1ST Central Car Insurance Default Notice and Threat County Courts help

[babs71]

I agree that this would be another life lesson he may need to refer back to sometime in the future. 

A little of both, I have either filled him in or read full sections to him, he hasn't sat down and read them himself. it is always easier for him to take in what is being said when it is read to him than him reading it with his dyslexia, words jump about and he spends more time concentrating on the words rather than the context.

Okay, he has decided he wants to go down the legal action route and take all instructions from you on the process he has to follow to do so.

What happens next?

He has diarised to call 1st Central again on Wednesday to follow up on his request for his SAR

 

[BankFodder]

Let's see what happens about the subject access request.

Probably best to wait for the 30 days.

Meanwhile get him to start reading up on how to take a small claim in the county court.

It is very easy but it is better to be informed in order to have confidence and to remain in control

[babs71]

okay great I have opened your link for the small claim couty court which I will read to him later.

We will let you know how the call goes on Wednesday with 1st Central 

 

[BankFodder]

The link is a bit out of date but it will give you a head start anyway

[babs71]

I emailed the recording before you said you didn't need it , chance for your to hear the quality lol

[BankFodder]

I haven't listened to it. I am relying on you to make sure you need

[BankFodder]

Separately, we need to understand how this has impacted on your son in terms of stress/distress and how this has cascaded down the family.

We would like to hear directly from your son as to how this whole matter has affected him over the years that it has been going.

It is important that we have a detailed explanation of this because it will form the basis of our legal claim. We can't just go ahead and come up with a figure and expected to be paid. It has to be justified in terms of the redress of any suffering or actual losses that have been incurred

[DennisTheMenace1999]

Good Afternoon, if I could introduce myself. I am babs71's son, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for everything you have done so far to help my mum get to this point with this problem of mine. I agree with Bankfodder that it is time I stepped up and started to deal with this. It has just been easier to let Mum get on with it , she has read what you have all said here to me and kept me up to date with the progress.

I went to make the follow-up call with 1st Central half an hour ago and when I checked my emails they had emailed me yesterday about the subject access request. Below is a copy and paste of the email, should I do anything other than email them back to confirm my ID or should I reiterate what I am expecting from their disclosure?

 

 

Good afternoon,

 

Thank you for your request for data under the Data Protection Act 2018. We need to confirm your identity and ensure the security of the access request. You can do this by simply replying to this email. Your request will remain on hold until that time. If we do not hear from you within 30 days we will close your request.

 

A subject access request is about your right to be told whether any personal data is being processed, to be given a description of that personal data, the reasons it is being processed, and whether it will be given to any other organisations. It also provides you a right to be given a copy of the information comprising that data.

 

Here is a link to our privacy policy which will provide more information about how we use your personal data: https://www.1stcentralinsurance.com/legal/privacy-policy

 

This link is to our frequently asked data protection questions:  https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/Dataprivacy

 

Should you need access to your policy documents they can be found in your online portal which can be accessed via the following link: https://my.1stcentralinsurance.com/customer/login/accountlogin

 

I understand that you are requesting all data we hold for you.

 

For your calls, we will search using the telephone number we hold on file for you. If there are other telephone numbers, you have contacted us from, please let us know and we will include these in our search.  Please note: we retain the calls for a maximum of 2 years. 

 

We do not make transcripts of these calls, but the audio recordings will be sent to you once located. I must also make you aware that not all our calls are recorded and, therefore, we may not be able to supply recordings for all the calls made.

 

Once we have received a response we have 30 days in which to respond.

 

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

 

Kind regards,

 

Carla Swift  

Data Protection Administrator

 

E: [email protected]  

 

[Grotesque]

33 minutes ago, DennisTheMenace1999 said:

It has just been easier to let Mum get on with it

To be fair, that's what they sign up for

But seriously, welcome to CAG. I think it's fantastic that you took Bankfodder's advice so energetically!

Edited January 31 by Grotesque

[BankFodder]

Just confirm your identity. Then make a diary note. Give them, say, 30 days from next Monday.

