Bank refused to open an account for me

Quick question.

I used to be a customer of BOI many years ago and missed some payments on a car loan. The bank basically threw credit at me a naive 20 year old, I took it and paid it off by and large for 2 years or so. However things took a down turn at work as did my pay and I missed 3 payments on my car loan. Long story short the bank handed over my loan to a collection agency, cancelled my credit card and ruined my credit rating, over 3 payments. They also sent me a letter at the time telling me they no longer required my business so I fecked off to the Ulster Bank. Now 11 years later myself and the missus decided to open a joint account in the BOI (her family branch). Went into her branch friday signed all the paperwork etc. This morning the branch rang me to say they had got a letter from HQ in Dublin telling them not to allow me to open an account as i was a debtor on a motor loan.

So my question. Its been over 5 years so my credit rating has been wiped clean and I cleared the debts with BOI 5+ years ago. I have had two loans with UB which I paid off in full and missed no payments. I also have a credit card with UB which again I have kept up to date. I thought this crap was all behind me now and i had a clean slate. Why are the BOI knocking me back even now? I'm not looking for a loan just to open a joint account and put money in! Is there anything I can do here? Any point appealing to them? We had planned on applying for a mortgage at some stage too in the future, i guess i can cross the BOI off our list?

Did you finally pay off the loan in full? If so, you should make a request to them for the information they hold on you, under the Data Protection Act. You can seek to have any material errors corrected (if they state you are still a debtor, for example). That might make them reconsider, assuming you're still interested in opening an account with them.

If, however, you made an agreement to pay a reduced amount and didn't actually clear the full loan amount you may be down in their records as a bad debt on which they had to write off part of the loan - and it's understandable, though rather frustrating, that they'd be unwilling to deal with you again.

A financial institution is legally obliged to retain data for a minimum of seven years but is entitled to hold information about its customers for as long as it wants to. You are still on the records of BoI as a bad debt - the fact that you paid it off is irrelevant to the bank and in this era of reduced lending the bank are looking at all criteria when deciding on lending.

To the B of I you are a bad customer and they don't want you, why should they want to have you as a customer again when you caused them a lot of hassle in the past? Also when there are so many choices out there why don't you pick a different bank.

I agree with Bronte, you are on their books as a defaulter, they told you they didn't want your business.

Just go to a different bank.

Just a few things as I met them which may have a bearing on this topic. I had a different problem, it concerned lost data. One would think that after 11 years the slate might be swept clean, not so it seems. The Data Protection Act allows the banks to retain information on customers -- if they have good reason. In this case D.P. must consider late or broken payment as being good reason for the bank to retain the data.
Re. accounts, the banks must retain details for up to 15 years - not six - this applies to cheques etc - I am told. The Data Protection Act does not compel financial institutions etc to erase data if they have no good reason to retain it.
The Act gives the consumer the right to request the removal of data IF the holder has no good reason to retain it. Seems like a strange way for the powers to legislate but ordinary people like myself do not readily grasp legal issues.
Is the above near the mark or am I reacting to the Anglo situation?