Credit company fined for 1m nuisance texts

Provident Personal Credit has been fined thousands of pounds after sending 1m nuisance texts.

The Bradford-based credit company has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office under the Data Protection act.

The ICO investigated the unsolicited communications of Provident, which saw it send more than 1m “nuisance” text messages over a six month period, between 6 April and 13 October 2015.

285 complaints were made to the spam reporting service about the texts which were promoting Satsuma Loans, the trading name of PPC.

It contracted third party affiliate companies to send messages on its behalf. These affiliates were paid for every individual who entered into a credit loan agreement with PPC having clicked on the link in the messages.

One of these affiliates, Money Gap Group, sent nearly 870,000 unsolicited direct marketing text messages, and another, Sandhurst Associates sent more than 130,000.

Authorities have been tightening up the rules around direct marketing. The ICO said consent to receive marketing materials has to be freely given and specific.

ICO Head of Enforcement Steve Eckersley said: “The law is clear. You can’t send marketing texts to people who have not signed up to receive them.

“Being bombarded with texts you didn’t ask for and don’t want is an intrusion into people’s privacy, an irritation and, in the worst cases can be upsetting.

”Companies have no excuse whatsoever for sending nuisance texts, whether they do it themselves or employ someone else to do it for them.”