NATWEST and DATA PROTECTION ACT COMPLIANCE - READ THIS

[Senz]

I sent a SAR to Natwest at the beginning of December, by the first week in January, I not only had copy statements, I received wads of the Foolscap stuff with data going back to when the account opened - admittedly that was only 1998, but the info is there none the less.

 

Seems it may just be issues with certain account management centres?

[Glenn UK]

I dont know where its coming from but under the DPA there is no restriction to a six year period for the bank/cc company to supply anyone with data.

 

If they hold the data and it is covered within the DPA, then THEY HAVE TO PROVIDE IT when you send a written SAR and the approriate fee however odl it is.

 

When I say 'Covered in the DPA', I mean its data and on a relevant filing system both as defined within the Act.

 

Hope that helps and PLEASE spread the word, i see so many people saying 'I have asked for six years worth of data, if you use the site tempate you dont, you ask for the lot and are damn well entitled to it.

 

Assert your rights, claim back what youre entitled to.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[tetley75]

Hi, i have recieved six years worth of statements back from nationwide and from HSBC, i do believe i incurred alot of charges before this period though. What would you reccomend to do to get the statements back from this period? Any advice would be helpfull.

[Senz]

So the fact that HSBC claim not to have any statements past the last 6 years for me is a lie? I've spoken to both their Customer Relations Dept. and their call centre, and they claim not to have any more data than that.

 

Is there another way for me to get access to this data, as I know the statements I am missing (sheets 13 - 20) which are prior to 2000 are where most of the charges lie.

[wp]

natwest cashed my cheque for £10 in sepember (origanally asked for statements in july) and still nothing has arrived.spoke to numerous people who said they would ring back,got a case ongoing with information commisioner(nothin heard) suppose court is likely.

[Glenn UK]

So the fact that HSBC claim not to have any statements past the last 6 years for me is a lie? I've spoken to both their Customer Relations Dept. and their call centre, and they claim not to have any more data than that.

 

Is there another way for me to get access to this data, as I know the statements I am missing (sheets 13 - 20) which are prior to 2000 are where most of the charges lie.

 

I would be cautious in saying theyre lieing, i suspect that the peoprlyou speak to are told somehting very carefully worded to allow them to tell you what they are without having to tell a lie.

 

From the ltters i have seen being produced the statems are generic and dont refer to a specific account.

 

They may say something like we dont have too.. and if we did it would have been sent.

 

Or we dont have too.... and statements are destroeyd after .....

 

What they dont do is say to you "Dear bloggs, our company policy is that data in all forms held by nastbank are destroyed on its 6th anniversay."

 

As far as I can make out most banks use a form of fiche for archive storage, where this is the case the destruction of the data wholesale is not a problem but from what i know of fiche records to select individual records for destruction out of the mass would be difficult and costly to carry out. The first bit of that statement means it wouldnt matter because they would get some cheap labout to do it for them, its the second bit that matters.

 

Now of course it may be that they do destroy all records after six years, but there are customers who have accounts which are tweny or thirty years old or more. In my view it is extremely unlikley they would destroy account details of active accounts.

 

They may change the form that data is held in but i dont believe they will destroy it.

 

If you have a mortgage for example the liitation period is 12 years i believe, ask yourself this. the ability to claim for mistakes/bad debts works two ways, are the bank really going to destory all data they would need to defend themselves or claim and debts as a result of amortgage in 4, 5, or 6 years?

 

It dont stack up imho.

 

Glenn

[burnsy1985]

i sent of for statments on the 3rd of january and ater a number of calls to them i have only just recived the them, only to find that they have only sent me 2 statments from the past 6 yrs which i think is natwest just [edited] now i have to wait another 10 days for the rest of them. as any 1 else had this problem?

[markknight]

Subject Access Request Goggarburn Address

 

can you please help me. I have all my bank statements going back about 15 years. I wrote to Natwest asking for a comprehensive list of charges, and enclosed the £10 cheque, but they just sent me 6 years of statements. I am not sure what the DPA is all about, or who Joyce is, or what the Goggarburn address is all about. I would really appreciate some advice on how to respond to Natwest simply sending me statements with no accompanying letter. On my statements i appear to have 'service fees' coming out every month for years and years, but i read that Natwest won a court case to say i cant claim these back now?

any advice would really be appreciated

thank you

[Glenn UK]

Mark

 

go through the statements and make a list of the charges, what theyre descirbed as and the values, start a thread of your own in the natwest forum and ask in there for assistance and im sure somoene will help unravel the mysteries of natwest charges.

 

Burnsy

 

If you look in the templtes forum there is a thread for nonc-omplaince with the Data protection act and some follow up leeters for just this situation.

 

Start your own thread and post quesitons in there and im sure somoen will help you.

 

HTH

 

glenn

[fendyweather]

Just a word of warning to everybody, the banks try and pretend they have not had your letter asking for charges. My advice, always send it recorded delivery, every time. Its worth it, that way you have a name of somebody who signed for it at the other end when you check on the royal mail website and it can be traced bac to who signed for it and when. ALWAYS SEND BY RECORDED DELIVERY. Mine took 10 days for statements to arrive. All 680 of them.

[lazaroumonkeyterror]

Sent my letter recorded delivery, I even have a print out of the signature I got form the Royal mail Website and that was on the 22nd of December.

