Verdant and CitiCards

[verdant]

I'm just starting out trying to reclaim the charges levied against me by CitiCards (and before them Associates). Today (12 Oct 2006) I sent a Data Protection Act subject access request (by Royal Mail Signed For).

 

I'll keep this thread updated with my progress.

[adamski]

Good Luck with Citi!

Regards

adamski

[keren29]

Good luck.

[verdant]

Does anyone know what the relationship between Associates and CitiCards is? Will CitiCards have information about my card account from the period when the account was with Associates?

[adamski]

Citicards took over Associates in 2002, they will have all your data from when it was Associates.

regards

adamski

[lickthewallfatboy]

be prepared for the most devious and awkward shower you will have to face.....and I speak from experience!!

[blackcatchillers]

I have sent my letter re- S A R today to CITI .Others have mentioned they play hard ball.Lets keep up with our progress Verdant.

Any tips lickthewallfatboy?

[gizmo111]

Good Luck - soon that will make you no 52 thorn in citi's side!

 

Read on here all cit's tactics and don't give in to thier arguments. And remember there are lots here to help you with these.

[lickthewallfatboy]

I have sent my letter re- S A R today to CITI .Others have mentioned they play hard ball.Lets keep up with our progress Verdant.

Any tips lickthewallfatboy?

yes-be persistent

do not let them browbeat you

take what they tell you with a ton of salt

don't let them theaten you either in writing or on the phone-if they harass you,report them to the OFT through your local trading standards office.

Throw default notices in the bin-they can't do this while your account is in dispute.

 

 

if I think of any more,I'll let you know!!

[adamski]

Don't ever give up on these clowns, they cannot win, but are under the illusion we are all stupid and misinformed, but they are the ones who are misinformed and stupid.

Keep going the more Citi claimants there are now the better we need to keep the pressure up on them and show them we will not give in

Good Luck

regards

adamski

[keren29]

Does anyone know what the relationship between Associates and CitiCards is? Will CitiCards have information about my card account from the period when the account was with Associates?

 

Associates officially became Citicards on 11 April 2003 (it is on my May 2003 statement). Citicards will have your Associates details on their files.

[verdant]

I received a big bundle of statements from Citi Cards at the start of November, but nothing else that I asked for in my Subject Access request: Manual intervention information, marketing information, and more.

 

I've prepared a letter giving insisting that they provide the remaining information immediately or face court action and also my preliminary approach for repayment. I calculate that I have paid over £600 in charges and interest on those charges in a 3 year period.

 

I'll be sending the letter "Signed For" tomorrow, so they should have it on Tuesday. If I hear nothing by the end of the week about my subject access request then I guess it's off to court to enforce the request. I feel I have been more than patient and did provide them with a telephone reminder that the 40 day period was coming to an end. I guess I'll need to read up on the process of enforcing Data Protection Act requests.

[gizmo111]

You cannot ask for marketing information in your SAR only specific data they hold on you. The yhaven't given any info on manual intervention so assume none.

[verdant]

The data I requested were specific to me.

 

I asked for any instance of a manual intervention that happened during the course of my account, such as the decision to withdraw my facilty. I assume this decision was a manual intervention as if it had been an automatic decision then I should have been sent a notice under 12(2)(a) of the Data Protection Act that the decision was based on data processing by automatic means; the act specifically mentions creditworthiness in section 12 as being one of the areas covered. It appears to me that either there was a manual intervention in which case they have failed to satisfy the subject access request or there was no manual intervention in which case they have not satisfied their duty under 12(2)(a).

 

The marketing information was specific information in relation to marketing direct to me, such as offers of loans directed only at me and made by telepone and also any profile of me maintained by Citi. I am the identifiable data subject of these data and my understanding is that they would be covered by section 7 as I can see nothing to exclude them.

 

As far as I can tell, Citi have made no attempt to address the requests for this information.

[verdant]

Citi received my preliminary request for repayment and notice of intention to begin procedings regarding my subject access request on Monday. (Royal Mail seem to have been incapable of delivering a recorded delivery to Salford so I ended up sending a second letter registered).

