Mum v MBNA

[indebtstudent]

A couple of days ago my mum recieved a letter threatening court action, I feel the best course of action is to take them to court for not complying with the data protection act. They responded right away to the CCA request but re the statements they have had a letter and reminder, the forty days are 40-60 days over (yes really) so I really don't think they deserve another chance. I intend to point this out to the court when filing the claim, do need some guidance re making the claim.

 

I've not had a bash at this area yet so any help/tips/guidance welcome.

 

Ideally I want to have the claim ready to go for Tues and fire a letter off to MBNA saying you have left me with no alternative etc etc.

 

I mean how can they expect people to 'accept' a goodwill gesture when they do not know how much of the balance is legitimate.

[indebtstudent]

Cheque for £240 arrived today, but then last week she got a letter from a debt collector. It appears MBNA are none to bright and will now have to see us in court. BTW on the claim from can I put myself down as her representative?

 

I know banks tend to be difficult about this but I mean why is it on the form if its not allowed?

[indebtstudent]

Hows this (data protection POC's)...

 

BRIEF DETAILS OF CLAIM (On Front of N1)

 

Order under Section 7 and Section 15(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998

Damages

 

.

 

 

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

 

 

1. The Defendant is a Data Controller within the meaning of the Data Protection Act and is responsible for the processing of data of which the Claimant is a Subject.

 

2. The Claimant has an account number ("the Account") with the Defendant which was opened on or around.

 

3. On 19th April 2007 the Claimant sent a Subject Access Request, pursuant to Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to the Defendant.

 

4. The Defendant has failed to comply.

 

5. By virtue of the Defendant's failure to comply with the Subject Access Request the Claimant has suffered damage (and distress).

 

6. The damage (and distress) caused is:

 

The Claimant has had to spend significant time and effort researching the law in relation to this matter. As a lay person this was not easy to do. In addition the defendant has subjected the claimant to frequent telephone calls despite the defendant verbally requesting that these stop. Only when the defendant sent a letter pointing out that such behaviour could be deemed harassment did the telephone calls cease.

The defendant sent a reminder letter after the original forty day deadline expired. The defendant was able to produce a copy of the original credit agreement speedily and this suggests a deliberate attempt to prevent the claimant from accessing information she has a right to see.

As a result of this breach of the data protection act the defendant has had to enter into additional correspondence which would otherwise have been unnecessary. These documents will be forwarded to the court in due course.

Furthermore some of the letters sent by the defendant were clearly intended to encourage the claimant to pay the balance even though she firmly believes a significant proportion of the balance is due to charges that are unlawful. Several goodwill offers have been made in respect of the charges but, having sought legal advice, the claimant does not believe it is possible to make a decision regarding such offers without seeing the requested information.

I would conservatively estimate the cost incurred to be £100. This figure is comprised of the time taken to prepare documents such as this, several letters that have been exchanged with the defendant and time spent seeking legal advice. As I am unable to work due to medical reasons even the decision to bring this matter to court was not an easy decision.

 

 

7. The Claimant seeks an order that the Defendant do comply with the Claimant's Subject Access Request

 

8. Under the terms of Section 15(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998, where the Defendant contests that information requested under the Claimant's Subject Access Request is not included within the scope of Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Claimant requests that the Court inspects that information, and where it finds that the Defendant's opinion is unfounded, that it orders such information be included within the information supplied to the Claimant under the Subject Access Request.

 

9. Damages and costs within the discretion of the Court.

 

 

 

I believe that the contents of these particulars of claim are true

 

 

Signed:

 

 

Date:

[indebtstudent]

I'm going to take the bit about distress out but otherwise how is it looking?

[indebtstudent]

Danr looks like it is going to be the weekend before I can get any feedback, somebody please read my thread! lol

[indebtstudent]

Hopefully I'll get some input over the weekend...

[indebtstudent]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/93999-shabby-mum-2.html

 

I've posted several messages on the Abbey section of the forum but have had precious few replies to date. Any input welcome, really I'm just looking for any ways to tighten this up (besides taking the distrees bit out which I know is wrong).