 

In the meantime, please have a look at my earlier post in which I asked for details of the impact this has had on you – in terms of distress/stress, distress for your family.
Also if you can identify any actual losses in money terms that you have suffered.

And this would be one very legitimate time to start leveraging your dyslexia and to emphasise how your dyslexia difficulties have been worse as a result of your treatment by the insurer.
I would love to hear from you that the insurer is aware of your dyslexia!

 

[DennisTheMenace1999]

hi just a quick update I wont be back to this post untill Tuesday, heading to Amsterdam to help my girlfriend settle into her 2nd year University exchange student placement out there. 

[BankFodder]

Thanks for the update.

 

Has the subject access request been done?

[DennisTheMenace1999]

yes, sorry they email yesterday 1/2/24 confirming it will be done and gave the latest date of the 1/3/24 but could be sooner if they could get together everything with out issues

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email confirmation.

The Data Protection Act 2018 allows us 30 days from the date of your response to complete your request.  Therefore, the latest you should receive your request will be the 1st March 2024.  It is possible that we will be able to send you a final response earlier than this, although this will depend on the complexity of your request.

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].

Kind regards,

 Carla Swift  

Data Protection Administrator

 E: [email protected]  

 www.1stcentralinsurance.com

[BankFodder]

Don't forget also that we need detailed account of the impact this has had on you and your family. A separate statement from your mother as to the impact on her be helpful and anybody else that this has affected

[DennisTheMenace1999]

okay will get onto this when I get back to the UK on Tuesday

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you start working on it gently over a period of time and fill in the gaps as they are curt you.
You even start jotting it down on a piece of paper during your trip over to Amsterdam. Eurostar? Lots of time to do it

[DennisTheMenace1999]

I will do, we flew out early yesterday, getting our bearings around her new campus and home for the next 6 months, and will start making some notes, I know it had affected Mum in a bad way so will get her to write up a few notes for you as well.

 

[FruitSalad1010]

Well done to your @babs71 for lighting the fire and especially well done to you for coming to this site to engage with the thread.

Repairing credit files is not easy to do. In my view it is certainly worth pursuing, after all it is your financial reputation on the line.

Despite the fact the companies which report to credit files are responsible and "own" the data they share with credit reference agencies they are often very reluctant to admit they have done anything wrong.

Credit reference agencies will say that they are not responsible for the data they share, however it is my view they become equally liable when they are notified the data they are sharing is inaccurate and subsequently do nothing to fix it.

If you are thinking about obtaining credit and probably even if you are not, contact each credit reference agency immediately and notify them that they are to apply a "notice of correction" next to the entries made by 1st Central. They often ask for some specific wording, perhaps something along the lines of "The accuracy of this information is disputed, please take care when making any decisions based on up on this information".

Doing this should have the effect of preventing any automated decision making based on the information within your credit file.

The best case is that a properly worded letter, probably a letter of claim will get them to act accordingly and repair your file.

Have a think about how the default notice has affected you. For example has it affected your ability to obtain credit, has it caused you any distress. If so I would keep a note of this as it will be useful later on.

If they dig their heals in and I would expect them to because that's how organisations tend to react, it will probably take a legal claim and while there will probably be an opportunity to settle along the way if they are truly stubborn it will take a hearing in front of a judge.

I would estimate you will need to allocate between 20 and 40 hours of your time to see this through. Bank Fodder provides excellent advice and has a lot of experience in knowing which leavers to pull and I am sure they will help you see this through to a satisfactory outcome. There are always some unknowns and even if things don't go completely your way I expect you will still have gained valuable experience in standing up to these people.

I would hope that your request for data is starting to ring bells to someone that you are no longer able to be pushed around and they may have some work to do.

