Closed bank accounts and data retention - what are the facts?

jalexa

jfh7gwa wrote: »

Surely someone, somewhere, at a national bank should know the answer to this sort of query, or am I expecting too much?!

Partly, but it is best if you recognise you were just in "a shop" selling money (not sweeties).

On the potential for "marketing activity" there are two easy answers. In your status as a "customer" set all you marketing consents to "declined". That is indeed something which can be done "in the shop". In relation to "non customer" status ensure you are registered with the Mailing and Telephone Preference Services.

In relation to "online registration" (for the benefit of one of the thread's posters), ask for your details to be "deregistered". That is unlikely to occur automatically.

Once you have done all that I would not be too worried. After about 3 months it is worth checking that the account on Equifax and/or Experian is shown as "settled".

I also think concluding a customer relationship with a bank (especially) is indeed, as already suggested, a good time to ensure your residual data is accurately held by making a £10 Subject Access Request.

jfh7gwa

Many thanks for all your answers, folks - someone at the bank is going to give me a call back with a yes/no to the Q of "do they retain non-legally-required bits of info" and if the answer is a Yes, she's said she'll clarify how i can get it removed.

Funnily enough I've just had yet another email alert from the same bank (who now i'm not a customer of at all) telling me about my statement being ready. and i still can log into my account, it just shows as zero on the balance. i do hope their systems will tidy that up for me eventually.

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Why pick on the bank?

Er, because I want to ensure my accounts are kept in order - there surely must be a defined process somewhere that says "this customer is no longer with the bank, so to tidy up we need to do XYZ", right? Well I want to make sure that in XYZ there's something that will close down internet banking facilities, ensure that I don't get new cards issued, or promo material is sent my way - or worse, that they leave it a year and try and get me to go back to them - i get enough junk mail and digital spam as it is Including from the (many) previous owners of our house.

I maintain that a desire to ensure a bank account is closed properly (all loose ends tied up) is a fairly normal one. Otherwise, why would I bother to close it? I could have just withdrawn my £1 balance and left it open forever

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Do you ask the same every time you switch energy suppliers for instance? Mobile phone contracts perhaps?

Well, yes. I do - OF COURSE! Don't most people, in this era of online fraud and lots of accounts to keep track of?! :T:T:T

Whenever I switch companies and remember to, i always ask for the account data to be deleted as much as possible, and ask that no further marketing is sent my way - i can't recall that anyone has ever turned around and treated me as odd for asking that.

of course, i don't know if they actually DO delete my data, but i've just got to trust that they're doing the job properly.

Honestly - don't you ask companies about this stuff as part of your normal savvy-consumer routine?! :eek: I'm in my 20s so hardly a bastion of consumer knowledge - but isn't this just par for the course nowadays?

jfh7gwa

stclair wrote: »

Would it not be better to direct the questions to the ICO or to the Data Protection Manager of the company concerned

https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

i hadn't realised there would be a problem answering this question at the bank at all - i've clearly been quite naive about this e.g. like whitewater said, s/he has worked in a bank for years and wouldn't know.

nevertheless, i did ask on the phone (the 5th person i spoke to, the supervisor) if they could chase it with their 'data protection officer' (remember, i'd just walked into the branch, not done any research or terminology checks on this) and that's when the woman put me on hold and i gave up 20-odd minutes later.

i also honestly wouldn't have thought to go to the ICO to ask about what data NatWest retains.

because that's really my question - it isn't "what does the bank legally have to retain". it's "what data over and above that legal requirement do NatWest maintain, and get those bits get deleted" e.g. my email address spam thing, and the internet banking cleanup that hasn't yet happened.

Which the ICO wouldn't be able to help me with... would they? (Genuine question - surely they wouldn't know the inner workings of the NatWest account closing process..)

savagej

You can look at their registration under the DPA and see what individual items of data they are allowed to hold.

This might give you an idea of what you might not want them to hold. You do know that your data is not going to "get out" of the RBS Group, what is called data creep does happen but very unlikely given additional confidentially laws with respect to banking.

What is your objection to them holding it?

"Er, because I want to ensure my accounts are kept in order - there surely must be a defined process somewhere that says "this customer is no longer with the bank, so to tidy up we need to do XYZ", right? Well I want to make sure that in XYZ there's something that will close down internet banking facilities, ensure that I don't get new cards issued, or promo material is sent my way - or worse, that they leave it a year and try and get me to go back to them - i get enough junk mail and digital spam as it is Including from the (many) previous owners of our house."

The card re-issue is not going to happen as long as the account is closed which you can confirm with a bank statement and this will automatically stop the internet banking facilty, the IT is secure and apart from altering your "I want / dont' want junk mail" indicator with them, there is little you need to be concerned about. In my opinion.

jfh7gwa

savagej wrote: »

You can look at their registration under the DPA and see what individual items of data they are allow to hold.