 

Thanks.

[gyzmo]

Looking at everything (I am not an expert in this area), my advise would be to contact the CAB or even the FOS and have them sort it. There seems to be several major breaches of law involved. Continuing this further by yourself will be a David v Goliath task. It is unfortunate that corporations pay little attention to the average person. They will pay more attention to those with more clout.

[surprise]

If they have not complied with your SAR then report them to the ICO, you can do it online. I did this with Morgan Stanley and MS complied shortly afterwards mentioning that the ICO had been in touch. My daughter had trouble with Abbey and it was passed to the FOS. FOS wrote to the Abbey and told them they had 14 days in which to give a final answer, this they did, and the FOS were then able to deal with it.

 

Hope any of the info helps

[indebtstudent]

What's going on here? Seems very quiet, it is quite worrying...

[indebtstudent]

I'm looking towards court purely because of the inconvenience, they haven't even bothered to comply.

[rory32]

You shouldn't have any problem with this. Numerous people have had to do this before to force SAR compliance.

[indebtstudent]

I don't think it is unreasonable to claim some costs, please suggest any breaches I appear to have missed...

[indebtstudent]

Do I need legal advice? I was thinking in particular of the comment made to the effect that they had made a lot of errors here. This was compounded by the fact that I popped down to the court not realizing I had filled in the wrong form, I felt like SUCH a numpty!

 

That's not a major prob but the lady at the court asked if I had had any legal advice. I was wondering if this was her way of helpfully hinting that something was wrong (besides it being done on the wrong form).

 

I can't see any problem with putting the data protection claim in, they can't deny it they did not comply.

 

Re other matters I can see the appeal of the Ombudsmen of similar purely from the standpoint of the time it would take.

 

As always thoughts and advice welcome. (I posted in the genreal forum as I got no response here!)

[indebtstudent]

Do I need legal advice? I was thinking in particular of the comment made to the effect that they had made a lot of errors here. This was compounded by the fact that I popped down to the court not realizing I had filled in the wrong form, I felt like SUCH a numpty!

 

That's not a major prob but the lady at the court asked if I had had any legal advice. I was wondering if this was her way of helpfully hinting that something was wrong (besides it being done on the wrong form).

 

I can't see any problem with putting the data protection claim in, they can't deny it they did not comply.

 

Re other matters I can see the appeal of the Ombudsmen of similar purely from the standpoint of the time it would take.

 

As always thoughts and advice welcome. (I posted in the genreal forum as I got no response here!)

[Lula]

Hi, I am now confused as to where you are with all of this

 

can you make a list of everything that you have done re abbey and mbna and I will go through it all with you later when you come back. Your mother should be able to get her case sorted re severe financial hardship. Also some people are going into branches at the moment and just having their charges repaid, it might be worth giving that a go too.

 

regarding MBNA, there is a letter that you can send to the DCA to get them off your back, i am presuming that you have put the account into dispute.

[indebtstudent]

Right ho here goes, requested SAR ages ago, got mini summary of charges for bank account. Nothing for credit card, sent reminder, recieved nothing.

 

Got a bullying letter of Abbey saying (in response to my letter) that the amount was not in dispute.

 

Basically they have not sent a thing about the credit card, I pointed out that they could not register a default if the amount is in dispute and they did anyway. This is a serious matter, but my main concern right now is to get this data proteciton claim in.

 

My mum hasn't heard anything from them for weeks and weeks and so I'm thinking it could be farmed out to a DCA at any moment.

 

So yeah the problem is I told Abbey that the amount was in dispute and they said it wasn't and issued a default. I wrote again saying (in better language) that the mere fact of them saying it is not in dispute means nothing and that if this were the case there would be no need for civil courts.

 

I want to tackle them on every issue, data protection non-complaince, breach of the banking code, general incompetence, telephone harassment (this stopped after I sent the template).

