STAGE 1: DPA Request Letter

"American express Services Europe Limited

Department 333

Amex House

Edward street

Brighton

BN88 1AH

Dear Sir/Madam

Account holder: xxxxxxxxxxx

Address at which account was held: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my American Express Blue Card account, held with you since 22 March 2000, until 13 October 2003. Alternatively, a complete set of bank statements for that period will be acceptable.

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you.

If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply. Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties against me, then I shall be reclaiming them, and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA subject access request fee.

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return.

Yours faithfully"

Good Luck

Lou xxx

Amex have responded with a massive envelope containing:

• statements/list of transactions until account closure (but 6 months at the start of account are missing)
  
• Data Protection disclosure sheet with a profit/loss tally
  
• Details of all correspondence and phone calls between myself and Amex

Its pretty comprehensive, interesting read - but 6 months missing, so I have today issued a letter requesting the missing data. I will then know how much I intend to claim back from Amex. Plus they have put a default notice on my credit file, which I will be demanding to be removed at the time I request back my charges.....

HELP!!!

So I sent a letter on the 16th June asking for the 7 months worth of missing statements, and still no response.

So I just phoned the only number I have for customer services which is 01273 576576 and got someone in Malaysia who didnt have any information regarding the data protection team (no telephone number or anything) and was quite frankly a complete annoying muppet!

Anyway, Im now at a loss as to how I can get my missing statements. They are ignoring my letters and are uncontactable by any other means.... any suggestions?

OK so Ive emailed the financial ombudsman with the complaint form found here: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/form/complaint_form.doc should I go ahead and request back the money I know about so far and request the remaining statements/transactions details in that letter or wait?

If I go ahead without the Financial Ombudsman Reponse this is what I intend to send. Can anyone see any problems with this?

"American Express Services Europe Ltd

Department 871

Brighton

BN2 2LP

Date: TBA

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Dear Sir/Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my letter of the 16 June 2006 requesting the missing statements/details of transactions from April 2000 to November 2000, detailed on your data protection disclosure cover document, in response to my Subject Access Request in April which I have now referred to the Financial Ombudsman to progress on my behalf.

I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you had been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth were unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I calculate that you have taken £322 in charges relating to “late payments” plus any charges detailed on the missing transactions from my original request.

Additionally you have entered a default notice against my credit record. This default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or was the result of impecuniosity caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account.

In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above I require that you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable. I require repayment in full of this money and removal of the default notice. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus any charges on the missing statements anda claim under ss.7 and 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 plus my costs and without further notice.

Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT's direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a 'fit and proper person' to hold a consumer credit licence under the 1974 Act. If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.

Yours faithfully"

I received a letter from Amercian Express dated 10th July from the data protection officer, confirming that my letter has been received and forwarded to the correct department.

Therefore, Amex received this on 10th - so if I havent heard anything from them by around 25th, I'll send them a final letter informing that I intend to pursue this via the court if they continue to ignore my request....

We'll see how this goes.

With regard to the default notice, I'll apply the same method as I am currently pursuing with Littlewoods.

Well Amex have completely ignored my request letter, despite receipt being acknowledged. I have therefore moneyclaimed this.

However, this still doesnt resolve the matter with the Default Notice - I cant moneyclaim that can I? Ive looked through the templates and there doesnt seem to be follow up advice on the removal of this - or enforcing the request somehow, so Im going to send the following letter tomorrow - UNLESS anyone, (A) knows a better way of doing this OR (B) can see anything glaringly wrong with what Ive written..... thanks

"

American express bluecard

American Express Services Europe Ltd

Amex House

Department 77

Brighton

Dear Sir or Madam

Account number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Further to my letter of 5 July, of which receipt was acknowledged by Monica Lower in your Data Protection Office, I am extremely disappointed to report that you have failed to respond. I have also tried to contact the legal section on several occasions but appear unable to get any further than a call operative responsible for collections based in Malaysia. Since I have exhausted the limited communication routes available, I have therefore been left with no option but to pursue this refund via the courts.

However, I am also extremely concerned to note that your company has placed a "Default" notice on my credit file, which I have previously asked you to remove. This default appears to be as a result of unlawful charges levied against me, plus I have no recollection of ever receiving “An Official Default Notice” from yourselves. Unless you can substantiate the Notice, you are legally required to remove this from my credit files.

Items required to substantiate the Default Notice:

· You must supply me with a true copy of the alleged agreement. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.77 (1) for fixed sum credit). Your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account.

· You must supply me with a signed true and certified copy of the original default notice, details of when and where it was sent to, and with proof that this was received.

The above must be supplied to me, within 14 days of receipt of this letter or if it is unsubstantiated, it must be removed with immediate effect from my credit file. I remind you that you are legally required by the Information Commissioner to hold and supply the most accurate and up to date information on your customers. I therefore trust that you will deal with this matter, with the urgency I require and I look forward to receiving your response by no later than 11 August 2006 informing of what action you have taken and/or the requested items enclosed.

Yours faithfully"

If I dont get a response by 11th August, then on the following Monday I will issue a letter to Equifax, Experian and Call Credit...demanding my default notice to be removed...

