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Landlords need to take heed from a recent fraud involving a tenant using the landlords details in a case of ID theft to rack up over £10,000 in debt on the landlords credit card.
The case involving a York landlord only came to light when the landlord visited his property in an attempt to obtain months of unpaid rent from his tenant. He then discouvered a stack of bills from Barclays bank demanding repayments of over £10,000 on his credit card bill that he had not used.
It turns out that the card had been sent to his former address unsolicited by the bank followed by the PIN number several days later. The tenant then used the car to go on a spending spree including buying a set of new tyres of his girlfriends Audi TT.
To read more about the case
Landlord insurance - protect my property
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5 comments:
Make sure you sign up for the new noddle service from callcredit; it's free.
Ensure Land Registry has your home address and an email address for ALL communications to be sent to.
Check all 3 credit files to ensure your details are correct.
Ensure any management companies; letting agents,freeholders; Ground rent company are advised of your home address; also ALL mortgage companies ONLY send communications regarding your mortgages to your home address.
Do ALL this and that should stop id fraud.
It has for me todate.
Yep Noddle looks promising. There is also a simple Credit Preference organisation you can sign up with annually. This means that if any accounts/cards/services are taken out in your name at the named address (you can do more than one), the organisation that is being applied to is instructed to contact you first to make sure that you have made the application, and not a fraudster. This is done through your bank.
These services are only £12 per year and worked really well for me in the past and negate the Fraud Identity insurances that are sold and are a waste of time. Because at the end of the day you still need to put in the time and get the hassle of sorting it all out. So prevention is the best cure.
It is really important to safeguard your identity because once it is stolen, it creates a load of hassle and work to clear your name and will have serious consequences for future loan and credit requirements.
Hi Fleur,
Care to give the name of that Credit Preference organisation?
@Anon 12:58
CIFAS is the one I use. Not sure if there are any others.
http://www.cifas.org.uk/pr
CIFAS is the only service that all credit reference agencies use and all lenders; along with National Hunter database.
Private individuals may indeed pay for what is called protected registration which ensures that if any application for credit is made additional enquiries have to be made.
I am not sure if this applies to the Land Registry; which is why you should ensure ALL communications about your rental properties are only sent to your registered address details.
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