Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy (together with the Terms and Conditions (www.hermeq.com/uk/en/terms-conditions) sets out the information that HERMEQ Ltd (“we” or “us”) may collect and how we will process and use that personal data. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is:
Company Name: HERMEQ UK LIMITED
Registered Address: HERMEQ Ltd, Sams Lane, West Bromwich, England, B70 7ED.
Company Number: 10147984
VAT Registration Number: GB239905183
1. Information we collect about you
The information we collect about you may include;
- contact information (e.g. email address and telephone numbers)
- financial information (e.g. your bank account)
- information about your physical and mental health.
This information may come from:
- You, when you use our ecommerce platform; e.g. when you purchase a product from us or ask us to provide you with a personalised quote.
- The way you use your online account
- Your digital devices
- Your interactions with us, including information you may voluntarily share with us
- Credit reference agencies (who may check the information against other databases – public and private – to which they have access) or fraud prevention agencies
2. Using your information
The UK’s data protection law allows us to use your personal information provided we have a legal basis for doing so. The legal basis that we rely on to use your information include:
- You’ve given us your consent
- We need to use your information to perform our obligations under our agreement with you
- We need to use your information so we can comply with a law we’re subject to
- We (or a third party) have a legitimate interest in using your information which isn’t out weighted by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms
We’ve set out in the table below how we use your information and the legal basis for using it.
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How we may use your information |
Legal basis |
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Legitimate interest –
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To comply with a legal obligation, e.g. –
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To satisfy our obligations under our agreement with you e.g. –
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When you register with HERMEQ Ltd we’ll give you the option to receive our occasional updates. These messages notify you about new features on our website, ask your opinion, and tell you about produtcs you may not be using yet. We only send these messages if there is something worthwhile to tell you about. If you don’t want to receive these messages you can call us or email us and we will remove your contact details.
There may be some messages that we’re required by law or regulation to send you even if you ask us not to.
3. Sharing your information
We may share your information with the following third parties so that we can use your information for the purposes described above.
- Credit reference and fraud prevention agencies
- Our regulators or government authorities, for example the Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the police
- Collection agencies and lawyers to help us collect any money you owe us
- Our suppliers and sub-contractors
- Your customers from whom you’ve used goods or services using products provided by us
- Anyone to whom we may transfer all or part of our assets
We won’t disclose customer information to other HERMEQ Ltd customers.
We will not be responsible for misuse of transactional data by others, but you must inform us promptly if you are the victim of any misuse of that information.
4. Credit reference agencies
When you ask us to provide you with a 30 day credit account we’ll supply your personal information to credit reference agencies (CRAs) and carry out a ‘soft credit search’ to establish your credit rating. This is a preliminary credit check and will give us an overall view of your financial health (including your credit score) but not your full credit report. This will help us determine whether your application will be successful and how much you can borrow and at what interest rate.
The CRAs will record our search but other lenders won’t be able to see it and it won’t
We will use this information to:
- Assess your credit worthiness and whether you can afford to take the a 30 day credit account
- Verify the accuracy of the information you have provided us;
- Prevent criminal activity, fraud and money laundering
- Manage your account
- Trace and recover debts
- Ensure any offers provided to you are appropriate to your circumstances.
We’ll go on sharing your personal information with CRAs for as long as you are a customer. We will also inform CRAs about your settled accounts. If you borrow and do not repay in full and on time, CRAs will record the outstanding debt. They may also provide this information to other organisations.
We do not provide joint credit accounts, but if you tell us you have a spouse of financial associate, we’ll link your records together, so you should make sure you discuss this with them, and share with them this information, before lodging this application. CRAs will also link your records together and these links will remain on your and their files until such time as you or your partner successfully files for a disassociation with the CRAs to break that link.
As a general rule, we’ll 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.
If you are an investor or a perspective investor we may conduct searches with credit reference agencies to verify your identity and bank account details.
5. Fraud prevention agencies
If you give us false or inaccurate information or if we suspect or identify fraud we may record this and may also pass this information to fraud prevention agencies and other organisations involved in crime and fraud prevention including law enforcement agencies.
We and other organisations may access and use this information to prevent fraud, money laundering or other criminal activity.
Fraud prevention agencies may hold your information for different periods of time, and if you’re considered to be a fraud or money laundering risk, your information may be held for up to six years. It may also result in us and others refusing to provide services, financing or employment to you.
You can contact us at accounts@hermeq.com if you’d like to know more about the credit reference and fraud prevention agencies we use.
