Home movers put themselves at risk of identity fraud

More than 450,000 home movers are putting themselves at risk of identity fraud a year by not quickly telling companies they are moving, research by Royal Mail’s Redirection service has revealed.

The study discovered that up to 23 per cent of home movers in the UK take two weeks or longer to inform their financial services providers of their change of address. This means potentially confidential information could be delivered to an individual’s old address and into the wrong hands.

Latest figures available show that there were over two million home moves in the UK between April 2009 and March 2010. This means that more than 450,000 movers ran the risk of personal financial information being delivered to their previous address. 

The study by Royal Mail’s Redirection service found that:

23 per cent of home movers took a fortnight or longer to tell their credit card provider they had moved to a new property

One in five people did not tell their bank (18.5 per cent), insurance company (20 per cent) or council (21 per cent) of a change of address for two weeks or more after a move

But utility companies received a quicker response with 84 per cent of people telling them of a change of address in less than a fortnight after a move

Keith Jones, Head of Data Strategy at Royal Mail, said: “Home movers run the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft by failing to inform companies about a new address as quickly as possible. Royal Mail’s research has found that nearly one in four take two weeks or longer to tell financial companies of a move, increasing the chance that confidential information may be delivered to their old address and into the wrong hands.

“The UK has seen a nine per cent year-on-year increase in identity theft in the UK, so this is a very real concern for many home movers.”

He added: “Moving home is a very busy and stressful time, but people must remember to notify financial companies and other key service providers about their change of address as soon as possible. Setting up a mail Redirection service will also ensure any post which does get sent to the old address is diverted to a mover’s new home.”