PRIVACY POLICY
WHO WE ARE
Credit Solutions Agency Limited (company number: 05988790) which is a Alternative Commercial Finance Broker based in 63 - 66 Hatton Garden, 5th Floor, Suite 23 Hatton Garden, London, England, EC1N 8LE. We act as a broker for our customers.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT?
Credit Solutions Agency Limited is the controller and responsible for your personal data. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.
It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY NOTICE AND YOUR DUTY TO INFORM US OF CHANGES
This version was last updated on 2nd January 2019.
The data protection law in the UK will change on 25 May 2018. Although this privacy notice sets out most of your rights under the new laws, we may not yet be able to respond to some of your requests (for example, a request for the transfer of your personal data) until May 2018 as we are still working towards getting our systems ready for some of these changes.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:
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Identity data: includes first name, maiden name, last name, marital status, title, date of birth, gender, passport (copy), driving licence (copy) and utility bills (copy)
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Contact Data: includes residential address, billing address, email address and telephone numbers
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Financial Data: includes bank details, details of you income and outgoings, net worth statements
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Transaction Data: includes [details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us]
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Marketing and Communications Data: includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
We may also collect, store and use the following “Special Categories” of more sensitive personal information:
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Information about your health, including medical conditions, particularly where you are classified as a vulnerable individual as a result of your medical condition.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your location data to calculate the percentage of customers accessing our services in a given geographical location. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE PERSONAL DATA
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services). In this case, we may have to cancel service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
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Direct interactions. You may give us your [Identity, Contact and Financial Data] by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
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apply for our services either directly or via our web page;
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request marketing to be sent to you.
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Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
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Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of Business information such as Credit Safe, Experian or Companies House, based inside or outside the EU;
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Introducers and other businesses where we have a trading relationship.
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HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
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(a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose
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(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract
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(c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations)
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(d) Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
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(e) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.).
The situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below. Please see Schedule 1 to this privacy notice in which we have set out, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us at info@creditsolutionsagency.com if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
We will process your personal information for the following reasons:
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to find the best source of finance based on your circumstances;
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to undertake credit checks for the purposes of finding the most suitable finance product;
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to confirm your affordability for the financial requirement we are seeking finance for;
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to comply with our anti-money laundering and know your client requirements; and
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to meet our regulatory responsibilities
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AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING
Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. We are allowed to use automated decision-making in the following circumstances:
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where we have notified you of the decision and given you 21 days to request a reconsideration;
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where it is necessary to perform the contract with you and appropriate measures are in place to safeguard your rights; or
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in limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent and where appropriate measures are in place to safeguard your rights.
If we make an automated decision on the basis of any particularly sensitive personal information, we must have either your explicit written consent or it must be justified in the public interest, and we must also put in place appropriate measures to safeguard your rights
Many of our funders use auto scoring technology to underwrite deals. You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making, unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and we have notified you.
WHY MIGHT WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES?
We will share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary to administer the contractual relationship with you or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.
“Third parties” includes third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents) and other entities within our group. The following third-party service providers process personal information about you for the following purposes:
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the most suitable funders on our panel (a full list of which is available by request and subject to NDA)
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our IT hosting and maintenance, this information is located on servers within the European Union
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Credit reference agencies for the purposes of ascertaining your financial status
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Regulatory bodies such as The Financial Conduct Authority for the purposes of meeting any regulatory obligations
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Fraud prevention agencies where we are required to do so
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Third party product providers where you have given us your prior consent to do so.
We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data.
HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION
We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you. Once you are no longer an employee, worker or contractor of the company we will retain and securely destroy your personal information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?
Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
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Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it;
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Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected;
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Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below);
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Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes;
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Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it;
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Request the transfer of your personal information to another party
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Withdraw consent: In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact info@creditsolutionsagency.com. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.
If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact info@creditsolutionsagency.com.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.
If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Our Data Protection Officer is Mr Aron Yadav and you can contact them at aron@creditsolutionsagency.com.
SCHEDULE 1 – PROCESSING ACTIVITIES AND LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING
Purpose/Activity
Type of data
Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To find the best source of finance based on your circumstances
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
Contractual
Legitimate Interest: to promote financial products we believe may be of interest to you.
To undertake credit checks for the purposes of finding the most suitable finance product.
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
Contractual
To confirm your affordability for the financial requirement you have proposed to us.
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
Contractual
To comply with our anti-money laundering and know your client requirements.
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
Legal Obligation
To meet our regulatory responsibilities.
(a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications
Legal Obligation
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Credit Solutions Agency Limited aims to provide our customers with the highest standards of service. If our service fails to meet your requirements we will endeavour to find a resolution.
THE DEFINITION OF A COMPLAINT
Any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, from, or on behalf of, a person about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service, which:
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a) Alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience; and
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b) Relates to an activity of our firm, or of any other firm with whom we have some connection in marketing or providing financial services or products, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
WHAT COMPLAINTS WE CAN AND CAN'T DEAL WITH
We can only handle complaints about the work, staff and levels of service provided by our company. We can’t deal with:
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Complaints regarding the conduct or service of a specific finance company
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Complaints regarding equipment you have purchased.
In the event your complaint relates to one of the above we will, where possible provide you with details of how to contact them directly.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT CREDIT SOLUTIONS AGENCY
In the first place, talk to the person who handled your transaction: that’s usually the quickest way to resolve a problem.
If you’re still not satisfied, speak to our complaints manager on phone: 07534972671 lines are open from 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays).
If that doesn’t solve the problem, you can make a formal complaint to our Complaints manager.
HOW TO MAKE A FORMAL COMPLAINT
You can make a formal complaint by post, online or by phone.
Write to: Registered address.
Tel:07534972671
Email: info@creditsolutionsagency.com
CUSTOMER COMPLAINT PROCEDURES
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1) We aim to resolve a complaint by close of business the following business day of its receipt. This will still be investigated competently, diligently and impartially; be assessed fairly, consistently and promptly; and all relevant factors will be taken into account
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2) If we are unable to resolve your complaint the following business day, we will send you a written acknowledgement within five working days of receiving your complaint. The acknowledgement letter will outline the result of the investigation if this has been completed
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3) If the investigation has not been completed, the acknowledgement letter will confirm that we will:-
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a) Provide you with regular updates on our progress. You may contact us at any stage
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b) Advise you that if our investigation has not been completed within 8 weeks of our receipt of the complaint, we will write to you informing you why we are not yet in a position to resolve your complaint. If you are not satisfied with our progress, you may refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. A copy of the Financial Ombudsman Services standard explanatory leaflet will be issued with the week 8 response letter.
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c) Advise you that on completion of our review, we will write to you informing you of the outcome.
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4) Following the completion of the investigation, we will issue a written Final Response letter to you. The Final Response letter will be fair, clear and not misleading and will provide you with:
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Details of the investigation;
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The outcome of the investigation;
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If relevant, any offer of remedial action(s) or the appropriate level of redress (or both), and the basis of calculation
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INVESTIGATING A COMPLAINT
The investigation will include, as a minimum:
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A review of the relevant client file;
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Take into account any information and /or documents submitted by you.
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If necessary, a request for any additional information; and
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Contact with the relevant provider(s), if relevant
If you are not satisfied with our decision and you are a private individual, firm, charity, or organisation with less than a £1,000,000 turnover, you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service at:
The Financial Ombudsman Service,
South Quay Plaza,
183 Marsh Wall,
London E14 9SR
If you refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, this should be referred as soon as possible after our final response and within six months. Before you refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman, you may contact them to discuss whether your complaint is within their jurisdiction on 0845 080 1800 or you can visit their website https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk