Data Protection Act

[CAJ1]

I have requested, under the Data Protection Act, that any information held, regarding me, by a certain company be forwarded on to me. I know they have 40 days to comply but this is now up and I have not had any response, what do I do now?

[Mamjet]

Why do you want this info? Have you broke the law?

[CAJ1]

No, I haven't broken the law! I just want to see how they got info on me and what information they hold as I have never given them any info and don't like to think any tom dick and harry is being passed details about me

[Mamjet]

You sound paranoid. Maybe that's the area you should be focusing on.

[CAJ1]

I'm not paranoid, they are asking me for money but are unable to supply the proof I owe any money to them or anyone else, therefore, I want to see where they got the information from and what they have to back up their claims.

[aka pixi]

hi CAJ, theres a link here to the rules. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/Acts1998/ukpga_199 80029_en_3#pt2-l1g7

hope you find what you are looking for :)

[4GS]

Taken from the Act:
6. What if my request is refused?

Organisations are allowed to refuse your request if:

* disclosing the information would also mean giving out information about someone else, or identifying them as the source of confidential information. (In this situation, the organisation is not obliged to grant your request unless the other person has consented to their information being disclosed, or it is reasonable in the circumstance to answer the request without their consent.)
* disclosing the information would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

Certain health, education or social work records are also exempt, as well as confidential references supplied by the organisation.

If you believe your request has been refused wrongly, you should contact the Information Commissioner's Office for further advice.

Website for Information Commissioner's Office:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/

[CAJ1]

Thanks very much aka pixi and 4GS, thats exactly what I was looking for :-)

[4GS]

Happy to help
Good luck

[aka pixi]

hi again, I just read your last post.

Theres quite a few scams going round that rely on folks paying up without question. The companys just stall and stall the person and keep on sending out 'you owe us this....' letters and threatening court action.

If you are being asked for money from someone claiming to be a credit company or debt collection agency and know for a fact you dont owe the money take a look at the letter they have sent you. The letter should have a registration number on. If you go to the Financial Services Authority website http://www.fsa.gov.uk/ theres a section somewhere where you can put in the registration number and it will tell you if this is a real company or not. If it isnt then phone the FSA on the number on the page and they will take down the details and track the company down.

I used to work in a finance company and every letter we sent out to customers that owed money had their name, customer number, account number(s) for the accounts money was owed on, the starting date and balance and the balance owed when the letter was sent out.

[CAJ1]

Thats exactly whats happened aka, I have my suspicions they're not a real company, they've threatened me and been quite nasty but not taken it a step further despite threatening baliffs and court. If they were for real they would have proof and would have taken me to court. I've also typed them in on google and a lot of people say they are a scam. I'll have a look at the letter when I get home to see if it has a number on it. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[RevFunk]

Basically just tell them to fork off and if you have one more call/letter off them you're off to trading standards.

[aka pixi]

You're welcome CAJ. Hope you get it all sorted out and like rev says just ignore them.

If they were a proper company and have been nasty or threatening this could wipe the debt off anyway. Under the Justice Act 1974 (I think thats what it is, its a few years since I worked in finance) it is illegal to bad mouth, threaten, get nasty etc when a debt is owed.