Not upheld: Other regulated complaint complaint against Capquest Debt Recovery Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss T complained that Capquest Debt Recovery Limited contacted her about a debt on her work mobile phone on two occasions and refused to delete her data. The ombudsman found that Capquest obtained the work mobile number from a credit reference agency where it was labeled as 'personal mobile 1', meaning Capquest could not reasonably have known it was a work number. The ombudsman determined that debt companies may reasonably conduct traces through credit reference agencies when unable to reach debtors, and that data retention for debt servicing purposes is commonly accepted practice. The complaint was not upheld, with data protection concerns referred to the Information Commissioner's Office.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman reasoned that when a debt company cannot reach a debtor, it is reasonable to conduct a trace through credit reference agencies. Capquest received the work number from the CRA labeled as a personal number, and therefore could not reasonably have known it was a work number. The ombudsman could only rely on the evidence provided, which showed Capquest received the number from the CRA as a personal mobile. Data retention for debt servicing purposes is commonly accepted practice and not unfair from a fair and reasonable perspective.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website