False bank account opened

shelleysare

Someone, I have no idea who, has opened a TSB current bank account in my name and address. I did not apply for it. How is this possible?
TSB have sent me the account numbers and debit card. I did not request the account and have reported it to them.
They say they will close the account.
How can I prevent this happening again and are there any consequences?

molerat

First thing you need to do is check all 3 credit reports to see if anything else has been done.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report/

eskbanker

shelleysare said:

Someone, I have no idea who, has opened a TSB current bank account in my name and address. I did not apply for it. How is this possible?
TSB have sent me the account numbers and debit card. I did not request the account and have reported it to them.
They say they will close the account.
How can I prevent this happening again and are there any consequences?

It's presumably someone who knows enough about you to go through the application process, but the benefit of doing this isn't obvious, unless you perhaps live somewhere where there's shared access to delivered post?

You could submit a subject access request to TSB to ask them more about what personal data they hold about you, such as the detail of this application, although now you've declared that it wasn't you they may not provide that.

However, that doesn't really move things any further forward - as well as checking your credit files for unexpected data, another possibility is to sign up for protective registration with CIFAS, which puts obstacles in the way of anyone (including you) applying for credit in your name:

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr