Saints v IF & Others

[Saints]

Hi Guys,

 

Well, I have a few claims going on & some progresssing... however... I sent my first letter to Intelligent Finance on 19th June 2006 by email. I had heard nothing so I then send another request on 5th July 2006.

 

This is what we sent to them:

 

Please could you send me a comprehensive list of all the charges that you have made to the above account in the past six years, showing the date and amount of each charge, and a description of what it was for. I make this request using my rights under the Data Protection Act and would request your response within 14 days.

 

 

I received a reply letter today from them (dated 27th July) stating the following:

 

DATA PROTECTION ACT - DATA SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

 

Thanks you for your request to access the information we hold about you, which is your right under the Data Protection Act 1998. I note your request for a list of all charges applied to your current account on the above plan. Please note this is not classed as personal information therefore we are not required to provide this as part of the DSAR. I have however detailed below a summary of any charges applied to your account & the date of application. There is no charge for theis service on this occassion.

 

They then list ONE £30.00 charge that was applied to my account on 31/12/2005. I KNOW there are many more charges on both my & my husbands account... Can they do this? I thought that if I had asked for the list of charges, then they have to supply them whether there is a charge or not?

 

Many thanks

Saints

[thewifeandI]

The charges were made on your PERSONAL account with them, and as such are associated with your personal records with them. They cannot claim it to be anything other than personal data. Also note that you can't set a 14 day deadline on a DPA request - it's 40 days as per the DPA. There's a formally laid out DPA request letter in the templates area. If you had used this they wouldn't have been able to wriggle out of it so easily. Please have a good read of the FAQs to get the best out of this site.

[Saints]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply... !

 

I resent another letter (a proper DPA one) the following day to them stating they had 40 days as I had mistyped in the original one.. their 40 days was up on 29th July & i got a reply today.

 

The 'list' of charges they printed on the letter only has a date & a charge, it doesn't state what the charge was for! Plus, I KNOW there are others they have not listed, and with IF they only allow you to look at one months worth of statements online. Even so, this amounts to £298.00 from 30/11/05 - 30/06/2006 in 7 charges (one alone was for £90.00 :o ) ..... But, they charged us £88.00 LAST WEEK too which they havent added on!

 

So, should I now write back to them & tell them that the records for charges ARE PERSONAL & that under the DPA they should send them as all the other banks have? is there a standard letter for this?

 

Thanks

 

Saints

[thewifeandI]

There's not a standard letter for telling them they're wrong, but there is one for non-compliance, threatening them with action if not rectified. You can add a paragraph to point out the errors in their argument (or 'lies' (allegedly) as they're often known). Tell them you'll send their letter to the Information Commissioner for his views on their excuses.

[Saints]

Thanks for that, I'll get straight on it!

 

i see on your signature that you have sued Halifax for 11 years worth of charges... well done!! How did you manage that? We have a Lloyds account that ges back over 20 years, but about 9 years ago we were hammered with cahrges as we went through a bad financial phase & on recent 6 years statements, theres nothing that we can claim from them, so we put that down to a loss :o(

 

Saints

[thewifeandI]

There's an argument that says that the Statute of Limitations doesn't apply where the nature of the unlawful act has been concealed - i.e. we only knew the amount of these charges was unlawful when the OFT report highlighted it in March. I didn't use that argument, just plainly listed my charges with dates made it clear in my letters that I was claiming so far back. They paid up without question on the first claim, but are disputing the same on the second claim. You do have to be prepared to back down and accept only six years if necessary. Read the thread about the Statute of Limitations for more info.

 

Please note that I'm not trying to advise you to take this route, but it's worth being aware of it. In the case of your Lloyds account you will run the risk of having the entire claim thrown out and losing the court fee, but if you win.... You'd also need to have the statements for the period of the charges as they might not supply them under a DPA request.

[Saints]

Ok, thanks for that, I will think on that one!

 

In the meantime I have 'drafted' this letter to the unhelpful team at UNintelligent Finance... Commments appreciated!

 

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Section 7 – Data Protection Act 1998

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Account: xxxxxxxx

 

I am in receipt of the documents that you have supplied in response to my Data Protection Act information request dated 19/06/2006 & 05/07/2006. The disclosure of personal data is incomplete in that at least the following documents are missing.

 

1) You have failed to provide a complete list of transactions and charges as requested by me covering the last 6 years from the date of our original letter 19/06/2006. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, it is just an example of some of the information I am missing. Accordingly, I have to tell you that you have not yet complied with your obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Also, In your letter dated 27th July 2006, you state that "my request for a list of all charges applied to my current account on the above plan are not classed as personal information & therefore you are not required to provide them as part of the DSAR”. I would like to point out that the list of charges that I requested from you, were charges that were made on MY PERSONAL account with you, and as such are associated with my personal records with Intelligent Finance. I do not understand therefore how you can claim it to be anything other than personal data.

