Government have lost millions child benefit bank details

spook

siren13577 wrote: »

I am delighted it in all probability means an end to ID cards.

I really hope so. It's going to be an uphill struggle for them to convince the electorate that the national ID card database is a good idea now.

Then again, people have short memories...

Paul_Herring

spook wrote: »

siren13577 wrote:

I am delighted it in all probability means an end to ID cards.

I really hope so. It's going to be an uphill struggle for them to convince the electorate that the national ID card database is a good idea now.

Then again, people have short memories...

I don't think it will happen like this.

More than likely, spin will be applied to this story to show how we need ID cards more than ever, to protect us from incidences where our personal details have been 'mislaid'.

Which totally ignores the fact that the details on the ID database will probably enter the public domain, which won't be mentioned.

At all.

No siree.

James

Re ID Cards,

Last night on Question Time first question out was all about the HMRC data breach fiasco. Wendy Alexander in defense of ID cards, said she'd like to be able to prove she was who she said she was.

I would suggest to Wendy that it's much easier and cheaper to deter someone else pretending to be you, without the need for government run databases, and little change to the present system. This would be a no cost exercise to the public, whereas ID Cards may cost every man, woman and child, somewhere in the region of between £60 to £100 each.

bockster

Regarding adding a thumbprint to your credit file,

just found this:- https://equifaxuk.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/equifaxuk.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=213&p_created=1170080913&p_sid=J6UVzZsi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0xMDUmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT02&p_li=&p_topview=1

which says you need to supply your credit report ref number by applying for a copy of my credit report,along with you notice of correction. is this neccessary?
i would rather see my credit report in a few weeks time, hopefully when the notice of correction has been added. just in case of any illicit activity between viewing a credit report and the noc being added.

thanks in advance.
bockster

James

You don’t need to obtain your credit file prior to sending Thumbprint Notice of Correct Letters to the Credit Reference Agencies.

If you haven’t recently viewed you Credit Files it is advisable and Equifax make this easy (above link). You may have to use some of the 200 allocated NOC words to comment on something in your file. (What is a Notice of Correction – details here).

What happens is when you download the FREE NOC letters from the www.freeidprotection.co.uk website and send them to the Credit Reference Agencies. The agencies append your NOC instruction to your files and confirm this in writing. You will receive confirmation by return of post, although updating the Credit File databases can take anything from a few to 28 days.

Be warned though. If you do use this system, you won’t be refused credit, (if anything it makes you less of a risk), but NOC’s means your application will be processed manually therefore could take slightly longer. A small price to pay for piece of mind.

From Martin's latest article:

ID Fraud: Second, fraudsters may apply for products using your identity. To help spot this, regularly check your credit reference files.

Unfortunately Martin hasn't looked at Thumbprinting yet. Because if you spot something untoward on your files then it's too late. You will have to do a lot a chasing and possibly trying to prove it wasn't you who, for example submitted a store card application.

Thumbprinting deters application fraud better than anything around and proves that a victim didn't submit the fraudulent application.

Hope this explains things.

chrisj71

Given the thousands spent by banks and the possible millions of taxpayers money spent on educating us about ID theft, this is incredulous!

Surely the government is guilty of negligence and a lawsuit from millions of people is due! If a private organisation or company had released this information they would be guilty of negligence and breaking the data protection act.

Should we be compensated for having to now be extra vigilant with our bank statements?

As another user said, this is the government we should be trusting our biometric and national ID's to?!

scottishfreebiehunter

Got a letter today from Revenue and Customs saying all my details including NI Number were amongst those lots super :mad::mad:

Llyllyll

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7111056.stm

The quote below is taken from that article:

Meanwhile, accountancy firm Grant Thomson has warned that the loss could be repeated if plans to reshape HMRC, including "slashing its funding and staff", continued. Francesca Lagerberg, head of the company's tax office, said the "hard-pushed" department was "being asked to provide more for less".

Many have suggested that contracting out any aspect of government work and/or information would be foolhardy...

The_Economist

scottishfreebiehunter wrote: »

Got a letter today from Revenue and Customs saying all my details including NI Number were amongst those lots super :mad::mad:

Is everyone going to get a letter. Does it give any advice on what you should do now and in the future. I wanna now what and how they are gonna protect our kids. When things like this happen it frightens me to think that they are still pushing for the extention on holding suspected terrorists for long periods of time as now any one could be at risk because of the amount of information that has been lost and could be used in ID fraud if the infomation falls into the wrong hands.

mr_mallon

Someone beat me to the petition thing, mine was worded slightly differently but this one has the basic feeling.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/HMRCBlunder/