Bank gave out details to someonelse

Zebedy_2 · 1 March 2006 at 9:29AM

Hi. I am writing this to get some advice. My friend has been having financial troubles since she moved to the UK as she has to pay back loans in SA. Her mom had been helping her by depositing money to her account. About 2 weeks ago, her mom was depositing more money into the account and decided to check on how her daughters account was doing. THE BANK ACTUALLY GAVE HER A PRINT OUT and then also informed her that her daughter had an overdraft and had applied for a credit card.

Needless to say that help from her mom was taken away and now she is struggling. The fact that she is bad with money is one thing, but now she has complained to her bank and they are really freaking out asking her how much she wants compensation. She is scared that if she tries to take it too far, she won't be able to as she can't afford a lawyer and the bank obviously could. They are pressurising her into giving them an amount.

First of all, what is the best thing she should do considering she does have debts to pay off and the money would be useful...

...and secondly if she proceeded without a lawyer what should she do?

Thanks for all comments and helpful suggestions. This needs to be fixed fast and before she does anything too impulsive.

Zebedy_2 · 1 March 2006 at 9:31AM

I forgot to add that the bank told her mom when the credit card was being sent!

damo101 · 1 March 2006 at 10:32AM

that's shocking, the bank should be in serious trouble over that but rather than letting in get to the solicitor stage of things your friend could always offer to settle with the bank if they didn't charge her interest on her o/d, loands, etc and helped to get her finance under control. Might be worth asking for it and see what they say.

total disgrace and complete violation of the data protection act too tho

hjb123 · 1 March 2006 at 11:01AM

The bank really shouldnt have done that - I mean people can deposit money into accounts - I put money into my Nans account for her - I just take her sort code and account number into the bank and say can I put money into that account but I wouldnt expect to be able to get her balance or anything!

I would ask to speak to the manager and ask why this has happened! Though I guess that this has probably happened as the cashier probably assumed that your friends mum was your friend and gave her the details!

ariba10 · 1 March 2006 at 11:25AM

We had some of the OH family down to stay with us for a bit of a holiday, not well off and struggle a bit with money.

When they left we found some cash that they had left for us to "Pay for their keep?"

Went our branch of the bank that they use (T S

and explained that we knew their account No from a cheque they had sent us on a previous occasion and not cashed and asked if the account still active so we could put the money in.

I was told it was and was asked. Did I need a ballance?.

surfcat · 1 March 2006 at 11:50AM

You haven't specified if the account is in UK or SA (where laws may differ). Perhaps you could tell her that this is for the best? i.e., she is no longer ripping off her own mother and will have to take her head out of the sand to sort out her problems.

Dora_the_Explorer_5 · 1 March 2006 at 11:50AM

Zebedy, this shouldn't have happened so it's not surprising the bank is freaking out. If I were in your friend's shoes I would negotiate with the bank myself by asking it to state in writing what compensation it is prepared to offer. As a bare minimum I would expect my overdraft and any loan I had with the bank to be wiped out, then money to compensate me for the emotional damage inflicted on my family life (my relationship with mum) by the bank's action, then money to compensate for breaching my confidential relationship with the bank. I would also ask in the letter if the bank would advise me if I should advise the Data Protection Commissioner what had happened - that should freak them a bit more. Emloying a solicitor will be expensive. Most importantly it's up to the bank to show it's hand first on the amount of compensation, not your friend.
But that's just what I would do, others may post a different approach.

IvanOpinion · 1 March 2006 at 1:54PM

Well we only have a little bit of the story here and there are a few other things that we would need to know .. firstly is your friend an adult, if not then a parent can get information. Secondly, as someone else asked, in which country was the account (maybe SA allows this to happen .. and possibly does not have the equivalent of a data protection?). Thirdly is the mother also a guarantor on the account (or second named account holder). Finally who is to say that the mother did not claim/pretend to be the daughter (and therefore it is not the banks fault ... the mother would normally be able to answer simple security questions).

Ivan

IvanOpinion · 1 March 2006 at 1:56PM

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

As a bare minimum I would expect my overdraft and any loan I had with the bank to be wiped out, then money to compensate me for the emotional damage inflicted on my family life (my relationship with mum) by the bank's action, then money to compensate for breaching my confidential relationship with the bank.

Do we not think we are getting a little bit carried away .. if not then I think I will slip my brother a couple of quid to pretend to be me and I can get all my debts cancelled as well.

Ivan

PS: Just away out to run up some additional debts before getting them all cancelled

hjb123 · 1 March 2006 at 2:08PM

IvanOpinion wrote:

Well we only have a little bit of the story here and there are a few other things that we would need to know .. firstly is your friend an adult, if not then a parent can get information. Secondly, as someone else asked, in which country was the account (maybe SA allows this to happen .. and possibly does not have the equivalent of a data protection?). Thirdly is the mother also a guarantor on the account (or second named account holder). Finally who is to say that the mother did not claim/pretend to be the daughter (and therefore it is not the banks fault ... the mother would normally be able to answer simple security questions).

Ivan

I agree on this. The mother has probably pretended to be the daughter - or as I said in earlier post as she was paying into account it has been assumed that she was the daughter!

What I dont understand is why should the daugher get loads of compensation for this?

MissSunshine · 1 March 2006 at 2:27PM

hjb123 wrote:

I agree on this. The mother has probably pretended to be the daughter - or as I said in earlier post as she was paying into account it has been assumed that she was the daughter!

What I dont understand is why should the daugher get loads of compensation for this?

I agree, the mother should've told them that she wasn't the account holder rather than gleeming personal info on her daughter :rolleyes:

We have a joint UK a/c that my mum pays cheques into. She doesn't have an a/c with the bank so they don't know she's Mrs X rather than Mrs S so everytime she goes in she's asked if she wants them to show her how to deposit through the cash machine. To which she replies that it's her daughter's a/c so she doesn't have the cashcard and has to pay in over the counter.

Bank gave out details to someonelse

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