Friend received unwanted credit card- what to do?

[ShinyPinkPumpkin]

...aside from shredding it of course?

It's from a company called Beneficial Finance who claim to be pat of the HSBC group.

She has never heard of them or had any dealings with them; avoids credit cards like the plague so has definately not applied for it in error.

As well as obviously calling them, is there any financial body she should also report this to?

Bumpitty Mump.....

There's the financial services ombudsman who will look into it for her.

There's the financial services ombudsman who will look into it for her.

this happened to my mum the other day (there is a thread somewhere. the advice given to me by work colleague (who knows this stuff) is to send it back and ask for confirmation within 28 days that the account is clear, cancelled and no money has been spent from it. if that doesn't happen, take it to the financial services ombudsman

oh, and tell her to get her credit report

This happened to my mum with MBNA.

She eventually found out that it was to do with having filled in a competition form to win a holiday

Apparently there was a stall in the airport when she was off on holiday. The lady on the stall came up to her with a clipboard asking her to fill in her details and they'd enter her into the draw.

When she got back from holiday, there was a credit card there for her

She did ring them up and make a complaint about it because it was all very underhand as she didnt even know she was applying for one!

Then again, if she wasnt so excited about going on her holiday, she may have read the form properly!

Thank you everyone- great advice!