My Data Privacy Was Breached By Co-operative Bank, Could I Claim Compensation?
In this guide, we explore what a data breach by Co-Operative Bank could involve. When it comes to using a bank, it is crucial that you are able to rely on them to keep your data secure. If your financial information is accessed by someone who shouldn’t have it, then you could face serious problems.
Criminals and scammers could use your financial information to withdraw money from your account or use your credit card details to make fraudulent purchases. Even the threat of this alone could have a big impact on your mental health.
A bank could be held accountable when its data security failings allow data breaches to cause individuals harm. Banks have a responsibility to make sure that your personal information is held securely. If you have experienced a breach of your personal information because this obligation was not met, then you could be entitled to make a data breach claim.
In this guide, you will find the information you may need to make a data breach claim. If there is anything else that you want or need to know, then our expert advisors could help. They can answer your questions through any of the following contact methods.
- Calling 0161 696 9685
- Sending an email to [email protected]
- Using our ‘contact us‘ page to request a callback
- Making an online enquiry
Select A Section
- A Guide On Data Protection Breach Claims Against Co-operative Bank
- What Are Data Protection Breach Claims Against Co-operative Bank?
- When Could Your Bank Share Data With A Third Party Under The GDPR?
- Examples Of Financial Services Data Breaches
- Calculating Compensation Claims For A Data Breach By Co-operative Bank
- Types Of Damages Awarded To After A Data Breach
- Reporting Your Bank To The Information Commissioner’s Office
- Make A Data Protection Breach Claim Against Co-operative Bank With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- How To Find The Right Data Breach Solicitor
- What Steps Should I Take If My Data Privacy Has Been Breached?
- Talk To Our Team
- Bank And Financial Service Data Breach FAQs
- How To Learn More
A Guide On Data Protection Breach Claims Against Co-operative Bank
Facing a personal data breach can be a difficult situation. And taking legal action over it could seem even more daunting. This guide aims to make the process easier to understand so you can feel confident in going ahead with making a data breach compensation claim.
To understand data breach compensation claims, we’ll explain how data protection laws work. We’ll also explore what kind of situations could allow you to make a compensation claim.
Additionally, we’ll look at:
- The process of calculating compensation.
- Steps you can take to prepare for a claim.
- How to No Win No Fee agreements work.
You can always contact us if there is anything that this guide hasn’t gone over clearly enough and discuss it with our friendly expert legal advisors.
What Are Data Protection Breach Claims Against Co-operative Bank?
First, we need to explain what a data breach is. A data breach is any situation in which the security or integrity of your personal information is breached. After the security breach, your personal data would be accessed, destroyed, disclosed, changed or lost unlawfully or without your permission.
This could happen in a number of ways. It could result from:
- Paper documents containing personal information not being locked in filing cabinets and being accessed by someone who is not supposed to do so.
- Or external storage devices containing personal information may be misplaced.
- Cyber-attackers may access electronically stored personal data if online security isn’t adequate.
- Your data may be shared with other parties on purpose, but without your consent or a lawful reason.
If a bank data breach causes you to suffer financial loss or mental damage, then you could be entitled to make a personal data breach claim. This is a form of legal action where you would use evidence to seek compensation. A data breach claims solicitor could help you to accomplish this.
When Could Your Bank Share Data With A Third Party Under The GDPR?
The collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data is strictly regulated under the law. In the UK, one of the laws that helps protect your data privacy is the Data Protection Act 2018. This enacts the European Union standards of data protection, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into British law.
A brief rundown of what a bank can and cannot do with your personal information is as follows. They cannot:
- Collect peoples’ data in a way that is unfair, unlawful, and non-transparent.
- Collect more types of information from you than they need for their stated purposes.
- Use your personal data for any purpose other than that which they gave when they requested the data. (However, there are lawful exceptions regarding when they can share your data without consent.)
- Store your data for longer than it is needed. Once it has served its purpose, it should be deleted or destroyed.
A bank should:
- Keep your data accurate and updated when given updated information.
- Take steps to ensure the security of the data from intrusion or theft.
- Be able to provide proof (when asked) that it has enforced the measures needed to meet all of the above criteria.
A data breach involving a failure to meet any of the criteria described above could make your bank liable for paying a fine.
