| The Bank of Scotland does blander again |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Monday, 04 June 2007 | |
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Bank of Scotland revealed earlier that the computer disc containing details of the accounts failed to reach the main credit reference agencies for some unknown reason. The package was sent via Royal Mail, BoS added, and it was thought the disc has been lost in the post rather than stolen. Shane O'Riordain, the bank's communication's manager said “we apologise to our customers for any inconvenience or upset this incident may have caused.” He added "we have taken immediate steps to protect our customers and make sure this does not happen again and we have written to all affected customers to apologise and to reassure them that the risk of fraud is very low." The CD-ROM had details of their names, addresses, date of birth and mortgage account numbers but it did not contain bank account details, PINs, passwords or transaction data. The disk was in the post because the bank mails customer updates to each credit reference agency every month. One of the agencies did not receive its update within the stipulated two weeks and alerted Bank of Scotland last week. "There is no suggestion that the disk was stolen; it would appear to have been mislaid in the post," the bank said. A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The Royal Mail advises customers that when sending important information to use a special delivery service." It loses 0.07% of the items posted each year. But the fact remains, an estimated two-thirds of Bank of Scotland's mortgage customers are vulnerable to fraud due to this lost of computer disk in the post. The admission of the lost Bank of Scotland customer details comes two months after Halifax, the other arm of the HBOS group, admitted that the details of 13,000 of its mortgage customers had been stolen from a member of staff. As was the case in that instance, the issue has been reported to the Financial Services Authority which has a remit for protecting consumers. Furthermore, in a separate incident earlier this year Hbos said it was investigating how a customer who requested a copy of her bank statement ended up being sent the confidential details of 75,000 other account holders. Stephanie McLaughlin, had asked Hbos for one copy of her bank statement but received five packages containing 2500 sheets containing other customers' names, sort codes and account details instead. The Edinburgh-based arm of the HBOS banking group said, most of the customers affected by the incidents are based in Scotland and have special mortgages with the bank such as buy-to-let loans. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 June 2007 ) |
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