Privacy statement
- Introduction
- Identity of the data controller
- Data protection officer
- Personal information we may collect about you
- Disclosing personal information
- Use of your personal information
- Credit reference agencies
- Fraud prevention agencies and consequences of processing
- Third party account management
- Storing your personal information
- Data security
- Retention of your personal information
- Access to your personal information
- Right to rectification
- Right to erasure
- Right to restrict processing
- Right to object
- Right to data portability
- Rights related to automated decision making
- Criminal offence data and special category data
- Making a complaint to the ICO
- Cookies
- Lending works contacting you
- Lawful basis
- Changes to this privacy statement
- Marketing
1. Introduction
1.1 This privacy statement (“Privacy Statement”) describes how Lending Works collects, uses, shares and stores personal information about you. This includes both personal information from which you can be easily and instantly identified and personal information from which you can be identified when used in combination with any other information. We collectively refer to this as your “Personal Information”.
1.2 You should read this Privacy Statement carefully. We will always process any personal data about you in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
1.3 By submitting Personal Information to Lending Works, you acknowledge and understand that it may be processed as set out in this Privacy Statement.
1.4 If you are a borrower or prospective borrower, this Privacy Statement is supplementary to and does not replace any terms in your credit agreement about how we or the lender will collect and use your Personal Information. Where there is a conflict, the relevant terms in your credit agreement will prevail.
2. Identity of the data controller
2.1 The Data Controller under this Privacy Statement is Lending Works Limited.
2.2 Lending Works Limited (“Lending Works”, “us”, “we”) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 723151 and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number ZA002001.
2.3 Lending Works‘ company registration number is 8302549 and its registered office is at 60 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8AQ.
3. Data protection officer
3.1 Lending Works has appointed a Data Protection Officer.
3.2 The Data Protection Officer may be contacted using the following contact details:
Email: cs@lendingworks.co.uk
Post: Lending Works Limited, 60 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8AQ
Telephone: 020 7096 8512
4. Personal information we may collect about you
4.1 We may collect and process the following Personal Information about you:
Personal Information you give us
4.2 You may give us Personal Information about you by filling in forms, or carrying out any other activity or transaction, on our website (www.lendingworks.co.uk or any pages arising from or connected to the stated domain, including any sub-domains, referred to as the “Website”) or on the Lending Works Platform (“Platform”) or by corresponding with us by telephone, e-mail, using an online enquiry form, via social media or otherwise. This includes Personal Information you provide when you enter a competition, promotion or survey and when you report a problem with our Website or Platform. The Personal Information you give us may include (but is not limited to) your name, address, date of birth, income, email address, phone number, financial and credit/debit card information, personal description and business information, and any photographs. If you give us Personal Information on behalf of someone else, you confirm that you have given them the information set out in this Privacy Statement and that they have given permission for us to use their Personal Information as set out in this Privacy Statement.
Information we automatically collect about you
4.3 Every time you visit our Website, we may automatically collect the following Personal Information:
4.3.1 Technical Personal Information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
4.3.2 Personal Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to, through and from our Website (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number; and
4.3.3 Any other Personal Information set out in our Cookie Policy not covered above.
Information we receive from other sources
4.4 We may receive Personal Information about you from:
4.4.1 Our business partners and affiliates;
4.4.2 Our payment service providers and our bank(s);
4.4.3 Credit reference agencies; and
4.4.4 Fraud prevention agencies.
Geo-location Personal Information
4.5 Some devices allow applications to access real-time location-based Personal Information (for example GPS). If you access our Website or Platform from any such devices, we may collect such Personal Information from your mobile device at any time while you download or use our Website or Platform. We may use this Personal Information to optimise your experience and to help us prevent and detect fraud.
5. Disclosing personal information
5.1 We may disclose any Personal Information we obtain under this Privacy Statement, for the purposes set out in this Privacy Statement, to:
5.1.1 any of our affiliates and business partners if it is deemed necessary for the performance of a contract you have entered into with us, for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party;
5.1.2 institutional or corporate lenders on the Platform (we will never share your Personal Information with consumer lenders);
5.1.3 any retailers from whom you purchase or propose to purchase goods and/or services using point of sale finance provided by us;
5.1.4 our payment processors and suppliers and any third parties who process transactions submitted by us;
5.1.5 any external providers of services and benefits associated with your Lending Works Account;
5.1.6 collection agencies and lawyers for the purpose of collecting debts on your Lending Works Account;
5.1.7 law enforcement, crime prevention and taxation authorities;
5.1.8 any party approved by you;
5.1.9 anyone to whom we may transfer our contractual rights;
5.1.10 any other person under an order of the Court; and
5.1.11 any other person or party set out elsewhere in this Privacy Statement.
