I have been getting mail from my back for someone I assume used to live at my place since I moved in. I kept ignoring it, thinking she would change her address eventually. It’s been about a year and they are still sending me bank mail for a person I’ve never met.
This seems like a serious security issue so I called the bank and alerted them to the problem. I was told I would have to find her and get her new address for them so they could change it. This seems…wrong. I’m alerting you to a security issue with one of your accounts and you need ME to fix it? The agent on the phone said there was nothing they could do without a new address.
I pressed harder and asked them to flag that account so she would have a warning she needs to talk to a banker next time she tries to use her account. Eventually he relented and put a flag on her account.
This seems really sloppy. Do banks just, not care about the mail they send out going to the right place? I’m honestly considering switching to a credit union over this.
Thats some bs. they should stop sending the statements to the address and flag it and you should not have had to asked for the flag. heck it should have been flagged just because a stranger called to talk about the account.
Not sure if all banks work that way, but I do have a way for you to solve the problem with anybody who is doing that.
In the United States, you can go down to the local post office and fill out a small form. That form lists exactly who lives there. The Post Office puts that form into an optical reader software and all mail that goes through the distribution plant gets read by an optical reader.
So for example let’s say that you lived at
872 3rd St. S.
And I tried to mail a letter to
John Stevens
872 3rd St. S.
If you don’t have John Stevens wrote on that form that you gave to the post office, the optical reader will immediately reject that letter and send it to whoever sent it. You will never see any mail other than what is addressed to you.
Make sure that everybody who lives at that address is wrote on that form. I would also write down anybody who realistically might be getting mail there. So for example, let’s say your mom intends to have a letter sent to your house for her even though she doesn’t live with you you’d wanna make sure her name is on that form.
Now the bank tries to send stuff out for this other person and the bank gets it right back.
Wait a second. I get junk mail all the time and when I used to call to opt out, the sender would just change the name to “current resident” and send it anyway. Are you telling me this would solve that?
Sadly. No.
They will deliver “current resident” mail.
I tried arguing with them that my name wasn’t “Current Resident” it went about as well as expected… lol
In Canada you can opt out of spam, with the exception of political spam.
Write, “Return to sender, no longer at this address.” On the envelope throw it back in the mail. You’ve done your due diligence.
I’ve been doing this for 4+ years for the same person and bank. I even showed up in person to the local branch and spoke to a manager. I’m having the same problem as OP; it never ends.
What’s more: no one (landlord, neighbors) knows who this person is. They’ve even got a business registered at my apartment.
Also, use a sharpie to black out the barcode and city, state, zip or you might end up with it back in your mailbox.
Write “return to sender, wrong address” on the envelopes and drop them back in the mail.
What do you do after doing this for 4+ years for the same person and bank, and you’ve gone as far as showing up in person at the bank’s local branch?
Try writting ‘Deceased’ on it and return it. At the very least it’ll give any human who sees it a momentary pause, and maybe they’ll take it more seriously.
Damn that’s a great idea! Cheers!
Oh wow that is a good tip. I’ve been getting similar letters for about ten years! Nothing has worked. I’m going to try this next time.
I know a guy who just throws it out.
Not going to say I haven’t done that but I’d rather stop receiving it at all.
Yeah after that long it’s just going in the recycling. Another thing you can do is notify the post office or carrier to deliver your mail by name only. This won’t stop mail addressed to “current resident,” but it should stop the stuff you’re talking about.
Yeah. I go to the post office semi-regularly and I see people complain about this problem; the employees just roll their eyes and say to mark the mail.
Write “Return to sender, not at this adress” on the envelope and put it back in the mail.
Sorry not sorry
Not OP, but live in an apartment, we don’t have any place for outgoing mail, so I need to write in on the envelopes and drop them in a random mailbox?
If you are in the US, yeah you can drop it in any USPS public dropbox or store iirc
FWIW, this is true of the U.K. too. You could also try speaking to your postie.
Yeah, I have the same issue. I just keep the misdirected mail for a week or two until it stacks up and then drop it all in the nearest blue USPS mailbox, which is in the center of town. It’s annoying, but not a huge deal.
