Advocate Finance Ltd Privacy Notice

Who are we

Advocate Finance Ltd are a firm of advisers specialising in property finance based in Colchester, Essex.

Advocate Finance Ltd are Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

You can contact us by:

• Phone: 01206 544 333
• Email: Admin@advocatefinance.co.uk
• Address: Office 5 Aster House, Lanswoodpark Business Centre, Elmstead Market, Colchester, Essex, CO7 7FD

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How we will use the information about you

The UK’s data protection laws allow us to use your personal data provided we have a lawful basis to do so.

Here at Advocate Finance Ltd we take your privacy seriously and will use your personal information in a number of ways which will help us to make lender decisions, for fraud prevention, for audit, for statistical analysis and credit reference checks.

We may share your information with, and obtain information about you from, credit reference agencies or fraud prevention agencies. Information you provided may be put onto a register and shared with other agencies to prevent fraud.

We will not disclose your information to any company outside of our panel of lenders except to help prevent fraud or if required by law to do so.

Your consent: You can withdraw this consent at any time, in which case we will cease to use it, unless we have a right and a need to continue processing it for one of the other reasons set out above.

For further information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of your information and your rights to access/alter and change information we hold on you, please contact Admin@advocatefinance.co.uk

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What data do we collect?

Application details: for example, but not limited to, your name, national insurance number, postal address, email address, telephone numbers, date of birth, bank account details, home ownership details, reason for borrowing, your assets and liabilities, details of your proof of identity documentation, proof of address documentation, evidence of additional equity available and evidence of any other business interests

When you talk to us: for example, on the phone or in person including call recordings and voice messages. We may monitor or record calls with you to check we have carried out your instructions, to resolve queries or disputes, to improve the quality of our service or for regulatory or fraud prevention purposes

In writing: for example, letters, emails, texts and other electronic communications

Online: for example, when you use our website or comparison tool

Renewals: For financial reviews when your current agreement is due for renewal (provided you used our services for the current agreement).

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Why we need it

We need to know your basic personal data in order to provide you with an accurate recommendation for your personal circumstances.

We will not collect any personal data from you we do not need in order to provide and oversee this service to you.

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What we do with it

All the personal data we use is controlled by Advocate Finance Ltd in the UK, however, for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance, this information is located on servers within the UK.

No third parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so.

We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data.

We will not pass your data to any other organisation for marketing purposes.

Your data is stored electronically on our cloud encrypted server. Our server is based in the UK.

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Data provided by third parties

• Data from persons that introduce you to us: for example, our existing customers.
• Data from credit reference agencies, most likely to be either Experian, Creditsafe, Equifax or TransUnion.
• Data from fraud prevention agencies.
• Publicly available information: for example, from the land registry, companies house, other information available online or in the media, including social media.

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How will we use your data?

Our Company collects your data so that we can:

• Process your application and manage your request.
• Email you with news on other products and services we think you might like in the form of our monthly newsletter.
• To monitor the performance of our services to ensure consumer outcomes are being achieved.
• To contact you when your current agreement is reaching the expiry date, so we may help you arrange a new agreement.

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How long will we keep it

We are required to keep your basic personal data pertaining to a mortgage or loan for the duration of the term of the mortgage or loan plus an additional six years, after which time it will be destroyed.

The information used for marketing will be kept with us until you notify us that you no longer wish to receive this information.

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E-mail Policy

As there is still no universally adopted method for sending or receiving emails securely, we therefore encourage customers to upload personal data to our encrypted, cloud based system. When processing information and where it is provided by the lender we will upload the information using a secure network. However, some lenders do not operate these secure networks and it might be necessary for us to transmit data through standard emails which is an unsecure method.

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What are your rights

If at any point you believe retained information is incorrect, you can request to see this information and even have it corrected and possibly deleted. Providing you this information is free of charge, but charges may apply for excessive requests.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact us at Admin@advocatefinance.co.uk and we will investigate the matter.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe how we are processing your personal data is not in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Where relevant, you have the right to withdraw consent at any time and this means that we cannot process your data provided, without your consent.

Your personal data is protected by legal rights, which include:

• Right to be informed – Individuals have the right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data
• The right of access to your personal data – Individuals have the right to access and receive a copy of their personal data and other supplementary information.
• The right to rectification – Individuals have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified or completed if incomplete.
• The right to erasure – Individuals have the right to have their personal data erased.
• The right to restrict processing – Individuals have the right to request the restriction or suppression of their personal data.
• The right to portability – This allows individuals to obtain and reuse their personal data for their own purposes across different services.
• The right to object – this gives individuals the right to object to the processing of their personal data in certain circumstances, it also gives individuals the absolute right to stop their data being used for direct marketing
• The right in relation to automated decision making and profiling – this allows individuals to object to their data being used in an automated individual decision-making process (making a decision solely by automated means without any human involvement) and profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual). Profiling can be part of an automated decision-making process.

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Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. When you visit our website, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology. For further information, [visit www.allaboutcookies.org].

How do we use cookies?

Our Company uses cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our website, including: Understanding how you use our website

What types of cookies do we use?

There are a number of different types of cookies, however, our website uses:

Functionality – Our Company uses these cookies so that we recognize you on our website and remember your previously selected preferences. These could include what language you prefer and location you are in. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies are used.

Advertising – Our Company uses these cookies to collect information about your visit to our website, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device, and your IP address. Our Company sometimes shares some limited aspects of this data with third parties for advertising purposes. We may also share online data collected through cookies with our advertising partners. This means that when you visit another website, you may be shown advertising based on your browsing patterns on our website.

How to manage cookies

You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.