Examples Of Financial Services Data Breaches
One example of a data breach is the misuse of customers’ contact information for the purpose of making nuisance marketing calls or emails. This is the sort of data privacy violation that could land a bank with a fine. That is what happened to Vanquis Bank in 2017 when they were fined £75,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for sending emails and texts marketing their credit cards.
The ICO is an authority in the UK that enforces data protection laws.
A company that received a fine for spam marketing their customers without their consent is Xerpla. It received a fine of £50,000 for spam marketing a range of products in over one million emails sent without customers’ consent for receiving them.
Calculating Compensation Claims For A Data Breach By Co-operative Bank
To claim compensation, you should calculate a financial equivalent to the harm you have experienced. One metric by which this is measured is the impact the breach has had on your mental health.
A personal data breach could severely impact your mental health by inflicting stress and anxiety through the fear of the possible consequences of the breach. It could even make a mental health condition worse. For example, the risk of theft or fraud could trigger anxiety.
Even if no financial crimes are ultimately committed involving your personal data, you could still be entitled to make a compensation claim based on the mental health harm alone.
The greater the effects on your mental health, the more compensation you could be entitled to receive. The calculations can be made with the aid of the Judicial College Guidelines. These guidelines outline how much could be appropriate compensation for different types of injuries.
You can see how these guidelines contain brackets for mental health damage compensation in the compensation table below.
| Injury | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Severe psychiatric damage | £51,460 to £108,620 |
| Moderately severe psychiatric damage | £17,900 to £51,460 |
| Less severe | £5,500 to £17,900 |
| Less severe PTSD | £56,180 to £94,470 |
| Moderately severe PTSD | £21,730 to £56,180 |
| Moderate PTSD | £7,680 to £21,730 |
| Less severe PTSD | £3,710 to £7,680 |
Compensation for mental injury falls under non-material damages. This can make up one part of your claim for compensation.
In the below section of our guide exploring what might happen after a data breach by Co-Operative Bank, we look at material damages too.
If you’re unsure as to how your claim might be valued, why not reach out? Our advisors offer free estimates.
Types Of Damages Awarded To After A Data Breach
In the last section, we discussed how you could be awarded compensation for damage to your mental health stemming from a data breach. This is just one kind of compensation you could be entitled to claim.
If a data breach does result in you losing money, you could be entitled to claim a sum of compensation to cover these losses. You could claim for financial loss if that’s the only consequence of the data breach. You could also claim for it in addition to the compensation covering the harm to your mental health.
The compensation you could receive for financial loss would fall under material damages.
You could lose money through (for example):
- Having money stolen from your account because your bank details were accessed in the breach.
- Having your personal details used to make purchases with your credit card.
- Taking unpaid time off work to deal with the issue or to recover from stress.
If you can provide things such as bank statements, wage slips, and other forms of documentation then you could prove your losses. You could also calculate the amount of money that you have lost and win it back in compensation.
Reporting Your Bank To The Information Commissioner’s Office
One option you have when you have been the victim of a bank data breach is to report the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). However, you should only do this in certain circumstances.
(The ICO is a regulator, the authority that deals with cases of data breaches. The ICO can carry out investigations and hand down fines against companies that are found to have broken data protection laws.)
You could make a report to the ICO, provided you first contact your bank over the breach. You may find that the bank has already reported the data breach to the ICO.
If you do not receive a satisfactory response from the bank, then you can press ahead with the ICO complaint. However, you should do this within three months of the bank’s final response to you on the matter.
The ICO can’t compensate you for your mental or financial suffering. But, if you have evidence of a valid claim, we could help you seek data breach compensation. Our panel of lawyers are experts and could be the aid you need.
To ask any questions about this guide on what to do following a potential data breach by Co-Operative Bank, why not contact us?
Make A Data Protection Breach Claim Against Co-operative Bank With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
Many claimants may not be able to afford the upfront costs of solicitor fees. They may not be able to afford the risk of losing the money if the claim loses. That could be especially true if their finances have been impacted by a data breach.
One way of avoiding this situation is by making a No Win No Fee claim.
