Halifax Loan Refusal and Potential Data Protection issue

bensmokey

Hi

Apologies if i have not put this in the right place.

My wife applied for a loan with the Halifax without my knowledge a month or so ago. The loan was turned down and the advisor she was speaking to asked her whether she wanted to be referred to another company "approvals" she said no several times as she did not want to be harassed by non stop call from this company.

The next morning we received a call on our home phone which i answered and was told it was approvals calling to speak to my wife regarding her loan application the previous day. My wife had not had a chance to tell me she had attempted to get the loan the previous day. i passed the phone to her and she asked how they had got her details as she had specifically asked them not to be given and she was told Halifax had referred her. We then had a few crossed words for her not telling me but she was most upset at not being able to tell me first and having that choice taking away from her.

She called the Halifax who said they would get a manager to call her back which never came. She called back again and another call back was arranged for a certain time (wife was in meetings all day so only had a certain timeslot available) this call did come but four hours later than was agreed. The manager said there was no way that Halifax would pass it on if they were asked not to but said she would speak to approvals and get them to remove the details. she was gone for about 5 minutes then someone else came on the phone saying approvals how can i help?.......

My wife then explained the issue and they confirmed the referral had come from Halifax. My wife asked to be put back to Halifax but they said they could not do this.

My wife is 4 months pregnant and has been extremely upset by all of this as she feels she let me down by going for the loan without my knowledge and not getting a chance to tell me (although she couldn't be further from the truth) and the fact her details have been passed on without her permission.

She has written to the Halifax and received a call today which admitted liability and offered her £50 compensation. What we would like advice on is whether this is acceptable? its caused my wife a considerable amount of worry over the past month. I would like some assurances from them that this will not happen again and not happen to other people. I also feel that if you go overdrawn you get a nasty letter and bank charges but when a bank does something wrong they are rarely made to pay the penalty.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks

Bensmokey

Typhoon2000

£50 seems generous.

zppp

bensmokey wrote: »

Hi

Apologies if i have not put this in the right place.

My wife applied for a loan with the Halifax without my knowledge a month or so ago. The loan was turned down and the advisor she was speaking to asked her whether she wanted to be referred to another company "approvals" she said no several times as she did not want to be harassed by non stop call from this company.

The next morning we received a call on our home phone which i answered and was told it was approvals calling to speak to my wife regarding her loan application the previous day. My wife had not had a chance to tell me she had attempted to get the loan the previous day. i passed the phone to her and she asked how they had got her details as she had specifically asked them not to be given and she was told Halifax had referred her. We then had a few crossed words for her not telling me but she was most upset at not being able to tell me first and having that choice taking away from her.

She called the Halifax who said they would get a manager to call her back which never came. She called back again and another call back was arranged for a certain time (wife was in meetings all day so only had a certain timeslot available) this call did come but four hours later than was agreed. The manager said there was no way that Halifax would pass it on if they were asked not to but said she would speak to approvals and get them to remove the details. she was gone for about 5 minutes then someone else came on the phone saying approvals how can i help?.......

My wife then explained the issue and they confirmed the referral had come from Halifax. My wife asked to be put back to Halifax but they said they could not do this.

My wife is 4 months pregnant and has been extremely upset by all of this as she feels she let me down by going for the loan without my knowledge and not getting a chance to tell me (although she couldn't be further from the truth) and the fact her details have been passed on without her permission.

She has written to the Halifax and received a call today which admitted liability and offered her £50 compensation. What we would like advice on is whether this is acceptable? its caused my wife a considerable amount of worry over the past month. I would like some assurances from them that this will not happen again and not happen to other people. I also feel that if you go overdrawn you get a nasty letter and bank charges but when a bank does something wrong they are rarely made to pay the penalty.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks

Bensmokey

It sounds to me that 'approvals' is not a separate company. It sounds like the Halifax loan department to me - have you asked them? Checked the Companies House register and cannot find a company called 'approvals' :question:

I would say check this first, because I am not sure on this one.

opinions4u

I also feel that if you go overdrawn you get a nasty letter and bank charges but when a bank does something wrong they are rarely made to pay the penalty.

