I had an international guest from Egypt. She used my address to open up a bank card 2 weeks into her stay. I had told her not to on her 1st day because she asked me if she could and I said no. I had sent the mail back to the bank. Now the guest checked out and I received another bank card from another bank. I had returned this piece of mail too. I believe the guest is trying to overstay her stay in America and claim my address as her residency. I did report the guest to Airbnb. I do not want ICE at my door. Lol.
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Because you’ve returned the mail to the two banks, then I imagine that you’ve nothing to worry about at all.
If hosts want to be super-careful under such circumstances, then keep a record - ‘received mail from [name, branch] addressed to [name guest] on [date]. Returned to bank at [address] on [date].’ Just a note to yourself so that you have the details if required.
If a guest of mine is trying to overstay in this country, then good luck to them. I very much doubt that a bank card would do the trick anyway. (If so, then I’ve wasted a lot of money).
Forget about it. 
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You must have legal residency/visa in order to open a bank account or get a credit card so I wouldn’t worry about your guest overstaying. They probably just didn’t have an address yet and used yours. ( Which isn’t ok since you told them not to.) You might want to contact your local post office and let them know that person is not at your address. Maybe it was supposed to be forwarded.
Exactly, the guest had no business using my address. Now my mail is screwed up because she placed a forward mail on my address. I have missing mail now.
What does forward mail mean?
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It means when you move, you tell the post office, and they forward mail that is addressed to your old address to the new address. They will only do this for a certain period of time.
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Here (Florida) it tends to be for three months.
What surprises me is that the guest could do this.
I would have instantly gone to the Post Office and reported it as a fraud.
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The OP could still do this, and probably should, if she thinks she is missing mail.
My daughter in Canada recently moved, and as I used her address for certain mail, warned me the mail would only be forwarded for a month, so to change the address with those mail senders. I don’t know whether Canada Post only will forward for 1 month, and maybe there’s some fee to have it forwarded longer than that, or if it isn’t possible to request a longer period- I didn’t ask her.
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This is why my maximum stay for guests is 28 days. I do not want tenants, they have certain rights. I do not know what information she gave to the banks to claim my address. She was doing a medical rotation at the hospital for 28 days and wanted to extend to an extra 2 days to gain tenancy rights. I had declined. Her intentions were very clear. This is why I do not allow my guests to use my address for business purposes.
Surely it should only be the mail addressed to the named guest that is forwarded - not everything sent to that address? Would make it very tricky for any new owners of a house if that were the case…
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I’m still confused in this conversation. I asked what mail forwarding was about and I expected to hear that mail addressed to a certain individual would be forwarded to another address. But the OP is telling us that they had a problem because all mail to that address was being forwarded, not just that person‘s mail.
Thanks @Lizardsinthekitchen and @Rolf, I hadn’t noticed that strange part of the OP’s post. You’re absolutely right. Why does one person forwarding mail mess up other occupant’s mail? It shouldn’t, should it?
Isn’t it the person who forwards mail rather than the address? Otherwise it could get very complicated in the case of large apartment buildings or addresses with many occupants.
I would still think it would be an easy enough matter to sort out with the post office.
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Is that what she told you? Be careful - if a local authority requires guests to stay for 30 days to acquire tenancy status, and your minimum stay is 28 days, that only leaves you two days to get eviction papers to get them out and you are likely to need longer.
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28 days is still considered a guest and not a tenant. She did checkout at 28 days but business mail was still coming to my address.
As my comment is obviously irrelevant, please feel free to ignore it.
you have to pay for mail forwarding in Canada. She probably only paid for one month.
It SHOULD be just the named person the forwarding is for but, my local post office often forwards mail incorrectly. I’ve gotten mail for previous tenants who had forwarding notifications and had my mail forwarded to them even though my name is not on their forwarding. I have a locked mailbox and don’t let guests have access to it.
I am currently hosting a guest who will be staying for two weeks from another country. He asked if he could order medical equipment and have it delivered to my address. I hope it’s not a shenanigan like this credit card fraud. The guest doesn’t have my mailbox key, so it should be fine?
Good question that I can’t answer. But if you let him, require him to address it as “Guest name, c/o Host name”
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That’s a great idea! I am telling him right now. Thanks so much, PitonView!
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