NOSEY NATWEST when it comes to paying credit cards

CODEBREAKER

when paying my capital 1 credit card in Natwest, i noticed them writing down my name, card issuer and amount owed. when i asked the teller what she was doing, she was told by her manager to write the information down as natwest could save me money.... After a phone call to the main branch complaining, i was told im sharing my credit card details with them when i pay the bill there, i replyed it show the teller my details not the bank... they still continue to write the information down even though i have asked them not to do so... surly this is a breech of the confidentiallity act??

LittleVoice

IIRC The Data Protection Act means they can record information about you as long as it is for one of their registered reasons - and that they tell you and the data held is not excessive nor kept longer than necessary.

I do not think there is a difference between the teller (an employee of the bank) and "the bank" as far as who you are providing the information to.

You could ask the bank for all the information that it is holding on you and see whether they retain the information without contacting you to let you know how they could save you money in relation to that particular data.

But I do think that if you ask them not to record the information they should not do so and therefore, in that case, it could be a breach of the Act.

Bokkens

It sounds like a very localised/amaturerish way of collecting data.
As they should already have that data recorded on their computer against account numbers.
It would then seem logical to send you their special offers to the account holders address.
The whole ethos of the Data Protection Act is to stop people that should not have access to personal data from seeing it or recording it and then sharing it with another party.
A cashier may well see your details during the transaction or the deposit of funds as part of her job but to routinely record this then leaves the system open to abuse.The data is supossed to be stored securely (ie. locked computer files)and accessed only by authourised persons.
The reason why they are recording the data may be allowed but the method of doing so and the access and storage of that data sounds like it is not being managed correctly.
I would request a full explaination from the branch manager as he is supposed to know what his staff are doing.

[Deleted User]

You could pay over the internet or by posting a cheque directly to capital one.

novagirl

When I worked for a bank this was actively encouraged and checked on. Although I always asked my customers if I could take their details and a contact number. We did it simply to see if we could save our customers any money on their repayments and quite often we could.

I would imagine that this is what is happening at your bank but without the cashier asking you in the first place.

YorkshireBoy

Bearing in mind the Natwest Credit card summary box says...

Balance transfers subject to a fee of 2% (min £5) during the first six months from account opening, unless you qualify for exemption from that fee or are notified of a different fee under the terms of a special offer we make in connection with your application

http://www.natwest.com/personal02a.asp?id=PERSONAL/DAY_TO_DAY/CREDIT_CARDS/RATES_CHARGES

...I wonder if the OP would be complaining if he/she was subsequently offered a credit card with a fee-free BT which would save them money?

Keeping_Positive

Cant see the problem really. 1) OP gets a better deal or 2) no better deal but no worse off.

There are worse things a bank can and does do.

CLAPTON

It would seem to me to be anti competitive behaviour as it is taking advantage of it status as a clearing bank to gain unfair advantage over CC rivals.
You should complain to the Monopolies Commission. Just think, if it were upheld you would have 15 minutes of fame.

jonesMUFCforever

Just ask for a no marketing indicator to be put on all of your accounts.
It will not stop cashiers asking you things or even taking notes but it should stop marketing letters and phonecalls.
If this does not work create one hell of a scene that everyone in the branch knows about. They wouldn't dream of asking 'that' customer anything afterwards in my experience.

m00m00

this happened to me once with the halifax when they noticed I had a capital one card in my wallet when I opened it to get my debit card out. They said they could probably save me a bit of money, so I told them to see what they could offer me. They came back with half the apr and 4x the credit limit of the cap1 card, so I didn't mind the nosiness in the end.