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.
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.
I understand. The mailboxes I’m talking about are only accessible to the mail carrier from the top. They slide the letters in from the top after unlocking and opening it to access all the units’ boxes at once, and then I open mine from the front. They would only be able to see the top edge of an envelope. A post-it note wouldn’t be visible. But they never look inside anyway, because these are incoming boxes only.
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?
No
Then bringing it to a blue mailbox might be your best option.
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 :)
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.
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.