Capital One Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – How Much Compensation Can I Claim? – Amounts For Capital One Data Breach
My Data Privacy Was Breached By Capital One, Could I Claim Compensation?
If you find yourself experiencing some sort of damage or harm as a result of a Capital One data breach, this article aims to guide you through the process of seeking compensation.
Provided that Capital One’s failings were directly responsible for your personal information being compromised, and you can prove the breach and harm caused, you could be able to make a claim against them for breaching data privacy and protection laws.
To give you a comprehensive understanding of how you could achieve this, we’ll attempt to answer some fundamental questions that you may have on the subject, such as:
- What does the term data describe and what does a data breach involve?
- What laws are in place to help ensure the privacy and protection of my data?
- What steps should I take in the wake of a data breach?
- How could I report a data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)?
- How much could I be entitled to as part of a data breach claim?
- Where could I find the best legal help for my case?
- How could a No Win No Fee agreement benefit me?
Making a claim can be a daunting task, particularly if you attempt to do so without legal help. If you’re worried that you could be hindering your claim’s chances of success, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team at Legal Expert today to see how we could help you secure the compensation that you deserve.
By getting in touch with us, one of our specialist advisors can give you a free consultation to see whether you have grounds to make a valid claim and offer you advice on how best to proceed. If you’re happy to, we can connect you with one of our solicitors who can save you the time and effort of making legal proceedings yourself and handle your case for you.
Given the sense of financial risk that’s often associated with making a claim, we always work on a No Win No Fee basis to ease any anxiety that you may be experiencing. In this way, you can have peace of mind that unless our solicitors win your compensation for you, you don’t have to pay them a penny.
So, whether you’re looking for some open and honest legal advice on your situation or you’d like to learn more about our solicitors’ services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our advisors about your data breach case today:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Fill in a contact form
- Email info@legalexpert.co.uk
- Use the chat window at the bottom of your screen
Select A Section
- A Guide To Customer Data Breach Claims Against Capital One
- What Is A Data Breach Claim Against Capital One?
- GDPR Requirements For The Protection Of Customer Data
- Details Of The Capital One Data Breach
- Could I Report A Breach Of My Private Or Financial Data To The ICO?
- How A Data Breach Victim May Be Compensated
- How Much Data Breach Compensation Could I Claim?
- How Do I Begin A Claim Against A Private Company Who Breached My Data Privacy
- Where To Find A Data Protection Law Solicitor
- No Win No Fee Customer Data Breach Claims Against Capital One
- Contact Us
- Where To Learn More
A Guide To Customer Data Breach Claims Against Capital One
Provided that Capital One’s failings were directly responsible for your personal information being compromised, you could be able to make a claim against them for breaching data privacy and protection laws.
To give you a comprehensive understanding of how you could achieve this, we’ll start this article by ensuring that you’re familiar with some key terms that we’ll make reference to across this guide, defining what data describes and what a data breach could involve.
We’ll then outline some key principles of proper data protection practice as established by legislation like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK’s Data Protection Act 2018. These should give you a clear understanding of how organisations are and are not permitted to interact with your data. In addition, this should help you determine whether the organisation in question acted unlawfully and could be held liable for your data breach.
Next, we’ll try to illustrate how a Capital One data breach could happen, discussing how one could be caused by no fault of your own. We’ll explore some common examples of things that could be responsible for a data breach, including cyber attackers targeting databases and simple instances of human error.
In addition, we’ll also include a real case of a Capital One data breach. The incident, which was one of the largest data breaches on record, left more than 100 million customers’ personal details vulnerable. We’ll examine how victims were affected and how the data breach was dealt with to give you an idea about what steps you could take in the wake of your own data breach.
Following this, we’ll offer some more advice about what to do in the wake of falling victim to a data breach. This includes contacting the company responsible to raise your concerns with them and reporting the data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), who could investigate the organisation’s liability to help evidence your claim against them.
Finally, we’ll present you with our top tips on how to give yourself the best chances of securing the compensation that you deserve. These include how to find the right solicitor to handle your case on your behalf and how entering into a No Win No Fee agreement could minimise any financial losses that you experience as a result of your data breach.
If you’re worried that you could be hindering your claim’s chances of success, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team at Legal Expert today to see how we could help you secure the compensation that you deserve. By getting in touch with us, one of our specialist advisors can give you a free consultation to see whether you have grounds to make a valid claim and offer you advice on how best to proceed.
So, whether you’re looking for some open and honest legal advice on your situation or you’d like to learn more about our solicitors’ services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our advisors about your data breach today.
Limitation Periods on Data Breach Claims
Did you know that there’s a time limit on when you can claim for a data breach? If you wait too long before making your claim, you risk missing this limitation period and losing the compensation you deserve.
- You have up to 6 years to make a data breach claim before the limitation period ends
- For data breach cases that involve a breach of human rights, you have only 1 year
Please take notice of these time limits as they could be the deciding factor as to whether you’re eligible for compensation or not. If you’re not sure whether you’re still within the relevant time limit needed to be able to claim, please speak to one of our specialist advisors today for a free consultation.
