By Megan Black. Last Updated 24th June 2024. Has a loan company compromised your personal financial information? Have you suffered any financial or psychological harm? If so, you might be looking into whether you could claim compensation for debt and arrears data breach.
This article will go through the roles of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in establishing whether you could have a valid debt and arrears data breach claim.
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Select A Section
- What Is A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?
- Debt Collection Companies Data Protection Responsibility
- Examples Of Debt And Arrears Data Breaches
- What Could You Do If A Debt Company Breached Your Data Privacy?
- Discuss Your Claim With Our Team
What Is A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?
To be eligible to claim for a personal data breach you must be able to establish that information protected by data privacy laws has been disclosed, accessed, lost, stolen, destroyed or verbally disclosed in a way that was either done accidentally or deliberately. This can be through human error or a cyber attack when online security systems are not updated or used at all.
Information that is considered personal i.e. that can identify you and other information that can be used in conjunction with identifiable data is protected under the UK GPDR. If a company that holds your financial information fails to protect this in accordance with the UK GDPR and this leads to a data breach you could potentially make a claim.
Furthermore, there are time limits when you are claiming for a data breach. You have 6 years to start the proceedings, or 1 year if it involves a public body.
Debt Collection Companies Data Protection Responsibility
When debt collection companies, decide why and how personal data is processed they become data controllers as they are now responsible for the personal information that they handle. All data controllers must follow the 7 principles set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). These principles are:
- Accountability
- Data minimisation
- Purpose limitation
- Accuracy
- Integrity and confidentiality (security)
- Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
- Storage limitation
The UK GDPR is the legal framework that gives you the right to claim compensation from an organisation. This is if you have suffered any material or non-material damage because the data controller failed to protect your personal or sensitive information correctly.
Financial Services Data Breach Statistics
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 contains the statistics on businesses, charities and educational institutions that took part in the survey. The survey contains information about these entities and the amount that have been affected by breaches or cyber-attacks in the last year. Out of the 1,419 UK businesses surveyed, 39% reported having a cyber security breach or attack.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body that governs data protection laws and rights for the UK Government. It too provides statistics on data security incidents. They go into further detail about the data breaches that affected all business sections from October 2021 to December 2021. The finance, insurance and credit sector recorded 185 data security incidents involving cyber and non-cyber incidents. This is lower than the previous quarter, between July 2021 to September 2021, where the incidents were recorded as 259.
Examples Of Debt And Arrears Data Breaches
Experiencing the loss of any personal data can greatly impact a person, causing both psychological distress and financial loss.
There are several different ways that financial data could potentially be breached. Incidents could include:
- The loss of your data
- Sending your details to a third party, by accident or deliberately, without authorisation.
- Failing to protect your data from any unauthorised access
- Loss of any electronic devices that contain any personal data
- Your personal data being emailed to the wrong recipient.
Examples of how data breaches could happen are:
- Human error: documents lost or shared with third parties
- Cyberattack: through malware or ransomware viruses.
- Phishing scams: unusual or unfamiliar links sent by convincing emails
What Could You Do If A Debt Company Breached Your Data Privacy?
Assuming that your personal data has been breached by a debt company because they failed in their regard to secure the identifiable information they hold about you, you could be eligible to start a personal data breach claim. This can be done by gathering information and evidence about the data breach.
A company should inform you and the ICO if a data breach has happened, but only if it risks the data subject’s rights and freedoms.
This would include information about what was exposed and the breach’s date. This correspondence could be used as evidence to help strengthen your claim.
If you suspect that your personal financial information has been breached you can contact the data controller. They should get back to you and inform you whether this is the case and provide details.
However, if this doesn’t happen or the response is unsatisfactory, you could file a complaint to the ICO. Wait no longer than 3 months since your last contact with the data controller to file this complaint. You should make sure that the complaint is in as much detail as possible and describe how you believe the data breach happened.
The ICO may then open an investigation and take enforcement action against the organisation that has breached your personal data. Any findings could also be used as evidence for your claim.
Other types of evidence include:
- Financial records
- Medical records from a GP that demonstrate stress or anxiety caused by the breach
- Any contact between the company and yourself – this could be in the form of letters or emails.
- Credit score reports
- Documentation of any fraudulent transactions
For more information on if you can claim compensation following a debt and arrears data breach, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our advisors. They are available to answer any questions you may have.
Discuss Your Claim With Our Team
Why claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor?
No Win No Fee agreements are an arrangement between you and your solicitor. They are formally referred to as a Conditional Fee Agreement or Damage Based Agreement.
They offer claimants who want legal representation a way to fund the solicitor’s service on the condition that only if the case is won will the solicitor receive their success fee.
If you aren’t successful under a Conditional Fee Agreement, you wouldn’t have to pay a success fee to your solicitor. However, if you are successful, a success fee, which is capped by law, is deducted from your compensation. Your solicitor will discuss this with you to be more aware and avoid any surprises.
Suppose you have any further questions about a data breach for debt or arrears. In that case, our advisors can offer advice on the claims process and would be happy to speak to you. To contact us:
- By telephone – 0800 073 8804
- Via our live chat feature
- Through our website
Other Ways Data Protection Solicitors Could Help You
Furthermore, if you require any further advice about your claim, please do not hesitate to contact us for free advice and guidance.
Here are some additional resources related to debt and arrears data breaches.
The ICO has a guide on how to report a data breach and how to file a complaint. It also has a guide on how to minimise the risk of personal data breaches happening.
We have guides on how to report a data breach incident
Similarly, we have articles about how lost and stolen deceives can be a part of a data breach.
On the other hand, we have guides and articles on what happens when a company sends the documents to the wrong postal address.
We also offer FAQ’s on data breach compensation.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any further information about a data breach for debt and arrears.
