Hi, I issued a Section 10 notice (Data Protection Act) on a non-credit related matter relating to the processing of inaccurate personal information held about me. The organisation a) failed to respond within the 21 days (upheld by the ICO) and b) when they did eventually respond, have refused to comply with my Section 10. Most grateful for any guidance on next steps - e.g. how I might go about enforcing compliance through the courts, procedurally. And is their failure to respond within the 21-day timeframe actionable, e.g. distress in light of Vidal-Hall v. Google? Many thanks.

Having endured months of disgusting standards of customer service and making multiple complaints resulting in 4 separate compensation payments totalling £160 and £150 of refunded fees, I have now had the final insult. After a long spell of unemployment, earlier this month I managed to land a job offer in the financial sector. I was informed at the end of the interview that a formal offer of employment would be pending a CRA check. To my utter surprise, a few days later I received a very apologetic letter from the employer stating that I had failed the credit check, and therefore regrettably, the offer of employment would be withdrawn. I was stunned. The last time I saw my credit file some 18 months ago I had a blemish-free record and had worked hard to maintain that good track record After the shock and upset had subsided, I decided to take advantage of an online 10-day free trial service offered by CallCredit, and discovered that HSBC had made 3 separate entries of 'Payment late by one month' against me According to the file held by CallCredit, my account overdraft facility hadn't been exceeded, and as was a Student/Graduate account, wasn't due to start making payments on the overdraft until mid-October this year when it converts to a standard Current Account. Upon cross-referencing the dates of these 3 entries with my statements and notes taken whenever have had to deal with the bank, found that they all fell on the same dates when I had had fees overturned (and in two instances, compensation also credited) The first entry on June 2009 related to an account-status error where I was due to be charged £50. I had gone into the branch prior to the charges being applied and spoken with staff who noticed the mistake in my account records and made the amendment, informing me that the fee would still be taken as was an automated process, but then immediately re-credited. The second entry on December 2009 related to an overdraft arrangement fee of £25 that I successfully challenged on the basis of incorrect information given by callcentre staff, and a few days later was re-credited the fee amount, but not before being sent £25 over my OD limit and then brought back to its limit of £1000 with the re-credit, but no letter was sent to this effect, or 'informal overdraft charge' applied There was also an odd entry on 25 December 2009, a credit and then an immediate debit of 10pence debit interest...an xmas present Mr Scrooge would approve of! The third credit file entry was on February 2010, and the only event to have happened then was two credits of £25 as compensation payments under the heading 'Correction formal OD arrangement fee' I've read through the Data Protection threads here, and also have documentary proof of the tangible damage these entries have caused, in my losing a job offer that would have gotten me out of a financial hole I'm sending off my SAR letter in the morning to see if there are any other internal notes that could shed extra light on this. I've not made HSBC aware of any of this as of yet, as I want to hit them with a broadside out of the blue if I can I'm not sure what sort of case I may have, or how I could bring it, and would appreciate any advice.

The CSA have disclosed my actual pension contribution and "what 15% of my salary would be as pension" to my ex and her new husband. From this you can clearly work out my gross salary. Can anyone definitely say if this is illegal? It feels to me a contravention of the Data Protection Act, but the CSA seem to operate to their own laws... I have NEVER signed any release or agreement with them at any point in the discussions. This cannot be legal... surely???

Hi FolksMy Partner has a internet account with PRIMUS, and we had a problem with our bill and wanted to sort it out. As my girlfriend doesn't really know the ins and outs of these things she gave me permission to speak on her behalf via email she sent to the company. So I rang them from work and spoke to a chap, who was very happy with me saying verbally that i could speak on behalf of my girlfriend and went into great detail of the account. After a lenghty call the guy said someone would ring me back.....No one ever did SUPRISE SUPRISE!. So I ring them 2 days later and spoke to a Lady who i must say sounded quite helpful, but she said that I couldnt speak on my partners behalf, as an email was not confirmation for permission. I told her that i had previously spoken to a chap a feww days before in depth with the account, and she said he shouldnt of done that.My reply was, so does that mean he was in breach of the data protection act? Yes she replied. I asked for his name but she wouldnt give to me, so i asked for the recording all of all phone call made to and received from PRIMUS. My question is what can i do from here? If this guy has not gone through the proper protocol surley he is in the wrong. Sorry for long post people. Any advice will be most grateful

