HSBC Letter

Nansen

Hi,

Have received letter from HSBC that their searches found no evidence but then stated that due to the Data Protection Act any records over 6 years old may have been destroyed.

Surely the court imposed on them a legal duty to retain all PPI-related information so those affected could seek redress?

dunstonh

Surely the court imposed on them a legal duty to retain all PPI-related information so those affected could seek redress?

What court?

Nansen

Well whatever authority it was that deemed the product had been miss-sold.

dunstonh

Nansen wrote: »

Well whatever authority it was that deemed the product had been miss-sold.

No authority has deemed it was mis-sold.

It is a widespread issue but not every case was mis-sold. No court, regulator or ombudsman has ruled that way. Each individual complaint is reviewed on its own merits. Some types of PPI see most complaints succeed. Other types of PPI see most complaints fail. Some distribution channels have most cases upheld. Some of most cases rejected.

Data protection act requires firms to destroy records that are no longer required. 6 years is the recommended timescale although some retain them for longer.

The regulator requires complaints to be dealt with fairly but has made no requirement to data to be held longer. However, some times of debt will have certain records retained longer and its possible to reconstruct info from that. e.g. the bank is usually able to tell if a loan had PPI or not from the account code. It may not have any agreement or application on file but it can see if there was PPI. It can then consider the complaint and if the complaint is successful, the bank will be able to tell your PPI premium from the amount of the loan. It will also be able to tell if the loan was repaid early from the closing date. So, it will know if any was rebated.

With credit cards it gets harder as most provider only retain a rolling x number of years of statements. So, if the account was closed many years ago (more than 6-10 on average) then it may not be possible to tell if PPI was paid or not.

Where the bank holds no records but the account holder does, the bank needs copies of these to use in assessing redress on successful complaints.

Josh615498

I have to disagree with your above post dunstonh, where you ask Nansen 'What Court?' The Banks lost a High Court challenge over the way they handle complaints about PPI. The ruling of the high court opened the way for millions of people to be compensated for being mis-sold PPI.

dunstonh

I have to disagree with your above post dunstonh, where you ask Nansen 'What Court?' The Banks lost a High Court challenge over the way they handle complaints about PPI.

Not quite. The court case was to do with whether the banks could bar complaints (such as pre-regulation ones) and whether the FCA had the authority to retrospectively apply rules.

The ruling meant that the banks had to consider complaints. It had nothing to do with whether the product was mis-sold or not.

xcakex

Nansen wrote: »

Hi,

Have received letter from HSBC that their searches found no evidence but then stated that due to the Data Protection Act any records over 6 years old may have been destroyed.

Surely the court imposed on them a legal duty to retain all PPI-related information so those affected could seek redress?

Im with Natwest this happened to me I know I had ppi with my first ever loan with them ... they had not info held on it I wrote again on it adament about this .. they managed to find all my files going back 20years which had this info on for 2 loans... currently under investigation to complete my claim