Former housemate moved out - 118 won’t change address

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literallyaskingforafriend
literallyaskingforafriend Posts: 5 Forumite
in Credit cards
Hi there,

My friend, let’s say Jenny, used to have a housemate, let’s say Sarah, who raked up quite a bit of credit card debt on three credit cards and ended up moving out without changing her address. For other reasons they do not speak anymore and this has always been a sore topic, with Sarah denying any debt. Jenny does not believe Sarah would ever get the address changed if she could avoid it. After she moved out, Jenny has received a lot of letters that she can identify as being from credit card, often three a week. She’s called a few on numbers located online or on leftover letters and everyone has been good with changing the address from hers to Sarah’s new one. All except 118.

She has attempted to explain that this is not the correct address but they simply will not do anything but ‘leave a note’ on the account (which was a number Jenny could provide) brcause she’s not the account holder.

She’s tried sending the letters back but they still continue to arrive.

Do any of you know what she can do in order to not receive these letters and to get the address on the account changed without contacting Sarah? Does she have any rights at all as the current resident at the address where the account holder no longer lives?
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  • comeandgo
    comeandgo Posts: 5,751 Forumite
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    Just write " no longer at this address" on each and every one, pop it in a letter box and in time 118 will get the message.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,981 Forumite
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    Just bin them. Scum level lenders such as 118 are unlikely to change address without a substantiated new one as they are used to the no longer lives here excuse as a way of trying to get out of repaying.
  • Ergates
    Ergates Posts: 2,108 Forumite
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    118 Can't change the address on Jenny's say so. None of the others should have done so either. (Though they could use the phone call to do some further checks of their own)

    Only the account holder, or someone authorised to speak on their behalf should be able to update their account details directly.

    Imagine if you will, that MrBadMan knew your name and address, and phoned up your bank and said "literallyaskingforafriend has moved out of <your current address>, they now live at <MrBadMan's address>, can you send all their post there now". Now MrBadMan is now getting all your mail from your bank. This would be sub optimal .
  • garth549
    garth549 Posts: 486 Forumite
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    As above - if the debt is not in your name you have no need to worry. Just write "not at this address" in permanent marker on anything and put it back in a postbox.
  • Terry_Towelling
    Terry_Towelling Posts: 2,279 Forumite
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    Jenny has received a lot of letters that she can identify as being from credit card, often three a week. She’s called a few on numbers located online or on leftover letters and everyone has been good with changing the address from hers to Sarah’s new one. All except 118
    Are you really telling us that some credit card companies allowed an address to be changed as a result of a telephone call from someone other than the account holder, and that 118 are the only ones who wouldn't?
  • Chino
    Chino Posts: 2,029 Forumite
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    Terry_Towelling wrote: »
    Are you really telling us that some credit card companies allowed an address to be changed as a result of a telephone call from someone other than the account holder, and that 118 are the only ones who wouldn't?
    Didn't you read the OP?
    literallyaskingforafriend wrote: »
    She’s called a few on numbers located online or on leftover letters and everyone has been good with changing the address from hers to Sarah’s new one. All except 118.
  • Paul_DNAP
    Paul_DNAP Posts: 751 Forumite
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    The only involvement your friend should have is marking them "Not known at this address (moved away). Return to sender". She should not be contacting them herself at all. Perhaps drop a note into the envelope with the new address on, but that's coming close to interfering in other people's mail.


    When the guy in the flat before me did that, I printed it off on a few sheets of blank labels - put the not known sticker over the address window and throw into the postbox, let royal mail and the sender sort it out.


    Tell Jenny to be extra wary of getting her name too closely associated with other people's debts - if they ever make the "mistake" and put Jenny's name on the notes of the account as being involved in the debt then it could get messy for her.
    (Although I could be wrong, I often am.)
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,516 Forumite
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    Terry_Towelling wrote: »
    Are you really telling us that some credit card companies allowed an address to be changed as a result of a telephone call from someone other than the account holder, and that 118 are the only ones who wouldn't?

    Yes - clearly they won't action a change of address from anyone except the account holder.

    But I've known at least one CC company to just stop all outgoing mail to an account holder, if they suspect an address is out of date. (e.g. to avoid sending new cards etc to an old address.)

    They then wait for the account holder to contact them to confirm/deny that they have moved.

    (Maybe they send one last letter to the address they have saying 'please contact us urgently'.)

    Maybe that's why the letters from the CC companies have stopped.
  • Willing2Learn
    Willing2Learn Posts: 6,294 Forumite
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    If it were me, and the letters were becoming a nuisance, then I would open one of the letters. I would then attach it to my written reply advising them of Sarah's current address...Job done... :)
    I work within the voluntary sector, supporting vulnerable people to rebuild their lives.

    I love my job

    :smiley:
  • literallyaskingforafriend
    literallyaskingforafriend Posts: 5 Forumite
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    Neither me nor my friend are experienced with these companies so I don’t know if they actually did it or not. She was told, quote, ‘thanks for letting us know, we’ll get that changed’ by one, and was assured she’d not be receiving any more letters by another. And she hasn’t received any more letters from them and it’s been over two months where she used to receive at least one a week prior to this.
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