Hi all, I need your help I find myself in a weird situation where I recently checked my credit file to find that BT had registered two bits of information all relating to the same account number with Equifax but the weird bit is they Show confliction one entry shows an account with a different 4 digits ending and the other shows another account with a different four digit ending both relating to the exact same debt hope I haven't confused yous yet. I recently contacted bt and they told me this was as a result of a bill incurred when I left bt for bt vision bt broadband and phone. When I discussed this with bt I disputed the legitimacy of the sale of bt vision to me at the time as I asked them if I needed to have freeview to be able to watch pause and record live tv they said at the time of sale no but to my shock and horror I did need it but we could not get freeview at the time so I felt I should not be held responsible for this contract as bt had miss sold me a product I would not have other wise bought after all why by something you cannot use? Bt said they did not accept this and when I told them at the time they had refused to take this back they stated they could not find any proof of this and that there evidence at best was sketchy I told them this was having an adverse affect on my mental health and causing a great deal of distress to me due to this issue and quoted them chapter and verse of Scottish contract law and miss representation which may lead to a consumer entering in to a contract they would not other wise do so and the consequences and what Scots law said from the stair memorial encyclopedia after some debate they agreed to write off this debt but failed to agree to remove two account entries from my debt stating it had nothing to do with miss selling and was instead on grounds of my mental health. When I first contacted bt I gave them the account number for the account which had been defaulted and they told me they could not find such an account and when I gave them the account number for the one which showed as settled they told me this was in fact the correct account they then stated that the account had been passed on to the debt collection agency and that as far as they where concerned was settled but that bt had registered a default on the 17/03/2010 but despite the fact that there own customer service agent states say for example account 1234 was the correct account the only default I can find is registered on a different account number say 4321. Now bt have refused to remove the two accounts what I would like to know is did bt breach the data protection act by Giving this debt two separate conflicting entries under two separate account numbers when in fact it relates to one account in this case say 1234 and by their own admission they where unable to find any such account ending 4321 is this a breach of the DPA? The reason I ask is there are two separate accounts with conflicting information on my credit file pulling down my credit rating and it seems like to me bt deliberately is attempting to miss lead people by giving these accounts two separate account numbers when in fact they all relate to the same account which according to their agent is supposed to be account 1234. I feel like they may have broken the rules possibly even the law but legally where do I stand can i insist this is sorted in to one account number instead of two or that this is removed as it is in violation of the DPA or what? I must say I find it highly suspicious as to why they would give it two separate account numbers for the same debt and also strange why they would have the two separate account numbers show conflicting evidence can someone help me here please I am confused as to how to approach this one a nd why bt feels the need to give the one debt two different account numbers? I hope yous can see why I am seeking your help on this one as I find it really strange in relation to posting two separate entries on my credit file with equifax stating conflicting info for the same debt. Robert

Hi I recently paid off a default on a Capital One credit card although I was disputing the amount as I need to obtain a loan from elsewhere. Long story short: I had a £300 limit, thought I had removed the regular payments from it but hadn't, a forgotten regular bill kept being charged to the card and as a result, my balance ballooned from £250 to almost £800. I spoke with the god-awful customer service team who told me (and I quote) " your credit limit is a guideline only" when I asked if I could go buy a Ferrari on a £300 limited card, the operator replied "yes". So I had a few back and forth's with Cap One culminating in a stalemate of two years - they chased me, I ignored them explaining regularly that I would only deal with them when they explain how £300 was allowed to get to £800 with no notification or rejection of payments. I eventually paid the balance to try to end the situation and four calls a day from Fredricksons despite being really angry. As a result I have a default notice on my credit file and a score on Noddle of 1/5 despite paying everything else perfectly by DD for my entire 35 years on this planet. I want this unfair default off my file pronto as I need to re-mortgage inside the 6 year time it will take to leave my account. Talking to Capital One is a complete waste of time and I can't help thinking that writing to them is a waste too. Noddle/Experian etc say they won't put a notice of correction on there because ultimately, its my fault for not checking my balance and to some extent, I accept this. So to my question: Can I use the data protection act to remove the default from my credit file? When I signed up to my account, I agreed to let them register information on me via credit referencing agencies. What will happen if I remove this permission along with retrospective permission, which I understand is my right to do? Anyone who has done this, I'd appreciate it.

