Data Breach. How to deal with it? Legal Rights?

[PotterPotter]

Hello Legal Beagles,

On March 27th I received a text message from a company called Trusted Quid. This is loan company that I applied for a payday loan through.

In the text it stated that there had been a serious data breach and that I needed to visit their website and take action to protect myself. On the website it said that the data that had been stolen was names, date of birth, address, phone number, employment information, banking information and email address.

This data breach was confirmed on 3rd party websites.

I emailed them and asked for compensation for the sheer amount of information about me that they have leaked, it's a horrible feeling knowing that that amount of info about me has been stolen.

They responded and said that they would get back to me within 4 weeks. On April 3rd I received another email from them stating that I would receive a final response from them by April 25th.

Today I have emailed to see if there is any updates available on their 'investigation'. They have emailed back and stated that I can now expect a response within 8 weeks on my initial email. So they have now extended their response time by another 4 weeks.

I have this feeling that they are hoping that I am going to go away. I would like to know if there is anything I can do to push them to move quicker? Can I request any information from them that they are bound by law to sent to me by a certain date?

Thank you for reading this.
Best Wishes.

[jaguarsuk]

Hello Legal Beagles,

On March 27th I received a text message from a company called Trusted Quid. This is loan company that I applied for a payday loan through.

In the text it stated that there had been a serious data breach and that I needed to visit their website and take action to protect myself. On the website it said that the data that had been stolen was names, date of birth, address, phone number, employment information, banking information and email address.

This data breach was confirmed on 3rd party websites.

I emailed them and asked for compensation for the sheer amount of information about me that they have leaked, it's a horrible feeling knowing that that amount of info about me has been stolen.

They responded and said that they would get back to me within 4 weeks. On April 3rd I received another email from them stating that I would receive a final response from them by April 25th.

Today I have emailed to see if there is any updates available on their 'investigation'. They have emailed back and stated that I can now expect a response within 8 weeks on my initial email. So they have now extended their response time by another 4 weeks.

I have this feeling that they are hoping that I am going to go away. I would like to know if there is anything I can do to push them to move quicker? Can I request any information from them that they are bound by law to sent to me by a certain date?

Thank you for reading this.
Best Wishes.

The 8 week time frame is the standard time set by the Financial Ombudsman Service for financial companies to deal with complaints or else it can be escalated to them. Their complaints department will be so used to dealing with that timescale that they are using it in this instance.

I wouldn't worry, but hold them to the 8 weeks.

[PotterPotter]

Thank you for the info, I didn't know about the 8 weeks.

I will sit tight and wait to see what they say.

I will post here when they do, in case anyone is in a similar situation.

Thanks again.

[PotterPotter]

Well they got back to me last week, the response they had was just a load of old twoddle about how they are dealing with the incident and that I should let my bank know about it so that they can keep an eye out for suspicious behavior, they say that this was their final decision.

I have managed to track down the contact details of one the directors for the company. I really want to contact him and let him know about this situation....however, I am worried about doing this - confession time:

When I applied for the loan with this company, I wasn't totally honest on the application form. I think I lied about my job, income, also they are referring to me as Mrs (I am not married) so I suppose I must have said I was married, although I do not remember that.

I am worried that they could take serious issue with the fact that I was untruthful on my application form. I was never approved for a loan though, but it is still fraudulent to lie on an application.

So taking this into account, am I best just leaving it?

Thank you :-)