Privacy policy

Wescot Credit Services Limited is committed to the protection of your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect from users of www.wescot.co.uk and www.paywescot.co.uk (our Website) and what we do with that information. Please read the policy carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), we are registered as a “Data Controller” on the public register of data controllers maintained by the Information Commissioner. Our data protection registration number is Z5661196.

By providing your information to us through this Website, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your information under the terms of this policy.

Information we collect from you

We do not automatically collect personal information from you through our Website. However, like all websites our servers automatically collect certain information about the volume and characteristics of our Website traffic, the type of browser you are using, the type of operating system you are using, and the domain name of your internet service provider. We cannot identify you from this information.

We will only collect personal information about you through our Website if you choose to provide this to us, for example by completing forms on various sections of our Website, such as making a debt repayment via the 'pay online now' page or by accessing the ‘paywescot.co.uk’ site, by emailing us directly or via a link on our Website. If you make a payment via our 'pay online now' page, we will ask you to provide personal information including but not limited to the Wescot reference number to which the payment relates, the cardholder’s name and address, card details such as card number, valid from and expiry date, issue number and security number, as well as the payment value.

We may also record any telephone numbers and email addresses you contact us from in order for us or any third parties to contact you from time to time for the purposes set out in this policy.

Although not collected through this Website, we also collect information about individuals whose accounts we have purchased and individuals whose accounts we are collecting on behalf of our clients (“customers”) from credit reference agencies, our clients, customers who contact us by telephone, email or letter, and from other public data sources.

How we use this information

We use the information you provide for the following purposes:

• where you have requested information or asked us to contact you, we may use your personal information to gather the information requested and respond to your request or to contact you if you have asked us to do so;
• to process payments made via our Website and to service, update and administer your account. For example, where you make a payment via the 'pay online now' page we will apply this to your account to reduce the outstanding balance;
• to provide you with a helpful and effective service;
• for debt collection purposes and other business and client communication purposes;
• to trace customers;
• to prevent money laundering and/or fraud;
• to help us take decisions about you and your account;
• to fulfil our obligations to our clients, for example we may provide them with details of your payment history, account usage, changes of name and address;
• if you provide us with your email address, we may use it to contact you about your account;
• marketing purposes.
• We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries.
• We may also use and/or pass your details on to third parties for the purposes set out above as well as the following purposes:
• to employees, sub-contractors and third parties who act for us for the purposes set out in this policy or for other purposes approved by you or to those who are contracted to provide us with services, such as administration support or website services. For example, if you make a payment via our 'pay online now' page your details will be passed to our payment service provider for processing;
• in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
• if we or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about our users will be one of the transferred assets;
• if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property or safety of us or any third parties; or for credit card clearance. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction, including fraud prevention agencies and law enforcement agencies;
• to another entity with which Wescot enters or reasonably may enter into a corporate transaction;
• to credit reference agencies to ensure responsible lending and the accuracy of data. We may provide such agencies with information about the behaviour of your account including changes to your personal information, such as previous or subsequent names. Other lenders may use this to make decisions on future applications for credit;
• if we have (or believe we have) a duty to do so, or the law allows us to;
• when we investigate a complaint relating to a debt you owe we may need to share personal information with our client (your creditor);
• if you apply to work for us, we will use the information supplied to us to process your application and to monitor recruitment statistics. Where we want to disclose information to a third party, for example if we want to take up a reference or obtain a “disclosure” from the Credit Reference Bureau, we will not do so without informing you beforehand unless the disclosure is required by law. We may provide your information to third parties to trace your whereabouts or for debt collection purposes.
• We will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties.
• Telephone conversations are recorded in order to offer you additional security, resolve complaints and improve our quality and service standards. Conversations may also be recorded for training purposes.

Cookies

“Cookies” are small pieces of information sent by a web server (such as that used to run this Website) to your computer, which are then stored on the computer’s hard drive. Although cookies contain identifying information, they do not contain any information that identifies you personally, but they allow us to recognise you when you return to our Website.

If you do not want to accept a cookie when you visit our Website, you should be able to change the settings in your browser to disable this function, but there might be sections of the Website that you are unable to access.

Security of personal information

We take the security and disclosure of personal information very seriously and the data that we collect from you will be held securely at our main trading address.

We are mindful of the importance of upholding the security of information under our control. All data collected through this Website that is stored electronically, is stored on secure servers, and we have stringent security and confidentiality procedures covering the storage and disclosure of such information, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology. We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our Website, any transmission is at your own risk.

We will retain your information for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires.

Consent and changes to our policy

By using this Website you consent to the collection and use of your personal information as stated above. We reserve the right to amend this policy from time to time and, if we do so, your continued use of the Website will be taken as acceptance of any such change. You should check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes made to this policy.

Some websites that have links to and from our website from time to time may collect personal information about you when you access or utilise those links. We do not control the collection or use of such information, and the practices of those websites are not covered by this policy. Some websites that have links to and from our website from time to time may also use their own cookies. We have no access to, or control over these cookies, and you are advised to check the cookie policies on such other websites.

Accessing and updating

You have the right to see the personal data (as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998) that we keep about you, on receipt of a written request to the address below, verification of your identity, and payment of a fee.

If we do hold information about you and you are concerned that any of the personal information we hold on you is incorrect you can ask us to correct any mistakes by writing to:

Customer Relations Department
Wescot Credit Services Limited
PO Box 137
Hull
HU2 8HF

This policy was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind, therefore it does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address above.