 

We have received the same information requested in the same way from other banks with or without the standard DPA charge, under the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

The time for compliance with my request has now expired. If you do not comply fully with my Subject Access Request within 7 days, I shall apply to the County Court for an order to enforce compliance, together with damages at the discretion of the court. I shall also send a copy of your letter dated 27th July 2006 addressed to myself to the Information Commissioner for his views on your excuses.

I trust that this will not be necessary & that I will receive a comprehensive list of all charges & transactions as originally requested by me on 19/06/2006 for the above account without any further delay.

Yours faithfully,

[thewifeandI]

Excellent letter. It would be tempting to add some thing like 'If these charges truly are not personal data would you please remove them from my account and restore the interest charged on them'. Probably best not to though!

[Saints]

Excellent letter. It would be tempting to add some thing like 'If these charges truly are not personal data would you please remove them from my account and restore the interest charged on them'. Probably best not to though!

 

Hmmmm...... thats soooooo tempting!!! heheehehehe

[Saints]

Hi all,

 

Well, guess what arrived in the post today after my letter went in!!! Statements in FULL!!! Plus an 'apology' for "omitting to enclose the informationm with their previous correspondance sent in relation to my recent request for data information".

 

Sendind my request for refund of fees as we speak!!!

 

Saints

[Saints]

Hi again,

 

Well, I received this letter from IF today.....with a proper signature!!

 

Has anyone else got one of these?

 

 

Plan Number- xxxxxxxx

 

 

Dear Saints

 

I refer to your e-mail communication of 7 August 2006. Thank you for your patience while I investigated the matter on your behalf

The issue you raised was in relation to charges previously applied to your current account.

As you will understand, like other organisations, we incur costs for every transaction made. When we pay an item against an unauthorised overdraft or return an item unpaid, we incur extra costs regardless of the shortfall involved. We believe it is fair to pass these costs on to the accounts affected, rather than absorb them into other areas of our operations, penalising all our other customers as a result.

We clearly outline our charging policy in the terms and conditions that apply to your account. In addition, we are committed to complying with the Banking Code, which sets standards of good banking practice for banks ana building societies to follow when dealing with personal customers. The terms and conditions of your account state that you must have funds in your account to cover transactions. We cannot be responsible if you authorised payments against funds that were not available.

We are keen to help customers avoid any unnecessary charges by providing various ways to keep track of their accounts. You can do this via telephone banking on 08xx xxx xxxx or by using our online banking Intelligent Finance - Home page, a service I note you utilise. Ultimately it is your responsibility to manage your account.

I acknowledge your comments in respect of the charges, however, as you are aware, the charges were correctly generated and in accordance with our terms and conditions at the level detailed in the rates and charges publication, therefore taking the aforementioned into consideration, I am unable to provide reimbursement of charges previously applied to your current account.

I would like to thank you for making us aware of your dissatisfaction. I am sorry you feel that the service you received has fallen short of the high standard Intelligent Finance prides itself on delivering.

I hope this clarifies everything for you, however, if you have any further questions relating to your complaint, please call me on 08xx xxx xxxx.

Yours sincerely

 

Rhona Kerr-Sloan

Customer Relations Consultant

Customer Relations Centre

 

Now, as they have basically said 'matter closed' I am within my rights to send the LBA now instead of waiting another week?

[thewifeandI]

You can, but for court purposes it would look better if you waited the full 14 days to give the bank 28 days in total from prelim to Moneyclaim.

[Saints]

ok, well we had a response for my hubbys account after sending a noncompliance letter to them, but as of yet I STILL have not received my statements from them!

 

I have sent them a non compliance letter & thir time is now well & truly up.what is the next stage after this if they do not comply? I have had a 'quick' look in FAQ's but I can't see what I do next.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Saints

[Saints]

Hi All,

 

I'm stuck here now.... I have sent IF 2 DSAR requests & 2 non compliance letters, but still have NOT received anything from them for my account, only my hubbys....... what do I do next?

 

Had a quick look in FAQ but can't see where to go now.

 

Any help please

 

Saints

[thewifeandI]

The next stage on your account is to report them to the Information Commissioner - see templates. Get a claim underway on your husband's account (if you haven't already).

[Saints]

Thanks for that... I'm having a senior moment... I couldn't find anything in FAQ before, so I thought i'd ask the experts

 

They have replied to hubbys account, and sent statements etc. They have until 01/09/06 when the LBA expires, then its Moneyclaim.

 

I have sent repeated reminders to them, so far they have had 71 days to comply!, so it's off to the information comissioner!!

 

Saints

[Saints]

Well, filed the MCOL on hubbys account today & will email IF the claim number... lets see how that goes!

 

Will send the letter to the information commissioner first thing i the morning.... have been a bit poorly the last few days, so not had a chance to get it done.... but I Will