Also I’ve read you shouldn’t write directly on the envelope, the post office prefers sticky notes so the original envelope isn’t defaced.
That seems haphazard - won’t sticky notes be liable to fall off in the mailbag?
Eh I guess it’s possible, but probably unlikely. You could always stick some tape on the sticky note if you’re worried.
You don’t have any place for outgoing mail?? That’s wild. Most people in houses just clip outgoing mail to their mailbox for the postman to pick up. I would’ve assumed apartments always had an outgoing box if they’re using one of those walls of mailboxes.
You should definitely switch to a credit union regardless. There are no downsides.
But fault for this kind of issue is shared between the previous resident and the bank. When someone moves, it’s their responsibility to change their address in all the various systems in which they exist and set up mail forwarding, which lasts for a year by default, and is free.
It is your responsibility to forward any misdirected mail you receive. The alternative is throwing it out, which is illegal. Just put a sticky note on the envelope that says something like “wrong address, return to sender” and drop it in any outgoing mailbox.
This is a pretty standard issue though. I lived at my previous apartment for more than 7 years, and I was still getting mail from the previous tenant when I moved out. People are so lazy.
My address doesnt have outgoing mail
If you don’t want to take it to a mailbox, you can put it back in your own mailbox with the “return to sender - no longer at this address” on it. The mail carrier can pick it up when they deliver your mail next. If they seem to miss it, you can try putting a bright post-it note on it to make it stand out.
This only works for certain kinds of mailboxes, not the standard ones many apartments have that only open for the carrier from the top. The carrier has a key that opens the whole box from the top, they put the mail in that way. It’s only incoming mail, there’s no external slot to put outgoing mail. If there’s anything left in the box when they’re delivering, the carrier just assumes the resident hasn’t picked up the previous mail. They never take mail out of an incoming mailbox box.
That’s the point of the post-it note. So they see it.
I’ve done it before at an apartment, though admittedly it was many many moons ago.
The mailbox at this property is one way only. You drop something in from the top and the lid traps it in there. A key opens a flap in the front. Theres no flag, theres no shared key with USPS. it’s one way only and incredibly stupid.
Can you leave sticking out of the slot?
I’ve tried this at multiple apartments with a 0% success rate. It seems the “return to sender” thing hasn’t worked for decades, at least in apartment complexes.
“Not at this address - return to sender” doesn’t do much, but “Deceased - return to sender” always works for me. Hopefully someone at the bank/sender flags the account and makes it the account holder’s problem.
(Don’t use sticky notes, they’ll fall off in the mail. Use a black permanent marker and write as big as possible so that they can’t “accidentally” miss your note. Cross out any barcodes or other markings that the post office adds so that it won’t automatically be re-sent to you, the machines will reject it and it will be manually routed back to the sender)
The sticky note was just to be a flag, not the message.
I just replied to a similar comment, but here it is again since you replied while I was typing :)
Yeah, I have the same issue. I just keep the misdirected mail for a week or two until it stacks up and then drop it all in the nearest blue USPS mailbox, which is in the center of town. It’s annoying, but not a huge deal. Also I’ve read you shouldn’t write directly on the envelope, the post office prefers sticky notes so the original envelope isn’t defaced.
If you have a bank of mailboxes that sticks out from the wall, you could try perching the “return to sender” envelope on top of the boxes, with maybe a post-it that says “Outgoing Mail” on it.
there are now downsides
Not quite true. I ended up moving my checking account from a credit union (local one in my state) to a normal bank (PNC) because of ATM availability.
It’s really nice to be able to easily get fee-free money anywhere in the country.
Yeah my bad, that can definitely be true depending on the credit union.
Many if not most CUs join a co-op of tens of thousands of fee-free ATMs, but depending on where you are and which CU you’re a member of, it may not help.
At the other end of the spectrum, discover locked me out of my account because I entered the password wrong three times.
To answer your question, I think so much work is done online that mail is largely informative and not part of the decision making process.
Not until a bank loses lots of money over something will they change, that’s why they’re hiring cobol devs!
