wobs v Yorkshire Bank ***WON***

[wobbles]

received leter from yorkshire bank this morning in reply to SAR

 

they say they have received my request for bank statements and can provide these

 

however the letter then goes onto say

"with regard to your request for information relating to manual intervention on your account, there is no specific mention of manual intervention within the data protection act and as such we are under no statutory obligation to record or provide this information"

 

Is this right?

sorry if this has already been asked

[Michael Browne]

Yes, standard reply, manual intervention is not critical.

[wobbles]

thanks for your reply

 

well they have cashed my cheque as well so lets just see how long it takes them to send the information out now

[wobbles]

received another letter from yorkshire bank this moring asking me to ring Michelle Woodward in my local branch, after ringing the number for the local branch and being directed to the call center I went into the branch to speak to Michelle Woodward, she said they could not provide statements for my personal loan account or mortgage account, I politley reminded her that they ahev to keep my details for 6 years and i know the accounts were not closed until 2004, she made a phone call to head office, she then went on to say they would provide a list of charges as the accounts were with collections. the accounts cant be with collections because they were paid off in full in 2004. however i was convinced at the time they were paid off in full that the mortgage was overpaid by approx £1500. if I could get the statements i think the final payment would show the overpayment.

 

Can I demand the statements?

[wobbles]

Michelle has just rang me back again. she is now saying that the mortgage and personal loan were never with collections, I told her they must have been at some point because the personal loan ended up as a CCj and the mortgage I had to attend court to stop a repossession.

 

am I imagining thinks or is this just a stalling attempt.

 

she now wants me to send the paparwork for the CCJ and mortage repossession into the branch.

 

Shall I just send photo copies ?

[wobbles]

bump

[zebbydog]

Yes send copies.Always hang on to originals

[wobbles]

Thanks Zebby thats what I thought. I sent them recorded delivery on friday

[wobbles]

been on the royal mail website trying to track the letter and photo copies, its telling me no information available yet.

 

Shall I ring the bank to check they have received them, still no sign of any statements and the 40 days are nearly up

9 days left and counting

[ozzywizard]

It would do no harm to send them a reminder letter in 2 days to let them know they have 7 days left to comply. Try to keep all communication to letter.

[wobbles]

right thanks will type letter over the weekend and sent it special delivery monday morning not much point in sending it recorded as i dont know whether the last recorded one was received

[wobbles]

recieved another letter this morning from my local branch dated 23rd feb 07 asking me to contact michelle again.

 

The 40 days for the SAR runs out tomorrow.

 

I have the letter ready to give them an extra 7 days before I issue court proceedings for the SAR.

 

Im going to ring the branch first thing monday morning and if they have not got the information ready I will hand deliver my letter to the branch straight away.

[wobbles]

the 40 day sar request ran out yesterday for yorkshire bank they had wrote to me asking me to contact local branch letter arrivede saturday morning, I rang them this morning and the lady who I spoke to said they cant find any details from my current account and also I the SAR does not cover my old mortgage account and an old personal loan account, I poltely informed her that the SAR covered every type of account I have ever had with them, she said she would get in touch with head office and tell them.

I ahd to take prove that all acounts existed into the bank, so I popped in the letter from the templated reminding them the 40 days is up and I am giving them a further 7 days.

 

Is this just usual yorkshire bak stalling techniques?

 

Am I right in sending the letter ?

[caro]

Was this the letter before action giving warning that you will take them to court for non-compliance with the SAR. If so, I'd say you are spot on. I am very interested in this as I will be sending YB a second SAR any day now, as in my original I only asked about my current account, but I also had 2 loans and a credit card that I will be after, and I have no account numbers, so I won't be surprised if I have a problem. I'm not sure why they wanted proof that you are who you say you are. Unless you've moved or changed name I imagine they've happily been sending correspondence to you. Yes this is pretty typical. Don't let them worry you.

 

I've merged this with your main YB thread as it it is all part of your progress and makes it easier to follow

[caro]

By the way, I think you should get a copy of your credit file from all the credit reference agencies. I imagine you were defaulted on the mortgage, and if this was made up entirely of charges you should try to get it removed. It is hard to get this done, but easier if done at the same time as charges.

[wobbles]

Thanks for the reassurance Caro.