OK - so I received a letter from Cilla Adcock, Executive Office Manager (whatever that means) dated 2 August 06. Heres the gist of it.

1. Default Notice removal (Amex had supplied a standard copy of the default notice - but nothing in my name or any evidence that it was ever sent to me.) Their letter said......"With regard to your credit bureau file the fact that a default occurered in relation to your account was correctly reported and we are under no obligation to amend this. However, as a gesture of good will and in order to bring this matter to a close I have arranged for this to be amended" Basically they know that legally they dont have a leg to stand on as theres no evidence this was undertaken correctly with my knowledge.

2. Refund of Charges (Amex included in their response a copy of their standard terms and conditions. There was a section for a signatory - but this was blank. No evidence that I ever signed this!) Their letter said...."I confirm that I have requested a cheque to be drawn up for the sum of £60 which represents late payment charges......in full and final settlement of your claim" They say that the remaining amount Im requesting (£294.72) covered "outside agency fees" - their debt collectors. I refuse to pay this fee. I have already started litigation via moneyclaim for the full amount, so I'll cash the £60 and inform the court that they still owe the £295.

Im not paying their fees!!!

My final Response to American Express

"Cilla Adcock

Executive Office Manager

Executive Office

American Express Services Europe Ltd

Department 333, Amex House

Edward Street, Brighton

BN2 2LP

Dear Ms Adcock,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for your letter dated 02 August 2006, received on 05 August 2006 in respect of the above account number.

With regard to your enclosures, I would like to bring to your attention that the copy of the terms and conditions you have supplied was unsigned by the borrower (page 4). In addition, the Default Notice you referred to as being “carried out in accordance with the requirements” was again a blank template copy and therefore there is no evidence of this being issued to me.

In light of this, I am pleased to note from your letter that you have personally requested that the Default Notice on my credit file is amended. I trust that this actually means removed? Please confirm that this is the intention as the term “amended” is unclear.

With regard to my claim for reimbursement of fees, I look forward to receiving the cheque for £60 which you informed would be sent “within the next few days”. Thank you for arranging this. I would however like to take this opportunity to inform you that I will be progressing the reimbursement of the remaining amount of £294.72 of which American Express charged me in respect of its use of external agency fees via the small claims court. "

reading your thread with great interst I have a closed & defulted card with AMex but unfortunately have lost all the account details in a recent move do you have any other contact number for them as that Malaysian guy is still there and doesn't have a clue.

They are particularly rubbish at Amex I am discovering. Without wishing to hijack you might be interested to know that they took absolutely no interest in my County Court claim or subsequent Default Judgment! Good luck and keep pushing them but don't expect too quick a solution from them.

reading your thread with great interst I have a closed & defulted card with AMex but unfortunately have lost all the account details in a recent move do you have any other contact number for them as that Malaysian guy is still there and doesn't have a clue.

The first thing is to read all the faq's, several times if need be.

The second is to read as many posts as possible to see what situation other people are in and how they are coping.

The third thing you need to do is to send a letter to your bank for 6 years statements. There is a good chance that the account number will be in there somewhere as you may have made a payment from your account.

HI, yes Ive received another letter from Amex basically saying tough - thats all theyre going to pay.

Therefore my moneyclaim will default and they'll get a CCJ....

HOW CAN A BANK OPERATE WITH CCJ's?????

Is there nothing we can do to get the rest of our money back?

By the way, Amex confirmed theyve deleted my judgement so at least I now have a clean credit file (for the first time in 5 years) thanks to this website!!! And with the money Ive gotten back, Ive canceled my overdrafts and Im back in the black again. Such a relief

I hate AMEX....

And yeah, that Malaysian guy is so irritating its untrue

Amost forgot- ADDITIONAL CONTACT INFORMATION

01273 576151 (apparently Executive Office Number, which is on the bottom of my last letter)

Therefore my moneyclaim will default and they'll get a CCJ....

 

HOW CAN A BANK OPERATE WITH CCJ's?????

 

Is there nothing we can do to get the rest of our money back?

I got a default judgment against them over two weeks ago and they haven't even responded. This basically means American Express consider themselves above the law. I clicked on the warrant of execution button on Friday so hopefully they will have the bailiffs knocking. I'd do the same if I were you. It looks like the only way to get the rest of the money back.

Is this not just throwing good money after bad? Im really concerned about sending bailiffs to Amex as I dont want to waste money on lawyers if its challenged. You see, in my situation, the money they are refusing to refund is "external agency fees" - which are basically the fees of the collection agency they set on me (despite me making regular payments each month to clear the debt - which I eventually did). I am very annoyed that they put this charge back on me and inflated the debt I was struggling to pay in the first instance - but can I get it back?

Would appreciate some advice on this issue if anyone knows??

Ive downloaded my credit file though and not only have they removed the default notice but they have removed the fact that I ever had an account with Amex - which suits me just fine.

Stuff it - i'll send the bailliffs!

Sent the bailliffs and got a cheque this morning for the outstanding amount!!!! YAYE!

This topic was closed on 11 March 2019.

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