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 reported.
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,
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.
It accuses Experian of collecting data on Brits from a range of sources, including online questionnaires, the UK census and the electoral roll.
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.
It set out a range of penalties, and the company can be fined £20million if Experian doesn't follow the steps set out.
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.
There's no guarantee of any payout and there is a long legal process for such cases which usually spend years in the courts.
Companies and even political parties use some of the data collected by a branch of Experian to check credit-worthiness, market certain products or target them with messaging.
Collective claims for compensation
LAWSUITS that result in compensation for many people are often referred to as "class action
In England and Wales a Group Litigation Order (GLO) is often used for this kind of lawsuit and this kind of collective action has been made easier under the UK’s Consumer Rights Act 2015.
It means the courts can treat similar claims as one, rather than having hundreds or even thousands of separate individual claims.
There are a number of stages to bringing this kind of lawsuit, including the courts needing to give permission for a GLO.
Both sides can also appeal decisions at various stages making it a lengthy process with no guarantee of a payout.
Collective actions are rare - there have only been around 100 cases since 2000 according to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
Since the changes in 2015, there has been only one mass claim launched.
A court ruled in late 2020 that a case against Mastercard could go ahead after initially being thrown out in 2017.
But the company says its data has "no impact" on people's credit scores.
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 alleged: "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."
And she said: "We need the legal levers to impose a penalty on bad behaviour."
It's claimed Experian has created profiles based on information including how likely a person is to gamble online, which supermarket they may use or newspaper they read.
It is feared the profiles, which can be inaccurate, are being sold on to deny people credit. This is denied by the company.
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."
In an updated statement this afternoon, a spokesperson said claims the company's offline marketing business can impact credit scores are inaccurate.
“A number of claims have been made," they said.
"They are simply not true – our offline marketing business does not use website tracking cookies and its data has no impact on people’s credit scores.”
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