tax credit given bank details to wrong person?

danielleindebt

im writing on behalf of a friend who got a letter of the tax credits and told her they had accidently given her sort code acc number etc to another person, and told her they had contacted her bank to let them know and told her to regulary check her account incase some money dissapeares.

has anyone else expierenced this??

i told her to contact watch dog.

dirtydogmitchell

hi-yes we had a letter saturday morning too-was FUMING!.i rang them and they said there was a problem with their printer which caused someone else to get my personal details including bank details.the tax credit office apologised-but the way i see it its too late now anyway-damage done.i am very shocked such a breach of data protection can happen-especially with the increasing amount of identity theft-HMRC seem to be giving away your personal details for free!

LittleVoice

Whether it is something to worry about depends on what exactly the "etc" is. A name, sort code and account number is nothing to be bothered about. Did they specify what, if anything, else was divulged?

krisskross

I give my bank details to anyone I pay using a cheque, or that I set up a direct debit with. On it's own this information is not much use.