 

Already checked cerdit reports, the strange thing is the old yorkshire bank mortgage doesnt show up at all on any credit reports the personall loan is showing up as a CCJ and the current account is showing as a CCJ both of which are satisfied.

The Yorkshire bank again yesterday tried telling me the SAR does not cover the old mortgage or old personal loan, I politely informed them yet again that the SAR coevrs all information they have about me

[wobbles]

oops forgot to say in last post ive not moved or changed my name.

 

They were trying to say they had no records of me at all if thats the case surley they had to remove the CCJs and defaults on my credit files?

[wobbles]

quick update still no SAR information and no further correspondance at all from yorkshire bank.

 

Should I just issue the court proceedings on tuesday morning ( original SAR sent 15th Jan) LBA for SAR handed to woman in yorkshire bank on 26th Feb so If I start court proceedings on Tuesday morning they will have had 49 days and still not complied or should i do it monday (they will have still had 48 days)

is there any templates for court proceeding for SAR anywhere ?

[caro]

I think you should give them 7 full days, as you might find they will suddenly become more focussed and comply without the need to resort to this. You should find the information for the SAR compliance court claim in the Bank Templates Library if you need it.

[wobbles]

Hi Caro

 

Thanks once again for the help. will start it on tuesday then.

 

Recieved this letter today when the post man came at 2-30pm.

 

01/03/07

 

Dear Mr & Mrs Wobbles

 

RE: Data Protection Act 1998 - Data Subject Access Request

 

I refer to our previous correspondance acknowledging reciept of your request for details of charges and/or statements relating to your bank account(s)

 

Within the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 we have 40 days in which to provide you with the information we hold. The end of this time period has been reached, however, due to the high volume of requests we have received in relation to this high profile issue, I regret that we are not yet able to provide you with the information requested.

 

Whilst you are within your rights to refer the matter to the Information Commisioner at the end of the 40 day period, I confirm that we shall provide you with the information as soon as we possibly can.

 

I thank you for your continued patience and understanding in this matter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

T.C Rayner

 

Advice Quality Unit-Charges Section

 

am I right in thinking this is just another stalling technique?

 

Should I just go ahead with the court proceedings for the SAR?

[caro]

I suggest you ring the ICO Monday and seek their view on this letter.

[wobbles]

ok thanks for the advice Caro. I will update as soon as I have spoke to ICO

[BankFodder]

This really is very funny stuff when you understand the complete lack of compassion the the relentless and bullying attitude exhibited by this bank in respect of its customers and their legitimate claims.

Part of the backlog they are experiencing is due to the fact that they are investing so many of their resources on trying to frustrate their customers and clogging up the courts that they are unable to allocate any more to the proper provision of customer services.

I hope that they are reading this post. Here is my suggestion.

 

Do not phone the ICO. Make an immediate formal complaint of non-compliance. Send this off on Monday recorded delivery.

 

The bank is a little more tricky because their letter is politely worded and on the face of it reasonable enough. A court might feel that you are being a bit pushy in not helping them a little.

 

Write to the bank very politely.

 

Thanks them for their letter and tell them that you understand that they must be receiving lots of these requests at he moment. However, they have to realise that this is a situation of their own making as it is their unlawful charges and their policy of non-cooperation with claimants which is causing the problem.

 

Point out to them that the DPA has been prompted by the Human Rights Act and by the Convention on Human Rights itself. As such they have an overwhelming duty to place requests for disclosure at a very high level of priority.

You are especially concerned that their letter makes no suggestion as to when your request will be dealt with.

 

In view of their large resources as an important British financial institution, in view of their untrustworthy record both in applying unlawful charges and also in obstructing the legitimate claims of their customers, you are not prepared to accept their open-ended promise to deal with your statutory demand and if you do not receive full disclosure within 5 days you will begin a County Court claim for non-compliance and without any further notice.

 

 

Like all these things, only make this threat if you intend to proceed with it.

It will cost you £150 but you will get your money back. You have their letter of admission and it is an unlosable case.

[caro]

Thanks for the advice BankFodder. I like your style.

[wobbles]

thank bankfodder and caro.

 

give me a couple of hours and i will post the letter before i send it.

 

Caro check your email in about ten mins.