40 Days up and nothing....(merged)

Elsie2_2

So i've now reported both MBNA and Marbles to the Information Commissioner and got this reply:

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 *** 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 HFC 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.

Just thought i'd tell you guys what can happen when you actually put a complaint in to the Info Comm.

Russjo

Hope this helps somebody...I've just been on to CAG website and apparently you can get 6 years of statements on line from HSBC. I'm not a HSBC customer although my brother in law is but I've got to wait until tomorrow to find out how effective this is. Apparently you go into My Accounts and then into My Statements.

Elsie2_2

Russjo wrote: »

Hope this helps somebody...I've just been on to CAG website and apparently you can get 6 years of statements on line from HSBC. I'm not a HSBC customer although my brother in law is but I've got to wait until tomorrow to find out how effective this is. Apparently you go into My Accounts and then into My Statements.

Whats the CAG website?? That might be a daft question but it doesnt ring bells.

ilan2508

I HAVE SENT TWO LETTERS TO MY BANK FOR BOTH ACCOUNTS TO RECLAIM MY CHARGES,THEY CASHED THE £10 CHEQUE STRAIGHT AWAY,BUT 40 DAYS LATER HAVE HAD NO REPLY.HAVE SENT THEM ANOTHER LETTER BUT STILL NOT RECIVED MY STATEMENTS WHAT CAN I DO NOW.

Kurt_Hamster

Firstly try not to use all caps as it is considered shouting.

Secondly write a letter to the bank threatening that if you don't receive the contents of your SAR request then you will be writing to the Information Commissioner and making a complaint.

To be honest it will probably make very little difference as currently all banks and the Information Commissioner are getting snowed under by ever increasing SAR requests and resulting complaints from people such as yourself.

mama-monika

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

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 *** 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 HFC 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.

Just thought i'd tell you guys what can happen when you actually put a complaint in to the Info Comm.[/QUOTE]

Hi there!

Is it just me or does anyone else thinks it is a bit pointless to complain to the Info Commissioner? From the letter above it sounds like all they can do is send your complaint to the bank and that's about it.
Until now I thought they had more powers.

Monika (waiting for statements from Halifax credit card since 28th Feb 07)

dj9928

I'm reclaiming for my other half from A+L, the 40 days where up, so I sent the letter about the information commisioner, 7 days are up for that tomorrow, I read somewhere I can start court proceedings and put a random number and stateing they never supplied statements and edit it at a latter date if they do supply them, is this correct?

Russjo

I'm in a similar position. The 40 days are up next week for A & L, but they have only cashed one of the cheques that I sent. They are unable to tell me which account they are processing so now I'm going to send them a letter stating that if I don't get the info through by a certain date, I will report them and make a claim for the full £5000. I know that I will probably need to amend that later, but I want my information and they are not rushing themselves.

dj9928

Russjo wrote: »

I'm in a similar position. The 40 days are up next week for A & L, but they have only cashed one of the cheques that I sent. They are unable to tell me which account they are processing so now I'm going to send them a letter stating that if I don't get the info through by a certain date, I will report them and make a claim for the full £5000. I know that I will probably need to amend that later, but I want my information and they are not rushing themselves.

So if they don't reply do you just guess an amount?

natrab

I sent a letter to my bank on 2 march. About 2 weeks later i got an acknowledgment letter and a my cheque returned saying there was no fee for the service i requested. But i haven't heard anything as yet.

What do i do now???