| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? 16:17 - Jun 21 with 2646 views | BLUEBEAT |
Very unlike me to request advice on a personal subject, but none of my family/close network have had similar experiences, so am plugging into the TWTD hive mind… ðŸ™ðŸ¼
Has anyone had any dealings with Financial Ombudsman before?
Cutting a very long story short, getting divorced and we both visited bank September 2021 to completed forms to take ex off joint account. Since then, she seems to have known my every move, kind of like profiling what I’ve been doing, where, when etc. She also knew who my new mortgage is with/how much I pay etc. I couldn’t understand this, assuming my son had accidentally dropped bits of info as he stays with me a lot.
Anyway… after a little dispute about whether I should pay for something, she said she knew I could afford it and when I asked how would she know, she said she still had access to the old joint account and to prove it, she quoted the exact figure in the account on that day. She then threatened to transfer out some money (she didn’t).
I hot-tailed it to the bank immediately and they confirmed she still had access/form hadn’t been processed but will act on it now. They also raised a complaint. This was early May 2022.
Complaints manager contacted me this week and she STILL hadn’t been taken off account despite my visit in May. 9 months later. WTAF?!?!
She has now been taken off account.
Bank initially offered £400 compensation, which I refused. Next day they doubled it to £800 but said that would be their final offer and issued a letter advising such.
I told them that they had breached GDPR and not protected me for over 9 months and were complicit in providing info to my ex that she can use in divorce etc. but they said they couldn’t offer any more despite admitting they were totally at fault.
A bit of Googling suggests these are relevant compensation levels:
Personal Data Breach - up to £2K
Financial Information Breach - £3K>£8.6K
Breach that caused physical or emotional distress - up to £42.9K
So my question is…. Has anybody had any similar experiences or dealt with the Ombudsman before and was it worth the extra time?
Thanks in advance, a very annoyed BlueBeat.
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| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 23:41 - Jun 21 with 449 views | ZXBlue |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 23:31 - Jun 21 by Pinewoodblue |
Not strictly speaking correct as far as data protection is concerned. |
Yes. It is strictly speaking correct. You do have to ask yourself what a court would award, and the absence of actual financial damage will be a factor.
Not the only factor, but it will be one.
The distress caused is another. As it was fixed almost instantly after finding out about it, that might be limited too.
These matetrs are stillv ery much finding their level. However, the idea that it is 10s of thousands, seems pretty wild to me. [Post edited 21 Jun 2022 23:42]
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| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 00:14 - Jun 22 with 422 views | Kropotkin123 |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 23:41 - Jun 21 by ZXBlue |
Yes. It is strictly speaking correct. You do have to ask yourself what a court would award, and the absence of actual financial damage will be a factor.
Not the only factor, but it will be one.
The distress caused is another. As it was fixed almost instantly after finding out about it, that might be limited too.
These matetrs are stillv ery much finding their level. However, the idea that it is 10s of thousands, seems pretty wild to me. [Post edited 21 Jun 2022 23:42]
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You have no clue about the distress it caused and your speculation is unhelpful. The information provided suggests somewhere between 5k and 50k. If you have any actual point of reference to suggest a different amount, then do so. If not, why are you even contributing, when the request was clearly made for experiences? |  |
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| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 06:21 - Jun 22 with 393 views | C_HealyIsAPleasure |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 23:41 - Jun 21 by ZXBlue |
Yes. It is strictly speaking correct. You do have to ask yourself what a court would award, and the absence of actual financial damage will be a factor.
Not the only factor, but it will be one.
The distress caused is another. As it was fixed almost instantly after finding out about it, that might be limited too.
These matetrs are stillv ery much finding their level. However, the idea that it is 10s of thousands, seems pretty wild to me. [Post edited 21 Jun 2022 23:42]
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“As it was fixed almost instantly after finding out about it”
Did you not read the bit where the OP said they found out the bank hadn’t processed it, raised a complaint, and they still hadn’t done it 9 months later? |  |
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| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 08:02 - Jun 22 with 372 views | ZXBlue |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 06:21 - Jun 22 by C_HealyIsAPleasure |
“As it was fixed almost instantly after finding out about it”
Did you not read the bit where the OP said they found out the bank hadn’t processed it, raised a complaint, and they still hadn’t done it 9 months later? |
A period during which he presumably did not know and was not caused distress.
I am not belittling it. Its pretty awful. I just think a realistic view of the likely outcome is sensible. UK Courts do not tend to make huge awards for general "distress" and the touchstones ehre will, to a fairly large extent, be what harm was actually caused.
However, I shall bow to the obviously knowledgeable legal minds in the thread... | | | |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 08:43 - Jun 22 with 353 views | BLUEBEAT |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 08:02 - Jun 22 by ZXBlue |
A period during which he presumably did not know and was not caused distress.