6. Overseas transfers
We don’t currently transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Whenever fraud prevention and credit reference agencies transfer your information outside the EEA, they impose contractual obligations on the recipients of that data to protect your personal information to the standard required in the EEA. They may also require recipients to subscribe to ‘international frameworks’ intended to enable secure data sharing.
7. Retaining your information
We’ll keep your information for up to six years after you close your HERMEQ account, to prevent fraud and other financial crimes, to comply with our regulatory obligations and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
In exceptional circumstances, e.g. if there is an ongoing regulatory investigation or legal claim, we may retain our information beyond the six-year period.
8. Consequences of processing
If we, or a fraud prevention agency, determine that you pose a fraud or money laundering risk, we may refuse to provide you with the services or financing you have requested, or to employ you, or we may stop providing existing services to you.
A record of any fraud or money laundering risk may be retained by 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 details above.
9. Your rights
Right to be provided with certain information
We must provide you with certain information at the time we collect your personal information, including how we use it and the legal basis for doing so, who we share it with, how long we intend to keep it, where we got the information from and your rights in relation to it. You find this information in this Privacy Policy.
Right to access your information
We must provide you with a copy of your information unless providing some or all of it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others, or the law allows us not to comply with your request. You can access your personal information by emailing us at accounts@hermeq.com/uk/en or by calling us on 0800 0432 520 We aim to provide you with your information within 30 days.
Right to correction
You can ask us to correct any information which you believe is inaccurate. We’ll update your information as soon as we can. You may need to provide supporting evidence before we can deal with your request; e.g. a copy of your marriage certificate if you want to update your name.
Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’)
You can ask us to erase your personal information:
- if you think it’s no longer necessary for us to hold your information;
- if you don’t think we have any legitimate grounds for processing it;
- if you think we’re using your personal information unlawfully; or
- if you think we should delete your personal information because the law requires us to do so.
Right to restrict processing
You can ask us to stop using your personal information:
- if you think it’s inaccurate;
- if you think it’s illegal for us to use it;
- if you don’t want us to destroy it because you need it for legal proceedings;
- if you’ve told we don’t have a legitimate reason for using it and we’re considering your request.
Notification obligation
You can ask us to notify everyone to whom we’ve given your personal information whenever we amend, delete or agree to restrict our use of it.
Right to data portability
If we’re using your information on the basis of your consent or because we need it to carry out our contractual obligations to you, you can ask us to give you your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or have it transmitted to another data controller.
Right to object
We may use your personal information to further our legitimate interests; e.g., we may use information about you to improve our marketing messages because we have a legitimate interest in making sure our customers know about new products which could be of benefit to them. We’ll always give you a right to object whenever we intend to use your personal information for our legitimate interests.
Right to human intervention
When you apply for a credit account we’ll use an automated process to decide whether to lend to you. If we decline your application, you can ask one of our directors to review our decision.
There may be occasions when you wish to exercise one of your rights and we’re unable to agree to your request, e.g. because we have compelling legitimate grounds for using your information, or because we need to keep your information to comply with a legal obligation.
You can send us your request by emailing us accounts@hermeq.com/uk/en or by calling us on 0800 0432 520
How to stop receiving marketing messages
If you no longer want to receive marketing messages, please get in touch with our customer services at accounts@hermeq.com/uk/en
10. Making a complaint
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information you can refer your concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the body that regulates the handling of personal information in the UK, at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wimslow,
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk
11. Consequences of not providing us with your personal information
You don’t have to provide us with your personal information. However, we need your information partly because the law requires us to ask for certain details about you and partly so that we can offer products and services to you in accordance with our agreement with you. This means that if you don’t provide us with the information we ask for, we’ll not be able to open an account for you.
12. Keeping your information safe
We take your privacy seriously and take every reasonable measure to keep your information secure. We monitor our systems 24/7 and continually work to improve the security of your personal information and our systems.
While we use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information, you should be aware that the use of the internet is not entirely secure and we can’t guarantee the security or integrity of any personal information that is transferred from you or to you via the internet.
13. Cookies
We use “cookies”, which store small amounts of information on your computer or device to allow certain information from your web browser to be collected.
14. About HERMEQ Ltd
HERMEQ Ltd is a company incorporated in England & Wales under company registration number 10147984, having its registered office at HERMEQ Ltd, Sams Lane, West Bromwich, England, B70 7ED.
15. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We’ll regularly review this Privacy Policy. If we make any changes, we’ll post the updated policy on this page.
This Privacy Policy was lasted updated on 04 July 2023. The changes are related to how we handle your data and what we can and can’t do with it.
