NatWest (merged)

timewilltell_2

hi, could anyone give me a bit of advice, i have sent the 1st letter asking for charges to be made and had no response, have sent the second letter asking for the same and threatening(for want of a better word) to take them to court, the 14 days will be up in 5 days. should i ring them to see how my claim is going or leave it till the 14days is up. any advice would be really appreciated

jayanator

I have just received the following email from the Information Commisioner regarding the complaint I made to them regarding Natwest's breach of the DPA 40 day period for supplying the details pertaining to charges.

"Complaint about the ‘Subject Access Request’ made to Natwest Bank for personal information relating to xxxxxxxxx.

Thank you for your correspondence dated the 20th of April 2007.

You have complained that, as yet, the information requested from Natwest Bank has not been received.

When we receive a complaint like this, we are under a duty to consider if it is likely or unlikely that there has been a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act). We will then decide what action, if any, to take.

Following a recent Office of Fair Trading decision about ‘penalty charges’ we are aware that the number of individuals making subject access requests to financial institutions has significantly increased. However, clearly these financial institutions are still required to comply with subject access requests within the statutory 40 calendar days.

As you may be aware under the Act there are eight data protection principles. These are sometimes known as the principles of good information handling as they set out the way organisations should handle personal information. The sixth data protection principle requires organisations to process personal data in accordance with an individual’s rights under the Act. Therefore if you have not been sent the information you are entitled to within 40 days, it is likely to be in breach of the sixth data protection principle

We would like to explain that due to the number of complaints we are receiving about failed subject access requests we are writing to financial institutions on a monthly basis, sending them a ‘batch’ of complaints.

We will be writing to Natwest Bank with the next batch of complaints at the end of May 07 and will of course include the details of your complaint in our letter. We will advise Natwest Bank to ensure that they provide you with the information you are entitled to as a matter of priority. Furthermore we will ask them to outline what steps they are taking to ensure their future compliance with the Act. Therefore although we will now close your case we would like to assure you that we will continue to carefully monitor this issue.

Finally, it may be helpful to explain that a breach of one of the data protection principles is not a criminal offence and we cannot punish an organisation for a breach of principle. Our priority is to get organisations to take steps to solve the problem and to ensure they handle personal information properly in the future.

However, it may also be helpful to explain that if you have suffered a loss because an organisation has broken the law, you may be entitled to compensation. We do not have any powers to award compensation and any claims should be made through the Court.

We would like to thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner.

Please quote the case reference number from the top of this letter in all future correspondence about this matter. Failure to do so may delay the processing of your complaint.

Yours sincerely

Sent on behalf of

Helen Raftery

Casework and Advice Manager"

So it would appear that it is a 40 calendar period and not a 40 working day period and that Natwest have failed on this.

Although there doesn't appear to be alot that the Information Commisioner are doing apart from giving them a slap on the wrist.

So I will be adding a claim for compensation for stress and anguish and cost of letters and postage and anything else I can claim for when I fill in my MCOL claim on Friday.

nickmack

timewilltell wrote: »

i have sent the 1st letter asking for charges to be made and had no response, have sent the second letter asking for the same and threatening(for want of a better word) to take them to court, the 14 days will be up in 5 days. should i ring them to see how my claim is going or leave it till the 14days is up. any advice would be really appreciated

As long as you know they've received the letters, just continue with the process.

nickmack

smudgemanc26 wrote: »

Just been reading about claiming back charges for credit cards and i have been charged quite a bit by mbna thinking back although recently i only get charged £12 - can you still claim for the £12 aswell as the higher charges?

Yes, you can claim for all charges including the £12 ones, unless the credit card company convinces the court this is their actual cost.

Lise

ripski wrote: »

What is the email address? I am having difficulty contacting anyone?

Don't know if you already have it, but here it is.

customer.relations@natwest.com

timewilltell_2

frugalpam wrote: »

I know how frustrating it is, as I had a long wait for my statements too !
Just take comfort in the fact that you can reclaim every single charge for returned DD's etc - EVERY SINGLE ONE !! :T :T And if they don't send you those statements in the 40 days then you can report them to the Information Commissioner :T

Pam

just to let you no that my statements arrived 2 days before the given 40 days, so hang on in there.

timewilltell_2

nickmack wrote: »

As long as you know they've received the letters, just continue with the process.

hi, thanks for that, but not sure if they have received letters, STILL on phone trying to get through, have even managed to make a cuppa and a sandwich whilst waiting, might even do the ironing.:eek:

nettie520-0

nickmack wrote: »

Yes, you can claim for all charges including the £12 ones, unless the credit card company convinces the court this is their actual cost.

Can you please tell me if I can send my second letter claiming charges on a Nat West Business account to my local branch as with personal accounts?
Thanks, nettie

timewilltell_2

i have now been on hold to customer service for 40 mins (is there a record for how long yet) i just wondered is it best to post letters for claims or e mail customers relations direct

dwaine_pipe

I need some serious moral support here!

I sent all of the letters off to the Nat West a couple of months ago and deadline after deadline passed with no response from the bankers! I rang them to make sure that they had received all of my letters and they informed me that they had but that due to the large volume of claims that it was going to take about a month for a response. (My heart bleeds for the poor overworked parasites!)

Undeterred, I pressed on and it's now at the stage where yesterday I went onto the HMCS website and started the court proceedings. It's under 5k by the way!

I'm just really worried that something is going to go wrong!

I need reassuring that other people have taken it this far without hearing anything from the bank and had success from it!

Please tell me good things!!!!!!!