Consumer privacy statement

We work hard to make sure that when your financial adviser uses our website your privacy is maintained and your personal information is secure. This section explains what is done with your personal information and the work that is done to keep your details safe.

 

Is C&G's online intermediary mortgage application service secure?

 

Any personal information which your financial adviser sends to us is held on a secure area of our site. To keep your personal information safe we use the best security techniques available.

 

Security is achieved using a system called the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, which provides 128 bit strength encryption. This is a high strength encryption that scrambles your personal information before it is sent and then it is unscrambled when we receive it. This means that it can not be read while it is being transferred from your financial adviser to our server.

 

We also use firewalls which prevent unauthorised users accessing your information on our systems.

 

Information that you send to us is only made available to a restricted number of specialist C&G staff. Your intermediary needs to be able to access your application details in order to track its progress, however there are security controls so that only an authorised financial adviser may access your personal information.

 

C&G mortgages are provided by Lloyds TSB Bank plc ("the Bank") and are administered by Cheltenham & Gloucester ("C&G") on behalf of the Bank. References to "we", "us" and "our" in the following section may be references to C&G and/or the Bank.

 

 

How do we use your personal information?

The personal information we hold about you and how we use it will depend on your relationship with C&G. For example you may have an existing mortgage, or just applying for the first time.

 

You can find out how your personal information is used when you apply.

 

Your mortgage application

If your intermediary submits a mortgage application on your behalf, then we will carry out searches at credit reference agencies, which includes a check on the electoral register. These searches will be recorded by the credit reference agencies.

 

If you are applying in joint names, then the credit reference searches will create a link between you and your joint applicant in the records at the credit reference agencies. This means your financial affairs and those of your joint applicant may be treated as affecting each other.

 

We use automated decision making systems to help make lending decisions and manage borrowing. These enable us to calculate the level of risk based on the personal details provided and the information we obtain from others, such as a credit reference agency. In addition, we have policy rules to determine whether we will lend. These rules reflect our lending experience and requirements.

 

We may also carry out searches using fraud prevention agencies, so it is important that the information provided is accurate. If false or inaccurate information is provided or we suspect fraud then we may pass details to the fraud prevention agencies and other relevant organisations. Law enforcement agencies may access and use this information.

 

We and other organisations may use credit reference agency records about you and people financially linked to you, and may also use records about you and others held with fraud prevention agencies to help make decisions:

 

• for credit and credit related services, and to manage accounts,
• for checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance
• for fraud prevention, debtor tracing, debt recovery, and to prevent money laundering and,
• for checking details of job applicants and employees. 

We and other organisations may access and use from other countries the information recorded by fraud prevention agencies.

 

If you ask, we will tell you which credit reference and fraud prevention agencies we have used so that you can get a copy of your details from them.

 

C&G is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The Lloyds Banking Group includes us and a number of other companies using brands including Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and their associated companies. More information on the Lloyds Banking Group can be found at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com.

 

We may keep your personal details given to us by you or other people during your relationship with us and other companies in the group in a Lloyds Banking Group database. This includes details you give on application forms during interviews, our analysis of your account transactions, and what we know from operating your accounts. Companies in the Lloyds Banking Group may use and update this centrally held information to provide you with services, to identify products and services which might be suitable for you, to assess lending and insurance risks, to recover debts, to prevent and detect fraud, and to update their own records about you. Your information may also be used for research and statistical analysis with the aim of improving our services.

 

We may apply, at any time, to your current and previous employers, your accountant, landlord, lender, bank or insurance and/or pension company to obtain references, details of your existing financial commitments and any other information we require to assess or review lending risks, to recover debts and to prevent or detect fraud. Your consent for these references continues to apply after you open your account. We may apply to your solicitor for information relating to the work they do on your behalf in respect of the mortgage or purchase transaction.

 

Anyone aged 17 or older, who will be living in the property and who is not an applicant, will be required to complete C&G's Occupiers Waiver and Postponement form. This form will be sent to your solicitor or licensed conveyancer with their instructions.

 

We may provide details about your application to insurance companies in connection with any insurances arranged by us. You agree that information about this application may be given to Insurance Database Services Ltd (IDS Ltd) so that it can be made available to other insurers. You also agree that, in response to any search made in connection with this application or any insurance claim, IDS Ltd may pass to us and/or your insurer information which it has received from other insurers about any claims you have previously made.

 

If you have an existing C&G mortgage and apply for a further advance, we may disclose details of your agreements with us and our valuation of the property to anyone who has notified us that they have a second charge, to obtain a postponement of their charge in our favour.

 

When may we disclose your personal information?

The information we hold about you is confidential. We will only disclose it outside the Lloyds Banking Group when:

 

• you give your consent
• it is needed by our agents and others involved in running accounts and services for you
• we or others need to investigate or prevent crime
• the law permits or requires it, even without your consent
• there is a duty to the public to reveal the information
• it is needed for any joint applicant to obtain independent legal advice regarding this application
• we are to be sold or integrated with another business, to prospective purchasers and their advisors on the understanding they keep it confidential. 

If our business or your account is sold or integrated, your personal information will be used by the new owners in the same way as in this notice. Should any aspect of your relationship with C&G transfer to the Bank, any marketing consent you give to C&G will also transfer to the Bank.

 

How do we use your personal information if you have an existing mortgage?

The primary use of your information is to provide the service you have requested and to administer your accounts.

 

Some aspects of the administration of your account may be conducted from centres in countries outside Europe, such as India and the USA. These countries do not always have the same standard of data protection laws as the UK. However, we have a contract in place to ensure that your information is adequately protected, and we remain bound by our obligations under the Data Protection Act when your personal information is processed outside Europe. This also applies to any home insurance or payment protection insurance policy we have arranged for you. In this case, we ensure that the insurance provider has in place identical obligations to safeguard your data.

 

We may disclose details of your mortgage, including how you have run account(s) to credit reference agencies. In the event that we make formal demand for repayment of your borrowing and you do not make full repayment or satisfactory proposals to us within 28 days, we may disclose this to the agencies, who will record the outstanding debt. This information could affect credit decisions other organisations make.

 

The credit reference agencies may form a link in the records they hold about you, between any previous or subsequent names that you use.

 

From time to time C&G would like to contact you about products and services available from the Lloyds Banking Group, and from selected companies outside our group which it believes may interest you, unless you have told C&G that you do not want to receive this information. Other companies, including those in the group, will not make marketing approaches to you without your consent.

 

If you contact C&G by telephone, then your call may be monitored or recorded in case we need to check we have carried out your instructions correctly and to help improve our quality of service.

 

We may disclose information about the property [but not your name, or details of how you have run your account(s)], so that it may be held on a residential property valuation database. This database may be used to value properties on behalf of the Bank and other businesses. The operator of the database will not use the information to contact you for marketing purposes. You may contact us if you wish to know the name of the company that operates this database.

 

Your right to access your personal information

 

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information. The fee for this is currently £10. We must provide you with this information within 40 days of receiving your written request and fee. If you would like a copy of the personal information that we hold on you, please write to:

The Data Protection Manager
Cheltenham & Gloucester plc
Chief Office
Barnett Way
Gloucester
GL4 3RL

 

Of course, if all you need is a particular item of information, it is always worth simply asking your usual contact in C&G to send it to you. This will be quicker than waiting for a full set of personal data and it is usually free of charge.