Loans.co.uk - personal details sold on - Is this a scam

[ianfm]

I have just received a letter from a Company I have never dealt with. They are Loans.co.uk and they basically are apologising for the fact that third party companies have sold my details held by loans.co.uk to other loan companies without loans.co.uk permission. It puzzles me that loans.co.uk should have any details about me anyway since i have never dealt with them. The upshot to this is that by way of an apology and just in case someone steals my identity as a result of this, they are offering me a free sign up to Experian Credit Expert for 12 months. All I have to do is phone them to set this up.

 

Oh and incidentally just as a safeguard they have reported the incident to the Police.

 

Is this just another [problem]?

[BLADES65]

The wife just received this:

 

 

 

Worrying. I think the press would love this info.

[alecmac18]

I am guessing (and its only a guess) that an ex staff member stole some data when they left and loans.co.uk found out. Having said that its not the first time they have been in a bit of trouble:

 

see

 

Loans website slapped with fine | This is Money

[alecmac18]

On another note, if they are offering you Experian Credit Expert free for 12 months then you might as well take it. The service is actually quite useful.

[lookinforinfo]

Hmmmmm.......................let me see. Ianfm says he has never applied to them-not sure about Blades65. But as that is two people from the forum, it

would seem likely that this is part of campaign of some kind from Loans Co.Uk.

 

I expect that they will hope to convert some of the people who ring their number into taking out a loan with them. A form of soliciting business I guess.

Notice that the letter starts off very vaguely-"information MAY have been sold" and "information that MAY have been provided".

 

Question is-where did Loans .co.uk get your information from? And what data

do they have on you? Might be an idea to ask which police station was it reported to and what progress are the police making.

And also a complaint to the ICO for their breach of the Data Protection Act

Principle 7 7 Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

[Maltese_wizard]

I too recieved the same letter from them, my first instinct was it could be a [problem] but the tel numbers and addresses all match up - my second instict was that it is part of an ongoing promotion and a very dirty way of getting you to take advantage of it. quite a few places on the internet are offering free credit reports so this is nothing special.

 

I wrote back to them earlier in the week stating how disgusted i was that my details are now in a strangers hands and that how a 'free credit report' is in know way enough compensation for a) on the good side, if the info went to marketing companies, the amount of calls and mail i will get over the years to come or b) on the worst side, my details being open for abuse and identity fraud.

 

I haven't had a response yet but will let you know when i do.

 

blithering idiots !

 

ps. Hi to all, i'm a newbie : )

[Maltese_wizard]

Ooh, and i forgot to add, if the credit report is 'FREE' then why do they need our credit card numbers as it says in the letter... there's other ways of identifying us like our 'unique reference number' or maybe our names and addresses.

 

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ****-bags !!

[bailey54]

We too have had one of these letters.

I am about to word a letter to them demanding compensation for their incompetence and the inconvenience distress and worry it has caused us. They surely are responsible for ensuring any information they hold is secure under the Data Protection Act.

Does anyone have access to properly worded letter for a case such as this?

[Maltese_wizard]

Hi again,

 

This was the letter i wrote, feel free to use as a template, it wasn't drawn up by a legal representative mind:

Loans.co.uk

6 Marlin House

Croxley Business Park

Watford

Herts

WD18 8TD

06th September 2007

Dear Sirs,

RE: My Personal Details & Identity fraud (your letter enclosed)

This-morning I received a letter from yourselves (enclosed) stating that you had not looked after my personal information and that somehow it had been sold to a 3rd party without your permission (apparently). This information included my name, address, DOB and any information that would be on a loan application form which would obviously include all of my bank details. Although you presume that this will be used for commercial use, you state there is a possibility it could be used for identity fraud.

I am utterly disgusted with this as personal information provided by myself should not be kept on insecure records and certainly not widely accessible by the general public nor your employees to abuse. Unless you can offer me reasonable compensation within the next 14 days for this, I will be contacting my solicitor and taking further action. Your offer of a free 12 month credit report is not acceptable to me as compensation for a matter of this importance.

Any correspondence regarding this should be done so in writing for legal reasons.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours Truly

[lookinforinfo]

I hope that when you sent the letter Wizard, that youi sent them a copy of their letter rather than the original since you would need that in any legal

action.

[Maltese_wizard]

I did indeed send them a copy,

[Maltese_wizard]

however the original they sent me looked like it was a copy.

[bailey54]

Thanks for your help Wizard, by the way our letter from them also looks like a copy!

Our letter to them is in the post. Will let you know.

As a footnote, my solicitor is very helpful and approachable and tells me that it looks like they are already admitting liabilty so a couple of carefully worded latters should get them to stump up, he says we shouldn't need to get solicitors involved!

[BLADES65]

Seems the sh*t has hit the fan:

 

Data Theft From Loans Co Uk (from This Is Hertfordshire)

 

I feel a court case coming on.

[tetley75]

We've had one too, I wondered why we've been having so many junk calls lately, I suggest everyone who has recieved one of these letters to start keeping a diary of the calls they've recieved in case this does end up in court.

[TECHSPEC]

Ive got the letter, but i have never applied for a loan off them, so confused.

[lookinforinfo]

I stand corrected on my notion that it was a marketing ploy. Interesting though, how Loans.Co.UK themselves appear to have lost details of customers

who didn't know they were customers. Perhaps the ICO should look at that aspect also.

[TECHSPEC]

I am already using credit expert so drafted a letter asking for my fees to be stopped for a year.

 

But is this loans.co.uk trying to get people to accept an offer, and therefore forfeit any compensation payout which may become due?

