Comparison sites help consumers to quickly compare prices of services and products across a market. Users may compare products such as home insurance, car insurance and other financial products.
They may be accessed as websites on a tablet or computer or as an app on your smartphone. They allow users to compare multiple service providers or merchants at the click of a button.
In order to do so, these sites will request and collect personal data from customers. Site operators may also hold employees’ personal data.
In the event of a comparison site data breach, the site’s operator could be held liable for harm caused to customers or employees. Our team could help you make a personal data breach compensation claim for psychological harm and financial losses caused by a price comparison site data breach.
Our guide covers the types of data a comparison site may hold and when you could be eligible to claim compensation. We also look at the steps comparison sites should take to protect your data. Then we look at how price comparison websites could experience data breaches. Next, we look at how compensation for a data breach is calculated. Finally, we look at how a No Win No Fee solicitor could help you.
For more information on how to make a personal data breach compensation claim, please contact our team.
- Phone on 0800 073 8801
- Start a claim online via our contact form.
- Send a message using our online chat.
Browse Our Guide
- What Types Of Personal Data Will A Comparison Site Have?
- Can I Claim For A Comparison Site Data Breach?
- How Should A Comparison Site Be Protecting Your Personal Data?
- How Can A Comparison Site Data Breach Happen?
- What Data Breach Compensation Could I Receive?
- Claim For Mental Or Financial Damage Caused By A Data Breach On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Read More About Making Data Breach Compensation Claims
What Types Of Personal Data Will A Comparison Site Have?
Before we look at how to claim if a company has misused your data we will look at the different types of personal data they may hold. Depending on whether you are an employee or customer of the company, they may hold different types of personal data.
Comparison sites for financial services and products such as mortgages, loans, credit cards, insurance or utilities may require a large amount of personal data in order to carry out an accurate comparison.
They may request any of the following types of personal data;
- Your name, address, previous addresses.
- Contact details such as your email address, mobile and home phone numbers.
- Credit information, such as details of outstanding loans, etc.
- Banking details.
- Employment and salary details (including information about your employer).
- Details about your home or vehicle, such as insurance policies or ownership, etc.
- Details about your mortgage.
- Criminal record and conviction details.
- Access information for the site, including usernames and passwords.
Price comparison websites may hold further types of information about either customers or employees. If they were to suffer a data breach, a large amount of personal data could be impacted. Criminals accessing such sites’ data could engage in identity theft.
Comparison sites have a legal duty to protect your personal data. We will look at legislation protecting your personal data in the next section.
If you have been impacted by a comparison site data breach, please contact our team. One of our personal data breach solicitors may be able to help you.
Can I Claim For A Comparison Site Data Breach?
Firstly, we shall provide a brief definition of a personal data breach. Personal data breaches are security incidents which affect the integrity, availability or confidentiality of personal data.
Data controllers and data processors must adhere to two pieces of legislation. These are the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). Under the UK GDPR. data controllers and data processors have specific legal responsibilities. These must be upheld. The failure to do so could be a breach of the legislation.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent watchdog. Part of its role is to make sure that these parties uphold the rights of data subjects.
To make a comparison site data breach claim, you must show that,
- The breach was the result of wrongful conduct on the part of the data controller or data processor. In this case, there must have been wrongful conduct on the part of the comparison site. Data breaches may be due to human error or other causes.
- You have suffered harm (expressed as material or non-material damage) due to this data breach. We will explain these types of damage later in this guide.
Find out if you can sue a company for a data breach by speaking to a member of our team. Contact us today.
How Should A Comparison Site Be Protecting Your Personal Data?
Per their responsibilities under the DPA and UK GDPR, a comparison site must take steps to protect your personal data. There are a variety of different steps a price comparison site could take to protect data subjects personal data. These may include (but are not limited to);
- Only collecting relevant and necessary personal data.
- Only retaining personal data as long as strictly necessary.
- Ensuring that your personal data is processed in a way that is legal, fair and transparent.
- Explaining why your personal data needs to be processed.
- Ensuring that data is processed in a way which is secure and confidential.
- Ensuring that any personal data is up to date and correct. Incorrect or old information should be amended or destroyed.
The ICO sets out guidance on data protection principles. For more information on how one of our personal data breach lawyers could help you claim compensation, please contact our team.