Like many other data breach cases, you may not be aware that your personal information has been compromised until you’re formally alerted. If a company suffers a data breach and there’s a possibility that you could be affected by it, they’re legally obliged to inform you of the incident within 72 hours.
However, data breaches can go undetected for long periods of time before they’re discovered. What’s more, the extent of the impact on the victims may not be immediately clear and it could take years to fully grasp the true consequences.
With this in mind, it’s always best to seek legal advice on your circumstances to get a better understanding of your situation. Therefore, please don’t hesitate to speak to one of our advisors today for a free assessment of your case.
What Is A Data Breach Claim Against Capital One?
We’ll start this article by ensuring that you’re familiar with some key terms that we’ll make reference to across this guide, defining what data describes and what a data breach could involve.
Data describes any of your personal information that has the ability to act as an identifier, such as:
- Name
- Address
- Contact details
- Bank or card details
If any of this personal information is handled in a way that you didn’t consent to, whether it’s accessed, altered, leaked or destroyed, then this is a security incident called a data breach.
A data breach can be a deliberate or accidental act but if a company is responsible for it and subsequently in breach of their duty of care to you, you could be entitled to make a claim against them. To learn more about how you could get the compensation that you deserve, please continue reading or speak to one of our advisors today.
GDPR Requirements For The Protection Of Customer Data
As mentioned above, if any of your personal information is handled in a way that you didn’t consent to, whether it’s accessed, altered, leaked or destroyed, this is illegal.
The UK’s Data Protection Act 2018 follows the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which helps establish key principles of proper data protection practice, including:
- The data subject (you) must actively consent to how and why your data can be interacted with before it’s collected
- Data can only be kept as long as is absolutely necessary
- Organisations must have secure systems of data protection in place to ensure safe storage
- Data must be updated regularly to ensure it doesn’t become outdated
If you’ve been harmed financially or psychologically by a Capital One data breach and can prove what happened, get in touch with one of our advisors today for a free specialist consultation to see whether you have grounds to make a valid claim.
Details Of The Capital One Data Breach
In this section, we’ll present a real case of a Capital One data breach. We’ll examine how victims were affected and how the data breach was dealt with to give you an idea about what steps you could take in the wake of your own data breach.
In July 2019, Capital One suffered one of the largest data breaches on record, which left more than 100 million customers’ personal details vulnerable. The breach compromised a variety of credit card applicants’ data including:
- Names
- Home addresses
- Social security numbers
- Bank account details
- Credit scores
- Transaction history
- Contact details
The breach was orchestrated by a solo hacker who gained access to the company’s databases by taking advantage of a weakness in their system. The hacker was a software engineer for technology companies and was arrested for the breach after being found bragging about the incident on social media. Once found guilty, the hacker was jailed and fined for their crimes.
In addition, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), an independent organisation responsible for regulating banking practices in the US, fined Capital One over £60million for their failures that allowed the data breach to occur.
Sources:
- www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49159859
- www.teiss.co.uk/capital-one-fined-data-breach
How Financial Services Companies Could Be In Breach Of Data Protection Rules
In this section, we’ll try to illustrate how a Capital One data breach could happen, discussing how one could be caused by no fault of your own. We’ll explore some common examples of things that could be responsible for a data breach, including cyber attackers targeting databases and incidents of human error.
When a data breach is the result of a cyber attack, as demonstrated in the section above, hackers typically infiltrate databases without authorisation in attempts to access personal information. Any data that they manage to acquire could be used as part of a ransom, sold on the dark web or even form part of an identity fraud crime.
Human error can also cause data breaches, with some examples including:
- Your data being missent to an unauthorised recipient
- Your data being left in view of an unauthorised party
- Your data being insecurely stored, leaving it unprotected
Whatever the circumstances of your data breach, please speak to one of our advisors today for a consultation on how we could help you.
Could I Report A Breach Of My Private Or Financial Data To The ICO?
If you’ve fallen victim to a Capital One data breach and believe the organisation’s non-compliance with data protection regulations to be responsible, this section will discuss how reporting the incident to The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) could help evidence your claim for compensation.
The ICO are an independent organisation responsible for regulating how organisations interact with subjects’ data in the UK. If you report your data breach to the ICO, they could investigate the circumstances of your breach.
If they determine that the organisation responsible for your breach acted against data protection laws, then these findings could be used to hold them liable and evidence your claim. However, the ICO doesn’t provide compensation regardless of their findings, as they simply function to regulate organisations.
How A Data Breach Victim May Be Compensated
This section will explore the different types of damage that data breach victims could be compensated for – material and non-material damage.
- Material damage can be claimed to recover financial losses caused by a data breach. This is particularly common if bank or card details are compromised. As this can create persisting issues with monetary affairs and credit ratings, any potential future damage is also considered when valuing material damage payouts.
- Non-material damage can be claimed to account for any mental or emotional distress caused by a data breach. As data breaches are a lot like robberies, they can often equate the same subsequent trauma, which can also affect wider aspects of your life like your ability to work.