OK, i didn't know that at all yesterday at the branch. i'm glad i've posted on here because clearly the bank staff (at any level) didn't (couldn't) give details/advice.

savagej wrote: »

What is your objection to them holding it?

3 reasons really.

First, I don't see the need for them to keep data about me that is no longer useful for the purposes of me banking with them. isn't that one of the central tenets to the DP laws we have in this country? i shouldn't have to justify their need to keep it; it's more a point of principal that it's my data, and they don't really need it... and if they still want it, what are they going to do with it?

Also on a more practical level, i don't want marketing coming my way, either in the short term or long term. i'm still getting marketing for the guy that lived in our house 10 years ago - it's been a bit of a nightmare here in postal terms and i don't really want to add to the junk pile list if i can help it, with previous companies/suppliers i've dealt with

Finally, i just want things wrapped up neatly. i want my internet banking shut down, i want to stop getting those alert things - if i'm no longer a customer, let's close things down properly, surely? :rotfl:

meer53

It would never enter my head to ask this question, of any company. And i work for a bank.
Once my account is closed, it's closed, what information they hold on me doesn't really bother me, if i get spam or junk mail, i just delete/destroy it. If anyone wanted information urgently, even after 6 years, i would imagine it could be recalled by some computer whiz type person anyway ! I'm sure the police or other sources have their methods if they need this information for whatever reason.

I've closed numerous accounts in the past, bank, credit cards etc and never had any issues.

opinions4u

Out of interest, do you have obsessive compulsive tendancies, or similar?

Don't take the question the wrong way. Many years ago I didn't see the need to shred any documents and somebody with OCD convinced me it is actually a good idea!

I've never really considered the points you raised (in the same way there was a point in time where I didn't consider shredding), and despite spending most of my working life in banking I don't know the answer to your question for the banks I've worked for.

i shouldn't have to justify their need to keep it; it's more a point of principal that it's my data, and they don't really need it... and if they still want it, what are they going to do with it?

There was a post on this forum a few months ago about a bloke trying to track down an account that his Mother had 10 years previously. The bank couldn't trace it. He would certainly have preferred them to retain more through records of transactions and accounts.

jfh7gwa

savagej wrote: »

The card re-issue is not going to happen as long as the account is closed which you can confirm with a bank statement and this will automatically stop the internet banking facilty, the IT is secure and apart from altering your "I want / dont' want junk mail" indicator with them, there is little you need to be concerned about. In my opinion.

See, if those words were uttered by someone at the bank yesterday, i'd have been cool with that.

but at no point did anyone clarify if they'd fix internet banking, and confirm to be that i wouldn't get marketing from them in future, and they wouldn't circulate details within or outwith the banking group... basically the whole attitude was "Dunno" from them (and from the 1st phonecall woman, "dunno" alongside "why on earth would you care" too).

it just made me more and more uncomfortable the more I heard that same response. i mean, they were all perfectly polite and nice, but there was no real idea of an answer, or any attempt to track the answer down for me.

stclair

jfh7gwa wrote: »

i hadn't realised there would be a problem answering this question at the bank at all - i've clearly been quite naive about this e.g. like whitewater said, s/he has worked in a bank for years and wouldn't know.

nevertheless, i did ask on the phone (the 5th person i spoke to, the supervisor) if they could chase it with their 'data protection officer' (remember, i'd just walked into the branch, not done any research or terminology checks on this) and that's when the woman put me on hold and i gave up 20-odd minutes later.

i also honestly wouldn't have thought to go to the ICO to ask about what data NatWest retains.

because that's really my question - it isn't "what does the bank legally have to retain". it's "what data over and above that legal requirement do NatWest maintain, and get those bits get deleted" e.g. my email address spam thing, and the internet banking cleanup that hasn't yet happened.

Which the ICO wouldn't be able to help me with... would they? (Genuine question - surely they wouldn't know the inner workings of the NatWest account closing process..)

Contact them and ask the question?

jfh7gwa

opinions4u wrote: »

Out of interest, do you have obsessive compulsive tendancies, or similar?

Don't take the question the wrong way. Many years ago I didn't see the need to shred any documents and somebody with OCD convinced me it is actually a good idea!

I've never really considered the points you raised (in the same way there was a point in time where I didn't consider shredding), and despite spending most of my working life in banking I don't know the answer to your question for the banks I've worked for.

No OCD tendancies here in general.

I always shred documents actually - does that count? Don't people do this in general anyway? I'm not the oddball here, I swear :rotfl:

Maybe it's because I worked in a call centre for 2 years? nothing financial related, it was market research. also, at school, we had classes on the data protection act and identity fraud. it was drilled into us (and should be, IMHO) at school and at home that knowledge is power - and why make it easy for marketeers/fraudsters to have your data?