Rich v Abbey

[Rich44]

Just had this forum pointed out to me by a friend and after having had a good read thru everything I have printed off my DPA letters for me and my partner so fingers crossed (she's with Natwest btw)

 

Thanks to everyone involved with this place for the templates etc, brilliant. Our first child is due August be nice if do get some cash back from the banks

[eyeballto]

all the best...

[GSMGuy]

You give 'em hell Rich - lets drag some more peeps onto the bandwagon!!!

 

 

Mike

[Rich44]

Too right m8 I shall let everyone know about this place

[Akaysha]

Good luck but the idea still fills me with dread, though i have just opened up a spare account at another branch just incase Abbey try the closure routine.

[Rich44]

Received the "usual" Microfiche argument yesterday, just printed off the reply letter and goes in the post tomorrow hehehehe

[Rich44]

Micofiche argument letter went in the post yesterday and today the 18 months statements turned up as promised, poor postman every one in a seperate envelope as per a normal statement even to the point of being stuffed with leaflets lol.

 

Anyway quick tot up so far based on these statements they owe me £703, so working that out pro rata I make it £4218 for the full 6 years so if they refuse to give me the statements thats what will go on the court papers I think its reasonable to extrapolate that way if they wont play ball dont you?

[Tina&Gaz]

Rich yes I agree, Abbey have given me my 6 years statements apart from 2004 march to dec, so going off my other statements I worked out that missing year, good luck!!

[Rich44]

Well Abbey now have until 25th June for the DPA deadline to run out then things will become interesting.

 

 

Game on

[Rich44]

In response to the Microfiche argument template I sent out I received this back this morning

 

 

Dear Mr Rich

 

Thank you for your letter regarding your request for copies of the transactional data held about your bank account.

 

I confirm that you have been given all the data you are entitled to under the DPA as you have been provided with all the transactional details on our systems in the form of statements.

 

Any previous transactions have been archived onto microfiche and it is not possible to provide you with a computer printout of this information. As these microfiche records are not held as part of a relevant filing systm, there are not covered by the DPA and will not therefore be supplied to you under a section 7 DPA request. However I can confirm that arrangements have been made for the the microfiche records to be sent to you in due course

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

DP consultant

DP team

 

The DPA request expires 25th June so whats the next course if the microfiche records dont arrive by then off to the IC and court for the DPA records or calculate an estimate based on the 18 months I have got and submit a request for payment followed by court papers?

[Seminole]

There's an FAQ and materials in the templates section that run through the process. Broadly what we suggest is notification that they've failed to comply with the DPA, followed by a LBA followed by a Section 7 claim. If you have to make a Section 7 claim, you should send a prelim letter for an estimated amount at the same time to the bank and follow this up with an LBA. This approach brings extra pressure to bear and if they supply the requested info, it wastes the minimum amount of time.

 

Abbey are playing a smart time wasting game on the assumption that lots of people will start to drop out. We have to be equally smart.

[Rich44]

Thats what they have replied to the letter in the microfiche sticky

 

So if I send the following?

 

 

Regulatory Compliance

Abbey National plc

Abbey House

201 Grafton Gate East

Milton Keynes

MK9 1AN

 

06/06/06

 

Data Protection Act disclosure request

 

Dear Sir

 

Account Number: xxxxxxxxx

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I am in receipt of the documents that you have supplied in response to my Data Protection Act information request dated 16th May 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 namely dates 01/05/2000 – 09/02/2005.

 

2) You have provided no notes, or documents relating to instances of manual intervention.

 

Accordingly, I have to tell you that you have not yet complied with your obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Should there be any further attempts to delay compliance, I will be left with no alternative but to commence a County Court action under section 7, and section 15(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998, and in due course, escalate this matter into an official complaint to the Information Commissioner and the FSA.

 

 

You have a further 13 days to comply.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Once the 13 days expires (amount of time left on the DPA) then I issue an LBA over the DPA breach or LBA over the estimated amount of my claim?

[Rich44]

Received a computer print out today with loads of abreviations that I havent got a clue about but there was only 1 charge for £20 on there so not worried. So far Abbey have now gone back as far as Jan 2005 now so clock still ticking lol

[Rich44]

Right DPA runs out tomorrow and seeing as theres no post tomorrow I shall print off the letter and stick it in the post monday.

 

Stating their time has elapsed and they have 7 days to now provide this information or an estimated claim will be issued based on the 2005-2006 records multiplied by 6

 

ie £703 * 6 = £4218

 

Then if it gets as far as court then obviously plus 8% interest too.

 

Incidentally the missus hasnt heard anything from Natwest at all although they have cashed the cheque so off to sort them out later too.

