I had an unsecured loan with my local branch of Welcome in 2004 (tax credits fiasco left me desperate). No issues, paying monthly, no probs.
In Jan 06 my partner went to the local branch to apply for a personal loan - he was unaware I had one at that point. While he was there with his id/paperwork etc the advisor told him there was a 'slight' problem. Unfortunately it was company policy that there cannot be 2 loans at one address, she then gave him my name and asked who I was to him. A bit surprised he said I was his girlfriend, to which the advisor then told him he could only have his loan if he paid mine off also - but not to worry, she could include my balance in his new loan. She then told him what I borrowed and when, what the payments were and how much was outstanding!
Now this might seem niave but neither of us realised they had done anything actually legally wrong until now, learning about the Data Protection Act etc, my jaw dropped. They had told all my private financial details to a man off the street because he lived at my address and said he was my partner. He could have been a lodger, a landlord, or anyone!
The conned him into paying my o/s amount of £1395 over another 3 years at mega interest by breaching my DPA rights. My question is....can this be taken as fraud? Has anyone else had DPA problems with them and how did you deal with it?
(they also conned him into the PPI - will fight that too)
GGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!