Finance company won't divulge info

soapywrapper

Hello,


I had a car finance loan in the early to mid 90's with NAAFI finance. This was underwritten by a company called 'Close Brothers motor finance'


I recently contacted them to see if PPI was attached to the finance agreement. They responded -



'Having checked our records using the information you have provided, we have been able to locate one previous agreement that you may have had with close brother’s motor finance, this may be due to the age of the finance, as information we once held has expired due to data protection'



It seems they have found an agreement but despite my repeated asking, they won't tell me what information they still hold or if they have carried out a proper investigation into whether PPI was taken out with the agreement.



Each time they simply respond -



'As per our previous emails we hold no information in relation to this agreement. Pursuant to Principle 5 of the Data Protection Act 1998, we are permitted to retain consumer credit data for a period of 6 years after expiry of the agreement'



My questions are :


1. Is it possible they could be witholding information from me by hiding behind 'Pursuant to Principle 5 of the Data Protection Act 1998'? Do finance companies do this in the hope that you will just go away?


2. If I take this to the ombudsman, would they be given full access to whatever information they do still hold?


I realise that due to the age of the finance agreement, there might genuinely be limited information.

But they won't share what (if any) information they do still hold.



Many thanks,

[Deleted User]

soapywrapper wrote: »

1. Is it possible they could be witholding information from me by hiding behind 'Pursuant to Principle 5 of the Data Protection Act 1998'? Do finance companies do this in the hope that you will just go away?

No. It means they have no data. You are asking them to give you something they do not have.

soapywrapper wrote: »

2. If I take this to the ombudsman, would they be given full access to whatever information they do still hold?

They will be given access to the no information that they don't hold, the same as you have.

Nasqueron

Companies are required to delete data they no longer need, 6 years is the general guideline. They may have a single entry in a database somewhere saying Mr Soapywrapper had finance with record 123abc but have long since deleted the paperwork. It is quite normal for a firm to have removed / deleted data on you some 20+ years after your finance was closed.

Regardless, your complaint is to whoever sold the finance, not the loan providers (unless it was their agent) so most likely the car dealership. Given the age they were not regulated at the time (started in 2005) so even if you did find paperwork they don't have to consider your complaint.

dunstonh

Finance company won't divulge info

This may be your thread title but it doesn't match what you are saying in the post.

It seems they have found an agreement but despite my repeated asking, they won't tell me what information they still hold or if they have carried out a proper investigation into whether PPI was taken out with the agreement.

Whey they use the word "agreement" it doesn't mean they have actually found the original credit agreement. It means they may have located some fragments of info to suggest you had an account with them. Data is not completely wiped in one go. It is removed in stages over time.

1. Is it possible they could be witholding information from me by hiding behind 'Pursuant to Principle 5 of the Data Protection Act 1998'? Do finance companies do this in the hope that you will just go away?

You are effectively accusing them of breaking multiple laws here.

2. If I take this to the ombudsman, would they be given full access to whatever information they do still hold?

No. The FOS would ask them if they hold any info. Maybe check again. If no info is held then the same answer would be given.

it is also possible, indeed probable, that even if they found the data, they would then say that they are not responsible for selling the PPI and that NAAFI finance was. The seller has the liability for the PPI complaint. Not the lender.

Nearlyold

Reminds me of the time we received an SAR, plus the then required £10 cheque with a rather robustly written demand for all the information we held and warnings of the consequences of keeping information back etc. The customer kindly supplied his name and address to help us find his records. Unfortunately the only data we could find on our records was a skeleton entry from a long way back with only his name and address remaining, so we cashed his cheque and sent him his name and address - I'd guess he never found it very useful.

~Brock~

Nearlyold wrote: »

Reminds me of the time we received an SAR, plus the then required £10 cheque with a rather robustly written demand for all the information we held and warnings of the consequences of keeping information back etc. The customer kindly supplied his name and address to help us find his records. Unfortunately the only data we could find on our records was a skeleton entry from a long way back with only his name and address remaining, so we cashed his cheque and sent him his name and address - I'd guess he never found it very useful.

In a similar light, in a firm I worked at we were being regularly confused with other firms with a similar name (completely unconnected) by CMCs who were too incompetent or lazy to even get their initial due-diligence correct.

Therefore we were in receipt of a regular stream of SARs on behalf of people who we had never heard of. That meant that the only 'information' we held on file relating to the data subject was the actual SAR itself, so we happily cashed the £10 cheque and wrote back enclosing a data CD containing nothing but a scanned copy of the SAR letter........:rotfl: