Mortgage Services 4 U


Privacy Policy

The Data Protection Act requires companies and individuals who process and retain information about their customers to tell the customer how the information will be used and to what purposes it will be put. The Act does not restrict itself only to information kept on a computer; it is relevant to any ordered filing system. This policy describes how Mortgage Services 4u Ltd will process personal data relating to customers. We will not use your personal data in any other way without first informing you. Our data protection act number is Z1513056.

Online Privacy Statement

We are committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. We’ve structured our web sites so that, in general, you can visit us on the Web without identifying yourself or revealing any personal information.

For your protection, we are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 and have given all appropriate notifications to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Website Legal Notice

This web site (the “Site”) is owned and operated by Mortgage Services 4u Ltd and any access to this Site is governed by the following terms and conditions. If these terms and conditions are not accepted in full, you do not have permission to access this Site and therefore should cease using the Site immediately.

This website and its contents are copyright of Mortgage Services 4u Ltd. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited with the exception that you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the contents. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or form of electronic retrieval system without our prior written permission.

This Web Site and any content is for information purposes only and Mortgage Services 4u Ltd does not make any representation or warranty (express or implied) or guarantee and does not accept any responsibility or liability as to, or in relation to, the accuracy, timeliness, performance, suitability or completeness of the information and material contained on the Web Site or any other written or oral information made available to any interested party or its advisers. Any liability in respect of any such information or any inaccuracy on, or omission from, the Web Site is to the fullest extent permitted by law expressly disclaimed.

This Web Site may contain links to other Web Sites, which are not under the control of and are not maintained by us. We are not responsible for the content of such Web Sites. We provide these links for your convenience, to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse or edit or vet the material on such Web Sites. We have no responsibility for the contents of the linked websites and we exclude all liability arising or resulting there from.

You may not create a link to this website from another website or document without Mortgage Services 4u Limited’s prior written consent. Unauthorised use of this website may give claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence. Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the law of England and Wales.

For clarification purposes please note that the use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:

The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.

Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

From time to time this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).

You may not create a link to this website from another website or document without Mortgage Services 4u Limited’s prior written consent.

Collection of data

We will collect information which you provide to us when you enquire about or apply for finance, which includes information gained from our online application form. This may include certain sensitive personal data.

We may also collect data about you from our searches at credit reference agencies (see below)

Call recording

To make sure our staff maintain the high standards of service and courtesy you deserve from us and for training purposes, we may sometimes monitor or record some of our phone conversations with you.

Use of data

We will use your personal data to:

Process the application you have made;

Make, or cause searches to be made, at a credit reference agency, or agencies.

Offer you other products which we make available.

Exercise or defend our legal rights and/or to comply with any legal requirements.

Internal record keeping.

We may use the information to improve our products and services.

We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.

From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.

In using this site,you are consenting to Mortgage Services 4u Ltd contacting you by letter, telephone (including text messages), or computer about products and services (including those of others) which may be of interest to you.

You have a legal right to instruct us not to contact you for sales purposes. If you want to do so, please write to us at the contacting us address below.

If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to us at the contacting us address below.

Sharing information about you with other organisations

We may disclose your personal information to:

A lender or insurance product provider in accordance with your application.

Another broker if we are not able to arrange finance for you.

Another broker in the future with a view to them offering you products they feel may be of interest to you.

Legal authorities if required by law.

We may keep your information for several years. You can ask for the information not to be used to offer you other products. We have a duty to keep the personal information which we hold about you up to date and accurate and secure from misuse or accidental loss or damage.

If you have been introduced to us by a third party (your financial adviser, for instance), and apply through them, we will share information with them about you, your application and its result. They may use this to send you details of other products and services.

In using this site, you are consenting to Mortgage Services 4u Ltd sharing your information with other companies for marketing, analysis or so that they can also let you know about their products and services.

You have a legal right to instruct us not to share your details with other companies for marketing purposes. If you want to do so, please write to us at the contacting us address below.

Credit Reference Agency Searches

Please note that searches at credit reference agencies will be shown in any other searches which are made in connection with applications made by you and/or other members of your household. The disclosure of multiple searches may adversely affect your credit profile and may make credit harder for you to obtain.

Information held about you by a credit reference agency may already be linked to records relating to another person, for example your spouse, and for the purpose of your loan application you will be treated as financially linked. Your loan application will be assessed with reference to all linked records.

If you have confirmed you are linked financially with another person, you are declaring that you are entitled to (a) disclose information about that person and/or anyone else referred to by you and (b) that you authorise us and any lender involved in the application to search, link and/or record information at credit reference agencies about you and /or anyone else referred to by you.