Although they have offered £50 in this case.

Assuming "Approvals" are some sort of 3rd party firm that try to place loans Halifax are unwilling to make. I am slightly surprised that such firms still exist since the Credit Crunch hit, but:

It would appear that the branch adviser that your wife has seen has pressed the wrong button. As such, I suspect all that will have been transmitted would be name, phone number and the fact that she had been declined a loan.

The error in pressing the wrong button is certainly a DPA breach.

The real problem, however, has come from the 3rd party in disclosing to her husband what their call was about. That, for me, goes a step beyond being an error of pressing the wrong button. What if it had been the next door neighbour (popped round for a natter) who'd picked the phone up?

I think she could get more than £50 if she holds out for more, threatens FOS etc. But you need to ask yourselves the question - is it worth any more aggrevation? It's a mistake, they've paid up (although perhaps not enough) and there's an unborn child to consider.

CLAPTON

"The next morning we received a call on our home phone which i answered and was told it was approvals calling to speak to my wife regarding her loan application the previous day. My wife had not had a chance to tell me she had attempted to get the loan the previous day. "

this can't be serious, can it?

bensmokey

zppp wrote: »

It sounds to me that 'approvals' is not a separate company. It sounds like the Halifax loan department to me - have you asked them? Checked the Companies House register and cannot find a company called 'approvals' :question:

I would say check this first, because I am not sure on this one.

Hi thanks for your response.

That was the name that was given, Halifax have admitted to the liability of passing the information on to a third party and that they shouldn't of. so im guessing that is a separate company.

bensmokey

opinions4u wrote: »

Although they have offered £50 in this case.

Assuming "Approvals" are some sort of 3rd party firm that try to place loans Halifax are unwilling to make. I am slightly surprised that such firms still exist since the Credit Crunch hit, but:

It would appear that the branch adviser that your wife has seen has pressed the wrong button. As such, I suspect all that will have been transmitted would be name, phone number and the fact that she had been declined a loan.

The error in pressing the wrong button is certainly a DPA breach.

The real problem, however, has come from the 3rd party in disclosing to her husband what their call was about. That, for me, goes a step beyond being an error of pressing the wrong button. What if it had been the next door neighbour (popped round for a natter) who'd picked the phone up?

I think she could get more than £50 if she holds out for more, threatens FOS etc. But you need to ask yourselves the question - is it worth any more aggrevation? It's a mistake, they've paid up (although perhaps not enough) and there's an unborn child to consider.

HI

Thanks for your comments. To be honest its not really the money its the fact that the information was passed on against my wife's wishes.

As you said i'm not sure pursuing this further is worth the aggro which is kind of why i posted this.

Thanks

bensmokey

CLAPTON wrote: »

"The next morning we received a call on our home phone which i answered and was told it was approvals calling to speak to my wife regarding her loan application the previous day. My wife had not had a chance to tell me she had attempted to get the loan the previous day. "

this can't be serious, can it?

Which part? If you mean that she had not had a chance to tell me tis was due to us not seeing each other until late the day before.

Thanks

CLAPTON

bensmokey wrote: »

Which part? If you mean that she had not had a chance to tell me tis was due to us not seeing each other until late the day before.

Thanks

I mean that is is absolutely amazing that one member of a joint household could even consider the want/need to even think about a loan, without full discussion with the other beforehand, and with a full exploration of the why and wherefore expecially when a new arrival is soon expected.

redpete

bensmokey wrote: »

As you said i'm not sure pursuing this further is worth the aggro which is kind of why i posted this.

Either you want them to be made to pay and you persist with trying to punish them further or you want to minimise the hassle and accept the £50 - your call really.

zppp

I would be pushing to find out who this third party company are.
I am still flummoxed with this.