Debt of someone no longer at my address

[alvinlwh]

Hi all,

Some of you may remember me posting here about a 'friend' who owe me some money. Well this post is about the same person, but a different debt.

This person had a loan with RBS of about £2000. She had defaulted on the loan and of course the bank is now chasing her for the money. She no longer live at my address but clearly had not informed the bank, so the letters are coming to my address.

In one of these letters, the bank said 'The Group and other companies may use the record of default and any other information provided to the agencies when considering application by you, or other members of your household, for facilities including motor, household, credit life and general insurance.' It also threaten to get a court order to recover the fund, which may (not specified in the letter, but we all know how they work) also involve bailiffs.

This rise two issue for me;

1) Why should my credit rating or application for loans, insurances, etc be affected by someone who is no longer in my ‘household’?

2) We all had seen the BBC program on how bailiffs work; just telling them the person does not live there will do no good.

So I wrote to RBS telling them that this person does not live at my address anymore, and tell them that since this does not involve me, they have to remove all references regarding my address/household.

Their reply was they were not in a position to remove the address from the records unless provided with suitable authority to do so from the original person. Now why would a runner want to do that? It also claims that Default registered will only clearly state that it relates to the original person. Hmmm??? I was also told marking the mail ‘return to sender, not at this address’ is the only way to remove the name from my address.

Anyway I recently applied for a Mint card, and for those of you who do not know, Mint is actually part of RBS. My application got rejected; the rejection letter comes on the same day another letter for demand of payment address to this person. What is all this talk about no problems with my credit file?

 

Now RBS had not kept their promise (no surprise here) to remove the name from my address, and probably (I suspect) screwed up my credit reference as well. And their original letter made threats against my household (although not address to me). Surely this is not right and there is something I can do to them about this?

[sequenci]

1) Why should my credit rating or application for loans, insurances, etc be affected by someone who is no longer in my ‘household’?

 

i doubt it would. get a copy of your credit file and check there are no financial links and if there are - dissassociate yourself.

 

2) We all had seen the BBC program on how bailiffs work; just telling them the person does not live there will do no good.

 

stick to your guns, they will soon give up. you could consider getting a statutory declaration signed to state that they no longer live there perhaps? a bit extreme but good for peace of mind i guess.

 

make sure the electoral role is updated too!

[alvinlwh]

"i doubt it would. get a copy of your credit file and check there are no financial links and if there are - dissassociate yourself."

 

I know how to get a credit file, but how to 'dissassociate' myself? Also can I make the bank send me a copy of my file, on the basis that they did make a threat directed towards my 'household'? I am quite sure the threat is illegal/improper, so surely I shouldn't have to pay for the credit file myself.

 

"stick to your guns, they will soon give up. you could consider getting a statutory declaration signed to state that they no longer live there perhaps? a bit extreme but good for peace of mind i guess.

 

make sure the electoral role is updated too!"

 

Actually I will consider sticking a gun in their face if they dare to come around calling. Well, sadly, I do not have a gun... How do I get a statutory declaration? And most importantly, how much will it cost me? I am sure her name is not on the electoral roll.

[LondonPam]

If you go to the credit reference agencies website you can order your report online. If there is any association with this other person it will be shown to you on the report. There is also a link on the website to issue a notice of disassociation, it can all be done online. It makes no difference to your report who has lived at your address as long as there is no financial link to that person. The first check should be your report.

[alvinlwh]

I just had an idea, instead of marking the latest mail "Return to Sender, Not at this address", I forwarded it instead. The return address on the back is to some PO box in London. But I have the name and address of the person at the bank who had communicated with, whom had assured me that the person's name will be removed and I shall not be bothered again. Well, I forward the letter of demand over to him at Glasgow instead. Lets see how he like that one!

[rbrears]

LondonPam is quite right - all you need to do is make sure that any financial association on your credit file is removed. That will be the end of any damage to your credit rating. There are easy to follow instructions about how to do this on the equifax website as far as I recall. Its a lot easier than dealing with the lender in relation to someone else's debt!! If the bailiffs call tell them to sod off.