[DennisTheMenace1999]

Hi all, apologies for my silence over the past 10 days, as you know I was settling my girlfriend in Amsterdam for her second semester out there as a 3rd-year University exchange student in Clothing Design, when I got back I have been very busy as I have applied for my second degree at University in Illestration, my UCAS applications had been accepted, and have had a busy week getting my art portfolios together and uploaded to the various Universities I have applied to, fingers crossed at this time that I get into Edinburgh my first choice.

The good news is that as of this morning 1st Central has emailed a zip file with all the data requests. Mum and I have had a run through them and are pleased to advise that they have noted that the debt should have been on hold from 23 June 2021. there are loads of details about all the calls mum made to them and each time they not actioning what they told her they would, I must say it was nice to see that mum didn't imagine all these conversations with them and they it was 1st central who dod not do what they said they would and shouldn't have put the default notice on my credit file on the 15/7/21, I cant express the relief I saw in mums face when we found this instruction for the debt to be placed on hold till the conclusion of the investigation, she really was thinking that she had imagined the details.

BankFodder you asked about 1st central awareness of my dyslexia, in the report created for the case it is quite specific about my dyslexia and my mum dealing with written and read details for me because of it

the zip file is big how do I get the data information to you

 

Account Notes - White Label_Redacted.pdf

[BankFodder]

I don't expect we need to see the whole file.

What we would like you to do please is using the guidance that we give for preparing a court bundle – please prepare your bundle of documents in the same way and produce an index page and we like to see the index page.

I realise that you have various commitments but I would like to say that we would appreciate a little bit closer connection to this thread please

I did also ask you to layout details of the impact this has had on you in terms of stress/distress. I asked this some time ago now and nothing has appeared

[DennisTheMenace1999]

Hi, I know it's been a few weeks but I have now finally put together the Court File, not been easy with my dyslexia, but I was determined to understand everything my mum has dealt with so far on my behalf with 1st Central, I now know ever page in the file. Below is a timeline of events, and attached is the court file index.

 

 

TIMELINE
Date	Description
21/02/2021	Alleged Hit & Run
26/02/2021	TXXXX KXXXXXX advised about the alleged incident and denied any involvement, the false claim didn’t happen. The car is for sale with no damage, provided photo evidence, and removed the car from sale because of the alleged incident
11/03/2021	Injury Claim added to the alleged incident
	1st Central advised TXXXX KXXXXXX can go ahead and sell the car
19/03/2021	the car has been sold, asked to cancel the insurance policy
	Cancellation cost £479, told has to pay rest of year because of claim; refused to pay, would settle outstanding balance once the investigation was complete
01/04/2021	OUTSTANDING BALANCE £479 referred to CRS COLLECTIONS TEAM
06/04/2021	TXXXX KXXXXXX asked CRS, told them they should not be chasing the £479, as on hold while 1st Central Investigate allegation
	CRS questioned 1st Central regarding the hold on the balance £479
09/04/2021	1st central tells CRS to hold the file while the investigation ongoing
23/06/2021	1st Central Debt Collection Team - sent a letter to TXXXX KXXXXXX - the threat of Default Notice; chasing Outstanding Balance £479; Default Notice deadline 20/7/2021; 27-day notice and will also file data with Credit Reference Agencies
	TXXXX KXXXXXX called 1st Central. Why were Debt Collections chasing £479, threatened default notice, all should be on hold while the investigation is in progress, Customer Service said it was most likely an oversight and transferred to Claims
	1st Central Account told to stop chasing debt till claim investigation closed
15/07/2021	DEFAULT NOTICE logged with CREDIT REFERENCE AGENCIES [should not have been logged as default with credit agents, 1 still investigating the allegation, 2 their letter said they would not do this till 20/8/2021]
16/07/2021	1st Central Debt Collection - FINAL DEMAND - Notice of Default; pay in full by 20/08/2021 or they will file DEFAULT NOTICE about TXXXX KXXXXXX with Credit Reference Agencies
	TXXXX KXXXXXX called 1st Central again why FINAL DEMAND - DEFAULT NOTICE received from DEBT COLLECTION again
	1st Central communication with CRS stop chasing immediately as per instructions 23/6/21 debt on hold
07/10/2021	Third Party Solicitors closed Claim, TXXXX KXXXXXX not at fault
01/12/2021	Letter from 1st Central confirming no claim on TXXXX KXXXXXX's insurance policy and no claims discount reinstated
13/09/2023	CRS Collections resumed chasing the outstanding balance £479; Letter - POTENTIAL FURTHER ACTION
20/09/2023	TXXXX KXXXXXX called CRS disputing £479 balance, CRS transferred the call to 1st Central
	Ticket raised with Primary Response Team for back-dated premium non-fault claim
08/11/2023	1st Letter received from AJJB Law, Debt Collections Agent, chasing outstanding balance £479 - IMPORTANT - POTENTIAL LEGAL ACTION
14/11/2023	TXXXX KXXXXXX Called AJJB disputing £479, said they would speak with 1st Central
01/12/2023	AJJB advised £479 was due as the policy was canceled mid-term, didn’t matter about a claim or not being investigated, disputed again
02/01/2024	AJJB, claim they sent TXXXX KXXXXXX a Letter Before Claim which he did not respond to
	TXXXX KXXXXXX called AJJB and advised no Letter Of Claim was received and also still waiting for an update from 1st Central from them confirming £479 was incorrect
10/01/2024	AJJB raised the issue with 1st Central on 2/1/24 and will advise once they have heard back from them, and offered 25% discount if I paid in full
16/01/2024	AJJB advised next stage County Court Claim Form be issued if 1st Central says £479 is due
29/01/2024	Data Request made from 1st Central

