Data protection breach

maggs74

Hi all. I’m in need of some advice. 10 months ago my grandmother passed away, as she lived in her care home her property has been rented out for the past few years. When she passed away I opened a new joint bank account with my brother. This account is used to collect the rent until the will has been sorted. The appointment with the bank was done over the phone due to covid restrictions. We decided to open this account with Lloyds as I already had a classic account with them. Yesterday I MY account went overdrawn my a small amount. I revived a text message to inform me but was shocked to learn my brother also received a text !! I called the bank and discovered that the bank have added him to my account not the new account !!!!
I went into branch and told them what happened. Obviously I am furious to discover that my brother has had access to this account since October 2020 and also has a card linked to it !!! 

This is a massive breach of data protection rules. 

I was unaware of the situation until now as I don’t have paper statements with the names of each account holder on. When I log in to the internet banking it just tells me the name of each account ,ie classic, and the account number, not who is named on each account. 

Straight away I was offered £200 compensation. I’ve told them I’ll think about over the weekend but to be honest I am furious that this has happened and I feel this is a quick offer to shut me up.
what would you do? Any advice appreciated 

General_Grant

I'd save my time and angst and take the £200.
And ask my brother to cut up the debit card and make sure he is added to the correct account.
If not already confirmed, ensure Lloyds have removed him from your sole account.
TSB should be informing the ICO of any breach.

maggs74

They’re telling me to add him to the account we need to have another appointment that both of us attend. This is easier said than done as we do not live close to each other. The original appointment was made on day of grandmothers funeral as that was only day we knew we’d be together. 

colsten

General_Grant said:

TSB should be informing the ICO of any breach.

I don't think you mean TSB. The issue arose with Lloyds.

colsten

maggs74 said:

They’re telling me to add him to the account we need to have another appointment that both of us attend. This is easier said than done as we do not live close to each other. The original appointment was made on day of grandmothers funeral as that was only day we knew we’d be together. 

Just open an account with a company that doesn't require personal appointments.

Starling Bank, for instance. Each of you needs to open a sole account in their name first - takes about 5 minutes. Then another 5 minutes to make the joint account. https://www.starlingbank.com/current-account/joint-bank-account/

And yes, take your £200 from Lloyds, and make sure they have un-jointed your account.

You can also switch your spare Lloyds account for £125 to Nationwide. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6290595/new-nationwide-switch-both-new-and-existing

eskbanker

maggs74 said:

This is a massive breach of data protection rules.

Not really - it was a single simple human error to link your brother to the wrong account, and everything else has followed on from that.  It shouldn't have happened of course, and the fact that they've recognised this and offered compensation sounds an appropriate response, but massive breaches of data protection rules would typically be deliberate acts, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and/or causing tangible financial losses.

There's nothing to stop you trying to negotiate more but maybe worth reading how the financial ombudsman would assess this sort of thing if it got that far, in terms of the scale that they'd use, this clearly being at the bottom end:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/expect/compensation-non-financial-loss

You could refer it to the ICO instead, but IMHO they'd also see this as a minor issue in the general scheme of things and (unlike FOS) aren't in a position to get the bank to increase a compensation offer.

badger09

IF (very big IF) I were in OP's position, I would be directing my fury at my brother, rather than Lloyds. 

Strange brother who lets you know he's received a text saying 'your' account is overdrawn, but didn't think to tell you he's been using what is apparently your sole account for several months, and has now caused it to be overdrawn.

Also strange that OP hasn't checked her own account once since October.

eskbanker

badger09 said:

IF (very big IF) I were in OP's position, I would be directing my fury at my brother, rather than Lloyds. 

Strange brother who lets you know he's received a text saying 'your' account is overdrawn, but didn't think to tell you he's been using what is apparently your sole account for several months, and has now caused it to be overdrawn.

OP didn't say that the overdraft was caused by the brother or that he'd been using the account at all?

ItsComingRome

maggs74 said:

Straight away I was offered £200 compensation. I’ve told them I’ll think about over the weekend but to be honest I am furious that this has happened and I feel this is a quick offer to shut me up.
what would you do? Any advice appreciated 

I'd bite their hands off at £200 when the breach was merely telling your brother your account was overdrawn.

maggs74

badger09 said:

IF (very big IF) I were in OP's position, I would be directing my fury at my brother, rather than Lloyds. 

Strange brother who lets you know he's received a text saying 'your' account is overdrawn, but didn't think to tell you he's been using what is apparently your sole account for several months, and has now caused it to be overdrawn.

Also strange that OP hasn't checked her own account once since October.

He hasn’t been using the account. And he didn’t cause it to go overdrawn, I did. I got a text informing me of this and so did he. 

I check my accounts every day but as I’ve already said neither of us get paper statements and the banking app does not give names of people names on separate accounts. The new account, which should have been made the joint one, is only used to collect rent from grandmother property and to pay a landlord insurance monthly. 

maggs74

ItsComingRome said:

maggs74 said:

Straight away I was offered £200 compensation. I’ve told them I’ll think about over the weekend but to be honest I am furious that this has happened and I feel this is a quick offer to shut me up.
what would you do? Any advice appreciated 

I'd bite their hands off at £200 when the breach was merely telling your brother your account was overdrawn.

I feel the breach was giving my brother access to the account and issuing a debit card for said account. Thankfully we’ve never had a need to use the card. As my brother doesn’t use internet banking he has never logged onto the account. If he had or if he’s used the card this would’ve come to light a lot sooner