Monzo Bank - Failure to disclose data

[BankFodder]

Of course Monzo are entitled to verify your identity. Asking for a picture of you next to your drivers license seems a bit extreme it seems to me that somebody at Monzo is upset and decided to try and make life tough.
It's ridiculous but on the other hand it does give the impression of being scrupulous and I certainly would expect that the judge would uphold this.

I think your opening paragraph number one with references to "nonsense" et cetera is unhelpful and I think that you should reword it so that is more dispassionate.

I think your paragraph number three makes an excellent point. It suggests that they have closed your subject access request. I think it might be worth asking what the mechanism for that is – and in particular because they are now apparently satisfied that you are who you say you are they should have been preparing the data release since the date upon which they apparently became satisfied which I understand is 21st of April.

I'm afraid that the request for information is only perfected on the date they become satisfied with your identity and so that means the 30 days runs from the 22nd of April

I'm afraid I think you are on a hiding to nothing in terms of getting £1000 from them. They have got millions more than you have – and they don't care. They have Face in the game – and their only objective here is not to be humiliated.

Similarly, you won't get an apology.

It seems to me that you are in jeopardy of £1500 costs.

I would suggest that you make the point in  para. three that the SAR does not need to be reopened and now that they have accepted your identity it falls to them to satisfy the request without any further delay and that you are now expecting your data to arrive within 30 days of the date upon which they were satisfied as to identity – 21st of April – and therefore their 30 day statutory time limit expires on XXX date.

On the basis that on 21 April they accepted your identity and also on the basis that you are accepting their offer to waive costs, you are filing a notice of discontinuance immediately.
However, you would remind them once again of the deadline for satisfying the SAR was XXX date May 2023 and so in view of the fact that they acknowledge that your identity was validated on 21 April, they are now seriously the statutory time limit of 30 days.

If you decide to push this any further then I think you're going to come out with a bloody nose.

If you agree with this approach then I suggest that you post your draft letter here before sending it off.

 

Don't forget, that although it is clear that they were satisfied as to identity in April and therefore they should have complied with your request in May, the matter still has to go to court.
There is an order for costs against you and although if you now try to continue your litigation on the basis of the delay from May 2023, it is highly likely that the judge will simply award you a small amount of money – say, £100 – but Monzo will rise up against you and go for the entire 1500 quid costs.

This means that you will enjoy a Pyrrhic victory – £100 – which will in fact cost you £1400 after you have reimbursed Monzo their £1500 costs.

Of course you will get some satisfaction by being able to wave your willy around on the basis of having received a judgement against them for a data protection breach – but the real victory will go to Monzo.


 

[BankFodder]

And if you want to cause some trouble for Monzo or anyone else that has gotten under your skin, then this is how it is done:

You can make a valid request for an SAR over the telephone. A verbal request is perfectly acceptable. Very few people seem to realise this – and in particular bank staff don't. Their staff development such as it is has been to advise customers to make request in writing or to fill out particular forms et cetera blah blah blah.

• Wait for all this hassle to die down.
• Having read our customer services guide so that you record the conversation
• Telephone Monzo.
• Satisfy all their ID checks so that they are then prepared to talk to you about your account. Maybe even make some transfer or some request over the telephone so that it is beyond doubt.
• Make a verbal SAR request.
• Be prepared for a refusal by the customer service agent to accept the request. Explain to them gently that they are wrong and that they should seek advice from a manager who hopefully will understand that SAR requests may be made verbally over the phone
• If there is any question of your identity, point out that you have satisfied ID checks to the point where they are prepared to talk to you about your personal banking business and so therefore they must be satisfied that you are who you say you are.
• If the SAR is not satisfied – you can then start bringing legal actions if you feel that you have the energy for it.
• If they come back and say that you didn't complete the formalities – then you are home and dry – because no formalities are needed.
• If they come back and say that although they accept that you can make a verbal SAR, you had not provided sufficient evidence of your identity – then I'm sure that you realise by now that your position is that they were prepared to discuss your account. There are objections to satisfying your SAR are clearly simply an attempt to place obstructions in your way and to stall the process.

And of course because you have read our customer services guide, all of this conversation has been fully recorded – hasn't it?

But surely there must be more interesting things to do while we are enjoying some nice weather.

 

[BankFodder]

I'm not sure that you told us before that they had sent you bank statements very shortly before your SAR request to the same name and address. This is significant. Did you tell the judge?

Now that they have admitted on paper that they were satisfied as to your identity on 21 April – then you certainly have a slamdunk case for a breach of the 30 day deadline.
However, as I've suggested, I envisage you winning and being awarded a small amount of damages is still being required to pay the costs so that you are out of pocket.

I'm not sure what their attitude is to having a DPA judgement. You can certainly call their bluff and it will be very interesting to see.

Why are you proposing to send your letter "without prejudice"? What advantage do you think it is to you to do this?

[BankFodder]

I suspect also that many judges would want real evidence of the distress that you say you have suffered. I suspect that many judges might see it simply as a money grab and aren't altogether in agreement with the principal that distress needs to be linked to some physical loss.

Without prejudice is poorly understood. It simply means that an offer that you make can't be disclosed to a judge or use as a sign of some kind of admission.

Particularly as you are the claimant, I don't really have any purpose but if you have some purpose then fine. Don't forget that it prevents you then from disclosing your information to the judge unless it comes to a question of costs