Having your CC details removed from a website

doobe4do

Hi,

Is there any kind of consumer right/sthg that lets you demand websites to remove your stored payment details?

Just about all websites I can think of (Amazon, Ebay, ...) let you change/remove any credit/debit card details you have stored on their website, but I recently came across an odd anomaly with the National Lottery website, which only lets you change, but not remove.

When I phoned them, they said that they can close sb's account, which will make it inactive, but the info still stays on their system, such that a closed account can be re-opened at the person's request. I.e. the payment details don't leave their system. And when I asked why I couldn't ask to have my CC details permanently removed from their servers/whatever, the customer support person said: "That's just the system. That's just the way it is."


Anyway: is there any kind of consumer right/similar I can appeal to in order to force the National Lottery company to remove (not just de-activate/whatever) my details from their system?

Thanks!

InsideInsurance

You have no direct right to ask for data to be removed, though there is proposed EU legislation that will introduce this.

That said, all companies holding data have a duty to ensure what they hold is accurate/ up to date, relevant and only held as long as is necessary.

You can make a complaint to them and threaten to take them to the ICO for not meeting their obligations but they may well come back with an explanation that the card details are retained for counter fraud or money laundering purposes etc. I dont know if they limit you to one account per person/ one card can only be on one account etc and if there is any legislation driving this behaviour