Privacy Policy

Introduction

Option Finance Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect your personal information when you use our website and our mortgage and protection advice services.

Option Finance Ltd is the data controller for the personal information we collect. We are an appointed representative of Finance Advice Group Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Information we collect

• Contact details: name, email address, phone number and postal address
• Financial information: income, outgoings, credit commitments, savings, deposit and existing mortgage
• Employment details: employer, job, self-employed accounts and tax calculations
• Property information: the property you own or want to buy
• Special category data: where needed for protection insurance advice, such as health information, which we only process with your explicit consent
• Enquiry details: what you tell us when you use our enquiry or callback forms

How we use your information and our legal basis

• To give you advice and arrange your mortgage or protection: to take steps at your request and perform our contract with you
• To meet our legal and regulatory obligations, including FCA rules, anti-money laundering checks and record keeping
• To respond to your enquiry and keep you updated: our legitimate interests in running our business
• To contact you about reviewing your mortgage or protection later: our legitimate interests, and you can ask us to stop at any time
• To send you marketing: only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time

Who we share it with

• Mortgage lenders and insurers, to apply for products on your behalf
• Finance Advice Group Ltd, our principal firm, for compliance oversight and quality checks
• Credit reference and identity verification agencies, when you apply
• Solicitors, conveyancers, surveyors and estate agents involved in your transaction, where needed
• Service providers who help us run our business, such as IT, website hosting, email and secure document storage
• Regulators, the Financial Ombudsman Service and law enforcement, where the law requires

We do not sell your personal information.

How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as we need it to provide our service, and then for as long as legal and regulatory record-keeping rules require. For mortgage and protection advice this is usually several years after our service ends. Enquiries that do not go ahead are kept for a shorter period.

Keeping it safe and international transfers

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information. Some of our service providers may process data outside the UK. Where they do, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, as UK GDPR requires.

Cookies

For information about cookies on this website, please see our Cookie Policy.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Ask us to erase your data, where we do not need to keep it
• Object to or ask us to restrict processing
• Data portability
• Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

Contact us

For any questions about this privacy policy or your personal data, please contact us at [email protected] or write to us at 119A Friar Gate, Derby, Derbyshire, DE1 1EX.