Under a No Win No Fee agreement, you would not be charged upfront solicitor fees. Instead, you would agree with your solicitor that they are entitled to receive a payment out of the compensation fee if the claim is successful.
Naturally, this means that paying your lawyer’s fees is dependent on winning the case. Essentially, you won’t be put in a situation in which you do not have the money to pay the fees. You will not be asked to pay fees to your lawyer if the claim is unsuccessful.
Moreover, if your claim wins, the success fee you’d pay the solicitor is capped by law.
Being able to make a No Win No Fee claim can be a good sign. It indicates that the lawyer is confident that they are not in great danger of losing money for their hard work.
For more information on how to make a No Win No Fee claim, you can speak to our advisors.
How To Find The Right Data Breach Solicitor
When looking for a data breach solicitor, you should seriously consider looking at online reviews. The thoughts of people who have made data breach claims in the past can be a valuable resource.
They can tell you a lot about:
- How experienced and successful a solicitor has been in the past.
- Whether or not a solicitor has been well received by their previous clients.
- Whether or not the solicitor was seen as doing all that they could to win the case.
If you would like further assistance with finding a solicitor, you could call our advisors. You can have a consultation with them in which you discuss your situation and the circumstances of the data breach.
One of our advisors can let you know whether you could be entitled to claim compensation and about how making a claim would work. They may connect you with our panel of lawyers if they think that you could have favourable grounds for a claim.
This guide about what to do after a potential data breach by Co-Operative Bank aims to help you. If you have any questions, why not give us a call?
What Steps Should I Take If My Data Privacy Has Been Breached?
If your personal data privacy has been breached at a bank, then your first step should be to try and protect your personal information and your money. You can do this by contacting the bank and informing them (if they haven’t already informed you) that you believe your personal data has been breached.
They may cancel your credit and debit cards and give you new ones. You could also change the passwords and login details of your online banking accounts if needed.
As we have explained before, you could make a complaint to the Co-operative bank if you believe that they have breached your data. After that, you could make a complaint to the ICO as long as the case is within their time limit.
If you have the justifications and proof to pursue a compensation claim, then you could contact us. Our advisors could provide you with a consultation over your claim. This can include things like whether or not you could be entitled to claim, and how much compensation you could win. If possible, they could connect you with a data breach lawyer from our panel.
Talk To Our Team
We’re nearing the end of this guide exploring what to do after a potential data breach by Co-Operative Bank. If you would like to ask some questions about personal data breach claims and data breach law, then you could get in touch with our legal advice team for a free consultation. You can reach our advisors through any of the following.
- Calling 0161 696 9685
- Sending an email to [email protected]
- Using our ‘contact us‘ page to get a callback at a time best for you
Bank And Financial Service Data Breach FAQs
What are my rights if my data has been breached?
If your banking data has been breached then you could have the option to make a complaint to the bank involved. Or, under certain circumstances, you could report the breach to the ICO for them to investigate. You could also have the right to make a compensation claim if you’ve suffered financially or mentally because of the breach.
What happens when a bank breaches data protection?
If a bank breaches data protection then, depending on what’s been accessed, you could be at risk of identity theft or fraud. The bank could be liable for a fine if it Is found to be responsible for the breach.
What are the consequences of a data breach?
For the customer, the consequences of a data breach could include:
- The theft of money held in your account if bank details have been accessed.
- The use of your credit card information to make purchases if those details have been accessed.
- An impact on your credit rating if the personal information that was accessed led to fraud, for example.
- Emotional stress from the impact of the data breach.
For the bank, the consequences could entail being investigated and made to pay a fine by the Information Commissioner’s Office. They may also be liable for paying compensation to those who can prove they suffered financial loss or mental harm.
How To Learn More
Below are some of the articles on our website that you could find relevant and useful.
Here is our general guide to employee data protection compensation claims: Employer Data Breach: What Are My Rights?
Our guide to medical data breach claims: Medical Data Breaches: Claims
Our guide to data breaches caused by solicitors: Solicitor Data Breach Compensation Claims
Government guidance on personal data breaches: Make a complaint
More advice from the Government: Guidance for individuals and families
The ICO’s perspective on personal data breaches
Thanks for reading our guide on what to do after a potential data breach by Co-Operative Bank.
Written by JY
Edited by RV