re 6ft goons

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sorry its been a while. in answer to the last posting . we can not for the life of us remember what if anything we signed in 1996. the debt is in my partners name only as it was his previous address before we got together. we sent a 2 page reply to the person in question from the loss recover department at TSB questioning the contact in 96 and she has bluffed it off by saying that she only took over in dec 2000. my partner had also sent a letter to the data protection department and the sent us a form back anyone have any idea which code he should put in this form as it has a few to choice from i am going to go to the website for the dpr to see if that makes things any clearer also do you have to pay £10 for every sar u serve. oh and guess what she sent with her reply a damn earnings form :) hes not going to fill it in until we have all the relevant info from them

-- wendy rossell (wendyjr@hotmail.com), January 13, 2001

Answers

If I have read this right, the lender has tried to limit your rights to access your personal data, which is probably (in my opinion) an infringement of the Data Protection Act. I would complain to the Data Protection Commissioner (details below) as an Assessment in your favour can only strengthen your position; this is because lenders who are uncooperative do not want unhelpful behaviour to be revealed in court because this may cost them money, and money is what it is all about for them.

If I were you, I would send in my £10 (you do not need to send any more), as a postal order, and word your accompanying letter such that you clearly ask for *ALL* the data held on you. I might say: 'Please provide all the data you hold on me in every category, in all forms covered by the terms of Act, such as files, letters, word processed documents, accounts, spreadsheets, databases, internal emails, external emails, CCTV [thank you Mark Thomas!], notes, memos, reports, and any other document and data source in your systems.' You could also ask them to consider supplying material held in manual filing systems, as they'll have to supply it from October 2001 anyway once the transitional DPA arrangements are finished.

The lender is obliged to provide the data in an intelligible form, e.g. explain all codes and abbreviations. Complain if they don't (and ask for an Assessment). Complain if they try to overcharge you (and ask for an Assessment).

The lender must provide the data within 40 days of receiving your request and your fee. Head the request 'Serving a Subject Access Rights Notice'. Give all your addresses for the period in question (give at least six years' worth).

The DPC - you need to ask specifically for an 'Assessment'. The e-mail address for first contact is: mail@dataprotection.gov.uk

all best.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), January 14, 2001.


thank you for that very useful information he will be sending that off tomorrow registered post. In the 2nd letter quote :" we have a period of six years following the sale to make contact with the former borrowers and inform them of the loss.I note that in this instance, the property was sold in dec 1993 and contact was established with you in june 1996, well within the time limit." is this true? to my knowledge he has never admitted liability on the grounds that in his opinion the house was sold to cheaply. the debt is now eight years old does the statute of limitations still apply?

-- wendy rossell (wendy.jane@ntlworld.com), January 16, 2001.

Wendy,

Thank you for your email to myself; as I always say, I do respond via Q&A because it's very much an 'opinion board', so we all know where we stand, and if any of these opinions are actually of any use then it/they may just help someone else too.

My understanding is that when you write to the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) you just register a complaint. If, however, you would like to DPC actually to investigate the complaint, you need to ask for an 'Assessment'. The DPC obviously has a lot or work to do, and it would prefer people to sort out glitches with the information provider directly, but I think that where a lot of people are having a lot of problems with lenders, then we are entitled to ask for Assessments because these patterns of problems *must* be brought out into the open and the DPC's attention needs to be brought to bear on this issue.

This costs you nothing.That is, it is a public service, paid for by you/us, the taxpayers.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), January 20, 2001.


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