6442453555
1: Why we need your information and
where we obtain it
The Data Protection
Act requires Lloyds Banking Group companies to manage personal information in
accordance with the Data Protection Principles. In particular, our Group of
companies is required to process your personal information fairly and lawfully.
This means that you are entitled to know how we intend to use any information
you provide. You can then decide whether you want to give it to us in order
that we may provide the product or service that you require. All our employees
are personally responsible for maintaining customer confidentiality. We provide
training and education to all employees to remind them about their obligations.
In addition, our policies and procedures are regularly audited and reviewed.
2: Who we are
Your information will be held by Lloyds TSB Bank plc, Lloyds TSB
Scotland plc and Bank of Scotland plc, Lloyds TSB Bank plc, which is part of
the Lloyds Banking Group.
3: Our Group
More information on
the Group can be found at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com
4: Where we obtain your information
Your personal
information will be held securely in Lloyds Banking Group systems so that we
and any other companies in our Group that you have dealings with, either now or
in the future, can manage your relationship with us. This will include
information you provide when you apply to us, and any additional information
provided by you or others in various ways, including:
a)
in
applications, emails and letters, during telephone calls and conversations in
branch, when registering for services, in customer surveys, when you
participate in competitions and promotions, through Lloyds Banking Group
company websites, and during financial reviews and interviews.
b)
from
analysis (for example, the amount frequency, location, origin, and recipient)
of your payments and other transactions, and your use of services involving
other Lloyds Banking Group companies and what they know from operating your
account; and
c)
information
Lloyds Banking Group companies receive from each other, from our business
partners, and from other organisations such as credit reference agencies and
fraud prevention agencies.
We will not retain
your personal information for longer than is necessary for the maintenance of
your account, or for legal or regulatory requirements.
5: How we share your information
We may share the personal information we hold about you across the
Lloyds Banking Group for the following administrative activities:
a)
providing you with products and services and
notifying you about either important changes or developments to the features
and operation of those products and services;
b)
responding to your enquiries and complaints;
c)
administering offers, competitions, and promotions;
d)
undertaking financial reviews;
and also for the
following data sharing activities:
e)
updating, consolidating, and improving the accuracy
of our records;
f)
undertaking transactional analysis;
g) arrears and debt recovery activities;
h)
testing new systems and checking upgrades to
existing systems;
i)
crime detection, prevention, and prosecution;
j) evaluating the effectiveness of marketing, and for
market research and training;
k) customer modelling, statistical and trend analysis,
with the aim of developing and improving products and services;
l)
assessing lending and insurance risks across the
Lloyds Banking Group;
m) managing your relationship with the Lloyds Banking
Group companies.
By sharing this information it enables us, and other companies in the
Lloyds Banking Group, to better understand your needs and run your accounts in
the efficient way that you expect.
Your data may also be used for other purposes for which you give your
specific permission, or, in very limited circumstances, when required by law or
where permitted under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998
6: When we may share your information
We will
treat your personal information as private and confidential, but may share it
with each other and disclose it outside the Lloyds Banking Group if:
a)
allowed by this agreement;
b)
you consent;
c)
needed by our agents, advisers or others involved in running
accounts and services for you or collecting what you owe Group companies;
d)
needed by subcontractors to help us manage your records;
e)
HM Revenue & Customs or other authorities require it;
f)
the law, regulatory bodies, or the public interest permits or
requires it;
g)
required by us or others to investigate or prevent crime;
h)
needed by market research companies to assist us in providing
better products and services for you; or
i) needed by any other parties connected with your account (including
guarantors).
j) required as part of our duty to protect your accounts, for example
we are required to disclose your information to the UK Financial Services
Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
.
We will
always ensure your information remains safe and secure.
7: Sharing your information with other companies
If you were
‘introduced’ to us by a third party and/or have a relationship with or are
supporting one of our affinity partners (E.g. a charity credit card account),
we will give them your contact details and sufficient information about you to
help with their accounting and administration. Introducers or affinity partners
may use these details to contact you about products and services unless you
have asked them not to do so.
8: Using your information to help prevent terrorism and crime
The Government also
requires us to screen applications that are made to us to ensure we are
complying with the international fight against terrorism and other criminal
activities. As a result of this we may need to disclose information to
government bodies.
9: Sharing
your information to assist with asset buying or selling
Lloyds Banking
Group companies may in the future wish to sell, transfer or merge part or all of
their business or assets, or any associated rights or interests, or to acquire
a business or enter into a merger with it. If so, they may disclose your
personal information to a potential buyer, transferee, or merger partner or
seller and their advisers so long as they agree to keep it confidential and to
use it only to consider the possible transaction. If the transaction goes
ahead, the buyers, transferee or merger partner may use or disclose your
personal information in the same way as set out in this notice.
10: Sharing your personal information with credit
card providers
If you hold a
credit or debit card with us, we will share transaction details with our scheme
providers (e.g. Visa or Mastercard).
11:
Sharing personal information between joint applicants
Sometimes, when you
open a joint account or product, this may mean that your personal data will be
shared with the other applicant. For
example, transactions made by you will be seen by your joint account holder and
vice versa.
