It's an interesting question. It is not illegal to get details of any savings or investments which a borrower in difficulty may have. But it is illegal to do certain things that you might do while obtaining that information.(posted 8480 days ago)Those things include posing as an Inland Revenue employee, making unauthorised access to DSS records or paying people to make unauthorised access to DSS records.
There are plenty of ways in which you might break the law while acquiring this data but acquiring the data itself is not illegal.
Also, enforcement of Data Protection law is so wet that it would be laughable (or would be laughable if it were not for the consequences it has for some people).
Lee