This is a guide to Experian data breach claims. When you hand over your personal information to a third party organisation, such as when you sign up to a mailing list or become a customer, you have a right to know that your personal information will be held securely.
You also have the right to know that the third party will not share your personal details with other groups or otherwise use your data in any manner that they did not specify when they collected the data.
How To Make A Data Breach Claim Against Experian
The law requires that any organisation collecting personal information upholds the strictest security and privacy reasonably possible. If your data is breached it could put you in a very difficult, stressful and dangerous situation.
The emotional distress of having your trust breached and your personal details accessed against your will by unknown parties can be severe. You could also be put in danger of identity theft or fraud, putting your money or credit rating at risk.
You do have options for seeking recourse in a situation like this, and this page is a guide to your options if you have been the victim of an Experian data breach. One option that we can offer you is to make a claim through Legal Expert—provided you have evidence of the breach and harm caused.
Our team can offer you free legal advice about your right to make a data breach claim against Experian. They could connect you to our specialist solicitors who could get to work on your case right away.
If after reading through this guide you have questions about making Experian data breach compensation claims, or if you want to reach our team of advisors to talk about making a claim through a lawyer, you can contact us by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804
- Requesting a call back using this online form
- Sending a message on the chat feature at the bottom of your page.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Data Breach Claims Against Experian
- What Is An Experian Data Breach?
- Credit Score And Credit Report GDPR Compliance
- ICO Enforcement Against Experian For Customer Data Breaches
- Complaining To The Information Commissioners’ Office About A Credit Reference Agency
- How Victims Of Credit Reference Agency Hacks Could Be Compensated?
- Potential Data Protection Breach Compensation Payouts For 2022
- How To Claim Damages From A Credit Reference Agency
- How To Find The Right Lawyer For Your Data Breach Claim
- No Win No Fee Experian Customer Data Protection Breach Compensation Claims
- Begin A Data Breach Claim Against Experian
- Resources For Claimants
- Data Breach Statistics
- Claim Against Experian For A Data Breach FAQs
A Guide To Data Breach Claims Against Experian
Having your data breached can be a stressful experience, especially if you have suffered from the theft of your personal information as a result. We have written this guide to explain what your rights are when you have had your confidential information breached and what to do in the event of an Experian data breach.
You do have multiple options when it comes to seeking resolution for this situation, and on this page, we aim to explain what these options are and how to go about them.
As well as advice, we can also provide you with legal representation for your case through our team of data breach lawyers. On this page, you will find out what some of the advantages of working with them are, such as being able to make a No Win No Fee claim, or working with them remotely without having to worry about where your lawyer is based.
Other important questions are also handled here, such as what kind of compensation could be awarded and how this could be calculated. If there are any further questions you have about anything you read here, you can direct them to our advice team who are available 24/7 to help you.
What Is An Experian Data Breach?
The UK passed the Data Protection Act 2018 in order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This law places a responsibility on organisations that collect, process and store people’s personal information to ensure that it is kept secure and confidential. Companies like Experian have to abide by these regulations if they have collected your personal details as a customer.
You should see these regulations in effect whenever you pass on your personal information in various forms to third parties. For example, when you give your details over the phone, the employee talking to you should explain why they are collecting the details and that they will be kept confidential. Another way you could see these regulations in practice will be when you receive a tracking cookie notification when you visit a website.
If you experience a data breach with your personal data, you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation if you can prove that the breach occurred due to the third party’s failure to comply with data regulations and that you have been harmed as a result by it.
The following scenarios could be classed as a data breach:
- Loss, disclosure or tampering with your personal details
- If the company holding your data engages in data brokering, meaning they traded or shared your personal information with other parties.
- Misuse of your data, such as using it to contact you without your consent.
- Failing to protect against cyber attacks and viruses.
If it can be proven that an Experian data breach (or a breach by another company) has occurred because of a failure to properly abide by data protection laws and that you suffered harm as a result, the company handling the data could be liable not just for a fine, but a compensation claim too.
