Bank wrong address

friolento

SiliconChip said:

mab3000 said:

born_again said:

tony3619 said:

Hello, 

So I received a letter for someone else but with my address on it. 

It was from a bank saying they are starting recovery action for outstanding debt. 

Im not sure what to do or who to contact as it's not in my name but my address is listed so it's not someone attempting fraud using my identity as such. 

Is this a bank, you bank with?
If yes, ring them & point out the error, might be worth a few £ as a complaint.

If not, then simply return as not know at address.

Not sure the bank would offer compensation in this instance. The person the letter was intended for has given the OP’s address to that bank at some point. If the person had lived at this address  previously but not updated the address with the bank for example, it’s not the banks error that the person hasn’t update their address.  

On the other hand if the account was opened after the OP moved to their current address then the bank failed to correctly verify the address of the person opening the account, and as that might be worth a few quid it might be worth putting in a complaint anyway.

The address could have been fraudulently used even if the OP lived at it. Banks have no means to reliably verify who lives at an address. They rely on information from the electoral register, credit reference agencies and utility bills. All of which can be incorrect / faked.

tony3619

So I have Abit more information. 

It appears that on my estate I am number 14 and there is also a flat 14. 

After doing a little investigation it looks like the name on the letter is linked to the occupier of flat 14. It could be a genuine mistake. 

Obviously I'm a bit reluctant to bring this up with them having opened the letter so I may just return the letter and hope it's sorted with them. 

eDicky

You could write on it 'Unknown addressee, try FLAT 14' and re-post it...

Rich1976

The bank won’t speak to you anyway as you are not the account holder, so best just to return it and forget about it. 

born_again

tony3619 said:

So I have Abit more information. 

It appears that on my estate I am number 14 and there is also a flat 14. 

After doing a little investigation it looks like the name on the letter is linked to the occupier of flat 14. It could be a genuine mistake. 

Obviously I'm a bit reluctant to bring this up with them having opened the letter so I may just return the letter and hope it's sorted with them. 

If you bank with that bank, you can report this. Just advise them that you are getting mail for another customer to your address, which should be sent to Flat 14.
If the person you speak to has any sense they will flag it in, as it is a potential data breech.

Nasqueron

Just go give it to them, don't make any mention of reading it, just say it was opened in error, you saw the name and were bringing it around and leave it at that. Or just stick it through their letter box and run!

boingy

With the current letter I'd put it back in the post with "not known here - return to sender" in the hope that it makes its way back to the bank. After that, if anything else similar arrived arrived I'd hand deliver it to Flat 14. I probably would not engage with the addressee unless they happened across me delivering their mail.

GeoffTF

I have experience of this, but not recently. I just reposted the bank's letters with "Not known at this address". The letters eventually stopped coming. I subsequently had to host a visit from the council who wanted to check that I was the only person living at my address. A credit reference agency had told them that there was more than one person living here.

GeoffTF

boingy said:

With the current letter I'd put it back in the post with "not known here - return to sender" in the hope that it makes its way back to the bank. After that, if anything else similar arrived arrived I'd hand deliver it to Flat 14. I probably would not engage with the addressee unless they happened across me delivering their mail.

I would not hand the letter to Flat 14. You could be assisting in fraud if you do that. The occupant of Flat 14 could have set up an account in the name of a fictitious person using your address.

boingy

GeoffTF said:

boingy said:

With the current letter I'd put it back in the post with "not known here - return to sender" in the hope that it makes its way back to the bank. After that, if anything else similar arrived arrived I'd hand deliver it to Flat 14. I probably would not engage with the addressee unless they happened across me delivering their mail.

I would not hand the letter to Flat 14. You could be assisting in fraud if you do that. The occupant of Flat 14 could have set up an account in the name of a fictitious person using your address.

I think you shouldn't automatically assume the worst in people. The person at Flat 14 is almost certainly legit and deserves a chance to know that the bank is pursuing a debt against them. Despite what the press and social media would have you think, most people are not fraudsters or scammers. They are just people. 

And in the unlikely event that it is part of a fraud then so what? I can't imagine the Fraud Squad bursting into my house at dawn because I passed on a letter in good faith. You can't spend your life worrying about this stuff.