I have recently been a subject of a fraud investigation relating to a housing benefit claim for a former lodging. The landlord and his then partner were also investigated (one of them having jointly signed, with myself, a lodging agreement that falsely stated a higher rent than had been agreed, which was used to support the similarly exaggerated benefit claim). Several weeks ago, I was subjected to an interview under caution. I had already volunteered all of the information about the offence, before the council were even aware that one had taken place, and the interview was really just to reaffirm what I had already told them, for the benefit of a tape. Because I had admitted everything, and indue come forward of my own accord, I was given a formal caution. The investigation continued for several weeks after - presumably then focussing on the two other parties; I know that they were interviewed some time after me - and has now been completed. I need to make a DPA request for the case file, and am wondering if the DPA has any provisions that would allow me to see the entire file unedited - i.e. to include whatever information is held about the other two parties in connection to the same offence, given that I have a direct interest in knowing, for example, whether they received any penalties themselves (considering that the nature of the offence is such that I can't have committed it without one or both of them).

Hello, I am new here, and this is the second time that I am writing this...because yes I did accidentally delete all my writing when trying to copy it . So, here is my story. - The Past - I took out an unsecured loan for £2000 with Welcome Finance in April 2008, with PPI. Worst mistake of my life. The contract said that I owed £3640 with payments of £164 per month for 37 months. In October 2008, I went to Welcome Finances office and asked to have the PPI cancelled. They gave me a new credit agreement contract to sign, I signed it. I now realise that the new contract stated exactly the same amount to be paid back (£3640), and over the same time frame as the first (37 months). Thus, it seems that they did mot deduct my initial 5 payments of £164 from the loan, an maybe they did not deduct the PPI? In June 2008, my second payment was a day late. I called them to let them know that I would be paying it the following day (I had no other arrears). On the day that my payment was due, after I had called them, two debt collectors came to my house. Unfortunately, I was out but my housemate answered the door . They gave him a letter that said that I owed Welcome Finance £3640. I now realise that Welcome broke two laws on this occasion: (1) they did not have an invitation or court order to come to my house and; (2) they broke the Data Protection act because the letter that they gave to my housemate was not in an envelope. I did not complain or do anything about this at the time, because I turned into a little mouse trying to avoid further harassment and embarrassment:violin:. Furthermore, I am a scientist not a lawyer or accountant - and evidently, I would not be very good at the latter two. Since October 2008, I have made monthly payments of £64 and when I could afford it £100. My payments have always been on time, and I have no arrears. - The Present - Now I am after Welcome Finance ! I am about to start a postgraduate course and I can barely afford tuition let alone unnecessary and extortionate payments to the corrupt ***holes at Welcome Finance. So, I recently asked for a statement from Welcome Finance. The statement that they sent me only shows payments from October 2008 - not the original account opening date with PPI from April 2008. I calculated that including the original 5 months payments, I have now paid £4000 to Welcome Finance, yes this was for a £2000 loan. And they say that I still owe £1200! What I have done so far: (1) Sent a recorded letter requesting both credit agreements to be sent in 12 days (with £1 postal order for each). (2) Sent a recorded letter stating that if they send anyone to my house again, I will call the police and take Welcome Finance to court. (3) Sent a recorded SAR. (4) Requested that a PPI refund form be sent to me. When I originally called to request a PPI refund form, they said that I could not get one until my account was paid off! I now realise that this was B***S***. So I called and quoted the FSC...then they listened and said that they would send a form. I have only just sent these letters, so am waiting for a reply. - The Future - I would like to: Claim back as much money as I can from Welcome Finance. Get them 100% out of my life ASAP. Dance with glee when I receive a cheque from Welcome Finance, and put that money where it belongs, with my university. Help other to do the same. I would be grateful for any comments or advice that you have on this matter. In particular, I have the following questions: (1) why did my original and second credit agreements say that I owed £3640, when my loan was for £2000; and why did the second contract not show any reduction taking my first 5 payments into account. Is there anything I can do about any wrong doings here. (2) Can I take any retrospective action against Welcome Finance for sending debt collectors to my house illegally and breaking the Data Protection Act, this was in 2008. (3) My credit agreement says that my loan should be paid over 37 months. But I have been paying for 42 months, and they say that I have 13 months left. Is this allowed? (4) Why and how can I be paying back £5500 on a £2000 loan! (5) How much PPI do you think I could get back? (6) Is there anything else that I can do them for. Thank you for reading my story. I look forward to your replies.

