Abbey National sent this fax explanation to CIFAS in June 2000, after a customer complained that Abbey National had wrecked his career (in banking information technology) by wrongly entering him on to CIFAS's fraudster tracking system.

Summary

• Abbey National claims the customer made multiple applications but put false address details in the second application
• The customer claims Abbey National staff filled out a new bank account application form and signed it in the name of his wife and himself. This new application contained incorrect addresses and telephone numbers. Abbey National's automated credit check system spotted the discrepancies between the applications and Abbey National's credit investigation team entered the customer on to CIFAS's fraudster tracking system.
• Abbey National subsequently told the customer that there was only ever one application
• But in the fax reproduced below, an Abbey National credit investigator told CIFAS that there was another application

Our opinion - and it is only our opinion - is that when Abbey's staff re-submitted the customer's bank account application, they mis-keyed the time he had been living in his new house or perhaps just typed in "one year", not realising that the discrepancy this created with his earlier address details would send Experian, MCL Software, CIFAS and Abbey's own fraud detection systems berserk. One might speculate that if this happened, whoever did it would be keen to have the original files go missing once the customer started to question Abbey's actions. Unsurprisingly, the fax reproduced below admits to CIFAS that the original files have gone missing.

Use the buttons below to show or hide the customer's version of events and our own comments.

(CIFAS staff member), here is the information you requested regarding Mr. .

• (UK Status says: worked at CIFAS's London office)

We had an application for a personal loan in march (sic) 99 from Mr. where he gave (Address 1) as his current address, this application was score declined.

• Customer comment: We applied for an Abbey mortgage in March 99 to purchase a new house. Abbey contacted my wife's and my employers for a full written reference confirming employment and salary.
  
  We applied for an Abbey joint bank account in May 99 after they invited us to apply. Abbey rejected the joint bank account application because I had not been working for six months and I had been living abroad before that.

We then had an application in august (sic) 99 from Mr. for a bank account but his current address was (Address 2), for 1 year.

• Customer comment: Abbey suggested, and we agreed, that they would re-submit our May 99 bank account application when we completed our house purchase.
  
  We completed our house purchase on July 30th 99. Abbey left a phone message at my work direct line number stating that our bank application had been re-submitted on August 4th 99.

• (UK Status says: Abbey knew where he worked - after all, they had received a written reference from his employers for the mortgage they gave him just a few months earlier. They also knew he had just changed address because - doh! - they'd given him a mortgage to buy and move into a new house.)

This second application matched on our hunter system that we had 2 applications from Mr. but different address history.

• Customer comment: Abbey made a credit search on August 5th to Experian stating that we had been living at new address for one year. The credit search is made by the computer applications system as the data is entered.
  
  Abbey made a credit search on August 6th to Experian stating that we had been living at new address for three years. Remember, the credit search is made by the computer applications system as the data is entered.

We rang Mr. 's work number 0207 and a man answered the phone and said Mr. wasn't known.

• (UK Status says: So Abbey "checked" this customer's employment claim by ringing a large international computer company and asking whoever answered the phone if the customer worked there. Click here to see how the author of this fax later tried a more rigorous and less risky approach)

We then rang Mr. at home to query his employment details and clarify addresses. He said he did still work for , and he had only lived at (Address 1) for a couple of months, he said that branch must have put the wrong information on the application, we then requested pay slips, he said he didn't keep them so we asked for bank statements to show his salary going into his account, he said he would send them.

• Customer comment: On August 12th 99 (day after the eclipse) Abbey Credit Investigation Department person phoned and stated that our application submitted on August 4th 99 had us living at new address for two years. Caller stated that they had contacted my HR department at work and had confirmed that we had only been at new address for two weeks, not two years.
  
  Quote, "AH-HA, I have now confirmed with you AND your employers that you have only been at your new address for two weeks, what do you have to say to that?"

We waited our normal 1 week, for the customer to supply the information we had requested which actually turned out to be longer as the case was not registered on CIFAS until October as the original paperwork went missing, and in no time between our conversation with him in which we requested his bank statements and us loading his case on CIFAS did he ever send his statements.

• (UK Status says: yes, Abbey admitted to Cifas that it lost the customer's original paperwork)

• Customer comment: Bank statements requested and these were faxed to Abbey. Checked with Abbey receptionist that bank statements have been received ok.
  
  Second phone call from Abbey Credit Investigation Department person about a week later repeated that our 4th August 99 application had us living at new address for two years.
  
  Complained to Abbey branch at Cannon Street that bank application form has been completed & signed without authority. Pointed out address errors on the bogus application form. They agree to sort it all out.
  
  When I returned to work after holiday on August 23rd 99 there was a phone message from my HR department saying that Abbey had phoned for a telephone reference a week before. One hour later I had been suspended and then I was dismissed three days later. Reason given was "Loss of Confidence in me by the Bank client".
  
  Rejected for Abbey bank account but by then we did not want it anyway.
  
  Abbey registered CIFAS warning in October 99. CIFAS warning registered with Experian, Equifax and MCL states that our credit application used the new address.
  