To find out whether or not your data being breached is grounds for taking legal action, you can contact our team of advisors.
Credit Score And Credit Report GDPR Compliance
All states within the EU are bound by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an international regulation that protects the privacy and security of the data of those living in the EU.
All organisations which collect and store people’s personal information within the EU, or collect and store the information of people living in the EU, must abide by the rules set out in the GDPR.
In order to comply with the GDPR, the UK passed the Data Protection Act 2018, which enacts the rules of the GDPR into British law.
The core principles of the GDPR include:
- Transparency and lawfulness: All data processing must be transparent to the data subject and in accordance with the law
- Limitation: The data must only be collected and used for the legitimate purposes outlined to the data subject
- Accuracy: The information stored must be up to data and accurate
- Storage limitation: The data must only be stored for as long as is necessary for the stated purpose of the data collection.
- Confidentiality and integrity: The measures must be in place to ensure that the data collection and storage keeps the data subjects information private and secure.
- Accountability: It is the responsibility of the organisation collecting the data to prove that the measures are in place to ensure that their data collection and storage are in compliance with the GDPR.
All organisations are required to uphold the strongest possible security measures and data managing procedures in line with these principles.
If an Experian data breach does occur and the organisation is aware of it, they must contact you and inform you of it within the space of 72 hours of discovery.
If you have experienced an Experian data breach, you could be entitled to make a data breach compensation claim against Experian, provided you can provide proof that Experian’s failures were responsible and that you suffered harm as a result.
What Was The Experian Data Breach?
In October 2020, a report by the ICO found that a number of credit rating agency companies, including Experian, were misusing their customer’s data and had committed a series of data breaches.
It was found that these companies were using the data in order to carry out marketing, data brokering and that some information had been shared with outside parties, such as charities and political parties. It was also found that these companies had not been fully transparent with their customers about the purpose they were collecting their data for.
What Action Was Taken By The ICO Following The Experian Data Breach?
The ICO issued instructions to the companies involved to improve their data handling processes. Experian was found to have made some improvements in line with these instructions but has since been threatened with a fine if further compliance # is not met.
You can learn more about this particular situation by clicking here.
How Credit Reference Agencies Could Breach Your Data Privacy
There are many ways that an organisation could be considered in breach of data protection rules or could leave your data vulnerable to being accessed by another party.
Some examples include:
- Allowing the physical storage device, i.e. a computer hard drive or a USB stick storing the data to be lost or destroyed.
- Sharing your data with another organisation or person/people by accident.
- Accessing your data without your consent or without a valid reason to do so.
If you have reasonable grounds to believe that you have been the victim of an Experian data breach, you could have grounds to claim compensation if you can prove the breach and harm caused.
Complaining To The Information Commissioners’ Office About A Credit Reference Agency
The Information Commissioner’s Office is an independent regulator of data protection standards. They have the authority to investigate cases of suspected data misuse and mishandling, and also have the authority to issue fines in cases where organisations are found to have been in breach of data protection rules.
You can raise a complaint about how a credit rating agency has handled your data to the ICO, but first, you are advised to bring the complaint to the company’s attention first. The ICO has a page with useful guidance about how to do this.
Hopefully, the credit rating agency that you have a problem with will be able to respond to your issue and resolve the matter to your satisfaction. If they do not, or if you do not receive a response at all, you can then bring the issue to the attention of the ICO. This should ideally be done within 3 months of your last meaningful communication with the company.
The ICO can look into the issue and potentially find a resolution to it, or potentially issue a fine. Be sure to get in touch with the ICO sooner rather than later, as they are not likely to look into an incident that has been reported after more than three months have passed.
Going through the ICO is not strictly required if you have not received any response from the company. Or if their response has not satisfied you, you could go right ahead to seeking legal advice about making a compensation claim. Get in touch with our team to find out more.
How Victims Of Credit Reference Agency Hacks Could Be Compensated?
