Author Topic: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?  (Read 4556 times)

TreeTired

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 454
  • Age: 139
  • Location: North Carolina
  • I think we can make it (We made it!)
Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« on: October 17, 2016, 03:56:57 PM »
We occasionally get mail for our neighbor 2 doors down, and sometimes they get ours.  It is an easy mistake to make if the middle 2 numbers are transposed,   for example:

Our street adress is  8362
and theirs is   8632.

So today, 3 pieces of mail came with his name on them, and I did notice they were "thin" envelopes from credit card companies which made me think..... "Hmmmm... he is applying for cards and getting rejected, hope everything is ok"  and I put the mail on our table so I can run it down to him later.

Instead I go for a run and start thinking.....  and when I get home I check the envelopes and sure enough,  they have our street address on them, so the mailman correctly delivered them to my house.  His name and my street address.

I don't want to confront him with the mail.  I think I will put the envelopes in an envelope and send them back to the credit card company with a letter telling them the street address is incorrect.

Is there a scam there? -  he needs to apply for credit using a ss# number and other info besides a street address.  I know he could ask for paperless statements and I would never see any mail and he could have a card with my address, but I am not sure how that could help him or hurt me.   

Thoughts?

frugalecon

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 730
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2016, 04:29:53 PM »
I would take advantage of the free credit report service at annualcreditreport.com to make sure that there is nothing strange in your credit file.

Bracken_Joy

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8927
  • Location: Oregon
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2016, 04:31:40 PM »
Most likely a typo, but yeah, I would check your credit reports. You're entitled to a free report (NOT score) once per year from each of the major agencies. Should do them annually. This is the best way to check for fraud.

Frankies Girl

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3899
  • Age: 86
  • Location: The oubliette.
  • Ghouls Just Wanna Have Funds!
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2016, 12:57:21 AM »
If the address was printed as your address on the envelopes (not handwritten) then you absolutely can write on the envelopes themselves "return to sender - subject not at this address" or if you know the exact address: "WRONG ADDRESS LISTED! CORRECT ADDRESS IS: 123 Street" and put them back in your mailbox. The postal carrier will pick them up and they'll eventually be returned to the issuing company or if they are feeling particularly generous, they'll deliver it to the guy if you wrote the correct addy on there, and it's on their way that day.

But if you don't mind talking to people (I do, so I do the above suggestion), I'd instead go directly to the neighbor and tell them that these are all incorrectly listing your address and that this may cause him grief in the future if his address is incorrectly listed in his credit reports and he needs to contact the companies and get it corrected. In the future, you can then mark them all "return to sender/wrong address" stuff since the guy was alerted to the fact that he's got incorrect addresses floating around out there and either he is accidentally/deliberately doing this on credit applications/forms (but there is no advantage to him for deliberately putting a slightly wrong address as it only complicates his credit history and looks like he can't fill out a form correctly so likely if he's the one doing it, it's sheer carelessness) OR it is the agencies he is applying to transposing numbers themselves (in which case, no big).

In any case, this isn't going to hurt or reflect on you at all. Address numbers get transposed all the time, he's never lived in your house and is no relation, and it's just going to show on his report that he's lived at YX address and XY address (and other variations likely). I've seen it on my own credit reports - an apartment number is correct, then it's one number off, and then they've left the apartment number off completely for on location. Human error in all its glory.

But on a side note, do check your credit reports at least every other year if you don't already. Highly unlikely this has anything at all to do with it, but they're free and it's a good thing to stay on top of for your financial health.

I'm a red panda

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8186
  • Location: United States
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2016, 07:12:04 AM »
If you haven't opened them, I think you are making a major assumption that they are reject letters just because they are thin.

I get mail from credit card companies all the time that is just a single folded piece of paper.  I have excellent credit.

J_Stache

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 106
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2016, 07:32:35 AM »
If you haven't opened them, I think you are making a major assumption that they are reject letters just because they are thin.

I get mail from credit card companies all the time that is just a single folded piece of paper.  I have excellent credit.

Yup.  Single page letter could be "After reviewing you account, we are able to process your request for a credit line increase from X to XX".

charis

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3162
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2016, 07:35:18 AM »
If you haven't opened them, I think you are making a major assumption that they are reject letters just because they are thin.

I get mail from credit card companies all the time that is just a single folded piece of paper.  I have excellent credit.

This is what I came to post - I think it's pretty unlikely that he got 3 rejection letters at the same time.  I get thin letters from credit card companies almost every other day - they are usually one-page offer letters or random notifications.   

Regardless, the fact that all of them have your address with his name is still weird.  Check your credit reports.  Personally, I think opening them just to make sure is ethically ok here.

Fishindude

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3075
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2016, 07:37:41 AM »
Just write WRONG ADDRESS on them and stick them back in your mail box.

tipster350

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 345
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2016, 07:40:12 AM »

[/quote]
   

Regardless, the fact that all of them have your address with his name is still weird.  Check your credit reports.  Personally, I think opening them just to make sure is ethically ok here.
[/quote]

It's illegal to open someone else's mail, even if incorrectly addressed.

charis

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3162
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2016, 07:55:11 AM »
It is not legal to merely open someone else's mail.  Also, here, he doesn't actually know, at this point, whether it is his mail or the neighbor's.  It is his address, with the wrong name. 


It's illegal to open someone else's mail, even if incorrectly addressed.

"At oral argument, there was also discussion of . . . a person who receives letters sent to his home address, but carrying the name of someone else (as if that person lived at that address) . . . [W]e reject the suggestion that an unintended recipient of misaddressed mail could be held criminally liable under any paragraph of § 1708 if the recipient acted without criminal intent sufficient to establish that he or she kept possession of the mail with a bad purpose. Criminal liability should not attach to a person merely because they know the mail was not meant for them and they kept it or disposed of it nonetheless." US v. Coleman, 196 F. 3d 83
« Last Edit: October 18, 2016, 08:07:53 AM by jezebel »

frugaliknowit

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2016, 08:45:24 AM »
I would:

1.  Give the letters to your neighbor.
2.  Check your credit reports.
3.  Freeze your credit (not because of the letters-I think everyone should do this).

TreeTired

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 454
  • Age: 139
  • Location: North Carolina
  • I think we can make it (We made it!)
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2016, 04:14:54 PM »
I didn't want to call the neighbor because I couldn't do it without sounding like I was accusing him of running a scam.  My wife, however, immediately called and left a message.  Still waiting for a callback.  I will not open the letters. Most that could be seen through the window in the envelope is "Dear Applicant".   

libertarian4321

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1395
Re: Got my neighbor's credit reject letter - should I be concerned?
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2016, 05:00:06 PM »

3.  Freeze your credit (not because of the letters-I think everyone should do this).

Why?

Is this part of Dave Ramsey's insane Jihad Crusade (oops, I almost screwed that up Dave's a Christian) against any and all use of credit, or is there some legitimate reason for doing so?

« Last Edit: October 18, 2016, 05:03:24 PM by libertarian4321 »