We understand how important your privacy is to you and ensure any personal data you provide us with is treated with respect, is properly protected and handled in accordance with UK data protection rules and the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (GDPR). 

Who are we?

This website is owned and operated by Loan.co.uk Ltd T/A Loan.co.uk (Companies House Number: 05455171). Our registered office is 46 Alexandra Street, Southend On Sea, Essex, UK, SS1 1BJ.

Who regulates us?

Loan.co.uk is a credit broker authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You can find our details on the FCA Financial Services Register at https://register.fca.org.uk. Our FCA Registration Number is 718486.

We’re also registered with the Information Commissions Office as a Data Controller. Our Data Protection Register number is Z2169336.

Why do we need your data?

We will hold and process your data to help you obtain a loan of any type. If you don’t provide the information we request, we may be unable to help you obtain the right finance option. We will only collect the data we need.

What right do we have to process your data?

We are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and so are accountable for the products and services we provide. We’re obliged to maintain detailed records of transactions with customers and so we process your data on the basis that “processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation” as set out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) www.ico.org.uk.

By law, we must always have a valid reason (referred to as a lawful basis) for processing your personal data. Other lawful bases we consider relevant for processing your personal data include:

• Processing necessary to enter into or fulfil a contract with you.
• Processing necessary for the legitimate interests pursued by us or a third party, provided that these interests do not override your own interests or fundamental rights.
• Processing based on your consent.

Where we are relying on consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you decide to withdraw your consent, we will stop processing your personal data for that purpose unless there is another lawful basis that applies which we are relying on. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

How we use your personal information?

We use your personal information to provide you with a quote on request, to process your application and for marketing in accordance with your preferences (see Marketing below).

We will treat all your information as private and confidential (even when you’re no longer a customer), except where we’re permitted by law, when the disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to arranging your loan.

This personal information is known as “personal data”. This definition comes from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Personal data is anything that identifies you as an individual. We are the “data controller” under the Data Protection Act 2018 as we process your personal data as a result of your online loan enquiry.

We’ll process your data in accordance with all the relevant data protection regulations including the Data Protection Act and the GDPR. All of the personal data we hold about you will be processed by our staff based in the United Kingdom (UK).

Loan.co.uk act in a broking capacity; we’re not a lender. Where necessary to process your application, your data will be shared with third parties such as the lender, your mortgage provider, joint applicants and credit reference agencies (see Credit Searches).

Where your application has been introduced by a third party, (for example a broker), we may disclose information about its progress to them.

We believe that you should be fully informed about the other organisations which may handle your information and how they use it. To help, please find below a list of all the lenders we work with. Copy the links into a browser to view their privacy policies.

Joint applications

If you are making a joint application, you confirm that you have the consent and authority of the other applicant(s) to agree to this Privacy Policy on their behalf. By submitting a joint application, you are confirming that each applicant has agreed to their personal data being used in accordance with this Privacy Policy. All applicants will be jointly and severally liable under these terms.

Telephone calls will be recorded for monitoring, staff training and regulatory purposes.

We will store the information we hold about you securely and in both digital and other forms. All digital data is encrypted.  We will only use your information for the purposes that you have agreed to.

When you apply to Loan.co.uk and accept our Privacy Policy you are agreeing that you have the consent and authority of all individuals included on the application. By doing this you are also giving us consent to use all information included in the application for the purposes explained in this section of the Privacy Policy. This includes consent that we may pass these details on to the lender to process your data for the purposes of arranging your loan.

Your Rights

Your personal data is protected by legal rights, including the right to:

Access your personal information: You have the right to request the personal information that we hold about you (Subject Access Request). You have the right to be informed if we are processing personal data that relates to you, and if so, to be informed of what we are processing, what we use the data for, who we disclose the data to and how long we will keep it for.

Object to processing: Depending on the legal basis for which we are using your information, you may be entitled to object if you believe there are lawful grounds to do so.

Erasure: In certain circumstances, you can ask us to erase your personal data, unless we have a legal obligation to hold/process your data.

Correction/rectification: You can ask us to correct personal data we hold about you, if you are able to evidence that the data we hold is inaccurate.

Restriction: In certain circumstances, you can ask us to restrict our use of your personal data.

Data portability: You may ask us to provide you with a copy of your personal data in a commonly used electronic format so that you can transfer it to other businesses. 

How long do we keep your data?

As we are regulated by the FCA, we are required to maintain your data for a minimum period. We will keep your personal data for as long as you are a customer of Loan.co.uk Ltd.

Following completion of your application, we will keep your data for up to 7 years to enable us to deal with any questions or complaints, to demonstrate compliance with regulation or for legal reasons. All data will be held securely in an encrypted format.

Our contact details

For more information or to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at

compliance@loan.co.uk

0800 131 0280

Compliance Officer,
Loan.co.uk Limited,
46 Alexandra Street,
Southend On Sea,
Essex, UK,
SS1 1BJ

Marketing

If you choose to receive marketing material from us, we may contact you by the media you have selected to offer other products which we feel may be of interest to you.

The loan products we may offer you will be limited to: mortgages, second mortgages, bridging, development, commercial, buy-to-let and unsecured personal loans.

These loan products will only be offered to you by loan.co.uk, you will only deal with loan.co.uk and the lender we identify as being best suited to your circumstances at the time of application.

If you do not wish to be contacted by us, please write to the Data Protection Officer at the address above, or e-mail your name and address (including postcode) to unsubscribe@loan.co.uk.

Credit Searches

Loan.co.uk will undertake a variety of checks to ensure that the loan you are applying for is appropriate for your circumstances, as well as verifying the identities of all applicants to prevent and detect crime and money laundering.

A formal credit search may be carried out by loan.co.uk in your name(s) with Credit Reference Agencies who will register the details of the search. By submitting your details you are confirming that you have the authority of all parties to this application to agree to this.

Loan.co.uk will initially conduct a quotation search to assess your suitability for a loan. This will leave a ‘soft footprint’ and will not leave a record on your credit file. Should you proceed with your application, an application (or hard) search will be undertaken by or on behalf of the lender- this will form part of your credit file and be viewable should you make further applications.

The Credit Reference Agencies have drafted a notice called ‘Credit Reference Agency Information Notice’ (CRAIN) which sets out how your data will be processed by Transunion, Equifax and Experian. To read the notice in full, please visit:

https://www.equifax.co.uk/crain.html,
https://www.transunion.co.uk/legal/privacy-centre/pc-credit-reference or
http://www.experian.co.uk/crain/index.html

When you use the client credit search feature in our app, you consent to sharing your personal data with Equifax. Equifax will use this information along with their own credit data to provide you with credit reports and affordability checks directly through our app.

Where you are making a joint application, or inform us that you have a spouse or financial associate, this will mean that the mortgage lender selected for you and the credit reference agencies will link your records together. These links will remain on your and their files indefinitely, or until you or your spouse/financial associate successfully files with the credit reference agencies for a disassociation to break that link.

The personal information collected from you will be shared with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance or employment. 

Will this agreement change?

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. Changes will be notified by the amended version of the Notice being posted on the Loan.co.uk website. It is your obligation to check this website from time to time to keep abreast of the latest Terms, Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Version 4.1 – 25 July 2024