People who have been victims of a data breach that occurred because of the wrongdoing or negligence of a third party handling their data could be entitled to claim compensation. Compensation could be claimed and awarded on the basis of both material and non-material damage from the Experian data breach.
Non-Material Damage
Victims of Experian data breaches can claim compensation for the emotional effects of losing their privacy. The fear of the threat of identity theft combined with the stress and feelings of having their trust broken can cause lasting emotional and mental problems.
These could include the symptoms of psychological trauma, such as sleeplessness, anxiety, feelings of physical illness and depression. Don’t underestimate the severity of the trauma that could emerge as a result of being the victim of a data breach; it is easily comparable to having your house burgled.
Material Damage
As well as the above, compensation could be claimed for any material financial losses caused by an Experian data breach. For example, if you have had money stolen as a result of the breach. There is a possibility that following the breach of your data the danger of identity theft or other problems stemming from a data breach becomes permanent, as once the data has been leaked to another party the threat of it falling into the wrong hands will exist in the long-term.
The severity of the problems, both emotional and financial, that you have experienced following a Experian data breach will affect the amount of compensation that could be recovered. The worse the issues are, the greater the amount you could be entitled to claim will be. There are more details on this in the following section.
Potential Data Protection Breach Compensation Payouts For 2022
If you have proof of a data breach and are able to make a valid claim against Experian, then you may be wondering about how much compensation you could receive. As mentioned above, you could potentially receive material damages, non-material damages, or even both. Due to a ruling made in the case of Google Vs. Vidal-Hall [2015], it’s now permitted for you to claim for psychological harm without also suffering financially as a result of a data breach.
The ruling in the case of Gulati & Others Vs. MGN Ltd [2015] also now means that compensation for psychological harm in data breach claims is calculated the same as in personal injury law. This means that legal professionals use the same publication when arriving at a figure deemed suitable for your level of mental suffering. It’s called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
In the table below, we’ve included some example figures from the JCG below, which was recently updated in 2022. These are the amounts that legal professionals will use as a guide to value the non-material damages portion of your claim.
| Injury | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Severe psychiactric damage | £54,830 to £115,730 |
| Moderately severe Psychiatric damage | £19,070 to £54,830 |
| Moderate psychiatric damage | £5,860 to £19,070 |
| Less severe psychiatric damage | £1,540 to £5,860 |
You could be considering what steps you can take after an Experian data breach. If you have a justifiable claim with evidence and wish to know more about how much your settlement could be worth, get in touch today.
How To Claim Damages From A Credit Reference Agency
So, how to claim damages? Well, referring back to the section on ICO complaints, it is recommended that you contact the company first if you have concerns about that way in which your personal information has been handled.
If they cannot or will not provide some kind of resolution to the issue, then you could direct a complaint to the ICO. However, once you have made an attempt to resolve the issue with the company yourself, you do have the right to seek legal advice about making a compensation claim.
You could consult the legal specialists who work on our advice team here at Legal Expert. They can provide you with a free consultation and advice about whether or not you could make a compensation claim against Experian and how to do it.
How To Find The Right Lawyer For Your Data Breach Claim
If you are going to work with a lawyer you will need to be confident that they have the experience and the skill to win your Experian data breach claim.
You will need to know which solicitors provide you with the best chance of winning your claim and the best chance of resolving it swiftly with the best amount of compensation possible.
The best way to identify the lawyer which has the best attributes for your claim will be to read reviews left by people who have made compensation claims in the past. You can read lots of online reviews of our service by clicking here.
For more information on how we can help you, please call us.
No Win No Fee Experian Customer Data Protection Breach Compensation Claims
It is possible to make a compensation claim by paying the legal fees for a lawyer’s services. However, this could create a risky financial situation as you may end up paying these legal bills and not receiving any compensation, leaving you out of pocket.
Luckily, you can avoid having to take this risk by making a No Win No Fee claim. This is a type of claim where you will not be charged legal fees by your lawyer if your case is unsuccessful. You also won’t be charged any upfront or ongoing fees.