12: How we manage sensitive personal information
The Data Protection
Act defines certain information as ‘sensitive’ (racial or ethnic origin,
political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, physical or
mental health, sexual life, criminal proceedings and offences). If you apply to
us for insurance, a pension, health insurance or life assurance, we may ask you
for some ‘sensitive’ details. We will only use this information to provide the
service you require and we will ask for your explicit consent. As a customer,
there may be times when you give us sensitive information. We may share it with
other parts of the group and our subcontractors to keep your records up to
date.
13:
How we manage information collected on credit card statements
Some transactions
that you or an additional card holder make on a card account may cause
sensitive or confidential details to appear on your statement. By using your card to make such transactions
you give us your explicit consent to process this information.
14: Using companies to process your information outside the
EEA
All countries in
the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the UK, have similar standards
of legal protection for your personal information. We may run your accounts and
provide other services from centres outside the EEA (such as the USA and India)
that do not have a similar standard of data protection laws to the UK. If so,
we will require your personal information to be protected to at least UK
standards. We may process payments
through other financial institutions such as banks and the worldwide payments
system operated by the SWIFT organisation if, for example, you make a CHAPS
payment or a foreign payment. Those external organisations may process and
store your personal information abroad and may have to disclose it to foreign
authorities to help them in their fight against crime and terrorism. If these
are based outside the EEA, your personal information may not be protected to
standards similar to those in the UK.
15: Using credit scoring
When you apply for
credit, an automated system known as credit scoring may be used when
considering whether to agree the borrowing. It is a method of assessing your
likely conduct of an account based on a range of data, including the conduct of
previous similar accounts. It is a system widely used by credit providers to
help make fair and informed decisions on lending.
Credit scoring
takes account of information from three sources - the information you provide
on your application, information provided by credit reference agencies and
information that may already be held about you by companies in the Lloyds
Banking Group. A credit scoring system will consider information from these
sources, to make an overall assessment of your application.
The credit scoring methods used are regularly
tested to ensure they remain fair, effective and unbiased.
Using a credit
scoring system helps our Group companies to lend responsibly. If you submit an
application and it is declined through this automated process, you can contact
us within 21 days to have the decision reconsidered. You also have the right to
ask that the decision is not made based solely using a credit scoring system
16: How we use credit reference agencies
Credit Reference
Agencies (CRAs) collect and maintain information about consumers' and
businesses' credit behaviour. This includes Electoral Register, fraud
prevention, and credit information - including details of previous applications
and the conduct of your accounts - and public information such as County Court Judgements,
decrees, and bankruptcies.
The information
that Lloyds Banking Group companies and other organisations provide to credit
reference agencies about you, your financial associates and your business (if
you have one) may be provided to other organisations and used by them and us
to:
(a) help make
decisions, for example when:
(i) checking details on applications for
credit and credit-related or other facilities;
(ii) managing credit and credit-related
accounts or facilities;
(iii) recovering debt;
(iv) checking details on proposals and
claims for all types of insurance;
(v) checking details of job applicants and
employees;
(b) detect and
prevent crime, fraud and money laundering.
(c) check your
credit history;
(d) verify your
identity if you, or someone financially linked with you, applies for services;
(e) trace your
whereabouts; and
(f) undertake
research, statistical analysis and systems testing.
If a Lloyds Banking
Group company needs to make a credit decision when you apply for a credit-based
product or service (e.g. mortgage, personal loan, credit card, or current
account) or to review the amount of credit it provides under an existing
agreement, such as an overdraft, your records will be searched, along with
those of anyone who is financially associated with you such as your spouse or
partner. The CRA will keep a record of this search and place a
"footprint" on your credit file, whether or not the application
proceeds.
We may give details
of your account and how you conduct it to credit reference agencies, including
if you borrow and do not repay in full and on time. If you fall behind with
your payments and a full payment or satisfactory proposals are not received
within 28 days of a formal demand being issued, then a default notice may be
recorded with the CRAs. Similar information may also be given about your other
lending/credit relationships with members of the group. Any records shared with
CRAs will remain on file for 6 years after your account is closed, whether it
has been settled by you or as a result of a default. Other organisations may
see these searches and updates if you apply for credit in the future, and these
may affect your ability to borrow from other lenders.
If you apply for or
hold an account in joint names, or tell us that you have a spouse or financial
associate, a financial association will be created between your records,
including any previous and subsequent names used by you. This means that your
financial affairs may be treated as affecting each other. These links will
remain on your and their files until such time as you or your partner is
successful in applying for a disassociation with the CRAs to break that link.
You must be sure that you have their agreement to disclose information about
them. Searches may be made on all joint applicants, and search footprints will
be left on all applicants' records.
You have a right to
apply to the credit reference agencies for a copy of your file.
