Marks & Spencer created a financial association on a non-joint application

darkh0rse

Well, it has taken a while, but I did get a response from the ICO.

We have written to Marks & Spencer Money about this matter and they have responded to advise us that you may not have been fully aware that a financial association would be created with XXX when you agreed to her using your details as part of her credit application. They have further advised us that steps are being taken to remove this financial association from your credit report.

From the information we have received in this case it appears that Marks & Spencer Money failed to comply with the DPA because they did not obtain your consent to this financial association appearing on your credit report.

We have written to Marks & Spencer Money advising them of our assessment and requested that they take steps to prevent the situation from happening again. Most organisations will want to put things right when they have gone wrong, and learn from complaints that are raised with them. In this case we do not consider that further action is required at this time.


It seems the ICO decided M&S were in breach of the DPA after all.

darkh0rse

A further update to this, M&S offered a very low sum of compensation, which they said would be posted as a cheque in a couple of weeks. Unsurprisingly that never materialised.

In the meantime, M&S have changed their customer service contact details and made it incredibly difficult to get in contact, so I referred them back to the Financial Ombudsman as it had been 6 months with no reply.

So far the Ombudsman has M&S agreeing there was "a system error" in dispatching my cheque which I why I hadn't received it. Hmm...a likely story.

[Deleted User]

What’s a “low sum”?

What financial hardship or loss have you suffered as a result of this?

[Deleted User]

darkh0rse wrote: »

So far the Ombudsman has M&S agreeing there was "a system error" in dispatching my cheque which I why I hadn't received it. Hmm...a likely story.

It does seem very likely.

It's not as if it would be worth their while to deliberately try to delay payment of a few quid.

darkh0rse

!!! wrote: »

What’s a “low sum”?

£250

!!! wrote: »

What financial hardship or loss have you suffered as a result of this?

Just 5 years of this dragging on.

Me personally? Not a lot as I have excellent credit and I spotted the problem. As the previous posters on this thread have suggested, this is a practice that needs stopping. I am pursuing this for the benefit of everyone. I really don't know how many applicants who entered data in to that same form as my partner did had financial associations created - who knows how that has impacted all of their lives. There may be hundreds of folks impacted by this who never even realised it due to the way the link was made without their consent.

darkh0rse

Deleted_User wrote: »

It does seem very likely.

It's not as if it would be worth their while to deliberately try to delay payment of a few quid.

Well exactly, but 3 attempts (not including follow-ups) in snail mail and email over a 6 month period and I am still sans-cheque...