  Rejected for four UK bank jobs on the same day at the end of Oct 99.
  
  Rejected for all job applications with UK banks from Oct onward. Many of the applications are rejected out of hand immediately, IT job agencies leave strange messages like:
  "We don't want you as an applicant since we can't assist you any further",
  "Sorry, we can longer represent you to our clients",
  "The client said that somebody with your background will never be employed by them".
  
  Applied for instant credit in March 99 to purchase a £60 lawn mower. We are instantly turned down. Ask for copies of credit files and realise that CIFAS warning has affected job hunting for the past six months. Eventually I realise that the CIFAS warning damage is permanent.

I received a call from our complaints department in April stating Mr. was not happy we had loaded his details onto CIFAS and I agreed to look into the matter for them.

• Customer comment: Telephone conversation with Ms Holland at Abbey at start of April 2000 when she went through the August 4th 99 application form at length. She agreed that it contained the statement that we had been living at new address for two years and that the signatures on the application form were not ours.
  
  Four letters from Abbey Secretariat between May 2000 and September 2000 contradicted this state of affairs and stated that our May 99 application form was re-submitted on 6th August 99 UNCHANGED. Letters state that there is no other application form apart from the one we submitted in May 99 and copy of May 99 application form is provided. Letter from Abbey Secretariat even states:
  "I know you believe that there is another application form but I can assure you that this is not the case".

I spoke to Mr. and told him we had requested his bank statements and we had never received them, he got very irate and said he had sent them, but we had no record of ever receiving them, I then asked him if he could sent them for my attention, which he did, and his salary was on the bank statements in august of last year, I then phoned the head office number for and spoke to personnel to clarify he had worked with them last August, the lady I spoke to said yes he had.

• (UK Status says: So, basically, the customer had been telling the truth all along. The author also implies that she suspects Abbey routed the pay slips to someone else after receiving them, ie lost more paperwork again)

After I had clarification of his employment I agreed to remove the CIFAS registration. Mr. was still not happy with this, he said we had caused him to lose his job and subsequently could not gain other employment because of the CIFAS registration.

• (UK Status says: And you can see the customer's point. After all, Abbey didn't ring his former employer up and say: "Look we were wrong and the information we gave you that made you sack him was duff." In fact, undoing the damage turned out to be far from Abbey's mind.)

I sent him a letter confirming CIFAS had been removed, letter I sent is with this letter, but he is suing Abbey National for 2 million pounds due to what he says is our error, but I feel we were acting within CIFAS guidelines when we loaded his information on the credit reference bureau.

• (UK Status says: You may have been "acting within CIFAS guidelines" Ms Holland, but how does that mean you don't owe this customer for the damage you and CIFAS's guidelines appear to have done to him?)

I hope this information is helpful, but if you have any further queries don't hesitate to call me on , for more information.

C.L. Holland
Investigator

*For your security, and to assist us in improving our service to you, we may record or monitor all calls to Abbey National.
Abbey National plc   Registered Office: Abbey House, Baker Street London NW1 6XL   Registered in England   Registered No. 2294747

You might ask where this case is now.

• In October 2000, the customer was still unemployed

• His credit record had been continually damaged by companies making credit checks that contained inaccurate details. These checks make it look as though the customer keeps applying for credit using false details. They mean that when the customer does apply for a loan or account with his correct address, the industry's fraud detection systems suggest lenders contact CIFAS - the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System.

  Click here to see the credit checks made on this customer, with explanations.

• Abbey National posted a credit check on this customer on 28 September 2000, using incorrect address and employment details. In doing this Abbey National "refreshed" MCL Software's Hunter database with incorrect details. MCL Software confirmed the application was identical to an older application submitted on a year earlier (on 6th August 1999) by Abbey National and said it simply could understand why Abbey National did this.

• (UK Status says: However, on 28th September 2000 Abbey took screen grabs of an alleged application in order to respond to a Subject Access Rights Notice issued by the customer. If grabbing data from old credit applications does refresh credit agency databases, this industry has a very serious problem.)

• When the customer tried to open an HSBC bank account (using his correct address) a week or so later, the bank's computer terminal flashed the warning: "Contact CIFAS".

We urge Abbey National, Abbey National Paymentcare and Pinnacle Insurance to rethink their treatment of this customer.

And we urge anyone thinking of getting involved with Abbey National not to touch the company until it has answered the questions that this case raises.

Further evidence related to this case:
Click here to see the Data Protection Commission's criticism of Abbey National's treatment of this customer's personal information
Click here to see CIFAS email to Abbey National confirming this customer's complaint
Click here to see a copy of the copy of first letter in which Abbey National denies to customer that there were two applications
Click here to see a copy of the copy of second letter in which Abbey National denies to customer that there were two applications
Click here to see a copy of the copy of third letter in which Abbey National denies to customer that there were two applications
Click here to see a copy of the copy of fourth letter in which Abbey National denies to customer that there were two applications
Click here to see a copy of the customer's list of credit checks.