HBOS have other personal details associated with my account ?

[HellenMellon]

I've had a basic account with HBOS for just over two years. I logged on the other day and found another persons address details where mine should be. All other details ( Phone, name etc ) are mine. After a quick call to HBOS they changed the address back to mine.

 

I was told it would be looked into and someone would contact me back. At the same time they completely failed to understand that if the person at this address requested lost log in details, my login and password would have been posted out to this other person.

 

Fast forward three days and now I find ALL my details are missing when I log in. For those that bank with HBOS they will be aware that in the top right hand corner of the website is the link ' Change Details', well in my case that's also gone.

 

Dispite writing and emailing HBOS, they have failed to respond. I'm now concerned my details and account is open to abuse. Thank God this bank is not my principle bank account.

 

What recourse against HBOS do I have ?

[citizenB]

Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.

[BankFodder]

HBOS will want to cover this up.

 

Did you happen to make a note of the other person's details? Better still did you happen to take a screenshot?

 

I think that you should write an immediate letter of complaint to the information Commissioner – explaining exactly what has happened. This is a serious security lapse by HBOS and because they will want to cover it up, you should do whatever you can to let as many people know as possible. Posting the story on this forum was a good start.

 

If you had actually suffered some damage or loss, I would suggest more serious action. However in the circumstances the most sensible thing to do seems to be to write them a formal complaint. Explain to them that you have no way of knowing that the same thing has happened to other people or that your own details have been exposed to other customers. Tell them that you have written a letter of complaint to the information Commissioner. Tell them that they should treat the complaint that you are making now as a formal complaint and that you want a final response from them so that you can then continue to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

Make sure that they realise that you have already tried to contact them and that you have had no reply. Make sure that in your complaint to the information Commissioner, you let him know the same thing – include copies of the other answered correspondence in the information Commissioner's complaint.

 

If you happen to have made a note of the other person's details then if I were you I would write them a letter explaining to them what has happened and that you have seen their personal details. Send them copies of the letters which you have sent to HBOS and to the information Commissioner.

 

The whole point here is to make it as open as possible, to let everyone know, – and to stir it up.

[HellenMellon]

I noted the other persons details, but didn't take a screenshot. The letter I sent was marked as a formal complaint.

 

The person I spoke to on the phone even told me what account was linked to this address ( Gold save with a few £'s in ), but said it had not been used for ages. I thought that rather strange. I now have a persons address and what type of account is linked to them.

 

I will write to the information Commissioner this week.

[questioner]

Yes - I have had a similar thing with Barclay, who sent me another person's data.

 

I have alerted the OFT, ICO and FOS as well as the bank and will make as much fuss as I can.

 

The biggest concern is that as BC have sent me this other person's data they might have sent mine to her too.

 

No good.

[HellenMellon]

Update.

The information Commissioner and FO are not interested at this early stage. They feel not enough time has not been given to HBOS to rectify the situation.

In the meantime HBOS will not even reply to any correspondence I send them asking if my bank details are secure.

So HBOS are given a 'time limit', yet in the meantime my account details could be compromised.