4 years after I closed my loan the bank claimed to have no paperwork -

kthxbye

Long story I'm afraid:

In 1995 I took out a student loan and gave my father the money for the deposit on a property.

I had no job and was sold PPI.

I made the final payment in 2003 with the help of my partner once I married.

I later called the bank in 2007 to request bank statement's showing that I was given a loan, and that the money had immediately been transferred into my father's account. I needed this information as my father had forgotten that I had paid him the money, and my sister's now feel I have unfairly 'inherited'.

Anyway, the bank informed me that they could not supply my statements of that period.

My question is twofold: 1) Do banks not store old statements on microfiche or something as I really need the statements and 2) Is it too late to be refunded the PPI that I paid, as I was never in steady employment but was always a temp and the PPI would probably not have been paid out for me.

magpiecottage

kthxbye wrote: »

Do banks not store old statements on microfiche or something as I really need the statements

Although financial institutions did archive some data on microfiche, it was still relatively expensive and there was a tendency to discard it eventually.

The Data Protection Act 1998 also prevented personal data being held in any retrieval system that could specifically locate it longer than necessary.

That means even if the data does still exist there is no practical way of finding it.

Is it too late to be refunded the PPI that I paid, as I was never in steady employment but was always a temp and the PPI would probably not have been paid out for me.

Without evidence you will not be able to. You have none and if the bank looks at its own evidence it will find none either.

dunstonh

The cynics will say that the banks are actively destroying old information and using the data protection act as an excuse and they may be right. However, as they are allowed to do this and are technically meant to do it, then there is little hope of getting them to review old cases where they say they have no info and you have no info.

For the future, scan all your documents and keep them on a computer based filing system. It doesnt matter if you hold a pdf scan copy for 10-20-30 years as it takes up virtually no space on your hard drive and its not an inconvenience having old papers as its in electronic form (I have all my personal paperwork since 1999 scanned).

marshallka

dunstonh wrote: »

The cynics will say that the banks are actively destroying old information and using the data protection act as an excuse and they may be right. However, as they are allowed to do this and are technically meant to do it, then there is little hope of getting them to review old cases where they say they have no info and you have no info.

For the future, scan all your documents and keep them on a computer based filing system. It doesnt matter if you hold a pdf scan copy for 10-20-30 years as it takes up virtually no space on your hard drive and its not an inconvenience having old papers as its in electronic form (I have all my personal paperwork since 1999 scanned).

I have seen lots of posts just lately like this one and it only seems to have been a tactic used since the banks gave up their fight in the JR. You yourself have stated above that "maybe they are" so you are not exactly convinced yourself of otherwise. That is hardly treating a consumer fairly. Its not right, not proper and not fair. Then they want our trust. The OP asked 4 years later for the statements so really and truely they should have still had them.

dunstonh

You yourself have stated above that "maybe they are" so you are not exactly convinced yourself of otherwise.

I worked for a bank in the late 80s to early 90s. Back then we could get account information going back to the 40s.

However, it was a mixture of old handwritten statements and microfiche. It was a nightmare when you had to view old data for someone reason. Labour intensive a time consuming.

When data protection came in, the banks went crazy on destroying everything over 6 years old. They actually destroyed things they shouldnt have and that came back to bite them on the bum later. They did ease off the destroying of docs after that. However, I do actually suspect that they are actively destroying docs on purpose after 6 years that they know could damage them. They could very easily justify keeping the documentation to the data protection officer if they wanted to. However, they can equally justify dumping it.

That is hardly treating a consumer fairly. Its not right, not proper and not fair.

The problem is that technically and legally, the banks destroying the docs after 6 years is right and legal. You are only meant to hold documentation that is still required for a valid reason.

magpiecottage

dunstonh wrote: »

I worked for a bank in the late 80s to early 90s. Back then we could get account information going back to the 40s.

However, it was a mixture of old handwritten statements and microfiche. It was a nightmare when you had to view old data for someone reason. Labour intensive a time consuming.

When data protection came in, the banks went crazy on destroying everything over 6 years old.

The old Data Protection Act did not cover hardcopy information, including paper and microfiche copies.

The new one does. So at a stroke the law provided reason, and indeed an obligation. to discard such information.

It is one of the unintended consequences when a government seeks to legislate for every eventuality,