Lending Companies

All lending companies have their own individual privacy policies and customers should refer to these in respect of how they will use personal data.

Credit Reference Agencies

(The agencies do not keep “blacklists” nor do they give any opinion about whether or not credit should be granted.)

The names and addresses of the main credit reference agencies are shown below. We may use one or more of these agencies. Information about which credit reference agency was used will be made freely available.

Callcredit Plc, Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds, LS1 5XX

Experian Limited, Consumer Help Service, PO Box 8000, Nottingham, NG1 5GX

Equifax Plc, Credit File Advice Service, PO Box 1140, Bradford, BD1 5US

Credit reference agencies keep a wide range of information. This includes information from the electoral roll (sometimes known as the voters roll) and records of most county court judgements and bankruptcies. They also retain information relating to previous and existing credit and a record of searches made against the file. The lenders share information through the agencies providing a history of how punctually payments are being made or have been made. Loan information is usually held on file for 6 years. Details of the voters roll may be held for much longer. Information about credit searches is kept for up to two years.

Other Agencies

CIFAS

Reports from CIFAS relating to fraud and fraud avoidance are also available to most lenders – these contain information indicating that fraud, or attempted fraud, has been notified by a lender. The information might not directly relate to you, it might relate to someone who has tried to impersonate you. Data available to members of CIFAS, may also be used to help make decisions on motor, household, credit, life and other insurance proposals for you and members of your household. CIFAS information is intended to warn lenders and act as a protection for innocent customers.

Access to your data

You have a legal right to see any information we hold about you. You can ask us for a copy at anytime. We will also tell you where the information was obtained. You will need to write and a small fee will be payable. We will reply within 40 days from receipt of your fee.

If you wish to see the information contained on a credit reference agency file you can do so by writing to the relevant agency. The agency must respond within 7 working days. There is a small fee of £2 required. If your credit reference file contains information about other people with whom you have no financial connection or if it contains information which is incorrect you can ask for the entry to be corrected, removed, or have a note put on the file explaining why you think the information is wrong. The agency will not remove correct information.

The Information Commissioner provides a useful leaflet which explains how to request changes to your credit reference file. The easy to read leaflet includes examples of letters and details of various actions you may take to amend a file. You can obtain a copy of the free leaflet by writing to:

No Credit Leaflet, P.O. Box 99, Nelson, BB9 8GS Information is also available at www.dataprotection.gov.uk

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998.Should you wish to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold on you please write to the contacting us address below, enclosing your payment of £10 for our administration costs. As soon as we are satisfied as to your identity we will send you, within 40 days, a copy of all the data we hold concerning you. Please contact us at the same address if you have any reason to believe the data we hold on you is inaccurate. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that you information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguartd and secure the information we collect online.

Cookies

Internet cookies are common and do not harm your system – they just store or gather site information.

We use cookies to:

Gather customer journey information across our sites

Temporarily store details input into our calculators and budget planner

Evaluate our websites advertising and promotional effectiveness.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website

Changes to this Data Protection Policy

We may edit or amend this Data Protection Policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personal information we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on the home page of our website.

How we are paid

Finance brokers like any business, have expenses to meet. In addition to all the normal expenses like rent, rates, salaries, advertising, a credit broker incurs processing costs.

A broker has to process each application to verify the information supplied.

Like other businesses, a broker must cover all his costs in the sale of his products and services. It is the individual mortgage product which, ordinarily, will determine the way in which we will be paid.

Common methods of Broker Remuneration

COMMISSION IS PAID BY THE LENDING COMPANY

Any Broker employed by you to arrange your mortgage will want to be paid for doing so.

We will be paid by the lender involved in the transaction and the precise amount paid to us is detailed in section 13 of your KeyFacts Mortgage Illustration, headed up ‘Using a mortgage intermediary’.

A BROKER FEE PAID BY THE BORROWER

We will tell you the amount of any broker fee in writing before you enter into any agreement. This information is contained in section 4 of the Initial Disclosure Document (or Combined Initial Disclosure Document), headed up ‘What will you have to pay us for our service?’ The precise amount will depend upon your circumstances but we estimate that it will be no more than £995.

The exact amount of any broker fee charged by us is detailed within section 8 of the KeyFacts Mortgage Illustration, headed up ‘What fees must you pay?’

Contacting Us Address

If you have any questions about our Data Protection Policy, please contact us at:

Mortgage Services 4u Ltd The Marlowe Innovation Centre, Marlowe Way, Ramsgate, Kent, CT12 6FA. Tel: 0800 567 7198, Fax: 0800 567 7198