Debt collection letter but not ours

Worriedandalone

This is a bit of an odd one and I’m not sure whether to be concerned or not. 

We’ve received a few letters lately to our address but for the name of someone who doesn’t live here. The address is correct, name wrong. We’ve lived here for 10 years and bought the house from new so are the only occupants ever.
The name is not known to us, can’t find them on Facebook locally and a post on the local FB group has turned up nobody.

Today one of the letter was opened inadvertently amongst some other mail and revealed that they are debt collection letters for a car lease. I’ve contacted the company chasing and they advised that they will put a note on the system and contact the customer and asked me to destroy the letter. But I can’t help being concerned that this debt is now against our home and debt collectors could turn up. 

I’ve checked my credit score on ClearScore and all appears normal but is there anything else I should be doing? Perhaps a check against our address?

sourcrates

Debts are lodged against a named individual, not any particular address, so most likely just a mis-trace.

Debt collectors say this doesn't happen, but it is actually quite common.

Best not to contact creditors when you are not the debtor, just put letters back in the post marked "not at this address" and do not involve yourself further, not your name, not your problem, and leave it at that.

Only certain collection companies still knock on doors, and should anyone turn up looking for the debtor, you simply tell them its not you, they possess no power to interview you or to gain access to property, its not something you should concern yourself with.

Brie

Your credit history only has debts that are in your name, no one else's.  Even your spouse's debts won't be on your credit history but they will be shown as living at the same address.  (small exception is that if you are John Smith and your son is John Smith there obviously may be some confusion)

If you do have someone show up and they're being extra pushy just get out your phone and start filming - they will suddenly become very polite.  Basic rule - don't let them in the house even if it's bucketing down with rain.  Some people have proved the point by showing ID but frankly this shouldn't be necessary.

fatbelly

Very few visits ever happen. Just keep returning letters and do not open them to engage with creditors

Keep_pedalling

Anything that turns up with our address and someone else’s name on gets opened. Doesn’t happen very often, but the last one was from a finance company to a guarantor of a new loan. I did ring them to inform them that the guarantor had provided a false address which was the end of it and hopefully stoped the loan happening. 

elsien

I open them to see what they are, but I don’t engage with creditors.