Abbreviations List.pdf CRS Data.pdf Index.pdf

[BankFodder]

Thanks for this. I will try to get around to deal with it in detail over the weekend. However I see that in January 29th you sent a subject access request.

Has there been a disclosure or any kind of response

[DennisTheMenace1999]

Hi Bankfoder,

Yes, on 13 February I received all data (SAR), my apologies I did write on this form on 13 February that I had received it, you asked me at that time to do the Court File and to upload the index for it which I now have, there is a load of information in the SAR received from 1st Central that shows their breach of my data, I have used all of it to make up the court file which is indexed in the attached PDF file. 

The 'timeline' I gave in my last message sets out the whole saga in date order. 

I have freed up my weekend so that I can be at the end of any conversation to upload anything you want me to from the Court File I have prepared. 115 pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

I think you now need to lay out in a honest structured manner the way that all of this has affected you.

I think it might be worth setting it out on the three headings.

How it has affected you in practical terms such as credit etc.

How it has affected you and also your family in terms of emotion/ distress.

Any costs you have incurred as a result of this.

More expensive credits, mortgage, expenses incurred having to deal with this in terms of phone calls, time spent.

Set it all out. We can then go through it and decide what is relevant and achievable

[BankFodder]

Just to add here,
in order to succeed in an action – any action – not only do you have to show that you got legal basis for bringing your claim but also you will have to show loss.

What I've asked in the preceding post is for you to outline your losses. This will tend to dictate the value of damages that you will be seeking.
I would say that it won't be unreasonable to imagine that you could be looking at £4000 or £5000 damages – and maybe even more – although this is simply off the top of my head and without seeing your own recital of how you feel that this episode has impacted.

We have to be very careful about identifying and describing the damage or loss that you have suffered because traditionally in this country we haven't awarded damages for distress and it is only in the past 10 years or so that there was a case involving Google where damages for distress were awarded against them in respect of a data protection breach and this is open the door to damages for distress.
However you can be certain that judges are cautious about this and so you have to be meticulous in your account of the distress that you have suffered and back it up with paper evidence that every point you can.

Your chances of winning this case are pretty well 100%. If the damages claim aren't too excessive then the insurance company will probably put their hands up. They really won't like being exposed in court for all the things that very clearly have gone wrong here and the damage they have done to you.
However if the claim becomes too valuable then they may decide that they have to defend it.
Then it will be for the judge to decide the value of what you are entitled to.