How Can A Comparison Site Data Breach Happen?
A comparison site data breach could occur in a variety of different ways. Below we look at several. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list.
- A comparison site may have shared your financial information due to human error. It may have been shared with the wrong parties following your making an inquiry. The comparison site may have shared banking details of employees with another party.
- Letters containing personal information may be sent to the wrong recipient.
- A wrong email address data breach could involve your personal data being sent to the wrong person. sonal data breach solicitors, please contact our team today.
What Data Breach Compensation Could I Receive? bb
Compensation for a comparison site data breach could be made up of two parts. These are non-material damage and material damage.
Compensation can be awarded for non-material damage, which is for any emotional or psychiatric damage the data breach has caused.
Following a personal data breach, people could be left with serious mental health effects. People may suffer anxiety due to the data breach, have found existing mental health problems have been made worse or even been left feeling suicidal.
The table below sets out examples of how a personal data breach claim could compensate for psychological impacts. Figures in rows 2 – 9 are taken from the Judicial College Guidelines. This may be used by solicitors to value data breach compensation claims.
| Harm | Severity | Notes | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Severe psychological harm and material damage. | Serious up to severe | Compensation for non-material and material damage. | Up to £250,000+ with material damage. |
| Psychological harm | Severe | Marked problems in all parts of this person's life due to the psychological harm caused. | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Psychological harm | Moderately severe | Significant problems across all areas of this person's life. | £23,270 to £66,920 |
| Psychological harm | Moderate | Whilst this person may have experienced problems as above, they have made a marked improvement. | £7,150 to £23,270 |
| Psychological harm | Less severe | Damage takes factors such as how long any disability lasted into account. | £1,880 to £7,150 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | Severe | Effects will be permanent and will prevent the person from functioning as they did before the trauma. | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | Moderately severe | Better prospects for recovering to some degree than above, | £28,250 to £73,050 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | Moderate | The person will be largely recovered, but may still have some effects. | £9,980 to £28,250 |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | Less severe | In 12 - 24 months, the person will have virtually fully recovered. | £4,820 to £9980 |
Can I Claim For Material Damage Caused By A Comparison Site Data Breach?
The second part of your data breach claim is compensation for the financial impact that the breach has caused you. These losses must have been as a direct result of the breach of your data.
Examples of material damage compensation can include;
- Loss of future and past earnings if you are unable to work due to the psychological effects of the data breach.
- Counselling fees
- Relocation costs if your identity or address has been revealed when it should not have been.
For more information on what compensation a data breach lawyer could help you to claim, please contact our team.
Claim For Mental Or Financial Damage Caused By A Data Breach On A No Win No Fee Basis
At Accident Claims UK, our specialist personal data breach lawyers could help you to make a comparison site data breach claim on a No Win No Fee basis. This may be by using a Conditional Fee Agreement.
This means that you will not be charged an upfront solicitor’s fee. You will also not be asked to pay any solicitor’s fees whilst your claim is in progress.
Instead, if you win your claim, you will be charged a success fee. Your data breach solicitor automatically deducts this fee. It will be a pre-agreed percentage of your settlement. The maximum percentage which may be charged is limited by law.
If your comparison site data breach claim is not successful, there will be no solicitor’s fees to pay. The benefits of working with a No Win No Fee solicitor are that you get the benefit of their expertise with a much lower financial risk.
Choosing to seek compensation through a No Win No Fee service can be the more affordable route for many claimants. Learn more about No Win No Fee data breach compensation solicitors by contacting our team.
- You can phone a member of our data breach claims team on 0800 073 8801
- Start a claim by filling in our online form.
- Or chat with us using the live support at the bottom of this page.
Read More About Making Data Breach Compensation Claims
Here we have included further helpful guides and resources both from our site and trusted external sources.
- In our guide to energy company data breach claims, we look at when and how you could claim compensation.
- Find out more about your rights after an employer data breach in this guide.
- Check whether revealing your phone number is a breach of the UK GDPR in this guide.
External resources.
- Learn more about post-traumatic stress disorder in this NHS resource.
- Find out more about anxiety and panic attacks in this guide from the charity Mind.
- The National Cyber Security Centre provides advice and guidance on how to stay safe online.
Thank you for reading our guide to making a comparison site data breach. For more information on how data protection breach solicitors could help you, please contact our team.