[nffc]

I have now received the same letter saying that my details have been passed on to marketing companies.

 

I am 100% sure that I have never applied or had a loan with these people.

 

We have received many times daily marketing calls, mostly from Indian call centres and all offering some sort of loan.

 

I will be taking advantage of the free credit report as well as sending the letter above that M_W wrote, but I too can not understand why they need my credit card number?

[ianfm]

I have today responded to the letter (using some of the details from Maltese Wizard (many thanks). I have also written to the information commissioner:

 

Loans.co.uk

6 Marlin House

Croxley Business Park

Watford

Herts

WD18 8TD

 

10th September 2007

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I am in receipt of your letter dated 3rd September 2007. It appears that you have personal information on your files relating to myself although I have never ever had any dealings with your company. To make matters worse you have in your letter stated that you have failed to looked after this personal information and that somehow it has been sold to a 3rd party without your permission (apparently). This information included my name, address, DOB and any information that would be on a loan application form which would obviously include all of my bank details. Although you presume that this will be used for commercial use, you state there is a possibility it could be used for identity fraud.

 

You are in clear breach of the data protection act and in particular the following clause:

Principle 7 7 Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

 

The offer of a free twelve month subscription to Credit Expert is not sufficient compensation for the damages you have caused to me in this matter by your negligence.

 

I require that you offer me reasonable compensation within the next 14 days for this, please also supply me with the following details:

 

Where did you originally obtain my personal details, and from whom?

Which Police Officer/Station was this matter reported to and on what date?

What is the name of the third party organisation that has obtained my personal information?

 

I have today made a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner.

 

I expect a response in writing on this matter within fourteen days, failure to do so will result in my giving you notice to commence legal action against you.

 

I look forward to hearing from you

[TUTTSI]

Ok, Guys I got this letter too, I do not or have never ever had a loan with them, but I believe I once may have applied for a loan, hence an application form. From time to time I have had calls offering me a loan over the phone and I have always told them that I was not interested.

 

I am conemplating a SAR to find out who had access to this data, what data they have on me etc.... I do have a very comprehensive SAR letter, should I decide to do this.

 

I also think they have SERIOUSLY contrevened security of my personal data to which Mr Greer admits to in his letter and I feel we MUST BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION for this breach.

 

I cannot imagine that he would own up to this very serious breach unless it is a ploy to get peeps to contact them to check out if they are still at those addresses or if they can help with anything!!

 

Anyone with any ideas on what our plan of action is, please let me know.

 

DS

[TUTTSI]

My Hubby has just done a company search and found this!!

 

Donna Pumfrey is the Company Secretary. She is MBNA'ssolicitor.

 

Loans.Co.UK on 31/12/2006 is is wholly owned subsidury of MBNA.

 

DS

[lesley82]

HI guys i two have recieved a letter and all so my other half which came as a seperate letter.I no iv never applied for a loan with this company or my other half.The worrying thing is in the last two months i have had endless junk mail from every finance company going and iva companies and my phone never stops ringing or my message box is always full with messages asking me to ring a number most of them start with 0870 i never ring back and i unplug the phone when im home.I have been onto credit expert to acsess my free credit file and it told me id already recieved it like when.Im off work tomorrow so i am going to download my credit file from experian if theres a thing my credit file has been used for any credit fraud im gona kick some arse my mortgage is due for renewing next month.

[MissQtoe]

I also received this letter on the 11th of Oct, and called my bank (Natwest) yesterday to check if everything is OK. I ended up spending the rest of the day with Natwest's fraud department.

 

Someone has stolen my identity and went shopping:

1) Argos purchase to the value of £919,00 on the 31st of August. Argos declined to deliver the goods because the delivery address (fraudster) and the payers address (mine) differed. As a result Argos now holds £919,00 of my money.

2) Ryanair purchase to the value of £192 to Marocco.

3) I received confirmation that a store card has been opened in my name on 3 September. I am still looking into this.

 

I have informed loans.co.uk of my troubles and they will 'let the supervisor know'. It is possible that my current troubles are not related to loans.co.uk however I find this highly unlikely.

 

Advice to you guys:

1) Contact your bank urgently and upgrade to an account which is insured against ID theft. Or, discuss this letter with your bank and monitor your account continuously for strange transactions.

2) Register with CIFAS (£11,75) to put your credit file on a protective register.

 

PS - I am not a client of loans.co.uk, but applied for a loan 3 or 4 years ago. I understand finance institutions have to keep client records for 6 years - but technically I am not a client of loans.co.uk. Did they have the right to keep my data?

[TUTTSI]

Following the Company Search on Loans.Co.Uk I found that Donna Pumfrey a lawyer for MBNA is also the Company Solicitor for this Company. I have this morning sent her an email and have asked certain questions on a low footing at present, I will step up my questions when she gives me the answers I require.

 

I also received this morning an unsolicited mail from GE Money Home Lending, and in the right hand corner, is Loans.Co.Uk, so they together with MBNA are all connected. I for one have never had any loan with this Company, but have a Debenhams and Evans Account with GE Money. I think some years ago like you I may have apllied for a loan but did not take them up. So what legal standing do we have!! are we protected!! against this under the CCA.

 

How did they get access to your NAT West account to commit an identity fraud, what dates did this happen! when I start getting the info from Donna Pumfrey, if it is true what that letter states, I will find out WHAT DATE this theft occurred to see if it ties up with you identity theft.

 

I am now going to check my bank statements.

 

Regards

DS