Privacy Policy

We are Quick Loans Limited, trading as Cheque Centre, an English limited company with registration number 09619094. Our registered office and contact details are set out at the end of this policy. 

We are a “data controller” which means that we are responsible for the use of your information and we decide how and why this information will be used. We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office under reference ZA207923.

When you apply for a loan from us, or when you use any of our services, we may collect, keep and use the following information about you:

• name;
• address and sometimes previous addresses;
• date of birth;
• gender;
• telephone or fax number(s);
• email address;
• bank details and debit card details;
• other financial details including your expenses;
• name and address of employer, amount of your pay or salary and how often you get paid;
• a record of transactions and correspondence between you and us;
• copies of identity documents such as passport, driving licence, bank statements or utility bills; and
• details of your visits to our websites and the resources that you access.

We will record this information electronically and we may also keep hard copies of your application form, agreements, copies of identity documents and any further documents necessary. We will use your information:

1. to process your application and to verify your identity;
2. to verify your credit standing and credit history (including performing credit searches) and decide whether you are eligible to receive the loan you have applied for – please see the section below entitled “Credit Checks” for more information on how your information is used by us and by credit reference agencies for credit check purposes;
3. to confirm your employment details, including by contacting your employer;
4. to manage your account and to provide you with our products and services;
5. to monitor your loan instalments and repayments;
6. to carry out our obligations and exercise our rights arising from any contracts that we enter into with you;
7. to contact you regarding your application or your loan;
8. to provide customer services to you, including informing you about important changes to our products and services;
9. to improve your visits to our website;
10. for internal review and business planning purposes to improve our products and our service to customers;
11. to detect, prevent and investigate actual and potential fraud;
12. for statistical analysis about credit (your information may also be used for this purpose by credit reference agencies); and
13. for marketing purposes where you have agreed that we may use information in this way.

Who do we share this information with?

We may share your information with other companies in the Axcess Group for any of the purposes described above. We will only share your information with group companies for marketing purposes if you have consented to us doing so.

We may share your information with third parties where we are legally required to do so, for example for crime prevention or in order to protect our rights or the rights of our group companies, employees or customers.

If we buy or sell any business or assets we may share your information with the prospective seller or buyer of the business or assets. If we go through a corporate merger, consolidation, sale of assets or other corporate change, we may also pass your information on to the buyer or our successors in business to ensure they can continue to operate the business effectively or make full use of the assets sold.

Some or all of your information may be transferred to, stored or processed by a service provider of ours located in a country outside the European Economic Area where data protection laws may not be as strict as they are in the UK. Where we send your information outside of Europe we will always ensure that adequate measures are taken to protect your information.

Security

We have in place strict organisational and technical security measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful use of your information and against loss of, or damage to, your information. We require our service providers to have similar measures in place. However we cannot guarantee absolute security.

For how long do we keep your information?

We will keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, to resolve any disputes or complaints that may arise and to comply with our legal obligations. If you have consented to receive marketing communications from us and you have not withdrawn this consent, we will keep your contact information for as long as we are entitled to provide you with marketing communications.

How and why will we contact you?

We may contact you by letter, telephone, text, email or other electronic means for any purpose related to your application, your loan or any other products and services you have requested from us.

We will only contact you for marketing purposes where you have given your consent to be contacted for those purposes.

Credit checks

If you apply for a loan from us, in order to process your application, we will need to perform something called a “credit search”. This helps us to decide whether or not you are eligible to receive a loan from us. To help us to make this decision, we may need to obtain information from Credit Reference Agencies (“CRAs”) and/or Fraud Prevention Agencies (“FPAs”). We may also have to pass on some of your information to the CRAs and/or FPAs that we use. This section of the Privacy Policy sets out in detail what we, CRAs and FPAs do with your information for credit check purposes and why.

By signing and submitting a loan application form, you will be agreeing to us, CRAs and FPAs sharing your information as described in this Privacy Policy. It is therefore important that you read this document carefully and make sure that you understand it.

