Putting a block on mail from banks/building societies

meatandtwoveg

Hello,

I have a question, i was in conversation with a friend tonight, we were talking about all the [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] the banks and building societies send you, and how it could go missing in the post, or be sent to your old address; so discussed the security issues etc, identity theft.

By this i mean would it not be correct if you could make the decision on whether you wanted to recieve, a monthly/yearly statement, and all the other rubbish they send you. If you have several accounts like many on here you could end up recieving a large maount of correspodence from all of the savings institutions you have accounts with?

Anyway, next he told me he was in a small building society today, and was told by the manager that there stands an FSA ruling that you must;

1) Make sure you tell your bank and building society of any change of address, should you not, then if your mail goes walkies, it is your fault?

Is this true, if it is, fair comment, no surprises there.

2) There stands an FSA law/ruling that you must recieve a yearly statement from you building society relating to your savings account? You CANNOT opt out of recieving any mail correspondence, say if you move around alot, or prefer not to recieve paper statements?

This i find hard to believe, is this true? I ask because if it is not i am going to write to this certain building society and ask why a certain manager is telling lies? I will not mention the name of the buildng society, only that it is one of the smaller ones. I do not want to spread bad publicity unless lies have been told to a customer from a manger.

Its about time building societies trained staff to relay information correctly to customers, some of the staff i have talked to seem to be trained to talk in one tone, sell sell sell, and if the customer asks a question, relate to the handbook, if that fails, get on the phone to head office?

Thanks.

ianmr65

Good post!!... and i'm not sure of the answer.
The things i worry about the most are credit card 'cheques'. They look like junk mail. they are junk mail. But if one falls into the wrong hands you could be snookered.

Also worrying the the royal mail's attitude to mail theft by it's own staff. which is mass denial. I had lots of stuff nicked by the postal workers when i lived in south london. The police didn't want to know, and the royal mail's attitude was pathetic.
I had a long discussion with barclays about entrusting the royal mail and other couriers, with credit cards, cheque books, confidential account information and passwords. There view is that there is no way round it. Tho they are disgusing cheque books better these days.

dougz_2

HSBC seem to have an option like this:
http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/green-option

Am I right in assuming you would have to be very thorough in downloading your statements to print or store for yourself, otherwise you could end up finding it difficult and/or expensive to retrieve your transaction history in future, especially if you move banks?

baby_boomer

The other communication you have to receive from building societies is the annual AGM bumpf and voting form. A few societies now give you the option of receiving this by e-mail.

IMHO the switch to electronic statements will mean even more "lost accounts".

Aegis

Call up the bank in question and ask to change your contact preferences to "do not contact" for all methods. Under the Data Protection Act they are only allowed to use your data for purposes you agree to, so if you revoke your permission you should see a noticeable drop-off in junk mail from them.

nicko33

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/Acts1998/ukpga_19980029_en_3

11 Right to prevent processing for purposes of direct marketing
(1) An individual is entitled at any time by notice in writing to a data controller to require the data controller at the end of such period as is reasonable in the circumstances to cease, or not to begin, processing for the purposes of direct marketing personal data in respect of which he is the data subject.

Meltdown_2

Aegis wrote: »

Under the Data Protection Act they are only allowed to use your data for purposes you agree to

Not true ... unfortunately

missile

Aegis wrote: »

Call up the bank in question and ask to change your contact preferences to "do not contact" for all methods. Under the Data Protection Act they are only allowed to use your data for purposes you agree to, so if you revoke your permission you should see a noticeable drop-off in junk mail from them.

This seems like a good idea, but NR for one seem to ignore such requests.

Like many I have closed my accounts. I noted on the online server - no contact and e mailed them to stop but I still get junk mail telling me about all their wonderful new rates etc.

debbie42

ianmr65 wrote: »

The things i worry about the most are credit card 'cheques'. They look like junk mail. they are junk mail. But if one falls into the wrong hands you could be snookered.

I used to get these for two ccs I have, but in the small print you could opt out by ringing a number. I did this mid last year and haven't received any since.

meatandtwoveg

meatandtwoveg wrote: »

1) Make sure you tell your bank and building society of any change of address, should you not, then if your mail goes walkies, it is your fault?

2) There stands an FSA law/ruling that you must recieve a yearly statement from you building society relating to your savings account? You CANNOT opt out of recieving any mail correspondence, say if you move around alot, or prefer not to recieve paper statements?

These two points really worry me, why, because of the attitude of staff, is;

"We never lose anything, its all kept in house" or " its all automated, we just cannot stop it, its out of our control, the machine tells us how to manage our business"

I said "If the goverment can lose your details, well i am sure a tin pot building society can have a good go"?


Anyway, i cannot believe that you cannot opt out of recieving any mail by way of paper post? Be interested to hear some comment?

If you move around alot, .i.e. in rented, mover to and from abroad, or share a letter box, then this is something that should be thought long and hard about, because this thing is only going to get worse, and it looks like as usual, those in charge are a sleep at the wheel?

Becarefull, but an end to unwanted paper mail.

missile

I get no statements/correspondence/junk mail from Nationwide or Cahot. I do get e mails with rate review notification.