[indebtstudent]

Right ho here goes, requested S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) ages ago, got mini summary of charges for bank account. Nothing for credit card, sent reminder, recieved nothing.

 

Got a bullying letter of Abbey saying (in response to my letter) that the amount was not in dispute.

 

Basically they have not sent a thing about the credit card, I pointed out that they could not register a default if the amount is in dispute and they did anyway. This is a serious matter, but my main concern right now is to get this data proteciton claim in.

 

My mum hasn't heard anything from them for weeks and weeks and so I'm thinking it could be farmed out to a DCA at any moment.

 

So yeah the problem is I told Abbey that the amount was in dispute and they said it wasn't and issued a default. I wrote again saying (in better language) that the mere fact of them saying it is not in dispute means nothing and that if this were the case there would be no need for civil courts.

 

I want to tackle them on every issue, data protection non-complaince, breach of the banking code, general incompetence, telephone harassment (this stopped after I sent the template).

[indebtstudent]

Oh yes and she still has the cheque they sent for £240 but she does not have the means to assess this offer (the statements) she suspects it is a very small amount of the total charges.

[Lula]

ok, phew

 

firstly, you need this http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/5078-10-data-protection-act.html

 

then you need the Data Protection Act non compliance letter http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6986-data-protection-act-non.html

 

have spreadsheets been filled in for what charges on both accounts that you do have? keep them separate on different spreadies

 

Formally write to both parties putting the account into dispute. Look in the templates section again and find the letter. When you have done all that, come back, or if you hear anything in the meantime let us know, if she is on benefits and they have taken bank charges then they are very naughty because they are not allowed to, read this : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/36790-bank-taking-your-benefits.html?highlight=right+of+appropriation

 

that should keep you busy for a while

[indebtstudent]

She's on incapacity benefit, I'll check it out.

 

I cannot fill in a spreadhseet because they HAVE NOT sent any info. I have already sent a non-compliance letter hence the need for court action.

 

I wouldn't mind if this got some publicity since they have just ignored the request.

[indebtstudent]

An update I want to put in a ocurt claim but, as I said before, when I went to court they gave me a differnet form. All it says at the top is

 

Claim Form

(CPR Part 8).

 

Is this the right form?

 

Do I need to send the data protection act notice before I put in the non complaince claim? I don't see how the two are related.

[indebtstudent]

Does anybody know the answer?

[Lula]

what you need to do is send them the non compliance notice telling them how long in default of the notice they are and that you require the account details within 7 day or you will report them to the Information commissioner and file at court if necessary. (I presume that this is what you mean by Data protection act notice) you have to do this before you file a claim to show that you are being fair.

 

Also, is it a credit card or bank account? if it is a credit card,have you sent a CCA request?

[indebtstudent]

SAR was dated April 19th, I'll dig out the recorded delivery slip. In any event they acknowledged reciept of the SAR as they said the documents would follow. All they sent was one print out regarding the current account, nothing regarding the creidt card.

 

They have done nothing further to pursue the credit card debt, which seems strange, and my mum has not banked the 'goodwill' cheque they sent.

 

What is the likely outcome if I refer the matter to the information commisioner? I was leaning towards court action because a) its been six months b) they've made no serious effort to comply c) I sent them a letter warning them the deadline was approaching seven days before it epxired.

 

I don't like the idea of them getting off scot free for not bothering to comply with the law. On the other hand they haven't been charging interest for sometime and any claim made would include interest. Therefore it may be in my mothers interests to take the LONGEST route, she in on a fixed income and has no need of credit.

 

Once the charges themselves are wiped I intend forwarding the letter they sent basically saying that the debt was not in dispute (a clear attempt to mislead the customer IMO) to the Ombudsmen.

 

I know, at my work, the scale of compensation for anything to do with data protection is not cheap to put it mildy and I would like to watch the squirm a bit.

 

For now it would seem best to send another letter, pointing out they have broken the law (quite badly given length of time) and refer the matter to IC.