Credit File dispute/Data Protection Act beach - Santander

Letsdothis2015

Hi everyone

Let me outline a situation below for anyone with professional knowledge to comment on what may be appropriate compensation;

Last year a job offer from a Financial Services Organisation was withdrawn due to failing credit. I work in an industry where well maintained financial accounts are a prerequisite. Since then I obtained a copy of my credit report from Credit File . On it Santander had placed information pertaining to a loan which is a bad debt also Current Accounts of someone else.I knew straight away the bad debt wasn't mine, and contacted the credit reference agencies ( First thinking it was fraud). But later found it was actually another person with the same name different area of the country. I requested Santander to investigate and remove it through Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. . They investigated it with Santander, who told them the information was correct and therefore ,they couldn't remove it. I have never applied for any product with Santander and any related company in my life.

I contacted Santander Complaints dept directly sending them address proofs, photo ID to prove its not me and never lived in the linked address what they have created. They finally accepted it's their error and confirmed in writing the details were removed, my financial records were rectified and confirm the accounts belong to some other customer.

Santander have disclosed financial information about someone else including theur past addresses in breach of the Data Protection Act 1988. This has caused so much of distress as I was unable to find employment in my field.

I have submitted complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, who are dealing with them at the moment.Santander sent a cheque for £355 as "goodwill".

Anyway, I'm struggling to put a figure on what to tell the Ombudsman I want from Santander in way of compensation. I believe mixing customer records up is a breach of the Data Protection Act and is pretty serious and the financial strain and making me unable to find employment in my field.

Does anyone have any knowledge of other similar cases? Any help or specialist knowledge appreciated.

Many thanks

chanz4

mixing data, to be honest would be the other persons complaint not yours. You complaint is about the credit reference agency reporting

Letsdothis2015

Thanks. Very true.

smdabs

Fact of the matter is, regardless of what Santander say, how are you to know they havent released your details to this other person? What if this other person checks your credit file etc?

You are looking at a fairly handsome compensation sum for the distress/loss of trust in the bank.

Furthermore, i would also mention the phrase 'consequential loss' - if you can directly prove that you lost out on a job/career because of Santander error - they have to consider consequential loss. For example, how long were you without work for after you were advised you didnt get the job due to your credit checks? have you now had to take a lower paid job because of it and thus are on a lower wage than you would have been etc etc etc

the potential implications of their errors are endless, so as long as you have proof - id go for as much as you possibly could.

GingerBob_3

smdabs wrote: »

Fact of the matter is, regardless of what Santander say, how are you to know they havent released your details to this other person? What if this other person checks your credit file etc?

You are looking at a fairly handsome compensation sum for the distress/loss of trust in the bank.

Furthermore, i would also mention the phrase 'consequential loss' - if you can directly prove that you lost out on a job/career because of Santander error - they have to consider consequential loss. For example, how long were you without work for after you were advised you didnt get the job due to your credit checks? have you now had to take a lower paid job because of it and thus are on a lower wage than you would have been etc etc etc

the potential implications of their errors are endless, so as long as you have proof - id go for as much as you possibly could.

Agree with all of this. Don't let it rest and take them for all you can. Their behaviour is contemptible.

Letsdothis2015

Thanks for the comments. Financial Ombudsman Services Adjudicator is dealing with it now and they are awaiting a reply from Santander. I have given all the evidence documentation

Letsdothis2015

The Adjudicator from the Financial Ombudsman Service has sent me a letter stating that he has advised Santander to pay extra £250. ( All together the total compensation would be Not sure what to do now.

Any suggestions please?

Thanks

jellie

Only you can decide if this is enough. If not, go back to FOS and ask for an actual Ombudsman to look at the case.

Can you actually quantify your losses as mentioned by smdabs earlier? If so, tell FOS that's the figure you want.

Letsdothis2015

Thanks Jellie

Yes I have already provided the documentation of a failed Job Offer which was 7.5k more than I earn now.

chanz4

but did the job letter say due to your credit file? As we all at times get rejection letters

Letsdothis2015

Yes. The credit check was done during the on-boarding process. ( Credit Check,Reference, Criminal Check) That's after the Offer was made. Then they withdrew saying Credit check failed.