The banks legal duties to retain information?

[PhantomReclaimer]

Got two letters this morning. One from Barclays and one from Northern Rock.

 

Barclays say that they are unable to locate information relating to my accounts which were closed years ago. They say that they do not retain statement information for more than 12 years and that it is only the last 6 years of transactional information that is covered byt the subject access process affordrd by the legislation (I fear the Microfiche excuse is about to rear it's ugly head). Obviously this has annoyed me so I'm writing back today.

 

Northern Rock has kindly sent me a list of all my charges since June 2000 (£1800 - my god!) but have said "I confirm Northern Rock is legally obliged to keep a record of all transactions for 6 years". Well, firstly, I didn't ask them to confirm anything of the sort and secondly, the legislation requires them to tell me whether or not they actually hold the information, not whether they are required to keep it. As with Barclays a letter is going back today - all this recorded delivery is making their bills mount up.

 

Does anyone actually know what length of time a bank must by law retain information? I find it difficult to believe that it's only 6 years. As above, Barclays have said they keep it least twice as long as that and I remember someone on here mentioning that one bank, Abbey?, has it going back to the 1920's or so.

 

P.

[rdm2006]

its not just banks - any financial transactions must be kept for at least 6 years. However there is no maximum so if they have it then they should provide it.

[Glenn UK]

There are a couple of points to remember here.

 

1) if they have data on a relevant filing system then they have to send it to you irresepctive of how old it is.

 

2) I have reliable evidence about the abbey and they have data from the mid 1920s, I cannot be certain if its all on a relevant filing system.

 

3) i would write back and ask them to confirm if they have destroyed all your data and if so when it was destroyed.

 

One of our forum memebrs did this and they sent him the stuff from 8 or 9 years ago. may not work for all but its worth a try.

 

HTH

 

Glenn

[PhantomReclaimer]

Glenn,

 

Have done all that, wrote back on the 8th. I find it difficult to believe that banks are only required to keep stuff for 6 years. I know companies and individuals have to for tax purposes but banking information is of a different nature to my mind. Barclays have told me they keep it for 12 years - perhaps this is more like the period they have to keep it?

 

I think when a bank has provided me with all my information and I've successfully got my charges back I might write to them and tell them to destroy everything they have relating to me and see what excuse they come up with for not doing so. Wouldn't be surprised if the answer was "sorry, we are required to keep transactional information for 25 years", or similar.

 

P.

[Glenn UK]

PR

 

You probably wont be disappointed re your last comments.

 

GLenn

[PhantomReclaimer]

You can see from my Sig that I wrote back to Northern Rock asking them to confirm whether or not they hold account information relating to me after they had told me that they are "only required to hold information for 6 years".

 

Well, just a few minutes ago the postie delivered a nice letter from said bank detailing every charge made to my account since it was opened. The charges go back to 1995. The letter was in exactly the same format as the last, and actually arrived quicker than the previous one. So, it's pretty obvious that Northern Rock at least (and, lets face it, probably most banks) keep such information, and in a readily accessable form, for many, many years.

 

It's another £1,900, by the way.

 

DON'T LET THEM FOB YOU OFF WITH THE 6 YEAR LIE!

 

P.

[Glenn UK]

Excellent news

 

Funny thing is i wrote to abbey and i think barclacard asking if they had destroyed my stuff but nothing came back.

 

still i submitted my n1 against abbey this am.

 

Glenn

[BankFodder]

Got two letters this morning. One from Barclays and one from Northern Rock.

 

Barclays say that they are unable to locate information relating to my accounts which were closed years ago. They say that they do not retain statement information for more than 12 years and that it is only the last 6 years of transactional information that is covered byt the subject access process affordrd by the legislation (I fear the Microfiche excuse is about to rear it's ugly head). Obviously this has annoyed me so I'm writing back today.

 

This is a lie.

Subject access covers all personal data without time limit.

You should complain to the Information Commissioner about this

[orfoster]

Im having the same problem with two people.

 

1. Vodafone have told me a copy of my signed airtime agreement isn't "personal data" and is stored in secure archieve so cannot provide this. As they are charging me for 6 months extra which i didn't sign for but won't provide me with original contract, do they have to provide this as i have sent a SAR in.

 

2. NatWest in 2003 sold me a loan when i was 16! I have provided them with the loan account number and the date it was opened but they cannot locate ANY information on the account existing even though i have on my personal statements got that i was paying £70 a month into it. Not sure what to do but complain to ICO.

[bp]

A loan at 16? Is that legal?

[PhantomReclaimer]

A loan at 16? Is that legal?

 

Depends. I'm not that well up on contracts with minors but, generally, a contract with a minor is only valid if it is for "necessaries". The case law is old and possibly not very relevent to the modern day. Having said that, you can get a job, join the armed forces and marry at 16 so why not be responsible for you own debt?

 

I would imagine that anyone giving a loan to a minor would take a guarantee from an adult.

 

P.