Subject Access Request

durali

Do banks and credit card companies keep records going back more than 6 years?


Would a Subject Access Request cover from 2007?


I read on here that someone had managed to get the company to research as far back as 1990s


Thank you

[Deleted User]

It depends on how much data they hold and their retention policies.

A SAR covers everything they hold.

The_squirrell

Deleted_User wrote: »

It depends on how much data they hold and their retention policies.

A SAR covers everything they hold.

Absolutely! Someone won't have "managed" to do anything. Different firms hold personal information for different periods of time. Different products will also have different retention periods. A firm can decide on longer periods if they wish to do so and these periods will generally be published on websites and within Privacy Notices. All firms have an obligation to remove data when they have no reason to hold it. They risk a substantial fine for not doing this!

It is a common misconception that data is held and not revealed. If it is not held, then there is nothing to provide...unless of course us as consumers have decided to keep old documents which we can then provide for review / evidence

sun73

The_squirrell wrote: »

Absolutely! Someone won't have "managed" to do anything. Different firms hold personal information for different periods of time. Different products will also have different retention periods. A firm can decide on longer periods if they wish to do so and these periods will generally be published on websites and within Privacy Notices. All firms have an obligation to remove data when they have no reason to hold it. They risk a substantial fine for not doing this!

It is a common misconception that data is held and not revealed. If it is not held, then there is nothing to provide...unless of course us as consumers have decided to keep old documents which we can then provide for review / evidence

I beg to differ. Three different lenders have previously told me they had no data on any of my accounts and when I have written back to them a couple of years later, the information was made available.

Maybe there is a lot of stuff still deeply archived that many lenders are gradually transferring to their more up to date systems.

So it’s probably true to say they aren’t deliberately concealing data but it doesn’t seem fair to inform customers, especially with the PPI deadline approaching, there is no data when it may still exist in another format.

[Deleted User]

sun73 wrote: »

I beg to differ.

The Regulator only requires that lenders provide SAR information that a reasonably competent temp would be able to locate. The fact that subsequent updates of their systems allowed some banks to "find" information for you personally that they previously could not, is hardly relevant to someone making such a request today just one month before the deadline. In your case(s), you were relentless in your pursuit of these details-today's complainants no longer have that luxury.

In fact, since banks are allowed four weeks to comply with a Subject Access Request (SAR), it might well be argued that SARs are already irrelevant with regard PPI complaints..

The_squirrell

Its a very complicated subject. As Moneyineptitude says there are all sorts of factors involved and I will still wholeheartedly stand by my quote that data is not hidden deliberately.
Some data may have been held in old systems that has now been successfully reinstated. Some old files may have been discovered. Some data held by a company that has merged with another may now be available. Firms have to disclose what they know is there. It may have been in the case mentioned above, that the firms simply did not know or were unable to locate it. At the end of the day, they cannot provide what they cannot see.

There are so many other factors that come into play, but believe me having spent seven solid days working on one Subject Access Request recently, firms look in every location that they know of or have reasonable access to.