endowment ins data protection breach

elaine71

hi, was hoping someone can help. took out an endowment insurance policy 20 yrs ago it has just matured but during the paying out process it came to my attention that the company had made a series of errors and revealed all our details to another person.this person was able to breach security on several occasions and was nearly paid out on the policy when the breach was discovered.this held up our payout while they carried out an investigation by one mth the company have admitted fault and offered £200 compensation but is this an acceptable amount as we feel our personal details are out there now and cannot be retrived?

dunstonh

elaine71 wrote: »

hi, was hoping someone can help. took out an endowment insurance policy 20 yrs ago it has just matured but during the paying out process it came to my attention that the company had made a series of errors and revealed all our details to another person.this person was able to breach security on several occasions and was nearly paid out on the policy when the breach was discovered.this held up our payout while they carried out an investigation by one mth the company have admitted fault and offered £200 compensation but is this an acceptable amount as we feel our personal details are out there now and cannot be retrived?

If no financial loss has occurred then a goodwill payment of £200 seems reasonable. It is the range you would expect.

opinions4u

It's in the mid-range that the FOS would award.

madisonjinx

Personally I think that if the firm has breached the Data Protection Act then £200 and a quick sorry is not acceptable.

I have recently moved out of a compliance role in an financial services firm where I had responsibility for data protection and complaints and, if that happened to me I would refer my complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service. It's true that £200 wouldn't be an unreasonable amount for FOS to award for compensation but I think for what you have been through the company should answer for their errors.

Although the Information Commissioners Office cannot offer you compensation, I personally would complain to them as I think a breach of my personal data that nearly resulted in a loss of money requires some answers!

dunstonh

Have you seen what the ICO dishes out for data breaches? A slapped wrist.

opinions4u

madisonjinx wrote: »

Personally I think that if the firm has breached the Data Protection Act then £200 and a quick sorry is not acceptable.

I have recently moved out of a compliance role in an financial services firm where I had responsibility for data protection and complaints and, if that happened to me I would refer my complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service. It's true that £200 wouldn't be an unreasonable amount for FOS to award for compensation but I think for what you have been through the company should answer for their errors.

Although the Information Commissioners Office cannot offer you compensation, I personally would complain to them as I think a breach of my personal data that nearly resulted in a loss of money requires some answers!

All of which would change absolutely nothing.

There's also a "nearly" involved here. Which implies that the company's own systems identified the problem.