1. 1. What is a credit reference agency?
      Credit reference agencies collect and maintain information on consumers’ and businesses’ credit behaviour, on behalf of organisations in the UK.
   2. What is a fraud prevention agency?
      Fraud Prevention Agencies collect, maintain and share information on known and suspected fraudulent activity. Some CRAs also act as FPAs.
   3. Why do we use CRAs and FPAs?
      Although you have applied to us and we will check our own records, we will also contact CRAs to get information on your credit behaviour with other organisations. This will help us make the best possible assessment of your overall situation before we make a decision.
   4. Where do CRAs and FPAs get the information?
      1. Some of the information CRAs and FPAs obtain is publicly available, such as information from:
         1. the Electoral Register (obtained from Local Authorities)
         2. County Court Judgments (obtained from Registry Trust)
         3. Bankruptcy and similar Orders (obtained from the Insolvency Service)
      2. Fraud information may also come from fraud prevention agencies.
      3. Credit information comes from information on applications to banks, building societies, credit card companies etc and also from the conduct of those accounts.
   5. How will you know if your information is to be sent to a CRA or FPA?
      You will be told when you apply for a loan if your application data is to be supplied to a CRA or FPA. The next section of this Privacy Policy explains how, when and why we will search at CRAs and FPAs and what we will do with the information we obtain from them. The next section of this Privacy Policy also explains that we send payment history information, information on you or your business, if you have one, to CRAs. You can ask us at any time for the name of CRAs and FPAs that we use.
   6. Why is your information used in this way?
      We and other organisations want to make the best possible decisions we can, in order to make sure that you will be able to repay us. Some organisations may also use the information to check your identity. In this way we can ensure that we all make responsible decisions. At the same time we also want to make decisions quickly and easily and, by using up to date information, provided electronically, we are able to make the most reliable and fair decisions possible.
   7. Who controls what we, CRAs and FPAs are allowed to do with your data?
      All organisations that collect and process personal data are regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998, overseen by the Information Commissioner’s Office. All CRAs are in regular dialogue with the Commissioner. Use of the Electoral Register is controlled under the Representation of the People Act 2000.
   8. Can just anyone look at your information held at CRAs?
      No, access to your information is very strictly controlled and only those that are entitled to do so may see it. Usually that will only be with your agreement or (very occasionally) if there is a legal requirement.
2. What do we do with your information?
   1. When you apply to us for a loan, we will:
      1. Check our own records for information on:
         1. your previous borrowing with us and any ongoing borrowing with us;
         2. if you have one, your financial associate’s personal accounts (a financial associate means someone you are living with in a personal relationship);
      2. Search at CRAs for information on:
         1. your personal accounts;
         2. if you are making a joint application now or have ever done any of the following we will check your financial associates’ personal accounts as well:
            1. if you have previously made joint applications;
            2. if you have joint account(s);
            3. if you are financially linked (CRAs may link your records with those of another individual, for example if you are married, have previously made joint applications or have a joint account);
      3. Search at FPAs for information on you and any addresses at which you have lived and on your business (if you have one).
   2. When you apply to us, you provide us with certain information. We will use this information for the following purposes:
      1. Information that is supplied to us will be sent to the CRAs.
      2. If you are making a joint application or tell us that you have a spouse or financial associate, we will:
         1. search, link and/or record information at credit reference agencies about you both;
         2. link any individual identified as your financial associate, in our own records;
         3. take both your and their information into account in future applications by either or both of you;
         4. continue this linking until the account closes, or is changed to a sole account and one of you notifies us that you are no longer linked.

      It is therefore important that you obtain your spouse or financial associate’s agreement to disclose information about them.

      If you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect or identify fraud we will record this and may also pass this information to FPAs and other organisations involved in crime and fraud prevention.

   3. With the information that we obtain from CRAs and/or FPAs, we will:
      1. assess your application for credit;
      2. check details on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities;
      3. verify your identity and the identity of your spouse, partner or other directors/partners;
      4. undertake checks for the prevention and detection of crime, fraud and/or money laundering;
      5. we may use scoring methods to assess this application and to verify your identity;
      6. manage your borrowing with us; and/or
      7. undertake periodic statistical analysis or testing to ensure the accuracy of existing and future products and services.

      Any or all of these processes may be automated.