5.2 If you are a prospective borrower and we are unable to approve your loan application, we may offer you the opportunity to be referred to a partner loan broker. Where this is the case, we will only pass your Personal Information over if you agree to us doing this at that time.
5.3 Borrowing and lending via the Lending Works Platform is fully anonymous. We will not share Personal Information between borrowers and lenders, other than where the lender under a credit agreement is an institutional lender, in which case the company details of that lender and the details of the borrower will be disclosed within the credit agreement, which will be made available to both parties.
5.4 If you have been referred to us from a credit broker, an intermediary, a retailer from whom you purchase or propose to purchase goods and/or services using point of sale finance provided by us, a lender, or another peer-to-peer lending platform, we may disclose Personal Information we obtain under this Privacy Statement to them if it is deemed necessary for our legitimate interests or their legitimate interests, for example to calculate appropriate referral fees and commissions (if applicable).
6. Use of your personal information
6.1 We may use Personal Information about you (obtained by us as set out in this Privacy Statement), either on its own or aggregated or combined with other Personal Information, for any of the following purposes:
Delivering our products and services to you6.2 This will include:
6.2.1 effecting, processing, delivering and performing a contract you have entered into with or through us;
6.2.2 processing applications for products and services available through us, including making decisions about whether to agree or approve your application;
6.2.3 helping us better understand your financial circumstances and behaviour so that we may make decisions about how we manage your Lending Works Account;
6.2.4 effecting your transactional decisions including to process transactions you make in your Lending Works Account;
6.2.5 making available to you certain functions and tools on our Website and Platform in relation to your Lending Works Account;
6.2.6 communicating with you, including by telephone, e-mail and SMS, about your Lending Works Account;
6.2.7 giving you important information about updated and new features and benefits associated with your existing products and services with us and benefits and to notify you about changes to our products and servicesp
6.2.8 answering questions and responding to your requests;
6.2.9 administering, servicing and managing your Lending Works Account; and
6.2.10 carrying out any of our obligations arising from any contracts entered between us.
Managing risks relating to our business, including credit risk, fraud risk and operational risk6.3 This will include:
6.3.1 making decisions about how we manage your Lending Works Account, including approving individual transactions;
6.3.2 if you are a borrower or prospective borrower, making credit underwriting decisions, including assessing creditworthiness and affordability and the amount of credit we can make available to you; and
6.3.3 developing risk management policies, models and procedures used in the management of customers’ accounts and our business generally.
Recording telephone calls6.4 If you contact us by telephone, to help us improve our service, and for quality control and staff training, we may record and monitor telephone calls. We may also record and monitor telephone calls as necessary to comply with any legal and regulatory obligations, for the prevention of fraud and other financial crime and to protect the security of our communications systems and procedures.
7. Credit reference agencies
7.1 Reference to credit reference agencies is primarily in relation to borrowers and prospective borrowers. Other than as set out in clause 7.4, we do not share any Personal Information with credit reference agencies about lenders and prospective lenders.7.2 We will exchange your Personal Information (provided to us as set out in this Privacy Statement) with credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies as set out in this and the next section. We may also exchange your Personal Information which you have not provided us with credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies. This is not limited to such agencies based in the United Kingdom and includes such agencies overseas.
7.3 If you are a borrower or prospective borrower:
7.3.1 If you apply for a loan quotation and/or apply for a loan with us, we will search your records at credit reference and fraud prevention agencies. We may use the Personal Information recorded by these agencies for the purposes of assessing lending and credit risks (including assessing creditworthiness and affordability) and identifying, preventing, detecting or tackling fraud, money laundering and other financial crime. Any credit reference agency that is searched as a result of your use of the Lending Works Platform will keep a record of any search, and other lenders may use it to assess applications they receive from you in the future;
7.3.2 We may, from time to time and on an ongoing basis, use credit reference agencies to verify your bank account details, and search your records and update them with fraud prevention agencies to prevent, detect and tackle fraud, money laundering and other financial crime;
7.3.3 We may inform credit reference agencies of the current balance on your Lending Works Account and credit agreement(s), the payments you make under it, any default or failure to keep its terms (including your failure to make payments when due) and any change of name or address. They will record this Personal Information against your credit file and it may be shared with other organisations for the purpose of assessing applications from you, and applications from any other party with a financial association with you, for credit or other facilities, for other risk management purposes and for preventing fraud and tracing debtors. As a general rule, we will give you at least 28 days’ notice if we decide to file a default on your credit reference file. However, we may not always give you notice beforehand, for example, if we plan to take court action;
7.3.4 We may carry out ongoing further searches of your record at credit reference and fraud prevention agencies whilst any money is owed by you on your Lending Works Account (including contacting your bank, building society or any other person approved by you). We will do this to assist us managing your Lending Works Account and to prevent fraud or any other unlawful activity;
7.3.5 We may use credit reference agencies to trace and recover debts; and
7.3.6 We do not provide joint loans but if you tell us that you have a spouse or financial associate, we will link your records together, so you must be sure you have their permission to disclose Personal Information about them. Credit reference agencies link your records together with those of your financial associates and these links will remain on your and their files until such time as you or your partner successfully file for a disassociation to break the link.