We carry out most
of our credit searches using Experian, but details of how you have run your
account(s) may be disclosed to all the credit reference agencies. The
information they hold may not be the same and there is a small fee that you may
need to pay to each agency that you apply to. Their addresses are:
• Experian Consumer
Help Service, PO Box 9000, Nottingham NG80 7WP or call 0844 481 8000 or log on
to www.experian.co.uk
• Equifax plc,
Credit File Advice Centre, PO Box 1140, Bradford BD1 5US or log on to
www.myequifax.co.uk
• CallCredit,
Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds LS3 1WZ or call 0870 060 1414 or log
on to www.callcredit.plc.uk
17: Using Fraud Prevention Agencies
We have systems
that protect our customers and ourselves against fraud and other crime. Customer
information can be used to prevent crime and trace those responsible. We will
share your personal information from your application with fraud prevention
agencies. If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is
identified, details of this fraud will be passed to these agencies. Law
enforcement agencies may access and use this information. We and other
organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and
money laundering, for example, when:
• Checking details
on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities.
• Managing credit
and credit related accounts or facilities.
• Recovering debt.
• Checking details
on proposals and claims for all types of insurance.
• Checking details
of job applicants and employees.
Please contact us
on †0845 603 7824 if you want to receive details of the
relevant fraud prevention agencies. We and other organisations may access and
use from other countries the information recorded by fraud prevention agencies.
18: How we check your identity
We may ask you to
provide physical forms of identity verification when you open your
account. Alternatively, we may search
credit reference agency files in assessing your application. The agency also gives us other details and
information from the Electoral Register to verify your identity. The agency keeps a record of our search,
whether or not your application proceeds.
Our search is not seen or used by lenders to assess your ability to
obtain credit.
19: Credit searching Directors
The Data Protection
Act does not generally apply to companies but it does cover personal data
relating to sole traders and partnerships. When we receive an application from
a business we may perform a search with a credit reference agency on the
individual company directors or partners, or any guarantors.
20: Using your details for service contact
Making sure we
deliver excellent customer service is very important to us and to do this
various methods of communication may be used when sending you information about
your account. Most of the time you will be contacted by letter or telephone,
but you may also be sent updates by text message or email when it is believed
to be appropriate. You can ask us to
stop sending these messages at any time. Additionally, in extraordinary
circumstances (such as natural disaster or civil unrest) we may also send you
updates by text message or email. If we decide to use email to contact you, we
will only do this if we have ensured that using email will not put your
information at risk, or, if you have requested we email you, that we have
explained the risks of sending an "insecure" email and that you are
happy to accept that risk.
In addition you may
wish to choose a channel of communication that suits you when you need to
contact us. If you need to email a
Lloyds Banking Group company, we recommend you check their website to see if a
secure email facility exists so that your email can be sent securely. If you send us emails in other ways, such as
from your personal account, then remember that the message may not be secure
and there is a risk that it could be intercepted. If you choose to send an "insecure"
email, please keep the amount of confidential information you include to a
minimum.
21: Recording phone calls
We may monitor
or record phone calls with you in case we need to check we have carried out
your instructions correctly, to resolve queries or issues, for regulatory
purposes, to help improve our quality of service, and to help detect or prevent
fraud or other crimes. Conversations may
also be monitored for staff training purposes.
22: Using information on social networking sites
As part of our
ongoing commitment to understanding our customers better, we may research
comments and opinions made public on social networking sites such as Twitter
and Facebook.
23: Obtaining a copy of your information
Under the Data
Protection Act you have the right of access to your personal data. The Act
allows us to charge a fee of £10 for this service. If anything is inaccurate or
incorrect, please let us know and we will correct it. For further details on
how to request a copy of your information, please write to: Data Privacy, 1st
Floor East, Tower House, Charterhall Drive, Chester CH88 3AN.
24: Using your personal information to
contact you about products & services
Unless you have
asked us not to, we and other Lloyds Banking Group companies may contact you by
mail, telephone, email or text message about products and services available
from the Group. In addition we may also contact you about products and services
from selected companies outside the Group, which we believe may be of interest
to you or benefit you financially.
We promise not to
contact you about everything - only if we think it could be appropriate and
relevant to you, such as preferential savings opportunities, account upgrades
or special offers. This contact may continue after your relationship with us
ends. You may opt out of receiving this information at any time by calling us,
writing to us or contacting your local branch.
25: Passing your information to
other companies for their own direct marketing
Unless you have
given us your consent, we will not provide information about you to companies
outside our group to use for their own marketing purposes.
26: Using cookies
In general, you can visit Lloyds Banking
Group websites without identifying who you are or revealing any information
about yourself. However, cookies are used to store small amounts of information
on your computer, which allows certain information from your web browser to be
collected. Cookies are widely used on the internet and do not identify the
individual using the computer, just the computer being used. Cookies and other
similar technology make it easier for you to log on to and use our websites
during future visits.
To
access our cookie notice, please go to
www.lloydsbankcommercial.com/Cookie-Policy/
27. Viewing notifications
Organisations must
lodge a notification with their Regulator describing the purposes for which
they process personal information. The details are publicly available from the
Regulator's office and you can view ours at http://www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/DoSearch.asp?reg=5094477
28: Changes to Privacy Notice
We keep our privacy
notice under regular review and we will reflect any updates within this notice.
This privacy notice was last updated on the 28th March 2013.
For further
information please contact LBGCBDataPrivacy@lloydstsb.co.uk
