Advice re non-compliance on SAR

[magiciansgirl]

Hi, would be grateful for advice. In September last year I sent an SAR to the brokers who sold me a sub-prime loan in 2006; I believe a secret commission has been paid to them by the lender. Also I should not have been sold a sub-prime, secured loan as my credit was okay at the time, but I knew no better...

I chased after 40 days and they replied saying 'not received' (hmmm, the letter was signed for but the £10 cheque not cashed). Began again and letter also signed for, then did an LBA and the seven days are now up. Cheque again uncashed.

I've read that the Information Commissioners are overwhelmed and that the best thing now is to issue a claim through the County Court. I am not exactly seeking damages though, just proof that they were paid a secret commission to help my case with the lender, and my postage and admin costs. Will the court therefore think I should go via the ICO complaints system?

If best to go the court route, do I use the N1 form and how do I choose a court - just my nearest? Also I cannot now get a number for the broker at all to ask for the Data Controller/Compliance Officer's name, but I do have the name of a senior director. Will that do?

Sorry this is a bit long....

[Amy]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

Personally, I would go the court route.

You need to file an N1 in the usual way, but you must sue for a sum of money - usually around £35 or your claim will become a Part 8 Claim and therefore be allocated automatically to the multi-track.

You need to make this clear when you file.

See here for more information, read from post #5.
Legal Beagles

[magiciansgirl]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

Thanks Amy. Well I've clocked up £10.97 in postage so far, and time costs of £31.50 @ £9.00 an hour so that's a start.

Kind regards, MG

[Amy]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

You're welcome.

You don't need to work out your costs though, just sue for £35. You also get your filing fee back.

[Glenn UK]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

Something else you need to do is to ask the court to force them to give you your documents or to enter a declaration into court that they don't have them.

the idea is that if the courts decide you are wasting their time they might award costs against you despite it being a small claim.

if they do try this then you have the argument that the costs are minimal given they could simply have entered a statement into court.

i am suire that someone on CAG got stung for costs during a dpa claim despite being in the SCC

If you want ill look out my POC for a Sec 7 claim under the DPA.

Glenn

[magiciansgirl]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

Thanks for this. In fact I have today been considering adding a claim for the commission to the claim for the SAR. Facts are as follows; I requested a statement of account from the lender and received some information I don't think they meant to send me. It states that they paid a broker fee of £2000 when I took out the loan. I knew about this. Then two months later they paid the broker another £2887. This latter sum has been rolled up with the loan itself. I'm totally up to date with loan repayments etc but not in a position to pay it off yet. Don't want to rock the boat with the lender but feel the broker did not act in my best interests at all.

So I feel that this undisclosed commission should be repaid to me and in effect it is a bribe. I believe this is why the SAR has failed; they don't want to answer my questions.
Still don't know which court to go to; nearest one? Any help gratefully received and yes would be most interested to see your POC. Kind regards, MG

[Glenn UK]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

Ill dig out my POC as soon as i can, re the reason for non-compliance, don't read anything in to their failure.

you could be right, but then again it seems rare for most companies to actually comply with their duties.

They generally send what they want to send rather than what you ask for.

In my case the co-op bank (who i took to court under sec 7 DPA) clearly had information which they couldn't be bothered to provide, in the end i ended up with data covering a nine year span, rather than the initial 18 months they sent me.

Glenn

[magiciansgirl]

Re: Advice re non-compliance on SAR

Thanks very much. Kind regards, MG