Privacy breach - what compensation to expect?

Dwain_Pipe

Hi,

I'm looking for some ideas / guidance.

Over a month ago I removed my ex wife from our previously joint account. A couple of weeks ago I add my new girlfriend to that account, making it joint again so she can benefit from the travel insurance etc.

Last week we got a text saying her (the girlfriend) new debit card was cancelled as requested. I then got an email from my ex wife to say the card, cheque book and pin had been sent to her new address with mine and my girlfriends name on it.

She took them to the branch, hence the cancelling but when we went to the branch to complain we also saw that my annual statement has been sent to my ex wife's address.

Of course this is a complete screw up by the bank on a number of levels, which they have admitted.

My complaint concerns my information privacy, confidentiality, the breach of data protection act and the potential impact on my divorce settlement.

So far the bank have offered flowers/wine, then £100 and now £250. When I read about the PPI claims over £10,000 and that those are misselling mistakes not breaking the law, banking code of conduct and data protection act I wonder if they are being a little shallow in the pocket.

Wondered of anyone had experience of this type of thing and the kind of payout I should push for?

Finally, should I be concerned about the effect of this other address on my credit rating? I should be disassociated from my ex wife (and her new partner) but if the bank can't get posting a debit card to the right address lord knows what else they could be screwing up.

Is there anything else I should be concerned about with this kind of error.

Many thanks in advance.

100saving

Dwain_Pipe wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for some ideas / guidance.

Over a month ago I removed my ex wife from our previously joint account. A couple of weeks ago I add my new girlfriend to that account, making it joint again so she can benefit from the travel insurance etc.

Last week we got a text saying her (the girlfriend) new debit card was cancelled as requested. I then got an email from my ex wife to say the card, cheque book and pin had been sent to her new address with mine and my girlfriends name on it.

She took them to the branch, hence the cancelling but when we went to the branch to complain we also saw that my annual statement has been sent to my ex wife's address.

Of course this is a complete screw up by the bank on a number of levels, which they have admitted.

My complaint concerns my information privacy, confidentiality, the breach of data protection act and the potential impact on my divorce settlement.

So far the bank have offered flowers/wine, then £100 and now £250. When I read about the PPI claims over £10,000 and that those are misselling mistakes not breaking the law, banking code of conduct and data protection act I wonder if they are being a little shallow in the pocket.

Wondered of anyone had experience of this type of thing and the kind of payout I should push for?

Finally, should I be concerned about the effect of this other address on my credit rating? I should be disassociated from my ex wife (and her new partner) but if the bank can't get posting a debit card to the right address lord knows what else they could be screwing up.

Is there anything else I should be concerned about with this kind of error.

Many thanks in advance.

the payout for this type of thing can be anything it depends how much you want to kick off?

as far as i can see it might be best to close the account and open a new one with your new partner so you know it will not happen again.

antrobus

Dwain_Pipe wrote: »

....Over a month ago I removed my ex wife from our previously joint account. ...

When you say " I removed" do you mean that you told the bank, or that both you and your ex-wife told the bank?

P.S. I can't see how it could have a "potential impact on my divorce settlement". You're supposed to be 100% honest in disclosing your financial circumstances anyway.

Thegirl

If you complained to the financial obudsman and they open a case it automatically costs the bank £500 (or so I was told by a treasurer of a bank). So they are still 'in profit' if you like with the offer they have made.
Personally, I think what they have already offered you is reasonable though.

As for the address thing, it's financial links (the joint account for example) that affect your credit rating, not the linked addresses.
When I divorced, once there were no joint accounts anymore I wrote to the credit referencing agencies with whatever information they had asked for (possibly a copy of the divorce certificate, long time ago) and they wiped any record of my ex from my credit history.
It's always a little messy on your file close to the change in circumstances as credit files can be weeks, sometimes a couple of months behind with these kind of changes.

YorkshireBoy

Thegirl wrote: »

If you complained to the financial obudsman and they open a case it automatically costs the bank £500 (or so I was told by a treasurer of a bank).

Not necessarily...depends how much work is involved, ie if it's passed to a 'casework team' or dealt with by frontline staff....

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/QG1.pdf

BTW, it's £550 now.

100saving

so if you work that out then it will cost them £550 + what ever they are told to pay so if you go for say £750-£1k they might do it but you will need to kick off big time!

backinbusiness

Make sure the bank have not associated you with your ex-wife's new address.

This happened to me, and took the best part of 6 months to resolve.

Hasty1991

Dwain_Pipe wrote: »

Hi,
My complaint concerns my information privacy, confidentiality, the breach of data protection act and the potential impact on my divorce settlement.

So far the bank have offered flowers/wine, then £100 and now £250. When I read about the PPI claims over £10,000 and that those are misselling mistakes not breaking the law, banking code of conduct and data protection act I wonder if they are being a little shallow in the pocket.

I don't know if you're going to be able to push it much further to be honest. Essentially, your complaint boils down to two individual points;

1. Breach of data protection rules,
2. Impact on divorce settlement.

The first you have a legitimate claim to, you've received unacceptable service from your bank. You're going to have to prove the second, the bank cannot quantify the impact their error has had without evidence. They're not going to pay you a massive amount based on speculation alone.

Caladan

I'm surprised the bank allowed you to remove a name from an account, I can only take a name off if one of the parties is deceased, guess it must be an internal rule rather than a legal one.

In similar data protection breaches I've seen the typical payout being between £100-£200, unless you can prove a direct financial loss from it.

PPI claims are different, in that the compensation is calculated on a refund of payments made by the customer plus interest (usually worked out on 8%/year).

I'm not sure how it could impact on your divorce settlement - If you mean it revealed information you'd rather she not be able to present to the court then I can't see you having a case there, as the court is expected to make its decision on all financial affairs, if you've tried to hide anything then you could theoretically be in contempt (I assume, and I am making an assumption here based on no evidence whatsoever).

rb10

Caladan wrote: »

I'm surprised the bank allowed you to remove a name from an account, I can only take a name off if one of the parties is deceased, guess it must be an internal rule rather than a legal one.

Most banks allow you to remove names from an account, provided that the account is not overdrawn. I am surprised that HSBC do not allow this - they are the exception, rather than the rule.

matttye

Dwain_Pipe wrote: »

When I read about the PPI claims over £10,000 and that those are misselling mistakes not breaking the law, banking code of conduct and data protection act I wonder if they are being a little shallow in the pocket.

There's one glaringly obvious difference; people are awarded the amount that they paid in PPI! What have you lost in case? Nothing financially!

You should accept the £250 and move on.