Thread: ICO's response to statements older then six years

If you are chasing Barclaycard for missing statements have a read of this :-

After chasing Barclaycard for 12 months for my missing statements, and waiting eight months for the ICO to deal with my complaint, I have received this :-

Ooops Yes, I had to delete it to edit out the caseworkers name.

Now reposted

Thanks Slick,

My thoughts exactly, by the wording of their letter they have not even bothered to approach BC, I have already responded to this letter (didnt hold back in what I said either!).

Have asked that the complaint isnt closed & have appealed their decision, quoting that BC's microfiche system is a relevent filing system & I enclosed a copy of the ICO's letter to BC dated 15th December 2006 where they state that the ICO considers the microfiche system IS a relevent system under the DPA.

Have also point out that since Nov '08 until Aug '09 BC have maintained that statements older than six years ARE on microfiche & they arent obliged to supply them under the act - HOWEVER, after they admitted
misselling PPI when pressed for the missing statements, so I could evaluate the true amount of my ppi claim, they replied that the statements had been destroyed 'in line with group policy'.

Have also taken alanalana's advice and filed a complaint to the FSA & although the fos have recently upheld my ppi complaint (more power to the elbow ready for court action after Xmas) I have also raised a second complaint regarding chasing a debt whilst in dispute ( BC have kindly put it in writing that a dispute does exist), adding monthly interest & late charges, two DN's from Mercers (in the space of three months for the same account), three threats of doorstep collectors & a formal demand for the fully balance from Calders.

FOS also wants me to sign a ppi settlement acceptance form BEFORE BC makes a refund offer (already rejected this & told the FOS I will sign if & when BC makes an offer that is exceptable).

Me thinks county court will be busy with this one

Beachy

Well, quick reply from the ICO - they will not reopen my complaint & feel that they have satisfied themselves that they have answered my complaint (they have still not contacted BC).

quote 'It may be helpful to explain that when making an assessment the Commissioner only has to give his opinion as to whether a data controller is likely or unlikely to have complied with the DPA. His view is based on the balance of probabilities and he is under no obligation to establish what has happened beyond doubt.

You believe Barclaycard holds further information that you are entitled to and that they are deliberately trying to withold. But having reviewed the matter, there is no evidence to suggest that this is the case.

Barclaycard confirmed to you that data older than six years has been destroyed and there is no evidence to suggest they would tell us otherwise if we approached them. (November '08 BC stated that statements older than six years were held on microfiche and wasnt part of DPA, during my PPI complaint they still maintained that stance, however, after admitting PPI mis selling they stated that statements older than six years were destroyed 'in line with group policy'. They have failed to provide evidence when requested, as to when, where and by what means this data was destroyed, the only response I got was - we are sorry you are disappointed that we have destroyed your data).

Where parties provide opposing views (they havent approached BC, so how could they provide their view?) and there is no evidence to support either view, we will usually give the benefit of doubt to the party whose processing has been called into question'. end quote

Feel going to the ICO was a complete waste of time, I have waited eight months to get this garbage from them. Huge mistake, should have gone straight to court.

Beachy

I had a similar response from the ICO about a month ago - complete waste of time for me too. By the time I got their response, BC had already admitted to having older data on microfiche anyway.

I don't understand how they can give such a pathetic, feeble answer

Thanks Slick, Webmaster,

Just weighing up best way to deal with this one - sure as hell ain't giving up!

As I said previously, when I initially requested all statements they stated they had it stored on microfiche and as such wasnt a relevent filing system so I cant have it.

However, after admitting mis-selling PPI they then said sorry your data over six years old has been destroyed in line with group policy, they wont provide evidence to confirm this, I am pretty sure they still have it but wont release it.

I cannot understand the ICO response & why they have found in their favour without even contacting them.

If it's any help Beachy, when I sent BC a SAR, they gave me 6 years worth and said 'this is all we have'. I knew that to be a lie, so just launched a court claim. When they submitted a defence, this admitted that data was held on microfiche, but claimed they didn't have to reveal it.

They offered to settle out of court a month before the hearing: they'd give me the microfiche data if I signed a confidentiality agreement. I rejected that, and they sent the data anyway.

Bankfodder was a huge help on this one, and correctly predicted that there was no way BC would let the case reach court, partly because the blatant lies that BC had told me would come out

As for "we believe it is standard industry practice for a bank to retain only 6 years worth of data", this certainly isn't the case for BC and HSBC (8 years, perhaps more), and I'm sure the ICO must know this, given they've previously investigated this (see the sticky thread in this forum)

Thanks everyone, I am so tempted to file a N1 now.

The only thing thats bugging me is that they have recently stated that my data has been destroyed in line with group policy, I have asked for proof as to when, where, how & by whom - but all I got back was a letter saying they are sorry I wasnt happy that my data has been destroyed.

Interesting, about six weeks after that letter I received my 1998 Application form - copied from a microfiche file

Just to bring this thread up to date, I sent Barclaycard a final letter before action, and the following was their response:-

Response.jpg picture by beachcomber49 - Photobucket

I fail to see why I should part with another £10 & submit yet another SAR after doing so in November '08.

In addition I asked why I couldnt log on to the account and asked if the account has been terminated as Calders last threat-o-gram was asking for the full amount - even though my complaint is with the fos over mis sold PPI - admitted by BC & upheld by the FOS (they failed to reply to that part).

Just so happens that the postman also brought the court claim forms for me to take them to court, so it looks like game on.

Beachy