Baines & Ernst

Shutty666

My wife and I completed our DMP with Baines & Ernst. Other than a couple of minor grumbles everything went fine! We are now debt free and rebuilding our credit score. However the good feeling has now been lost. I received an email from B&E today. Here is that email.

NOTICE OF DATA BREACH

As past customers of Baines & Ernst, the protection of your personal and financial data is of utmost importance to us. Please note it is very important that BOTH people this e-mail is addressed to read it.

The reason why we are writing to you

We are writing to inform you that Baines & Ernst's data security has been breached and that your personal data has been affected.

Upon receipt of this letter, you are advised to check your bank and/or credit card statements carefully for any unusual activity.

There is a risk that your data has been misused and there may be a risk of identity theft of your personal data or use of your data without your consent.

It is possible that companies or individuals, including unregulated individuals, may use your data to attempt to contact you with offers of credit.

Please remember that taking further credit should be considered very carefully in your current circumstances as this could have an adverse effect on your financial situation.

What information was involved?

This event occurred in September 2016 and it came to our attention in January 2017.

The data that has been accessed in this manner includes the following:
Your name
Your address
Your date of birth
Details of the debts we are managing on your behalf. In some cases this included credit or store card numbers
It did not include the following:
CVV codes, expiry dates or pin numbers
Details of your personal bank account
What we are doing?

We can confirm that we have informed the Information Commissioner and the Financial Conduct Authority about this breach.

We are writing to you as part of the actions that we are taking to provide you with the right support to mitigate any potential loss or use of your personal data.

We have made improvements to the way that your data is protected to help to ensure that no breach can occur in the future.

Please see the factsheet below on how you can protect your data and what you can do if you suspect you have been a victim of identity fraud.

If you have any concerns or if you believe your data has been affected, you should contact us immediately. Alternatively you can obtain information and assistance from the organisations in this letter.

If you are ever in doubt that you are speaking to a genuine member of staff from Baines & Ernst, tell the agent that you will call back on the number you usually use. Our contact numbers are on our letters and website We do not make calls from mobile telephone numbers.

If you have the slightest suspicion that you are speaking to, or have spoken to someone in the past, who may not be a genuine member of our staff, please contact us immediately on the number at the bottom of this letter.

If you believe that you have been impacted by this data breach in any way or you wish to discuss your concerns further please do not hesitate to contact us. We have set up a dedicated telephone number for you which will be answered by our advisors who are fully aware of your situation. The dedicated number is 0330 100 6110.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Services
Baines & Ernst Limited

My question is, can we expect anything from B&E in terms of compensation? At the moment nothing appears to wrong with our credit file. Nothing appears to be unrecognised but surely the point is that our information should be safe regardless.

I'm about to phone them and find out exactly what is going on. I'll post more after that.

Shutty666

So after a long chat with the advisor at B&E I'm now awaiting a call from someone in management. Anyone with any advice?

ReadingTim

Your compensation will equal the loss you have suffered, ie nothing. The point of compensation is to put you back in the same position as if the event had not occurred, plus maybe something for injury or suffering. You don't appear to have been affected, and have been told what they're doing to mitigate the effects of what's happened.

If B&E's data security was lacking, and especially if they knew about it beforehand and did nothing, you might have more of a case, but that tends to be a fine from the Information Commissioner to the Company. The reality is that fraudsters will target financial institutions and every now and again will be successful. It's not necessarily B&E's fault, so why should they pay out?