Debt collection agencies, unenforceable debt and GDPR

sheza

I recently made a section 78 CCA request to Cabot who replied and basically told me they were 'Unable to get the information requested from the original lender' and that the 'account is unenforcable'.
This being the case, what is the position regarding GDPR? If they hold data on me can they still share this with the credit reference agencies?

sourcrates

Hi,

Yes they can, your agreement is governed by the consumer credit act, not GDPR, that allows information to be shared by such companies.

Only a court can ultimately decide one way or another if an agreement is enforcable or not, if it had been decided in court, then you would have grounds to have information on the account removed.

sheza

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,

Yes they can, your agreement is governed by the consumer credit act, not GDPR, that allows information to be shared by such companies.

But they don't hold the agreement?

sourcrates

sheza wrote: »

But they don't hold the agreement?

They may not hold a physical copy, but the only penalty for not been able to produce it is the inability to obtain judgement against you in court, they are still able to process your information.

Brodan

Seen as GDPR was mentioned in the thread, I wondered if I could ask what would be the situation if the creditor made a mistake and there is no debt, yet a debt collection company is chasing the non-existant debt, would there be a case under GDPR to force the debt company to remove the persons details?

sourcrates

Brodan wrote: »

Seen as GDPR was mentioned in the thread, I wondered if I could ask what would be the situation if the creditor made a mistake and there is no debt, yet a debt collection company is chasing the non-existant debt, would there be a case under GDPR to force the debt company to remove the persons details?

Yes, there always has been, initially you must complain to the creditor themselves, if you are still not satisfied with there final response to you, then you can escalate to the information commissionaires office who will decide the matter for you.

Suseka97

sourcrates wrote: »

They may not hold a physical copy, but the only penalty for not been able to produce it is the inability to obtain judgement against you in court, they are still able to process your information.

To add to this - they can still continue to chase you for payment and probably will do. Also, I imagine the paperwork says something like 'currently unenforceable' and some folks have found themselves in a situation whereby an unenforceable debt became enforceable because the DCA continued to work with the original creditor to find the paperwork. So just keep that in mind.