Privacy Statement
Introduction
We are committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to the website in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "Act"). Please read the following information which will help you understand how your personal data may be used.
Information we collect about you
We will only collect information from you which will assist us in providing a service to you, as requested by you. We will not keep your personal data for longer than necessary to provide the service, or as required by law.
We will use the information you provide to determine the availability of our services to you. We use an automated process that helps us decide whether there is a Personal Finance Manager in your area and whether you meet our eligibility criteria.
Use of your information
In considering your application, we will search your record at credit reference agencies who will supply us with credit information, as well as information from the Electoral Register. The agencies will record details of the search whether or not this application proceeds. We may use credit scoring to assess this application. Credit searches and other information which is provided to us and/or the credit reference agencies, about you and those with whom you are linked financially, may be used by us and other companies to make credit decisions about you, or other members of your household. This information may also be used for debt tracing, the prevention of money laundering, identity verification, and the management of your account.
To prevent or detect fraud, or to assist in verifying your identity, we may make searches of the records of other companies in the Provident group and at fraud prevention agencies who will supply us with information. We may also pass information to financial and other organisations involved in fraud prevention to protect ourselves and our customers from theft and fraud. If you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this. We, members of the Provident group of companies, and other companies may use this information to make decisions about you or others at your address(es) on credit or credit-related services or motor, household, credit, life or any other insurance facilities. It may also be used for tracing and claims assessment.
If you are a joint applicant, or you have told us that you have some financial association with another party, you must be sure that you are entitled to:
- Disclose information about your joint application and/or anyone else referred to by you.
- Authorise us to search, link and/or record information at credit reference agencies about you and/or anyone else referred to by you.
An ‘association’ between joint applicants or you and any individual identified as your financial partner will be created at credit reference agencies, which will link your financial records. Information held about you by the credit reference agencies may already be linked to records relating to one or more of your partners. You and anyone else with whom you have a financial link should realise that each other’s information will be taken into account in this and all future applications by either or both of you. This linking will continue until one of you successfully files a ‘disassociation’ at the credit reference agencies.
Where you borrow or may borrow from us, we may give details of your account and how you manage it to credit reference agencies. If you borrow and do not repay in full and on time, we may tell credit reference agencies who will record the outstanding debt.
Other companies in the Provident group may use information about you and your account for the management of any agreement you have with them, including the making of credit decisions, tracing and debt collection, fraud prevention and detection, market research and managing collections.
We may make periodic searches of the records of companies in the Provident group, credit reference and fraud prevention agencies to manage your account with us, to take decisions regarding credit, including whether to make credit available, or to continue or extend existing credit. The searches will not be seen or used by lenders to assess your ability to obtain credit.
Please telephone us on 0800 900 6354 if you want to have details of those credit reference and fraud prevention agencies from whom we obtain and to whom we pass information about you. You have a right to receive a copy of the information we hold about you if you apply to us in writing. A fee will be payable.
Disclosure to 3rd parties
We may disclose your information to our agents, group companies, registrars or third party research organisations. We will not disclose your information to any other parties except where we are required to do so by law or under the protection of a contract which will protect your rights.
We may also compile and disclose statistics about our users and their preferences. However, these statistics are anonymous and do not identify individual users
Other disclosures
When you visit our site a small piece of code called a cookie will be down loaded to your computer. We do this so we can tailor your visit and make the experience faster and easier. Many websites use cookies. For further information about cookies please visit www.aboutcookies.org . If you switch the cookies off you may not be able to access or use all the parts of our site.
Children
You must be over the age of 18 to use this Website. Children are not permitted to use this Website.
Direct marketing
We may contact you by post, telephone and/or email (or such other channel we may adopt from time to time) about services and/or products offered by us, or by other group companies which we consider to be of interest to you.
We may provide your information to other Provident Group Companies and other carefully selected companies who may contact you by post, telephone and/or email (or such other channel they may adopt from time to time) with information which may be of interest to you.
You have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you or giving your details to others for marketing purposes. If you wish us to stop, please write to the DPA Officer, Colonnade, Sunbridge Road, Bradford BD1 2LQ, call freephone 0800 4096654 or email us at customerrelations@realpersonalfinance.co.uk.
Data Protection Compliance Officer
If you want to know what data we hold about you, or to have access to that data, or amend it in accordance with the "Act", please contact the DPA Officer at the above address.