If you have suffered harm as a result of a credit card statement data breach, you may be able to claim compensation.
In this article, we will discuss who is eligible to claim compensation following a personal data breach. The criteria for this is set out by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), which works with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) to protect the personal data of UK residents. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) enforces this legislation as the UK’s independent data protection authority.
We will also discuss how a personal data breach can occur and the impacts that a breach can have on your life. For example, you may suffer stress due to a data breach. Or, you may be financially impacted by the breach. We will discuss these impacts further later on in the article.
Our advisors can provide free legal advice regarding claiming for data breach compensation. They can also connect you with one of our solicitors if your claim is valid. To learn more:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Start your claim online
- Or use the live support feature
Select A Section
- What Is A Credit Card Statement Data Breach?
- What Data Does A Credit Card Statement Contain?
- How Could A Credit Card Statement Data Breach Happen?
- How To Claim For A Credit Card Statement Data Breach
- Payouts For A Breach Of Credit Card Data
- Talk To A Data Breach Claim Solicitor
What Is A Credit Card Statement Data Breach?
A personal data breach is a security incident at an organisation that compromises the protection of personal data. Consequently, the breach undermines the data’s availability, integrity, or confidentiality. Personal data is any information that could identify you, including your credit card details
A credit card statement data breach occurs when a personal data breach affects your credit card statement. A credit card statement can include multiple forms of personal data, which we will touch on later.
Can You Claim Compensation For A Credit Card Statement Data Breach?
The UK GDPR dictates the criteria that valid claims must meet. Under this legislation, in order to have an eligible claim, you must be able to prove that the personal data breach:
- Involves your personal data
- Is the fault of the data controller or data processor
- Has caused you financial harm or psychological injuries
Please get in touch with our advisors to see if you meet the criteria to make a personal data breach claim following a credit card statement data breach.
What Information Does A Credit Card Statement Contain?
Credit card providers send their customers regular statements, usually every month. A credit card statement could contain the following forms of personal data:
- The account number
- The credit card number
- Your full name
- Postage address
- Phone number
- Email address
A credit card statement can also contain special category data. This is a form of personal data that needs extra layers of protection because of its sensitive nature. For example, your credit card statement may show that you pay for a trade union membership.
If your personal data has been affected by a credit card statement data breach, contact our team of advisors today.
How Could A Credit Card Statement Data Breach Happen?
There are many ways a personal data breach can occur, ranging from cyberattacks to human error. But, as we have already mentioned, if you would like to make a claim for a personal data breach, the breach must be the fault of the data controller or processor.
- A bank data breach could occur if a bank fails to employ adequate cybersecurity policies, leading to a cyberattack that compromises stored credit card statements.
- Credit card statements could be included in a batch of documents that are stolen from a bank. Similarly, your personal data could be lost by an employee.
- An employee could send your credit card statement to the wrong address, allowing an unauthorised party access to your personal data.
Statistics On Data Breaches In The Financial And Credit Sector
When an organisation experiences a data breach, it should report the breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours if the data breach can affect the data subject’s rights or freedoms. The ICO publishes these reports in its quarterly data security incident trends.
So far in 2022, there have been 309 reported data security incidents according to these statistics, compared to 880 reported in 2021.
Our advisors can provide free legal advice and more help with your credit card statement data breach when you get in touch today.
How To Claim For A Credit Card Statement Data Breach
If your credit card provider has suffered a personal data breach that could affect your freedoms or your rights, they have to report the incident to the ICO within 72 hours. They must also inform you of the breach without undue delay.
Should your personal data be affected by a data breach, you can contact the organisation responsible directly and make a complaint. They could then offer further information, such as what data was affected, how the breach occurred, and the steps they are taking to rectify it.
However, if the organisation doesn’t respond, or if their response is not satisfactory, then you can make a complaint to the ICO. The ICO doesn’t offer compensation, but they can investigate potential data breaches, and can fine organisations that fail to comply with legislation.
For more information on how to claim for a credit card statement data breach, contact our team of advisors today.
Payouts For A Breach Of Credit Card Data
When you make a personal data breach claim, there are two heads of claim you can pursue: material damage and non-material damage. Non-material damage provides compensation for the impact the breach has on your mental health and well-being. For example, if you suffer depression due to a data breach, then you could claim for this under non-material damage.
You can find some examples of what you could potentially receive in a successful claim for non-material damage in the table below. These are guideline figures taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which help solicitors assign value to compensation claims.
Mental Health Injury | Severity | Notes | Damages |
---|---|---|---|
Psychiatric Harm | Severe | The injury is severe enough to significantly impact this person’s ability to maintain relationships and cope with life in general. | £54,830 to £115,730 |
Psychiatric Harm | Moderately Severe | The prognosis is better, though the injury has still significantly impacted the person’s life. | £19,070 to £54,830 |
Psychiatric Harm | Moderate | The claimant will have made improvements in their mental state by the time of trial. | £5,860 to £19,070 |
Psychiatric Harm | Less Severe | Consideration is given to the length of time affected by symptoms, and the effect symptoms have on their life. | £1,540 to £5,860 |
PTSD | Severe | Psychiatric symptoms impact all areas of this person’s life, and they are not able to return to functioning or working at the same level as before. | £59,860 to £100,670 |
PTSD | Moderately Severe | The psychological damage leads to significant disability, though the person could make a degree of recovery with professional treatment. | £23,150 to £59.860 |
PTSD | Moderate | The person largely recovers, though they are left with some non-disabling symptoms. | £8,180 to £23,150 |
PTSD | Less Severe | The victim will make a virtually full recovery, though they could be left with some minor symptoms. | £3,950 to £8,180 |
The table does not include material damage. Material damage is the head of claim that addresses the financial impacts of the breach. For example, a breach of your credit card statement could lead to criminals making fraudulent purchases on your card. This can harm your credit score.
To find out how much your personal data breach claim could be worth, get in touch with our team.
Talk To A Data Breach Solicitor
If you are interested in making a personal data breach claim, you may be wondering how one of our solicitors could help you. Our data breach solicitors offer a type of No Win No Fee arrangement, which is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). A CFA allows you access to expert legal representation, typically without requiring you to pay any upfront or ongoing fees to your solicitor.
If your claim then succeeds, the only fee your solicitor will require is a success fee. This is taken as a percentage of your compensation award, though this amount has a legal cap. But, if your claim isn’t successful, then you will not pay this fee.
To find out how one of our solicitors could help you:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Start your claim online
- Or use the live support feature
Learn More About Financial Information Data Breaches
For more helpful articles:
- Failure To Use BCC Data Breach Claims
- Joint Bank Account Data Breach Claims Calculator
- Making A Claim If A Mortgage Broker Breached Your Data
Or, for further information:
Contact our advisors to learn more about making a credit card statement data breach claim.
Written by Chelache
Edited By Hampton