Bristow and Sutor - Mailing Neighbours and Disclosing Personal Information

rizla_king

They are writing to the neighbours not the last known address of the debtor.

shaun_from_Africa

I would put money on it being a fact that they did write to the last known address of the OP on more than one occasion and only resorted to writing to the neighbours when they never received any reply.

Unless the OP returns and states exactly what was disclosed in the letters, it's impossible to say one way or the other if the DPA was broken.

Hanky_Panky

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

You will note I put 'last known addresses etc'. Really they can write to whomever they like - what's stopping them.

maninthestreet

Have the neighbours been complaining to you or your mother about these letters??

Azari

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

You will note I put 'last known addresses etc'. Really they can write to whomever they like - what's stopping them.

Data Protection Act.

You really should ensure you know what you are talking about before you make posts demonstrating that you don't.

shaun_from_Africa

Azari wrote: »

Data Protection Act.

You really should ensure you know what you are talking about before you make posts demonstrating that you don't.

As should you.
The Data protection act does not stop a company writing to anyone that they wish and asking those people if they know a location or address for a third person.
What the act does is to seek to prevent that company from disclosing certain personal information, something that may or may not have happened in the case in hand.

You also seem to have forgotten that the DPA allows personal data to be released in certain situations, one of which is:

The Act recognises that it is sometimes appropriate to disclose personal data for certain purposes to do with criminal justice or the taxation system. In these cases, individuals’ rights may occasionally need to be restricted.
In particular, the Act deals with several situations in which personal data s processed for the following “crime and taxation purposes”:

the prevention or detection of crime;
the capture or prosecution of offenders; and the assessment or collection of tax or duty.

So if the debt collectors are attempting to contact the OP with regards to an outstanding council tax bill or something to do with instigating legal proceedings and they did release personal information (something we do not know actually happened), they may well be acting totally within the law.

Azari

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

As should you.
The Data protection act does not stop a company writing to anyone that they wish and asking those people if they know a location or address for a third person.
What the act does is to seek to prevent that company from disclosing certain personal information, something that may or may not have happened in the case in hand.

You also seem to have forgotten that the DPA allows personal data to be released in certain situations, one of which is:

So if the debt collectors are attempting to contact the OP with regards to an outstanding council tax bill or something to do with instigating legal proceedings and they did release personal information (something we do not know actually happened), they may well be acting totally within the law.

You seem to be making an assumption where it supports your case (that the company are concerned with a tax debt) whilst at the same time dismissing another assumption (they they revealed personal data*) that does not serve your case.

I was responding to a post that implied that a debt collection agency had carte blanche to write to whomever they liked in pursuit of a debt. I made no statement either direct of implied saying that they could never do so. In fact, there are strict rules (one class of which you have mentioned) governing such actions.


* The personal information that a debt collection agency will reveal if they identify themselves when enquiring about the location of someone is that that person is of interest to debt collectors. That is a pretty sensitive piece of personal information and is why reputable debt collectors are very careful about how they make such enquiries.

Hanky_Panky

Azari wrote: »

I was responding to a post that implied that a debt collection agency had carte blanche to write to whomever they liked in pursuit of a debt. I made no statement either direct of implied saying that they could never do so. In fact, there are strict rules (one class of which you have mentioned) governing such actions.

I made no such implication - it was actually you jumping to that conclusion as you see so many times on these boards.

shaun from Africa is absolutely correct. You or I or indeed anyone can write to whomever we like asking if they know where someone is. We have no evidence whatsoever to suggest they have divulged any personal information at all and just because they are writing form a debt collection agency is not in itself enough to suggest otherwise. It is standard practise for a tracing agency to write to neighbours on either side plus an address or two on the opposite side of the road. It has been going on for years (under the scrutiny of the various regulators and so on) and probably will for years to come.

shaun_from_Africa

Azari wrote: »

You seem to be making an assumption where it supports your case (that the company are concerned with a tax debt) whilst at the same time dismissing another assumption (they they revealed personal data*) that does not serve your case.

I made no assumption whatsoever which is why I clearly stated:

if the debt collectors are attempting to contact the OP with regards to an outstanding council tax bill.

Anyway, as Bristow and Sutor deal mainly in collecting unpaid debts, council tax, filing court notices etc, even if I had made such an assumption, it would be an assumption based on logic as opposed to an assumption based on guesswork as you have made.

In fact, the only person making assumptions is you.
You assumed that personal data had been divulged and you assumed that the company writing the letters were in breech of the DPA.

I was responding to a post that implied that a debt collection agency had carte blanche to write to whomever they liked in pursuit of a debt. I made no statement either direct of implied saying that they could never do so. In fact, there are strict rules (one class of which you have mentioned) governing
such actions.

The post that you referred to was totally correct.
There is no law, rule or regulation stopping anyone or any business contacting another person in an attempt to obtain their address.

As to your comment that you never stated or implied that they couldn't do this.
This is exactly what your post stated.

Originally Posted by Hanky Panky
You will note I put 'last known addresses etc'. Really they can write to whomever they like - what's stopping them

Azari wrote: »

Data Protection Act

No mention that contact could be made and information released in certain circumstances, simply a blunt statement that the DPA prevents them from making contact, a statement that is totally incorrect. The DPA does not prevent this.

Azari

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

No mention that contact could be made and information released in certain circumstances, simply a blunt statement that the DPA prevents them from making contact, a statement that is totally incorrect. The DPA does not prevent this.

This sentence demonstrates exactly why both your posts in relation to what I wrote are nothing but you working yourself into a right tizz about something I never said.

A very simple post containing: "Really they can write to whomever they like - what's stopping them."

Was responded to by an equally simple: "Data Protection Act."

So my response was specifically to tell the poster what would stop them writing to 'whomever they like'. (e.g. if I run a business X and you owe me money that fact is personal information and I would be in breach of the DPA if I wrote to your employers and told them I was from the unpaid bills department of X and could they give me an address for 'shaun from Africa'.)

All your detailed waffle above is nothing but hot air because the DPA is not a set of enumerated rules. It doesn't need to say particular things about particular cases.

When a debt collection agency obtains personal information about someone it is under exactly the same obligation to protect that information as anyone else. Unless there is some specific exemption, using that information in some way that potentially reveals information about a person's financial situation is a breach of the act.