If the claim is successful, your solicitor will deduct a small percentage of your compensation to cover their costs. This percentage is capped by law so you need not worry about losing a significant chunk of your payout.
For more information on No Win No Fee claims, get in touch with our team.
Begin A Data Breach Claim Against Experian
If there is more you want to know about making an Experian data breach claim, our team of legal specialists can offer you a free consultation on your options.
They can also put you in touch with one of our specialist solicitors if you want to speak to us about making a claim against Experian.
The methods for contacting our team are:
- Making a phone call to 0800 073 8804
- Filling out this page
- Sending a message via our chat option.
Resources For Claimants
Claim limitation periods – a guide on personal injury limitation periods
No Win No Fee claims – our detailed guide on No Win No Fee agreements
Medical data breach claims – a guide on making a medical data breach claim.
Other Useful Compensation Guides
- Can I Claim Compensation For A Passport Data Breach?
- Travelodge Data Breach Compensation Claims
- BT Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Hertfordshire Constabulary Data Breach
- Virgin Mobile Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Royal Bank Of Scotland Data Breach Compensation Claims
- University Of Newcastle Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Anglia Ruskin University Data Breach
- Bedfordshire Police Data Breach
- British Transport Police Data Breach
- Human Error Data Breach Claims
Data Breach Statistics
For insight into how often UK companies experience data breaches and potential data breaches, we can look at statistics provided by the 2021 Cyber Security Breaches Survey. The Government-published survey covered a year-long period between March 2020 and the same month in 2021. 1,419 UK businesses were surveyed about their experiences with data breaches and cyber attacks within this time period. The following findings were made within this survey:
- 654 of the businesses covered in the survey said they experienced a data breach or cyber attack at least once during the covered time period.
- The most commonly reported type of cyber attack by far was phishing attempts. As many as 83% of the businesses that experienced cyber attacks reported this particular method occurring.
- 27% of the businesses that reported experiencing cyber attacks experienced impersonations as an attack method. That refers to instances when an attacker impersonates a particular organisation or individual within emails or other communication methods so they can gain access to sensitive data.
- Malware, spyware or viruses were experienced by 9% of the businesses which reported cyber attacks.
- Out of all the businesses which confirmed they had been subjected to cyber attacks, 27% of them said they experienced them at least once a week.
- 66% of the surveyed businesses said they had a formalised incident response process in place for when a cyber security incident occurred. However, in many cases, the incident response applied by many of the surveyed businesses is not very comprehensive.
- Incident response processes for data breaches/cyber attacks which are formalised and multifaceted are much more common among large businesses when compared to smaller companies.
- Public engagement plans following a data breach are not particularly common, even among bigger companies. 45% of the large businesses surveyed confirmed they had communications and public engagement plans set up in the event that a cyber security incident occurred.
Claim Against Experian For A Data Breach FAQs
When was the Experian data breach?
This took place on April 26 2021.
What do I do if my personal information suffers a compromise?
You can make a claim while informing relevant companies, then file a report and contact the police.
How do I know if my personal information suffers a compromise?
You can check your bills and bank statements, though it generally comes from you having an idea about a compromise.
How can I find out if someone is using my identity?
You can check your bills, bank statements and credit reports if you’re suspicious.
What can someone do with your name and address and phone number?
They could use this to find out other information about you such as telephone numbers and employment histories.
Can someone hack your phone with just your phone number?
No, this isn’t possible despite the fears of some people online.
Can someone see you through your phone camera?
Yes, there are apps that allow developers to see you while you’re using your phone.
How can I prove a claim against Experian?
Evidence is very important in proving fault in a data breach claim against Experian or other organisations. First, it must be established that there was positive wrongful conduct on the part of the defendant, such as failing to update cybersecurity systems. Secondly, you must also prove that you suffered damage either to your mental health or finances.
Thank you for reading our Experian data breach guide.
