<p>Help! My next door neighbor just came over apologizing, saying he had gotten a piece of my mail and accidently opened it. It was my bank account statement! 2 pages of transactions, account numbers, etc. Some of my neighbors are kind of sketchy, and I definitely live in a lower income area. The neighbor is a gentleman in his 70s, so I don’t think he would be savvy in identity theft…but you never know! Before he came over to bring it to me, he was talking to another neighbor, who frankly, creeps me out. That plays into it I guess because the other neighbor bothers me. So…I’ll call the bank tomorrow for advice, but I’d sure like to get some other advice from wiser fellow parents! And I just got new checks! Uggh. But I’m thinking it would be safer to see about changing to a new account, etc, and re-ordering checks and re-doing all the online billpaying I do. On top of all that I am going out of state in one week and if I change stuff over, then I wouldn’t be able to use my debit card while I’m away, which is my habit! Advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I think you should go with your gut. If the other neighbor bothers you, change the account.<br>
A few years ago someone made checks with my account number, everything else was different (name, address, etc). The bank caught it but didn’t notify me. I found it when a check had been rejected (& credited back to my account) because it didn’t match up. I couldn’t write checks for several weeks, my grocery store cards communicated with the bounced checks linked to my old account.
Also, might try seeing if the bank has 24 hr phone service.</p>
<p>You might be able to avoid changing everything by talking to your bank about “alerts.” We have online alerts, which we can set. Eg, someone tries to get more than a set amount (say $100 or $200) from the ATM, etc. You could check your email/alerts daily and only make changes if something like this occurs.</p>
<p>Stop getting paper statements, and instead get monthly online statements. Get rid of checks altogether. Pay all bills via online bill pay (free at my credit union) or have all bills paid by auto payment through your bank /credit union. I have a checking account and haven’t written a paper check in over 4 years. Consider getting a PO Box to have bills sent to, rather than your home address.</p>
<p>How does getting PO Box change anything? Post Office person may deliver to the wrong PO Box also. I have the same problem as the OP, my neighbor offend open my mail that has a live check.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I’m anxious to talk to the bank in the morning. I don’t use checks often, but just re-ordered as I feel I need them for things like fundraisers, donations, etc.</p>
<p>I wish that the account number would be partially encoded on these mailings. Even credit card companies have the entire a/c# on the bill. I also feel that electronic statements are a safer bet.</p>
<p>Anyway, the neighbor could have ripped your statement up and never said a word to you, so it most likely was an honest mistake.</p>
<p>For years now, our P.O. has been delivering random pieces of our mail to another family. Our address starts with<br>
96 Da*** Road, and theirs is 69 Ad*** Road. Our names are not even similar, and I have complained repeatedly, but to no avail.</p>