 

I got the standard response to the preliminary request for repayment with an extra paragraph about my data protection request. They are still quoting Kissick v Citifinancial as a precedent and claiming that the court "implicitly [found] that the charges are fair and in conformity with the OFT guidance and common law principles of contractual damages." I wonder why they don't mention the more recent case in which the judge decided that £8 was closer to the figure or the fact that Kissick v Citi was in Northern Ireland.

 

I also received under seperate cover a seven page form for identification to be filled in and returned before they will provide me with the remainder of the information I requested. I will, of course, be asking them why they sent all my previous statements to my current address, an address at which I had no prior contact with Citi until sending my subject access request. Clearly Citi don't take their legal responsibilities seriously.

 

Does anyone have any advice about how to make a claim for failure to provide information under the data protection act?

[lickthewallfatboy]

there is a thread about someone taking RBS to court for this,and the judge actually stated that if they did not provide the info by January 2007,he was going to threaten the RBS data controller with prison!!

[verdant]

I saw the thread about RBS. It made me smile, I had problems with NatWest earlier in the year.

[Enron]

I received one sheet with relation to `Manual Intervention` on my credit card account from Citi..... so you should also be entitled to a copies of yours.

 

Mine was pretty damning for Citi as it coverred a period when two payments arrived late... the manual intervention sheet shows no actions with relation to these.

 

So push for these as they could be an important part of your case.

[verdant]

My current thinking is to go straight to court action for my data protection request. They have already sent me some information and so they must already be satisfied with my identity. They are being deliberately obstructive. They certainly haven't asked for my identity in a timely manner. It took nearly 70 days and 2 reminders to get them to acknowledge that there was more to my subject access request than previous statements.

[Enron]

Straight to court then. Do you have the name of the Citi Data Controller.

 

It was Richard Cooke when I applied, best to ask someone who has recently received their DPA request information.

[verdant]

Richard Cooke signed the letter I received apologizing for having taken so long to start looking into my SAR. It's a shame he hasn't actually done what was needed though.

[verdant]

I'm having real difficulty sending mail to Citi. I've had two recorded delivery letters not delivered and (presumably) lost. Has anyone else had this problem? It's severely slowing me down.

[Enron]

Definitely seems strange, could possibly be the Xmas period… know that I had 4-5 parcels go missing over the festive period.

 

Might be an idea to include a return address on the back of the envelope, that way if it’s unsigned and Citi are not accepting receipt it’ll come back within 7 days.

 

My first action in your case would be to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office, copies are the forms are available here with the address being on the last one:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/56482-having-problems-getting-your.html

 

I have heard that manual intervention information is harder for them to compile, however as it relates to you as a customer and your account they would be required to retain it for a period of 6 years at present, and it would be unusual for them to erase it in case Citi as a company needed it for reference purposes.

 

In my instance I only received one sheet for a period of just over 12 months. If you require sheets for the six year period you have specified they should be made available to you – otherwise the SAR isn’t being honoured.

 

I would also like to clarify to everyone that The Associates was always part of the Citi Group, and the change to Citi Cards was in affect a rebranding as the PO Box 54, and 1 Exchange Quay addresses in Manchester are present in the Associates literature.

[gizmo111]

I'm having real difficulty sending mail to Citi. I've had two recorded delivery letters not delivered and (presumably) lost. Has anyone else had this problem? It's severely slowing me down.

 

I had mine returned that I sent recorded - so I just sent it by normal post and got info back - weird.

[verdant]

Okay, now I'm really puzzled. I've received a response to my LBA from Citi even though Royal Mail say it's not yet been delivered. Not sure what happened there.

 

Citi's response was all standard stuff: may take up to six weeks to retrieve statements from archives, once I have the information I will contact you, thank you for your patience, etc.

 

I think we all know this is yet another attempt to stall the process of reclaiming the charges and one for which I am not going to fall.