 

Also got my parachute account sorted now too

[Rich44]

My claim is an estimate based on a sample year as they have refused to furnish me with the statements under the DPA as they pulled the microfiche argument out

 

Just had a letter back from shAbbey regarding my claim against them its mostly the usual rubbish, sorry we feel our charges are fair yada yada....

 

However there is a paragraph:

 

We can as you asked, supply you with details of all the charges on your account over the last six years. If you would like us to do this, please contact our Telephone Banking Centre on 08459 724 724 or visit a branch. There is a fee of £10 per account to cover the cost of producing this information

 

So there you have it in writing clear evidence that they CAN provide 6 years of statements despite all the other fluff to the contrary.

 

So now the real question is should I write back and say you have 10 days left after receiving my LBA and if you produce the statements by then I will recalculate my claim or should I just leave it. I think the actual amount will be higher than my estimate of £4218 so would probably be in my interest (forgive the pun) to get the statements.

[Bookworm]

You have a duty to mitigate your loss, so if they offer to send you the info, you should obtain it.

 

I would however, suggest very strongly that they supply you th eonfo without delay as you had in fact already paid them £10 way back then, presumably, and that if the info was available the, there was no reaosn for them not to send it at the time, so they are well beyond the 40 days, and chop-chop, or words to that effect. If you submit your claim as is, and they then say "but we offerd to send you the statments", you would then have to alter your claim, and pay £35, which you wouldn't be able to reclaim from them, as you could have had the info before filing...

 

I strongly suspect that this sudden volte-face might have something to do with the Information Commissioners Office's visit to Abbey last week,

[Rich44]

Yup I have written to them giving them from tomorrow 10 days to get the statements to me or the claim gets filed, not unreasonable I feel

[Odd Fellow]

I called the ICO today about it's visit on the 6th September and asked when the report was due.

 

I was told that there probably won't be a report as such, just a ruling as to whether the ICO considered the Archive Filing System to be Relevant or not.

 

I then asked whether we should apply under the Freedom of Information Act to get access to relevant documents that helpped the ICO form the basis of its decision and was told that it would not withhold documents for bureaucracy's sake.

 

He didn't expect that there would be a ruling until next week.

[BankFodder]

Quote:

We can as you asked, supply you with details of all the charges on your account over the last six years. If you would like us to do this, please contact our Telephone Banking Centre on 08459 724 724 or visit a branch. There is a fee of £10 per account to cover the cost of producing this information

 

This is still rubbish. You do not have to pay per acocnt. The fee is £10 per SAR. I owuld suggest an immediate complaint to the IC complaining that Abbey are at it again but this time trying to sidort of the DPA in a different way.

 

I would also suggest that as they know, you have already made your request and that it stands and that you are not prepared to make any furtherrequest or pay any more money but that you are prepared to make a further complaint to the IC.

 

I owuld not put any estimated claims in at this stage. Claim for what you know and then amend alter on when they comply. As the amendment will have been forced by them you will be able to claim the amendment fee back as well.

 

I suspect that Abbey are laying down thesee conditions in an attempt to make it look as if they have not supplied information uunder the DPA but as a matter of goodwill.

 

Don't go along with it

[BankFodder]

By the way, can you scan me a copy of the letter please

[Glenn UK]

I think the statement is not anything new, they have told many that you can have your statements and they have offered to send out multiple statement for a tenner.

 

The offer doesnt consititue proof that the statements are on a relevant system unless they offer to send them in doulbe quick time.

 

They may also say that some records are on RECALL (we know one member who has had records provided from this facility) and yet others have been told your records are on fiche and its not relevant (me as one example).

 

As much as Id like to say its the final straw, on its own i dont think it is. It would be useful to see the whole letter to see if it says anything useful which we can send to the ICO to help them with their deliberations.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[Rich44]

Ill get a scan done and upload it for anyone who's interested

[Rich44]

It does run contrary to their argument about the microfiche though as they said it would cost xx per statement not a flat fee and the £10 kinda of implies a SAR indirectly i'll admit

[Glenn UK]

Rich

 

I dont know about everyone else's letters but mine state £3 each or £10 for multiple statements so sadly i dont think this is new.

 

However, Id be pleased to find a new ray of hope and forward it onto the man at the ICO.

 

Glenn

 

And id appreciate a copy if you can upload it drop me a pm and ill let you have my email address

[Rich44]

Well finally found the time to keep the pressure up, Abbeys DPA time is now long gone and the letter went in last week giving them their final chance before court for breach of the DPA.

 

Abbey did their usual trick of sending 1 years worth of statements and then microfiche etc etc.

 

I see someone local to me sent the baillifs in from Norwich in the end over his DPA claim so now heading down this route in the next few days.

 

Calculating pro rata from the statements I have so far I have worked out they owe me £4314, should I keep chasing for the statements via DPA claim or just go after them from my pro rata figure?