Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Of course, in the wrong hands that could result in customers being refused mortgages or life insurance.
The Herald: A picture of something chillingly Orwellian
Imagine a world where the government knows where you are all the time. Imagine a world where a man you've never met knows you are about to get married before your beloved has even popped the question. Imagine a world where you can be refused a mortgage or life insurance because someone has mislaid or sold your personal details.
These aren't scare stories. There are already hundreds of sites selling medical histories and other sensitive data.
I try to protect my privacy by shredding mail, refusing loyalty cards and always ticking the box on forms refusing permission to share my details.
What's the point when the new information superhighway is a two-way street between government and the commercial world, with my personal details moving along it in both directions?
2 Comments
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1. cornishman said...
In my experience, it is always the bullies who have weedled their way into undeserved positions of authority who are most worried about the ordinary people and their tittle-tattle.
2. paul said...
How to get the most out of the credit reference system and turn its failings into your financial gain*
1. Understand that, the credit reference system is riddled with systemic failings, procedural shortcomings, and devoid of any due diligence.
2. Banks are not obliged to share credit information with credit reference agencies, and many don't.
3. Banks almost never share credit "white data" (evidence that you have paid on time) with credit reference agencies, because doing so would enable you to move your shiny credit history thus jeopardizing their hold on you as a customer.
4. The Data Protection Act 1998 states that credit reference agencies are obliged to update records (for example of when you appear on the electoral register) "as required". In reality they update them only once a year automatically, or on a case-by-case basis when you write to ask for your credit file from the agency (of course!). Under the DPA1998, this laissez-faire attitude to updating customer records is illegal (a civil offence).
Therefore, if you are ever refused credit in a bank and you believe that it is because a credit reference agency has got something wrong about you, follow this procedure:
1. Always ask the bank for a printed record of the information that the credit reference agency has provided to them (on screen or electronically) which they have used to make the decision. The bank will tell you that they don't hold the information, and that you should write to the credit reference agency. Do not do this. Be insistent. Explain that there are often disparities created by the methods which reference agencies use to update records, and that if there is an unresolved disparity because of this factor, then the agency may have committed an offence under the DPA which must be investigated. Remind them that witholding personal information from a data subject is also illegal, so they should hand the printout over immediately.
2. Once the bank hands over the printout/printout of the screenshot, apply to the Information Commissioner with the complaint of a breach of the DPA1998, and write to the reference agency requesting an out of court settlement for the offence they have committed.
3. PROFIT!
* I am not a lawyer, and this information was accurate 3 years ago (and almost certainly still is).