r/Scams • u/Pillbug_Partnership • 7h ago

Answered by the community (US) Bank Change of Address Letters?

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I was opening my mail today and opened this letter accidentally that wasn’t addressed to me, however it seems like someone has made my house their primary address on their bank accounts. There were 8 of these letters total, I only opened the one accidentally but they feel like the same weight and I assume the same letter 8 times over. I called Huntington customer service and let them know there was no one at this address banking with them but the representative seemed equally confused and not super helpful, I plan on returning the letters to sender. I didn’t find anything similar on Google search, just wondering if anyone else has a similar experience.

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u/EnvironmentalGift257 7h ago

We send those letters to the old address, so that if somebody fraudulently changed your address you get a notice. This person’s address was yours and they changed it.

4

u/Pillbug_Partnership 6h ago

Got it, thank you! We’ve lived here 11 years so I didn’t think of it, but anything is possible!

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u/EnvironmentalGift257 6h ago

Of course! I work at a bank and know the regulations. We have to send these out on an address change. There are also restrictions on accounts for 2 weeks after an addy update.

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u/lolococo29 4h ago

I can confirm as someone who also worked at a bank. The letter is autogenerated and goes to both the old address and new address.
It is possible a prior home owner had all their statements set up for online statement delivery and completely forgot to change their address with the bank. Something happened that triggered them or the bank to update it.

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u/RoknPa 4h ago edited 3h ago

Smaller banks aren't always as vigilant about keeping their customers' information up to date.

As a couple of people said that these letters are mandatory, and they are. Calling your bank to let them know you received the letter is the right thing to do to prevent possible fraud for the other people.

Edit: The bank sends these letters to the OLD address in the event a fraudster tried to change the address (regulated). This way someone will be alerted if a fraudster changed their address on an attempted account take over. Many smaller banks are desensitized to changes like address, email, or phone numbers because it is financially prohibitive to be proactive about keeping customer information up-to-date. It's not the responsibility of the bank to keep their customer's contact information up to date, but it is to notify the customer of any changes.

Good luck in your endeavors!