The legality of a water company sharing your data with a CRA when you've never signed a contract

[Deleted User]

TurningANewLeaf wrote: »

When I question the data the CRA are holding on me, and they then look into it and ask the water company that the data they hold on me is accurate, the water company no longer have a legitimate interest in sharing that data, there is no legal basis for them at this point to legitimately confirm or deny or share or communicate any data about me with a CRA the moment that debt is paid and account closed, so the CRA will not have a leg to stand on when it comes to keeping that information on me when their source (the water company) can no longer back up what they originally claimed.

Your arguments are getting worse and getting circular.

The water company have shared data about factual events that happened. Paying your debt doesn't change the factual events that occurred during a time that the water company had a legitimate interest and when you ask the CRA to check the data is correct then the water company will confirm the data they shared was correct at that time. It doesn't matter whether they have a legitimate interest right now.

The CRA then has a legitimate ground to continue to hold that data on the basis of
"Promoting responsible lending and helping to prevent over-indebtedness"

If you don't believe the good advice you are getting here then by all means try it out in court.

TurningANewLeaf

[Deleted User] wrote:

I think you'll benefit from reading the privacy policy of any organisation you have interactions with before making a fool of yourself in court by quoting random bits of GDPR and claiming loopholes.

I'd only be a fool if or when I can't counter the counter. Which I believe I have done.


Under what basis is there a legitimate interest or legal interest in a water company continuing to share data about me after the account is paid, settled and closed?


Here is Anglian Water's Privacy Notice (the relevant bits I believe)


Why do we need to collect and use your personal data/the legal basis for using your data



The law requires that we have a specific legal basis to process your personal data.

The majority of the processing that we undertake is carried out on the basis that it is needed to enable us to comply with legal obligations or to pursue our legitimate interests. These activities include:

• providing you with services - no longer applies
  
• sharing data with our regulators - irrelevant to this, but okay, share whatever data you want with the regulators
• making improvements to our service - irrelevant to this but okay
• ensuring that we make appropriate decisions about payment methods (responsible lending) - no longer applies
• recovering money that is owed to us for the services that we supply - no longer applies
• preventing fraud and crime, and managing our business. - no longer applies

Who do we share the data with?

We may share your personal data with third parties for a variety of reasons. These third parties include credit reference agencies for credit references and fraud prevention - no longer necessary, debt collection agencies for debt recovery purposes - no longer necessary, bodies such as the police when we have a legal obligation to make a disclosure -irrelevant, with our partner organisations for the purpose of providing you with services and with our regulators when we have a legal obligation to provide them with information. -irrelevant


https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/about-us/legal/privacy-notice/



So I think we've established they no longer have a legitimate interest in sharing the data (once the account is paid, settled and closed), therefore they either need to find a new legitimate interest which isn't already listed or they need my consent to share info with a CRA (which they're not getting). Failure to do this and the CRA have nothing left to back up their claims that I ever owed Anglian Water money and therefore are forced to erase my records.



At which point, the judge rules in my favour and calls me a superstar and a hero of the people :cool:

[Deleted User]

TurningANewLeaf wrote: »

Under what basis is there a legitimate interest or legal interest in a water company continuing to share data about me after the account is paid, settled and closed?

I answered this in my previous post but here is a reminder:

The water company have shared data about factual events that happened. Paying your debt doesn't change the factual events that occurred during a time that the water company had a legitimate interest and when you ask the CRA to check the data then the water company will confirm the data they shared was correct at that time. It doesn't matter whether they have a legitimate interest right now.

The CRA then has a legitimate ground to continue to hold that data on the basis of
"Promoting responsible lending and helping to prevent over-indebtedness"

If the data was shared at a time when they had legitimate interests, that right cannot be revoked retrospectively just because the company no longer have a legitimate interest. By asking the CRA to confirm their records with the water company, the water company are only confirming that the data they previously shared during a time of legitimate interest was indeed correct.

Putting that aside, the mere act of you asking the CRA to confirm the data is correct is actually giving both the CRA and the water company a new and seperate legitimate reason to process and share your data under their obligations to ensure any data they hold is correct.