To learn more about valuing payouts for non-material damage, please see the next section or speak to one of our specialist advisors today.
How Much Data Breach Compensation Could I Claim?
In working out how much compensation you could be eligible to receive for a Capital One data breach, this section will outline how payouts for non-material damage are calculated.
Since the case of Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc in 2015 made non-material damage able to be compensated as part of a data breach claim, regardless of material damage, payouts can now be calculated in the same way as personal injury claims.
Estimated compensation brackets are used from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) as guidance, with examples in the table below:
| Suffering | Severity | Compensation Bracket | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric Damage | Less severe | Up to £5,500 | You will find difficulty in completing daily activities and experience trouble getting to sleep, but your prognosis will be good |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | Moderate | £7,680 to £21,730 | You will experience persistent impacts of your trauma, but your prognosis will be good |
| Psychiatric Damage | Moderate | £5,500 to £17,900 | You will demonstrate an improvement in the symptoms of your trauma and your prognosis will be good |
As evidenced in the table above, compensation for non-material damage depends on the extent of your suffering. Your solicitor will send you for a medical assessment with an independent specialist to determine this once they’re handling your claim. However, if you’re interested in how much compensation you could be entitled to, you can speak to one of our advisors today for a free assessment of your situation that you can trust.
How Do I Begin A Claim Against A Private Company Who Breached My Data Privacy
In this section, we’ll provide some more advice on what you could do in the wake of falling victim to a Capital One data breach.
It may be a good idea to contact the company responsible for your breach directly to raise your concerns with them and detail the suffering that they’ve caused you. In addition, you could state that you intend to be compensated.
Whether or not any compensation is offered, this step could still benefit your claim against the company. If their response to your concerns divulges any admission of failures that led to your data breach, this could be used to support your case against them.
Where To Find A Data Protection Law Solicitor
In looking for the best legal help for your Capital One data breach claim, you don’t have to waste time asking people for recommendations or searching online reviews to compare solicitors.
Instead, you can simply reach out to our solicitors at Legal Expert today. We can connect with you wherever you’re based, using email, telephone or even an in-person meeting. In this sense, you don’t have to prioritise your solicitors’ location to inform your choice of legal help.
If you’d like to hear more about our services, please continue reading or visit our reviews page.
No Win No Fee Customer Data Breach Claims Against Capital One
Given the sense of financial risk that’s often associated with making a claim, we always work on a No Win No Fee basis to ease any anxiety that you may be experiencing. In this way, you can have peace of mind that unless our solicitors win your compensation for you, you don’t have to pay them a penny.
As part of a No Win No Fee agreement, you won’t be required to pay any upfront costs and there aren’t any hidden charges either. If your solicitor wins your compensation for you, you’ll simply pay them what’s known as a ‘success fee’ to cover their legal fees. This is a minimal percentage of your compensation payout that’s outlined clearly in your agreement, so there’s no need to anticipate a catch.
Contact Us
Making a claim can be a daunting task, particularly if you attempt to do so without legal help. If you’re worried that you could be hindering your claim’s chances of success, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team at Legal Expert today to see how we could help you secure the compensation that you deserve.
By getting in touch with us, one of our specialist advisors can give you a free consultation to see whether you have grounds to make a valid claim and offer you advice on how best to proceed. If you’re happy to, we can connect you with one of our solicitors who can save you the time and effort of making legal proceedings yourself and handle your case for you on a No Win No Fee basis.
So, whether you’re looking for some open and honest legal advice on your situation or you’d like to learn more about our solicitors’ services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our advisors about your data breach today:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Fill in a contact form
- Email info@legalexpert.co.uk
- Use the chat window at the bottom of your screen
Where To Learn More
At this point, you’ve made it to the end of our Capital One data breach claims guide.
Once again, if you’d like any more information or would be interested in finding a solicitor to handle your case for you, please get in touch with one of our specialist advisors at Legal Expert today.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading and will leave you with some additional resources to visit next:
- Professional negligence claims – our guide to professional negligence claims.
- Claim limitation periods – our guide to claim limitation periods.
- No Win No Fee services – our guide to No Win No Fee agreements.
- Report a data breach – information on how you could report a breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
- What information does an organisation have on me? – government advice on how to request what data a company holds on you.
Other Compensation Guides
- University of Nottingham Data Breach
- Can I Get Compensation For Loss of Medical Records?
- St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust Data Breach
- Sunderland City Council Data Breach
- Abertay University Data Breach
- Aberystwyth University Data Breach
- Ashford Borough Council Data Breach
- Bangor University Data Breach
- Bath Spa University Data Breach
- Bedford Borough Council Data Breach
- Birmingham Council Data Breach
- Bishop Grosseteste University Data Breach
- Boots Advantage Card Data Breach
- Bournemouth Borough Council Data Breach
- Bradford Council Data Breach
- Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Data Breach
- Brunel University Data Breach
- Buckinghamshire Council Data Breach
- Butlins Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Canterbury Christchurch University Data Breach
- Easyjet Data Breach Compensation Claims
Guide by Mavers
Edited by Billing