Hello, I would like any advice that you may have regarding a breach of confidentiality by a doctors receptionist. I have a 'friend' who works at a local doctors surgery as a receptionist. I saw her at the local shops today and she came up to me to chat. She started talking about a mutual friend who is suffering with cancer. She went into some detail of how bad things are for this person and how she is now on anti-depressants etc. Before ending the conversation this woman also said to me not to mention it to our friend as she only knows through reading her notes at the surgery. I telephoned the person in question after this and asked how she was doing etc. I did not mention my conversation at the shops with the receptionist but it seems that this person has not actually seen the receptionist for a while. It is not the first time the receptionist has discussed details of patients medical information with myself and other friends but I now think it is time to take some action. This conversation was in the middle of a local shop and open for anyone to hear. Plus I did not ask for this information and did not feel comfortable being given it (this I did say before ending the conversation and leaving the shop). I have thought about writing to the practice manager at the surgery but I would like any advice on who else I can report this too. Surely it is a breach of the data protection act or some medical rules? Thank you in advance for any advice

Hi Everyone, Im in the process to start tacking this DCA they are well know in the industry Caboot ! I dont have an issue with debt outstanding but i do have a complaint to take up with them regarding sending me some other persons SAR info, something I never requested my understanding is they are in breach of the data protection act etc.......now I am going to send my complaint to ICO to inform them of my issue, I have duty of care to report any breach because this concerns me how many other persons have been sent someone elses file by error, however I dont have an idea on numbers effected or if any person has tackled the DCA on the basis of Data Breach and what if any sucess thay have had in relation to their debt. cheers hs68

I'm receiving nuisance calls from a market research company. Nothing too unusual about that, only in this case, it's because the DWP gave them my phone number! On Tuesday (19th June) I received a letter dated Monday 18th June, allegedly from the DWP informing me that I would be taking part in a telephone survey about my experience of the Job Centre, conducted by a market research organisation called TNS BMRB - not asking me if I wanted to, telling me that if I didn't contact the marketing research company involved, they would be phoning me by "late June". They said I could phone the TNS BMRB to opt out, or if I had difficulty using a phone, I could write to them. They didn't provide an address to write to, and there was no address on the letter to say where it came from. The letterhead said DWP in one corner and tns bmrb in another. It was signed Karen Elsmore, Senior Research Officer, Department of Work and Pensions. I sent a reply, by 1st class Recorded post, to the "If undelivered, return to:" address, on the back of the envelope. It was signed for on Wednesday, 20th June, Printed Name: MILLWARD BROWN-KANTAR That address was Kantar Operations Olympus Avenue Tachbrook Park Warwick CV34 6RJ It turns out the office address for the TNS BMRB is 6 More London Place London SE1 2QY TNS BMRB are, apparently part of, or linked with Kantar Operations (a notorious cold caller). Both those organisations now have my name, my phone number, and my address. Who knows what other details they now hold about me. I received my first nuisance call yesterday evening, and another one today, despite doing my best to opt out of the "survey". Both times they hung up when they got my answering machine, without leaving a message. First of all, I am registered with the Telephone Preferences Service to say that I don't wish to receive unsolicited calls. Presumably, they would use the excuse that the DWP gave them permission to ring me, despite me doing the best I could to say I didn't want them to. Secondly, I gave the DWP my phone number because I didn't seem to have any choice. At no point did I give them permission to share it with third parties. How is this not in breach of the Data Protection Act? The DWP website refers to it, and states a privacy policy. What gives them the legal right to pass on my personal information to a market research company, without my knowledge or consent? Sure, I know now, but that's because they told me after they'd done it. Thirdly, if this was about email, they would be in clear breach of the law for their policy of opting me in automatically, and making me take steps to opt out. Why doesn't the same law apply to phone calls? I consider this a breach of trust by the DWP. The fact that they've hired TNS BMRB / Kantar Operations doesn't give them the right to share my contact details, or other personal information with them. I'm furious about it, but I don't see what I can possibly do about it, other than change my phone number and refuse to share the new one with the DWP, citing this incident if they ask why.

In June 2011 Countrywide Residential Lettings (trading as Gascoigne-Pees) were asked to provide me with all information relating to the property they were managing on behalf of my Landlord. The request was a Subject Access Request under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act. They ignored my request until I sent a formal reminder to the manager, and asked for a £50 admin fee, the law only allowed £10 and I responded that I will pay the £10 asking for instruction how to pay it. After a month I had not heard back and took the complaint up with a manager. Eventually the file was given to me, outside the statutory time limit. Having checked through the file it was incomplete, relevant details had been marked out with black pen. I complained formally to the Information Commissioner's Office. The ICO responded to me in writing, and their finding was that Countrywide was unlikely to have complied with the Data Protection Act, it was also their belief that the company is unlikely to comply in the future and that guidance had been given to the company. In November 2011 I sent a letter to Countrywide, stating that I request compensation of £250 for the failure to comply with the Data Protection Act. The company chose to ignore this letter. In December 2011 a claim was issued in Northampton County Court, and in January 2012 Countrywide has been in contact with an offer of out of court settlement for £225. This offer has been accepted.

