And with Identity theft / fraud now placed as one of Britain’s fastest growing crimes (source), now has never been a more important time to ensure that your sensitive personal information does not fall in to the wrong hands!
According to a recent report from the BBC, about a third of UK employees throw sensitive documents in the bin rather than shredding them! (source). The report goes on to briefly discuss concerns raised from recent studies about employees in firms mishandling customers’ personal information.
So how does this fit in to personal injury? Well, engaging in a claim for personal injury requires professional and experienced law firms such as ourselves to require access to sometimes a lot of personal information about a claimant. One of the more notable of these is access to a claimants medical records, which is required as part of the medical evidence we need for your claim to be a success.
Should you be careful? The answer of course is yes! And knowing who to trust with your claim and your personal information is a key preventative step we believe people should be aware of!
It never ceases to amaze me how in the past I have been informed of clients being contacted by claims management companies promising them big payouts for their injuries (sometimes your details are retrieved from your own insurance company) – particularly when the injured party hasn’t even been in contact with anybody yet! Or perhaps even you have received a text message valuing your claim for compensation when you haven’t even been injured! That old chestnut!
And let’s face facts; it can be tempting when you receive a promise of a big payout… especially in these times of recession!
What should you do? Our advice – AVOID THEM!
A claims management company will more often than not sell your claim on to the highest bidding law firm (Yes, there are law firms who are willing to PAY for your claim!), so how can you trust a firm with so much personal information about you that you didn’t even instruct to act on your behalf? Well quite simply, in our opinion – you can’t!
Our advice: look around and instruct who you want to instruct! Read some client testimonials and get a feel for the firm you are thinking of instructing. Contact them and question them about who will be involved in your claim for personal injury – and make sure they give you the straight answers!
We recommend that you instruct an independent firm of experts such as ourselves (of course, the choice is yours). We are not tied to any insurance company or claims management company – if we take on your claim, our own inhouse solicitors deal with it!
We treat all our clients’ personal information with the uppermost respect and privacy, and we would never pass on details to third parties without your consent; or buy your information to make a profit from it!
You can’t be too careful with your personal sensitive information, so make sure you are the one making the decision as to who get access to it – not some claims management company simply selling on the rights to your claim (and therefore the rights to your personal information) to the highest bidder!
The decision is yours! Make sure it stays that way! Do your homework; make sure you know who is going to be managing your personal information.