Money News
When modern languages teacher, Sandie Rowlands, and her family moved from Stoke-on-Trent to Chester in 2003, they thought they had done everything to ensure a painless transition from one home to the other. What they hadn't anticipated was that their old address would be used to commit fraud several years later.
Sandie told all their business and personal contacts about the move and the change of address. She had already dealt with unsolicited mail by signing up for the Mailing Preference Service and returning unwanted correspondence with a clear request to be removed from any mailing list.
All seemed well until March 2006, when a debt collection agency called to say that Sandie owed more than £100 on catalogue goods.
"The agency couldn't give me full details but from what they said the goods came from a gift catalogue that I had never subscribed to," explains Sandie.
"I confirmed my current and previous addresses and it turned out that whoever had ordered the goods had used our old address."
The fraudster had ordered the goods during the summer of 2005, when Sandie was out of the country. The debt collection agency told her they needed proof that she had left the previous address before then and suggested she contact the Stoke-on-Trent council tax office. She did so and they provided the required proof, which was accepted by the agency.
Unfortunately, the fraudster hadn't finished. In August 2006, a letter arrived for Sandie, asking that she call another debt collection company. More bad debts had been run up by someone using Sandie's old address. The company accepted Sandie's explanation and said they would put a note to that effect on their records. "I was getting worried by then and a friend, who is a bank manager, advised me to check my credit record through Experian, with whom the bank ran all its credit checks."
Sandie went online and signed up for Experian's CreditExpert service, both for her online credit report and to get her National Credit Score. "I was dismayed to see that my rating was mediocre," says Sandie.
Looking carefully through her credit report, Sandie was shocked to discover four bogus mail order accounts had been set up, using her name and old address but a birth date that was different from her own. The debt run up in Sandie's name was more than £800. "At first, I was furious," says Sandie. "I'm very honest and couldnt understand how anyone could do this."
Sandie got in touch with Experian's Victims of Fraud Team. Following the team's advice, Sandie notified the police who gave her a crime number, although they acknowledged there was very little else they would be able to do. Again on Experian's advice, Sandie had her report password-protected, so that any organisation wanting to make a credit search would need her personal authorisation.
As a result, Sandie was able to rebuild her credit and by December, some nine months after the first debt collection company had contacted her, her credit report was error-free and had been marked up to indicate that the debts allegedly run up by her were bogus.
"Luckily I didn't need to apply directly for credit or a bank loan during this time. We did buy some sofas on interest-free credit but in my husband's name.
"The credit check on him took a little longer than usual but the markers on my report, as an associated person, worked and we were granted the credit."
It has not been possible to track down the fraudster, although Sandie suspects that a tenant at her old home, which was rented out after its sale, must have intercepted unsolicited mail delivered in her name to the old address.
Sandie didn't use the Royal Mail's re-direction service when she moved, believing that she'd done everything necessary to ensure that post would be sent to the new address. Her recommendation now would be to use the service for a significant period, given that the frauds in her name took place several years after she moved.
"So many catalogue companies are related that you just don't know whose mailing list you end up on," says Sandie. If you redirect mail for, say, 12 months after changing address, you stand a better chance of stray post not being delivered to your old home and creating the opportunity for fraud.
To help avoid their current address being misused, the family has invested in a shredder. "We shred absolutely everything with our address on it. I even rip off the relevant pages from catalogues and shred those - and the shredded paper makes great bedding for our hamster."
Sandie has kept up her subscription to CreditExpert so that she can keep tabs on her credit report and will be alerted of any significant changes. "I'm really grateful to Experian and CreditExpert for their help and very relieved to know that I once again have an excellent credit rating."
You can see your credit report for free by taking advantage of a 30-day trial of CreditExpert. Click here to find out more.
27 February 2007 © Moneyextra.com
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