Let me know how you get on in court :rotfl:

TurningANewLeaf

[Deleted User] wrote:

Your arguments are getting worse and getting circular.

The water company have shared data about factual events that happened. Paying your debt doesn't change the factual events that occurred during a time that the water company had a legitimate interest

Yes, 'had' past tense.

[Deleted User] wrote:

and when you ask the CRA to check the data is correct then the water company will confirm the data they shared was correct at that time.

And if they do, they will be in breach of GDPR and I will sue the living daylights out of them. It's important to bear in mind, and this is a key point, they need to have a legitimate interest, it doesn't say they need to have had a legitimate interest. Whether they have shared this data in the past or not is irrelevant, whether this data was factual or not is also besides the point, I'd be suing them for sharing past private data when they no longer have a legitimate interest.


Or as a preventative measure (which I don't imagine I would do), I could take out a High Court injunction preventing them sharing or communicating any data past or present. I mean I think I would just settle for suing them after the fact and claim my damages and compensation. :cool:

[Deleted User] wrote:

The CRA then has a legitimate ground to continue to hold that data on the basis of
"Promoting responsible lending and helping to prevent over-indebtedness"

They must ensure their data is accurate though, which they won't be able to without a legal means of sharing data with Anglian Water.

If you don't believe the good advice you are getting here then by all means try it out in court.

Oh believe you me I would, but Anglian Water have already caved several weeks back!

TurningANewLeaf

[Deleted User] wrote:

Putting that aside, the mere act of you asking the CRA to confirm the data is correct is actually giving both the CRA and the water company a new and seperate legitimate reason to process and share your data under their obligations to ensure any data they hold is correct.

Whether or not the CRA think they have a legitimate interest here to ask Anglian Water is besides the point as far as GDPR is concerned. They can ask Anglian water all they want. The issue would be the moment Anglian Water share that data at their request, when they have no legitimate interest left in doing so. None.


Just like I could ask your bank what your balance is, as long as I'm not claiming to be you or committing or intending to commit any fraud, there is no law stopping me from asking your bank to provide me with your details (or balance). I might feel I have a legitimate reason to ask, you might have given me permission to ask. The legal issue here would be the moment your bank divulged that information without your consent. It doesn't matter whether I had access to that account in the past, it's irrelevant, if you haven't given the bank consent then they can't divulge that information, regardless of whether you gave me permission to ask or told me to ask.

[Deleted User]

Stop being pedantic.

There’s no way around this or “loopholes”.

Sounding more and more like another poster on here with the exact same questions and mannerisms of posting.

MEM62

TurningANewLeaf wrote: »

Although my next question is what the hell is the point in the GDPR laws, apart from having to make you tick annoying boxes when you visit a new site, if you can do whatever you want with the data anyway with a small disclaimer?

GDPR is to prevent misuse of your personal data. In this case your data was used correctly. Although a powerful piece of legislation, most peoples knowledge of GDPR is limited to what they read in the press and that gives a false impression of how it works in practice. Anyone expecting GDPR to be a tool for avoiding paying their debts will be disappointed as that is a legitimate use of personal data and your acceptance of those conditions will be included in any agreements that you enter into.

TurningANewLeaf

!!! wrote: »

Stop being pedantic.

There’s no way around this or “loopholes”.

Sounding more and more like another poster on here with the exact same questions and mannerisms of posting.

Gary, in my experience, there are almost always "loopholes" and ways around things. But most people don't bother, because it takes hard work, research, guile, wits, persistence. Then people get put off because they have people telling them that it can't be done, then they might make one phone call and get rejected and give up on the first hurdle and just accept the turd that has been thrown at them.

I mean if there are any kids reading this at home, then my best advice would be "don't get yourself into a mess in the first place" because believe you me, it takes a lot more work to clean up a mess than it does to stay on top of things and not make a mess in the first place. But we are humans, sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen, and sometimes we compound our mistakes during these dire times. But never give up the fight!


As for the other poster that apparently sounds similar to me, as I said in another post, you're 100% barking up the wrong tree here! I've never had an account before this one, and this is my one and only account.