   4. What we do when you have an account with us:
      1. Where you borrow or may borrow from us, we will give details of your personal and/or business account (if you have one), including names and parties to the account and how you manage it/them to CRAs.
      2. If you borrow and do not repay in full and on time, we will tell CRAs.
      3. We may make periodic searches of our own group records and at CRAs to manage your account with us, including whether to make credit available or to continue or extend existing credit. We may also check at FPAs to prevent or detect fraud.
      4. If you have borrowed from us and do not make payments that you owe us, we will trace your whereabouts and recover debts.
3. What do CRAs and FPAs do with your information?
   1. When CRAs receive a search from us they will:
      1. place a search “footprint” on your credit file whether or not your application proceeds. If the search was for a credit application the record of that search (but not the name of the organisation that carried it out) may be seen by other organisations when you apply for credit in the future;
      2. link together the records of you and anyone that you have advised is your financial associate including previous and subsequent names of parties to the account. Links between financial associates will remain on your and their files until such time as you or your partner successfully files for a disassociation with the CRAs.
   2. CRAs will supply to us: –
      1. credit information such as previous applications and the conduct of the accounts in your name and of your financial associate(s) (if there is a link between you – see 3.1.2 above) and/or your business accounts (if you have one);
      2. public information such as County/Sherrif Court Judgments (CCJs) and bankruptcies;
      3. Electoral Register information; and
      4. fraud prevention information.
   3. When we supply information to CRAs about your account(s):
      1. CRAs will record the details that are supplied on your personal and/or business account (if you have one) including any previous and subsequent names that have been used by the accountholders and how you/they manage it/them;
      2. if you borrow and do not repay in full and on time, CRAs will record the outstanding debt;
      3. records shared with credit reference agencies remain on file for 6 years after they are closed, whether settled by you or defaulted.
   4. CRAs will not use your information for the following purposes:
      1. to create a blacklist; or
      2. to make a decision.
   5. CRAs will use your information for the following purposes:
      1. The information which we and other organisations provide to the credit reference agencies about you, your financial associates and your business (if you have one) may be supplied by credit reference agencies to other organisations and used by them to:
         1. prevent crime, fraud and money laundering by, for example checking details provided on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities;
         2. check the operation of credit and credit-related accounts;
         3. verify your identity if you or your financial associate applies for other facilities;
         4. make decisions on credit and credit related services about you, your partner, other members of your household or your business;
         5. manage your personal, your partner’s and/or business (if you have one) credit or credit related account or other facilities;
         6. trace your whereabouts and recover debts that you owe; and
         7. undertake statistical analysis and system testing.
   6. FPAs may use your information for the following purposes:
      1. The information which we provide to the FPAs about you, your financial associates and your business (if you have one) may be supplied by FPAs to other organisations and used by them and us to :
         1. prevent crime, fraud and money laundering by, for example:
            1. checking details provided on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities;
            2. managing credit and credit related accounts or facilities;
            3. cross-checking details provided on proposals and claims for all types of insurance;
            4. checking details on applications for jobs or when checked as part of employment.
         2. verify your identity if you or your financial associate applies for other facilities including all types of insurance proposals and claims;
         3. trace your whereabouts and recover debts that you owe;
         4. conduct other checks to prevent or detect fraud;
         5. we and other organisations may access and use from other countries the information recorded by fraud prevention agencies;
         6. undertake statistical analysis and system testing.
4. How to find out more
   1. You can contact the CRAs currently operating in the UK. We use Experian, which can be contacted at:
      Experian, Consumer Help Service, PO Box 8000, Nottingham NG80 7WF or call 0844 4818000 or log on to www.experian.co.uk.
   2. Please contact us using the details shown at the end of this Privacy Policy if you want to receive details of the relevant FPAs or if you have any questions about anything in this section.

You have a right to access the personal information that we hold about you. If you would like to make a request to access your information, please email or write to us at the addresses below. We may ask you for identification and we may charge a small fee (up to £10) before we give you access.

You have a right to correct any inaccurate or out-of-date information at no extra charge. Please write to us at the address below as soon as you become aware that the information we hold about you is inaccurate or out-of-date.

You have a right to ask us not to use your information for marketing purposes and to ask us to stop sending you marketing communications. We will only send you such communications if you consent to receiving them on your application form.

If you wish to stop receiving marketing communications at any time, please email us or write to us at the addresses below and we will stop sending you marketing communications as soon as we can.

You can also ask to receive a hard copy of this Privacy Policy at any time by writing to us at the address below or requesting a copy in any of our stores.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time the way in which we use your information may change. If this happens, we will update this Privacy Policy. Where the changes are likely to affect you we will notify you of the changes. This document was last updated on May 15, 2014.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or any information we hold about you, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights described above, please contact us:

By email: help@chequecentre.co.uk

By post: The Data Protection Officer, Cheque Centre, 12 Churchfield Court, Barnsley, S71 1NP

By telephone: 0131 610 0487

At your nearest Cheque Centre store

IP Addresses and Cookies

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

The Cheque Centre website uses 3 cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we put on your computer if you agree. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users on the website helping us to provide you with a good experience when you browse and transact on the Cheque Centre website. They also allow us to improve our website based on visitor activity.
We use a first party session cookie which allows essential functions such as allowing you to register and login. It also speeds up your site searches and allows a secure connection to be provided when you are performing secure transactions. This cookie is not linked to any information we might hold against you as a customer. It expires when the session ends.

We also use 2 performance cookies which allow us to anonymously track site usage and user behaviour allowing us to improve the performance of the website and the user experience on the site. These cookies are third party persistent cookies. The Cheque Centre website uses both Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst cookies. Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics sets a cookie in order to evaluate user behaviour on the website. Adobe SiteCatalyst (2o7.net) uses cookies, log file data and embedded code to gather data on behalf of Cheque Centre. Both track site usage and audience and help Cheque Centre to improve the experience it provides to users on the website.

If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies which are set on your device you can do this through your browser settings; the ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.

You can choose whether to opt out of certain cookies that are set when you use the Cheque Centre website on the Manage Cookies page.