The bailifs visted my address for a debt owe and posted this though my door alerting my parents!!! . This must be illagal under the data protection act???

A petition has been put together on the government e-petition site to have the government enforce and impose fines on banks / organisations who fail to meet their requirements under the data protection act. We are trying to get as many people as possible to sign the petition and spread word of the petition through social media. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22295

Hi folks! I am having a weird problem with Southern Electric - they added my current landlords name on my old account for the house that was repoed last year.... The guy even does not know that address exist... but suddenly acquired a debt of £40 that left after paying off more than £500... The story goes - last year a mortgage company finally got fed up with us not coping with full mortgage payments and applied for CCJ to kick us out. This happened at the end of March. Being a normal person I've submitted all meter readings to SE, arranged a payment plan for debts to pay and when rented a place I gave a new address details and advised that I am not responsible for paying bills at the new property... Sadly later I found that my statement was completely ignored when I've received a letter saying "many thanks that you decided to keep your relations with SE intact and moved your gas supply over"... Actually in the beginning I did not understood what is happening at all. But when couple of weeks later I received another letter saying something about outstanding debt on the meter I've started an investigation. Called SE customer service and asked to clarify why the letter re current property is in my name... explanation was given that "you requested"... I demanded to put things right and again reiterated that I am not responsible for the bills... They refused saying that landlord needs to call them and ask to reinstate his name on the account.... yep... they did not asked for my permission to put the account on my name in the first place... Fun has not finished here - I was late 10 days paying one of the instalments on the old electricity account and SE sent a threatening letter "blah, blah we will pass your account to a DCA if you are not going to pay" Have a guess - the letter was addressed to me and to the landlord of the property we currently live in... I've called back demanding an explanation, the customer service guy said sorry we will put it right... No they didn't... I found this when I couldn't pay the December instalment in time, paid just a few days ago, but today received one more threatening letter and it was addressed to the landlord of the current property ... again... called the complaint department the answer was - we do not know how this happened, but this was requested by one of the account holders - meaning by ME... I do not drink that much... Sorry for the rant but I just was thinking what should I do about this obvious breach of Data Protection Act? SE without me knowing adds some Joe Black on my account and sends him letters informing how much I owe and that I am late paying and threaten him and me with DCA or court action... Is there anything I can do? Complain? To whom? Does anyone care? :-x:-x:-x:-x

I was wondering if anyone could assist me with a Data Protection Act claim template which I am planning to issue against 1st Credit. The brief history of this matter is:- Back in 2007 these people sent me a demand for over £6,000 which they claimed related to a debt going back to 2000, I wasn’t resident in the country in 2000 so I suspected identity theft and asked them to provide proof of the debt, which they never did. 1st Credit said that they were acting for Robinson Way & Co Ltd and that they would provide the proof of debt, which they never did. I suggested that the debt was in any event statute barred and requested dates of when I had been contacted regarding the debt and received no reply. I contacted Robinson Way & Co directly who told me that they had purchased the debt from HFC Bank but would now return it to them. During all this 1st Credit were phoning me up to 3 times each day! Over 160 telephone calls later I issued harassment proceedings against HFC, Robinson Way, 1st Credit and the individuals which I believed were responsible. Before the case got to court Robinson Way admitted they were responsible for the debt and agreed to stop the harassment, as I was up against an army of lawyers and really only wanted to see an end to the matter I accepted an undertaking from Robinson Way that they would stop and that I did not owe the money. I did send a Section 10 notice to both RW and 1st Credit after the settlement. A round one year later the phone calls started again and as part of the previous problem had been proving the calls I asked them to back up their demands in writing and sure enough a letter arrived from 1st Credit acting on behalf of Robinson Way, threatening to take me to court. (This was after the date of 1st Credit’s OFT undertaking). I completely lost it and marched down to the county court and (quite wrongly as it turned out) issued proceedings against RW for breach of contract and harassment. The RW defence was 1st Credit were acting on their own and without the knowledge or consent of the Creditor. RW won but 1st Credit had admitted that they were acting and had no instruction or authority to do so. Not wishing to be on the losing side again and knowing that 1st Credit are something of a wounded animal I asked the ICO for an assessment, which has now been returned in my favour. 1st Credit are saying that they admit no liability and don't accept the ICO's desision. In addition to a claim under the Data Protection Act I would also like to know if I can ask the court to decide if 1st Credit were acting in breach of their OFT undertaking, although I realise that this wouldn’t benefit me directly, any such decision would be in the public interest.