Almost every adult in England and Wales could receive ‘£750 share of £34BILLION claim against Experian’
ALMOST every adult in England and Wales could receive a £750 share of a huge £34billion claim against Experian, it’s claimed.
The credit firm is being sued in a landmark High Court case that could see millions claim from a damages pot.
The company holds information on some 46million individuals – but it’s accused of mis-selling data and building potentially inaccurate profiles that could affect decisions on credit, the Mail on Sunday reports.
On Friday, lawyer Liz Williams, who lives in north Dorset, filed a writ at the High Court for £750.
But the action could cripple the company – as it accuses Experian of collecting data on Brits from a range of sources, including online questionnaires and website-tracking cookies.
The data is then allegedly sold on for commercial gain.
Last October, the Information Commissioner’s Office found Experian was selling data onto third parties – including political groups – without their consent.
The organisation imposed a £20million fine, although Experian is appealing.
According to the writ filed by Ms Williams, the firm’s “processing and profiling [of data] was neither fair nor transparent”, while the alleged selling of data was done without consent.
If she’s successful, every one of around 46m people in England and Wales – 95 per cent of the adult population – whose personal data is held by Experian could be entitled to the same payment.
It would take potential damages to £34.5bn.
Companies and even political parties use Experian’s data to check credit-worthiness, market certain products or target them with messaging. T
Ms Williams, an IT company director, answered an appeal for potential claimants to come forward as a representative for the case brought by law firm Harcus Parker.
She said: “I didn’t realise my [Experian] report contained information that gave away the game on what I was doing online and elsewhere, and was being sold on.
“I had left plenty of tracks even though I never consent to cookies and never consent to sharing information.
“We need the legal levers to impose a penalty on bad behaviour.”
A profile rates how likely a person is to gamble online, which supermarket they may use or newspaper they read.
The rating is also affected by a person’s postcode.
It means an area’s wealth or attributes – including the health of locals ofr how well schools do – alter scores.
It is feared the profiles, which can be inaccurate, are being sold on to deny people credit.
Most read in Money
Ed Parkes, of Harcus Parker, told the publication: “We hope this case will deter future disrespect of laws on personal data.”
Experian said: “We disagree with the ICO’s view and we are appealing.
“We do not believe there are any reasonable grounds for bringing this case.”