A landmark court case against credit checker Experian which could see almost every adult receive £750 from a share of £34.5bn damages has been brought by a mother-of-four from Gillingham.

IT company director Liz Williams, 58, answered an appeal issued by law firm Harcus Parker, wanting potential claimants to come forward as a representative for the case. Ms Williams filed a writ for £750 at the High Court and if successful, it could mean the company owes the same amount to the 46 million adults in England and Wales of whom it holds data, which amounts to 95 per cent of the population.

The writ accuses Experian of collecting people’s data from a variety of sources and then selling it to third parties, and building inaccurate financial profiles, which can affect credit decisions.

It’s claimed Experian stores information including which supermarket they may use or newspaper they read. Ms Williams said she had no idea her report contained information which revealed what she and others were doing online and was being sold on.
She said ‘legal levers’ were needed as penalties for bad behaviour.

Ed Parkes of Harcus Parker said it was hoped the case would “deter” future disrespect of the laws on personal data.
In October 2020, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found the credit company was selling the data onto third parties. The company could be fined £20m.
Experian has launched an appeal against the ICO view and did not believe there were “reasonable grounds” for bringing the case.

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