 

Still no show on the statements though, who is this nice Joyce lady i can speak to about this, I need that money owed to me to pay for glasto tickets!

[fendyweather]

Hi there, if you have somebodys name you entitled now to log onto the Banking ombudsmans website and tell them you have had no response from the bank and they can chase for you, providing tracking number etc. to them to chase. However, I suggest (a) has your cheque for £10 been cashed or not ? The £10 you send with your letter requesting copies of your statements. If you didnt enclose the cheque that could be why they havent responded. I suggest you start again. Redo the letter asking for your last six years worth of statements, enclose £10 payable to the bank, whichever bank you are chasing, and if its the Natwest as mine was, and still is, then you need to send the request to the Alex Lyons, Data Protection Manager address, you get a quicker response than by sending it to your own branch. The full address for Alex Lyons, Data Protection Manager can be found on this website by checking out the links or if you like if you are struggling to find it, I can dig it out of my files for you today if you just respond saying you cant find it. I will help if I can, but you must start the process again and send by either recorded or special delivery to the Alex Lyons address. I got a reply within 14 days by doing this. Best of luck.... If your cheque has been cashed though, you can get onto the banking ombudsmans website and report it, and they can get involved in chasing for you too. Dont give up. Its worth every minute spent on this. Make it your project for the next three months. It will pay off, and will be worth every dreaded minute you spend on it.

 

All the best.

[lazaroumonkeyterror]

checked my statement. The cheque hasn't been cashed. Odd though that they have received the letter (I sent it to Alex Lyons at the mentioned address) yet the cheque has apparently gone missing. I am very sure I placed the cheque was placed in the letter so I'm a little puzzled as to the delay.

 

Whats the best way to chase this up without wasting time being passed from department to department?

[Bona]

I wrote to natwest last year and got the usual fob off so i am going to issue a S.A.R. but amconfused to whom i send It

Bona

[bram stoker]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/67779-data-protection-act-r.html#post582418

[Kev]

I requested information on fees and charges applied to my account going back 4 years and quoted the data protection act. I didn't enclose a cheque (whats the point, they'd only bounce it and hit me with another charge). I received a big bundle of statements about 2 months later. A few months later I complained that I hadn't received the information I had requested and they sent another bundle of statements that were exactly the same as the first lot. So I will complain again that I have not received the information I requested, lets see if they send me another bundle of statements.

[fendyweather]

Hi again, basically, you should send a postal order for £10 made payable to them and then they will have to send you exactly what you have asked for. Unless you pay the statutory £10, they will just keep messing you about.

 

I am happy to help in any way that I can but you have to keep to the rules of the claim help. You need to send 10 in the way of cheque, postal order or other. Otherwise they will mess you about.

[samivel]

Hello all,

 

I'm new to this rather excellent website and need a bit of advice. I've read through the FAQs advising me to send off a Data Protection Act request to NatWest plus a £10 cheque, but I'm unsure who to make the cheque out to and which address I should be sending my request to. Any help will be gratefully received.

 

samivel

[fendyweather]

Hi there, you need to make your cheque payable to your bank or building society, whomever you are asking for the statements off, i.e. Natwest Bank, Barclays Bank, or whoever. You need to send the first letter asking for your statements to their addresses to be found in forum links. If you need help just reply to this post and I can find the address for you. Hope this helps, but hurry up and start your claim. Hope this helps.

 

Fend x

[kennyh]

Hi Nattie,

Your comments at #2 are most illuminating.

Could you advise whether the same systems apply to NatWest credit cards?(My daughter had one until 2004 but due to home moves etc lost ALL of her CC statements AND account number! - don't you just love kids).Despite sending Natwest CC my daughter's name, billing address and when she terminated the account, they are pleading ignorance. If the SAR is meant to cover ANY information the company has on the individual then one would think that they have more than one search key!

[bankaid]

hi everyone, i have been having one hell of a problem going back to last November with the [edited] Natwest, going under the guise of NatWest collection centre, and i would really be grateful for any help, they really are are driving me to the depths of despair, its a long winded affair, do i post a thread here, or could i email it to someone?

[Guest NATTIE]

bankaid you post on the natwest forum and kennyh will respond shortly once i have read post 2

 

Edit yes the post stands

[marcuz]

Hiya Nattie,

I know that I must sound thick but, I cant find the link to NatWest Contacts section.

I just need the correct and full Goggarburn address to start the ball rolling.

Cheers

Marcus

[leemrobinson]

I submitted a letter under the DPA to Natwest by handing it in to my local branch.

 

I requested that they provide me with 6 years of details so that I can submit my claim for charges (totalling £1700), but I forgot to put the £10 cheque inside.

 

Within 14 days a package arrived full of my 6 years of statements and last weekend I submitted my initial request for repayment of the £1700.00.

 

I'm looking forward to their response (and payment)!!

[hafeez]

I understand that the NatWest are routinely refusing to suppy more than 6 years of personal data in response to Data Protection Act disclosure requests.

 

I understand that they are tell at least some people that they do not hold personal data going beck further than 6 years.

 

There is some evidence to suggest that this is not correct and complaints are about to be made to the Information Commissioner.

 

If you have been refused disclosure going back more than 6 years you should consider witing to the Information Commissioner about it.

 

Watch this space as we expect to have more news about this in January.

01012003