7.4 If you are a lender or prospective lender we may, from time to time, use credit reference agencies to verify your bank account details, and search your records and update them with fraud prevention agencies to prevent, detect and tackle fraud, money laundering and other financial crime;
7.5 Credit reference agencies may also share your Personal Information with other organisations. When Credit reference agencies receive a search from us they will place a search footprint on your credit file that may be seen by other lenders.
7.6 The identities of the UK credit reference agencies, their role also as fraud prevention agencies, the data they hold, the ways in which they use and share personal information, data retention periods and your data protection rights with the Credit reference agencies are explained in more detail within the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN). This Notice is accessible from each of the three credit reference agencies below – clicking on any of these three links will take you to the same CRAIN document:
7.6.1 Equifax: www.equifax.co.uk/crain
7.6.2 Experian: https://www.experian.co.uk/legal/crain/
7.6.3 Callcredit: www.transunion.co.uk/crain
7.7 You are entitled to access your personal records held by credit and fraud prevention agencies. Other than as set out in 7.6, if you would like more details of the credit reference and fraud prevention agencies from which we have obtained or may obtain Personal Information about you, please contact us at cs@lendingworks.co.uk.
8. Fraud prevention agencies and consequences of processing
8.1 This section is supplemental to section 7 above.8.2 We share Personal Information with fraud prevention agencies about both active and prospective lenders and borrowers.
8.4 The Personal Information you have provided us with, we have collected from you, or we have received from third parties (as described in section 4), will be used to prevent fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity.
8.5 Details of the Personal Information that will be processed include, for example: name, address, date of birth, contact details, financial information, employment details, device identifiers including IP address and vehicle details.
8.6 If we, or a fraud prevention agency, determine that you pose a fraud or money laundering risk, we may refuse to provide the services or financing you have requested, or to employ you, or we may stop providing existing services to you.
8.7 A record of any fraud or money laudering risk will be retained by the fraud prevention agencies, and may result in others refusing to provide services, financing or employment to you. If you have any questions about this, please contact us using the contact details set out at section 3.2 above.
8.8 If you provide us with false or inaccurate Personal Information at any stage of the customer journey and we suspect any unlawful activity such as fraud or money laundering, this will be recorded, and we will pass details to fraud prevention agencies. We and other organisations may also access and use this Personal Information to prevent any unlawful activity, such as fraud and money laundering, including when:
8.8.1. Checking and verifying your identity;
8.8.2. Checking and verifying details on applications for credit, credit related or other financial products and facilities;
8.8.3. Managing credit, credit related or other financial products and facilities;
8.8.4. Recovering debt;
9. Third party account management
9.1 If you request a third party to manage your Lending Works Account and we agree to do this (we will never unreasonably withhold our consent), we may share your Personal Information obtained as set out in this Privacy Statement with that third party.10. Storing your personal information
10.1 Any Personal Information we obtain about you will not be held by us outside of the European Economic Area ("EEA").11. Data security
11.1 We use advanced technology, secure third-party suppliers and well-defined employee practices to help ensure that your Personal Information is processed promptly, accurately, completely and securely. The processing of your Personal Information will be performed by manual and automated means. In order to maintain the effectiveness and security of these systems, policies and procedures, we may also from time to time process your Personal Information for internal testing purposes.12. Retention of your personal information
12.1 We keep Personal Information obtained about you as set out in this Privacy Statement for up to six years after you close your Lending Works Account, in order to prevent fraud or other financial crime.13. Access to your personal information
13.1 Under the GDPR, you have the right to ask for confirmation that your personal data is being processed and request a copy of the Personal Information that we hold about you (but only in relation to your own “personal data”). This is called a "subject access request".Our Customer Service team is available Monday to Friday from 9.00 am - 5.30 pm on 020 7096 8512.
You can email our Customer Service team anytime at cs@lendingworks.co.uk.
You can write to us at our London office: Lending Works Limited, 60 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8AQ.
14. Right to rectification
14.1 You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified.14.8 If paragraph 14.7 applies, we will write to you to let you know. You will have the right to make a complaint to the ICO or seek other redress through the courts.