Barclays and their DCA breach the GDPR?

[Ihaterbs]

An outstanding overdraft was settled on May 14th 2019, final statement shows zero balance On the 05th June 2019 Barclays outsourced the pre May 14th Balance to Arvato. On the 09th June a letter was recieved from their DCA for the outstanding balance to be paid. The disclosure to a third party showing a debt was still payable and the fact contact was made for payment caused distress and embarassment.

Barclays and Arvato are both now investigating my complaint.

[Amethyst]

When you say an outstanding overdraft was settled do you actually mean you paid it off ( full and final settlement agreement or in full) it just shows marked as settled in the Barclays file because they sold it on?

[Ihaterbs]

When you say an outstanding overdraft was settled do you actually mean you paid it off ( full and final settlement agreement or in full) it just shows marked as settled in the Barclays file because they sold it on?

Yes the balance was written off as a gesture of goodwill on the 14th May and the account closed. The balance pre 14th May was then outsourced for collection to Arvato on the 05th June.

My letter to Barclays is below.

Dated 17 June 2019

On the 15th May 2019, my account was closed with an end balance of zero.

On the 04th June 2019 my personal details, including an incorrect account balance of - Ł****** was shared with a debt collection agency called Arvato Financial Solutions Ltd. Barclays disclosed the said data without my consent. Article 7, Recital 32 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) requires that data controllers obtain a data subjects valid consent before sharing their personal data.

The banks lawful basis for sharing in my situation would be either consent, legitimate interest or the performance of a contract.

The consent basis has already been dealt with and is invalid as per above. The performance of a contract doesn’t get off the ground as it ceased to exist after the account was closed, and any legitimate interest fails as the purpose to share would be to recover an outstanding balance.

In addition to the foregoing, the bank continues to register an incorrect balance on my credit file after giving me assurance that it would be removed on the first of February 2019. The incorrect data continues to cause damage.

The disclosure was unlawful and has caused stress, anxiety and embarrassment, accordingly I seek moral damages pursuant Article 82 GDP.

In the event you deny breach I will submit a claim to the ICO and seek damages through the court.

I require your response within 14 days.


Yours Sincerely

[Ihaterbs]

My letter to Arvato.


Dear Mrs/miss


On the 5^th June 2019 Arvato Financial Solutions Ltd received incorrect data from Barclays Bank PLC, which consisted of my name, address and an outstanding balance which remained payable to your client. I have recently read Arvato’s privacy notice which sets out your lawful basis for processing personal data.

My complaint is as follows.

Your privacy notice states that the purpose for processing personal data and the reason for “contacting you” is to arrange repayment of “your outstanding balance”, and the legal basis for processing is ‘for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party to”

On the 14^th May 2019 the balance was settled and my contract ended. It appears you accepted my personal data without requesting strict proof that either a balance was payable or a contract was performing.

You stated earlier that Arvatos accepts data from Barclays in good faith and that you have no other policies in place to avoid data breach. I suggest you implement a policy that requires your client to provide you with up to date bank statements as your system is clearly defective.

I hold both Arvato and Barclays joint responsible for the distress and embarrassment that has emminated from the data breach and require compensation pursuant Article 82. Should you circumvent my complaint and/or deny data breach I shall submit a complaint to the ICO.


Yours Sincerely

[Amethyst]

the balance was written off as a gesture of goodwill on the 14th May and the account closed

You have this confirmed in writing by Barclays?

the bank continues to register an incorrect balance on my credit file after giving me assurance that it would be removed on the first of February 2019.

So there is some history - is this issue in Feb directly related to the agreement to write off ?

[Ihaterbs]

Yes the balance should have been written off in February and the credit file updated to show a settled account.

[Ihaterbs]

Barclays have continued to record the overdraft as active since 2008 on the credit file which shows late payments. I argued that the overdraft should have been removed in 2014 as it was statute barred. The bank disagreed. Although the overdraft is now showing settled the data continues to damage the file as settled accounts remain for a further six years after settlement.

[Ihaterbs]

The bank are to respond to me letter/email below no later than tomorrow the 26/01/2021.



Barclays BanK PLC,
Leicester
LE87 2BB

Dated 21/01/2021

Ref:
Ref:

To whom it may concern.

On the 25th February 2008 I received a letter advising that I was in an unauthorised overdraft position and if I failed to comply with a balance reduction plan the bank may demand full payment of the outstanding balance.

On the 21st August 2008 I was served with a statutory termination notice pursuant Section 76(1) and 98(1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 stating that on 05th September 2008 the bank was to terminate the agreement.

It is accepted that if a person fails to settle their account after receiving a termination notice the bank is entitled to register a default on the their credit file.

However, instead of registering a default the bank registered the account as a status 6, which shows that payments are 6 months in arrears. The ICO’s Technical Guidance on filing defaults with credit reference agencies states that. A record showing a series of payments as six months in arrears when this does not reflect the real payment history should not be used as an equivalent of a default.

The filing of a status 6 instead of a default meant that damage to my credit status was not just restricted to 6 years, the damage continued and consequently both myself and partner have had applications for credit rejected.

The bank has admitted that had it followed due process and registered a default the same would have fallen of my credit file in 2014. I therefore allege that the bank negligently filed incorrect data with the credit reference agencies, the consequence of which has resulted in damage to my credit status/worthiness and reputation. The damage has extended to my partners credit status by association.

The processing of my data is neither fair nor is it accurate. The bank has breached the First and Fourth Principle of the Data Protection 1998, the First and fourth Principle GDPR (2018 DPA). The bank has been negligent, failed in its duty of care, failed to to abide by the FCAs principle 6, “treating customers fairly”, and has disregarded the ICO’s technical guidance on filing defaults with credit reference agencies.

In order to satisfy my grievance and pursuant Article 17, 82 GDPR respectively, I require the immediate erasure of the incorrect data on my credit file and compensation in line with Durkin V DSG & another for the damage the same has caused as outlined above.

Please accept my permission for Mr Paul Walton to deal with the matter on my behalf.

Yours Faithfully