered to vote at that address, Don't have an active LinkedIn but have used it previously, and only have a private facebook account so not much of a social media presence. I'm sure I could be located somehow but handing over my new address to a credit agency seems like asking for trouble, but on the other hand I would like to review my credit report. 

Thrugelmir

The CRA's operate GAIN (Gone Away Information Network).   As you soon as you pop up you'll be visible to anyone looking for you. 

george9071

A family member of mine defaulted on one of her bills, she has changed address about 3 times since. She never puts herself on the electoral roll due to this reason. Every time she has moved address they always manage to find her. The collection agency run a soft credit check on her every now and then, not sure if they can get hold of the new address by doing that but they always find her.

MalMonroe

I'm a fan of Long Lost Family (don't judge me) and they always manage to find the people they're looking for. Address, telephone number and all. I don't know who they use - they don't disclose their 'special agents' details but if someone really wants to find you, they will.

Having said that, if they were desperate to find you, they would probably have done so by now. 

sourcrates

MalMonroe said:

I'm a fan of Long Lost Family (don't judge me) and they always manage to find the people they're looking for. Address, telephone number and all. I don't know who they use - they don't disclose their 'special agents' details but if someone really wants to find you, they will.

Having said that, if they were desperate to find you, they would probably have done so by now. 

Its not difficult these days, everyone tends to post there lives on social media, so guess where they start their search ?

OP, 

Debt collection letters are sent plain envelope anyway, if you want to be untraceable, that would mean living off the grid, which for most people is not an option, if they want to find you, they will, instead of playing secret squirrels, there are other ways to deal with debt.

If its soon to be statute barred, hiding won`t help you, they can apply for a CCJ using your last known address, and this usually results in a CCJ by default, and you won`t know about it until its too late.

Its actually better for you letting them know where you live, not directly obviously, but then there won`t be any nasty surprises will there. 

TweddleDee

Thanks everyone for the advice. 

y3sitsm3

It's perhaps worth adding that asking for your address as an identity verification is unlikely to do much.

If they don't have your current address, and you've never told anyone who reports to the CRAs of your new address, then using the new address in the signup process is likely to result in them refusing to allow you to see your credit file due to an address mismatch.

If they do allow you to see your credit file using your current address then almost certainly you have told someone who reports to your credit file what your current address is and the damage is already done.

If you really want to be careful, just try and sign up using your old address details. If this gets declined you've told someone what your current address is.