Can credit cards/banks keep thier own records of debts of a bankrupcy?

antrobus

And so going back to the OP's original question what I would say is this; if a lender really cares about whether an individual is a discharged bankrupt then -

1. They're going to ask that question on the application form

2. They can check on the London Gazette if they want to anyway

So I can't see that it matters whether or not a lender has any kind of 'record' of their own. And I can't quite see why a lender would bother keeping a record of those people who had previously gone bankrupt owing them money, when they can access the records of everyone who has ever gone bankrupt.

thenudeone

antrobus wrote: »

As I was saying, the information is in the public domain. Given that the whole point of the Data Protection Act is to protect people's privacy by ensuring that they 'personal data' is kept locked away, doesn't publication in the London Gazette mean that the data has ceased to be personal, and thus the DPA does not apply. Which was my question really.

The fact that the information is in the public domain only covers part of the requirements of the DPA, in this case - that the data was obtained lawfully. All of the other requirements still apply, including the need to keep the data up to date, secure, and accessible by data subjects.

To take another example - suppose an organisation "DataCo" took details of criminal convictions from the newspapers and kept it on a database for prospective employers to check. Mrs Smith is refused a job because her prospective employer finds out that she has a conviction. However, Mrs Smith had successfully appealed against the conviction, but DataCo didn't know about that. DataCo's data is out of date, which is a breach of the DPA. Would DataCo be the subject of civil and possibly criminal actions for the breach - almost certainly yes IMO.

thenudeone

izools wrote: »

Since the data is public, surely there would be freedom of information implications, too?

In so far as once the data has been shared publicly, the constraints of the DPA no longer apply and if the london gazette once shared the data publicly, the same data can be obtained from any body holding it without having to follow the limitations set in place by the DPA.

Obtaining publicly available data isn't a problem but storing it for later use is, IMO - see my post above.

The FOI Act only applies to public bodies (and private organisation in relation to activities of a public nature, for example running a prisoner escort service), so Banks are not subject to FOI.

Naf

thenudeone wrote: »

The fact that the information is in the public domain only covers part of the requirements of the DPA, in this case - that the data was obtained lawfully. All of the other requirements still apply, including the need to keep the data up to date, secure, and accessible by data subjects.

To take another example - suppose an organisation "DataCo" took details of criminal convictions from the newspapers and kept it on a database for prospective employers to check. Mrs Smith is refused a job because her prospective employer finds out that she has a conviction. However, Mrs Smith had successfully appealed against the conviction, but DataCo didn't know about that. DataCo's data is out of date, which is a breach of the DPA. Would DataCo be the subject of civil and possibly criminal actions for the breach - almost certainly yes IMO.

But this doesn't apply to them just looking in the paper, which they do not need to hold on file themselves.
However, once they have the information from the paper, and store it then they are bound by DPA and must ensure the info is up to date. i.e. if they don't hold on file that Mr. X. is bankrupt, and its not on his credit file, but they find out by viewing an old copy of the newspaper; if they want to user the information, they must first ensure it is up to date (i.e. if it was discharged, if the information is erroneous etc). In reality they're not going to do this and unless he had held an account with them and so they still have these details under DPA they're probably not going to find out.

antrobus

thenudeone wrote: »

The fact that the information is in the public domain only covers part of the requirements of the DPA, in this case...

All of which I expect is very interesting, and might indeed even by right, but I don't think it's of much help to the OP.

If you go bankrupt there will be a notice in the London Gazette. It will still be in the London Gazette long after you're dead. In fact it will remain in the London Gazette until such time as the sun goes supernova and wipes out all life on planet Earth, and possibly even beyond then. (And therefore I can't see any reason why any bank would therefore want to keep records of personal insolvencies when the London Gazette already do it for them. Just as there's no reason for a bank to keep records of lots of other things because the credit reference agencies already do it for them.)

antrobus

Naf wrote: »

But this doesn't apply to them just looking in the paper, which they do not need to hold on file themselves.
However, once they have the information from the paper, and store it then they are bound by DPA and must ensure the info is up to date. i.e. if they don't hold on file that Mr. X. is bankrupt, and its not on his credit file, but they find out by viewing an old copy of the newspaper; if they want to user the information, they must first ensure it is up to date (i.e. if it was discharged, if the information is erroneous etc). In reality they're not going to do this and unless he had held an account with them and so they still have these details under DPA they're probably not going to find out.

Well, the records of current bankruptcies are held on the Insolvency Register, what the London Gazette tells you (amongst other things) is whether or not someone has been made bankrupt in the past.

And as I stated above, if a lender really cares about whether someone has been made bankrupt in the past they will, as many do, ask the question.