I am not belittling it. Its pretty awful. I just think a realistic view of the likely outcome is sensible. UK Courts do not tend to make huge awards for general "distress" and the touchstones ehre will, to a fairly large extent, be what harm was actually caused.
However, I shall bow to the obviously knowledgeable legal minds in the thread... |
A massive amount of stress and paranoia had built up in the 8 months prior to finding out as my ex had been profiling my movements and using financial information that she should not have had access to to make constant demands/comments/manipulative actions.
The bank facilitated this and then took another 5 weeks to sort out. | |
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| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 08:46 - Jun 22 with 350 views | ZXBlue |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 08:43 - Jun 22 by BLUEBEAT |
A massive amount of stress and paranoia had built up in the 8 months prior to finding out as my ex had been profiling my movements and using financial information that she should not have had access to to make constant demands/comments/manipulative actions.
The bank facilitated this and then took another 5 weeks to sort out. |
You will need to demonstrate that in a court.
It may actually be relevant whether divorce proceedings are ongoing, given that you need to give full financial disclosure in any event.
£800 sounds modest if you can demosntrate that distress. I would be surprised if 10s of thousands was realistic though. | | | |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 09:04 - Jun 22 with 337 views | PassionNotAnger |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 08:43 - Jun 22 by BLUEBEAT |
A massive amount of stress and paranoia had built up in the 8 months prior to finding out as my ex had been profiling my movements and using financial information that she should not have had access to to make constant demands/comments/manipulative actions.
The bank facilitated this and then took another 5 weeks to sort out. |
As someone that's had a fair bit of dealing with the FOS over 30yrs in financial services I would recommend you setting aside the value and focus on clearly articulating the actual steps in the case, a simple chronological table -
Date, What "happened", where (face to face/phone), who was present. no emotive language - just setting out what you did, what should have happened, the point you realised/confirmed that something wasn't done etc.
Then, set out what "impact" this had on you - it's difficult but try to keep it logical - ie - this was said by my ex and it made me do/feel this..... Point out where you sought advice (either formal or informal) and summarise at the end how the overall experience made you feel.
In respect of settlement amounts I'd suggest you ignore any of the numbers on here as there is a range of factors they will consider and it will depend on how litigious they feel the case may/could be. The large numbers quote on here are rare and generally for companies who had a systemic large DPA breach leading to significant customer detriment. It is possible for settlements at those levels of course but they do tend to be for binary failures that directly led to bankruptcy/repossession of property etc (or false criminal charges etc).
You case as described is a significant failure on the part of the bank without question and could be proven to have led to material distress/harm. Personally I would expect the FOS (assuming it upholds the case based on what you've told us) to recommend compensation in the range of £5k-£7.5k. That's not to say you couldn't get (or deserve) a higher amount but it's difficult to quantify "stress" fairly unless there is a tangible loss
Happy to discuss further over PM if you think it would help | | | |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 09:10 - Jun 22 with 332 views | ZXBlue |
| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 09:04 - Jun 22 by PassionNotAnger |
As someone that's had a fair bit of dealing with the FOS over 30yrs in financial services I would recommend you setting aside the value and focus on clearly articulating the actual steps in the case, a simple chronological table -
Date, What "happened", where (face to face/phone), who was present. no emotive language - just setting out what you did, what should have happened, the point you realised/confirmed that something wasn't done etc.
Then, set out what "impact" this had on you - it's difficult but try to keep it logical - ie - this was said by my ex and it made me do/feel this..... Point out where you sought advice (either formal or informal) and summarise at the end how the overall experience made you feel.
In respect of settlement amounts I'd suggest you ignore any of the numbers on here as there is a range of factors they will consider and it will depend on how litigious they feel the case may/could be. The large numbers quote on here are rare and generally for companies who had a systemic large DPA breach leading to significant customer detriment. It is possible for settlements at those levels of course but they do tend to be for binary failures that directly led to bankruptcy/repossession of property etc (or false criminal charges etc).
You case as described is a significant failure on the part of the bank without question and could be proven to have led to material distress/harm. Personally I would expect the FOS (assuming it upholds the case based on what you've told us) to recommend compensation in the range of £5k-£7.5k. That's not to say you couldn't get (or deserve) a higher amount but it's difficult to quantify "stress" fairly unless there is a tangible loss
Happy to discuss further over PM if you think it would help |
Sound comments and advice. | | | |
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| Experiences with Financial Ombudsman? on 09:17 - Jun 22 with 323 views | Freddies_Ears |
Your financial downside is £800, your upside is far greater. Provided you are OK with any stress that may result during the process. | | | |
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