Privacy Policy
What is this Privacy Policy for?
This privacy policy is for this website, www.rateswitch.uk, and governs the privacy of its users who choose to use it.
This website is served by Rateswitch Ltd. We are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 10100327 and have our registered office at Sophia House, 28 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ. References to us in these terms also include our group companies from time to time.
Rateswitch Ltd is an appointed representative of Stonebridge Mortgage Solutions Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”). Rateswitch Ltd’s FCA reference number is 762308.
The policy explains how we collect, store and use information about you when you access or use this website, together with the obligations and requirements of you and us in relation to your information. This policy also explains how we use cookies.
We ask that you read this policy carefully as it contains important details about how we will use your information. By accessing or using the website you agree to be bound by, and comply with, this policy and the documents referred to in it (including our website terms of use available at https://rateswitch.uk/terms-
The Website
We take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of our users throughout their visiting experience. This website endeavors to comply with all applicable laws and requirements for user privacy, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, as amended from time to time, and all other applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations, as well as any guidance and/or codes of practice issued from time to time by the UK Information Commissioner.
Use of Cookies
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while visiting the website. Cookies are small text files saved to your computer’s hard drive that track, save and store information about your interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server, to provide you with a tailored experience within the website.
This website also uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to your computer’s hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website, but will not store, save or collect personal information. You can read Google’s privacy policy here for further information about their use and processing of information through tracking software and cookies: http://www.google.
You are advised that if you wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website or from Google Analytics on to your computer’s hard drive you should take necessary steps within your web browser’s security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors. However, users should note that some features on the website may not function if cookies are blocked.
Contact & Communication
While we will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your information, you acknowledge that the use of the internet is not entirely secure and for this reason we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any information that is transferred from you or to you via the internet. Therefore, whenever you use this website and/or contact us through it you do so at your own risk.
Information We Collect About You
We will collect information about you when you visit our website, make submissions to or through our website, sign up to receive emails or other correspondence from us or otherwise do business with us (whether through our website or otherwise). We may also collect information about you though the use of cookies, as set out in the ‘Use of Cookies’ section above.
How We Use Your Information
We will process your information to:
– Contact you in relation to any enquiry you make through the website regarding switching your mortgage;
– Provide you with further information about the products/services we offer;
– Assist you in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted;
– Customise our website and its content to your particular preferences (including through the use of cookies in accordance with the ‘Use of Cookies’ section above);
– Improve our services; and
– Subscribe you to our email newsletter program in accordance with the ‘Email Newsletter’ section below
In relation to the above, your information is not passed on to any third parties, is kept private and stored securely only for so long as it is required (following which it is securely deleted).
Note that if we contact you in relation to any enquiry you make through the website regarding switching your mortgage and you wish to instruct us to process a remortgaging application for you, we will provide you with separate terms and/or policies regarding how we collect, process and disclose your information as part of that application process, and such processing shall be carried out in accordance with those separate terms and/or policies (and this policy shall not apply to such further work).
In relation to any remortgage applied for, and for the purpose of establishing eligibility, third parties may be contacted such as your employer, accountant or credit reference agencies. All data obtained will be processed in the legitimate interest of your business enquiry, and further information about one of the credit reference agencies we use can be found here.
Your Consent
By submitting your information to us you consent to the processing of that information as set out in this policy.
Email Newsletter
This website operates an email newsletter program, used to inform subscribers about products and services supplied by this website. Users can subscribe through an online automated process should they wish to do so but do so at their own discretion.
We may subscribe you to our email newsletter program manually, but only:
– If this was made clear to you and your express permission was granted when submitting your information to us; or
– Where you have previously purchased, or enquired about purchasing, from us a product or service that the email newsletter relates to
This is by no means an entire list of your user rights in regard to receiving email marketing material.
Subscriptions are taken in compliance with UK Spam Laws detailed in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. All personal details relating to subscriptions are held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. No personal details are passed on to third parties nor shared with companies/people outside of the company that operates this website.
Email marketing campaigns published by us may contain tracking facilities within the actual email. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may include; the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, the clicking of links within the email content, and the times, dates and frequency of activity. This is not an exhaustive list and we may use other tracking activities relating to email marketing campaigns in accordance with this policy. The information we track and store is used to refine future email campaigns and supply the user with more relevant content based around their activity.
In compliance with UK Spam Laws and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 subscribers are given the opportunity to un-subscribe at any time through an automated system. This process is detailed at the footer of each email campaign. If an automated un-subscription system is unavailable clear instructions on how to un-subscribe will be detailed instead.
Website Comments and Testimonials
From time to time we may give you the option to publish content to or through the website, including in blog comments, reviews and testimonials.
We may wish to publish or re-publish such user content on the website and shall have the right to do so subject to this policy.
Should you wish to keep your identity anonymous when you post on the website you may select appropriate privacy options through the settings on your account. If you do wish to keep your identity anonymous it will be your sole responsibility to ensure the privacy settings on your account are set accordingly. If your settings are not set to private then we shall be entitled to publish or re-publish any content submitted by you.
External Links
Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised to adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website. “External links” include clickable text/banner/image links to other websites.
This policy only applies to this website. If you access links to other websites any information you provide to them will be subject to the privacy policies of those other websites.
We cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website. Users should therefore note that they click on external links at their own risk and we cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned on this website.
Social Media Platforms
Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and its owners participate on are subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of such social media platforms.
Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and communicate/engage upon them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. We will ever ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and encourage users wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact us through primary communication channels such as by telephone or email.
This website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. Users are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track and save your request to share a web page respectively through your social media platform account.
Shortened Links in Social Media
We may share web links to relevant web pages through our social media platform accounts. By default, some social media platforms shorten lengthy URLs/web addresses.
Users are advised to take caution and exercise good judgement before clicking any shortened URLs published on social media platforms by us. Despite the best efforts to ensure only genuine URLs are published, many social media platforms are prone to spam and hacking and therefore we cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any shortened links.
Overseas Transfers
The Information you provide may be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) that do not have similar protections in place regarding your data and restrictions on its use as set out in this policy. However, we will take steps to ensure adequate protections are in place to ensure the security of your information. The EEA comprises the EU member states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. By submitting your information you consent to these transfers for the purposes specified in this policy.
Your Rights
Under the Data Protection Act 2018 you may request a copy of personal information we hold about you. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to the business address at the bottom of this policy.
Changes to this Policy
We keep this policy under regular review and may change it from time to time. If we change this policy we will post the changes on this page, and place notices on other pages of the website as applicable, so that you may be aware of the information we collect and how we use it at all times. You are responsible for ensuring that you are aware of the most recent version this policy as it will apply each time you access the website.
This Policy was last updated on the 11th of June 2019.
General
We will use technical and organisational measures in accordance with good industry practice to safeguard your information.
We may monitor and record communications with you (such as telephone conversations and emails) for the purposes of provision of services, quality assurance, training, fraud prevention and compliance purposes.
If our business is sold or integrated with another business your information may be disclosed to our advisers and any prospective purchasers and their advisers and will be passed on to the new owners of the business.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this policy or about using the website in general, please contact us via: www.rateswitch.uk/contact-us, or write to us by post to Rateswitch Ltd, Sophia House, 28 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ.
