Privacy policy

How your personal information is used by Lloyds Banking Group Companies
Last updated June 2012

Your information will be held by Bank of Scotland plc which trades as Colleys, part of the Lloyds Banking Group.

The Lloyds Banking Group includes us and a number of other companies using brands including Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and their associated companies. More information on the Group can be found at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com.

Please read this Privacy Policy to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us through the "Website". By accessing any part of this Website or providing any information to us you consent to the use and transfer of your information on the terms set out in this Privacy Policy.

We reserve the right to revise or supplement this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion and you agree to revisit this page regularly to ensure that you are familiar with the most current version. By continuing to access or use the Website you will be agreeing to any such changes.

If you are a customer of a Lloyds Banking Group company, details of the information we collect and how we use it will also be set out in the terms and conditions of the product or service which you hold. In the event of a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the terms and conditions of your specific product or service, the terms and conditions of your specific product or service will take precedence.

Personal information that we collect and where we collect it from

Your "personal information" is information about you. Lloyds Banking Group companies get your personal information from you and others in various ways, including for example:

1. through your contact with Lloyds Banking Group companies, for example in applications, emails and letters, during telephone calls and conversations in branch, when registering for services, in customer surveys, when you participate in competitions and promotions, through Lloyds Banking Group company websites and during financial reviews and interviews;
2. from analysis of your payments and other transactions (such as the amount, frequency, location, origin and recipient) and your use of services involving other Lloyds Banking Group companies and what they know from operating your accounts or providing services to you; and
3. information Lloyds Banking Group companies receive from or through other organisations (for example card networks, credit reference agencies, insurance companies, retailers, social networks and fraud prevention agencies) whether in the course of providing products and services to you or otherwise.

You must not give Lloyds Banking Group companies personal information about someone else (such as a joint applicant) without first getting his or her consent for it to be used and disclosed in the ways described in this condition. This is because the Lloyds Banking Group company will assume he or she has consented, although the Lloyds Banking Group company may still ask for confirmation. Where you do give a Lloyds Banking Group company information about someone else, or someone else discloses a connection with you, that information may be taken into account with your other personal information.

We will not retain your personal information for longer than is necessary for the maintenance your account, or for legal or regulatory requirements.

Domain name information that we collect is not used to personally identify you and instead is aggregated to measure the number of visits, average time spent on the Website, pages viewed etc. We use this information to measure the use of our Website and to improve its contents.

We may monitor or record phone calls with you in case we need to check we have carried out your instructions correctly, to resolve queries or issues, for regulatory purposes, to help improve our quality of service, and to help detect or prevent fraud or other crimes. Conversations may also be monitored for staff training purposes.

Using information on social networking sites

As part of our ongoing commitment to understanding our customers better, we may research comments and opinions made public on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

How Lloyds Banking Group companies use your personal information

Lloyds Banking Group companies may share your personal information with each other.

Your personal information held by Lloyds Banking Group companies may be stored and used for:

1. providing you with products and, services and notifying you about important changes or developments to the features and operation of those products and services;
2. updating, consolidating and improving the accuracy of our records;
3. crime detection, prevention and prosecution;
4. responding to your enquiries and complaints;
5. administering offers, competitions and promotions;
6. evaluating the effectiveness of marketing and for market research, training, statistical analysis and customer modelling [with the aim of improving services];
7. assessing lending and insurance risks across the Lloyds Banking Group;
8. identifying products, services and offers which we or others believe may be of interest to you;
9. managing your relationship with Lloyds Banking Group companies, and in the other ways described below; and
10. producing data, reports and statistics which have been anonymised or aggregated to ensure that they do not identify you as an individual.

Lloyds Banking Group companies may, from time to time, provide further details about how your personal information may be used.

If you have agreed, we and other Lloyds Banking Group companies may contact you about products, services and offers available from Lloyds Banking Group companies or from selected companies outside the group, which we believe may interest you or benefit you financially. You may tell us at any time if you change your mind.

Lloyds Banking Group companies may use automated decision making systems when assessing your application, managing your borrowing and to detect fraud or money laundering.

How we may share your information outside Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group companies will treat your personal information as private and confidential, but may disclose it outside the Lloyds Banking Group if:

1. allowed by this agreement;
2. you consent;
3. needed by Lloyds Banking Group companies' agents, advisors or others involved in running accounts and services for you or collecting what you owe Lloyds Banking Group companies;
4. HM Revenue & Customs or other authorities require it;
5. the law or the public interest permits or requires it; or
6. required by others to investigate or prevent crime.

Lloyds Banking Group companies may in the future wish to sell, transfer or merge part or all of their business or assets, or any associated rights or interests, or to acquire a business or enter into a merger with it. If so, they may disclose your personal information to a potential buyer, transferee, or merger partner or seller and their advisers so long as they agree to keep it confidential and to use it only to consider the possible transaction. If the transaction goes ahead, the buyers, transferee or merger partner may use or disclose your personal information in the same way as set out in this notice.

Anonymised Reports

Data, reports or statistics created using your personal information may be shared amongst Lloyds Banking Group companies and other companies or organisations outside the group. We will only share these data, reports or statistics outside the group where they have been aggregated or anonymised so that they do not identify you as an individual.

Fraud prevention agencies

We have systems that protect our customers and ourselves against fraud and other crime. Customer information can be used to prevent crime and trace those responsible. We will share your personal information from your application with fraud prevention agencies. If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details of this fraud will be passed to these agencies. Law enforcement agencies may access and use this information. We and other organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and money laundering, for example, when:

1. Checking details on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities.
2. Managing credit and credit related accounts or facilities.
3. Recovering debt.
4. Checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance.
5. Checking details of job applicants and employees.

Please contact us on 0845 602 7174 if you want to receive details of the relevant fraud prevention agencies. We and other organisations may access and use from other countries the information recorded by fraud prevention agencies.

Transferring information abroad

All countries in the EEA (including the UK) have similar standards of legal protection for your personal information. Lloyds Banking Group companies may run your accounts and provide other services from centres outside the EEA (such as the USA and India) that do not have a similar standard of data protection laws to the UK. If so, those Lloyds Banking Group companies will require your personal information to be protected to at least UK standards.

Lloyds Banking Group companies may process payments through other organisations such as banks and the worldwide payments system operated by SWIFT if, for example, you make a CHAPS payment or a foreign payment. Those organisations may process and store your personal information abroad and may have to disclose it to foreign authorities (including those outside the EEA, in which case your personal information may not be protected to standards similar to those in the UK), for example to help them in their fight against crime and terrorism.

Accessing and updating your personal information

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you rights to request your personal information from Lloyds Banking Group companies. Each company may charge a small administrative fee (currently £10) for supplying the information, and may as appropriate require proof of your identity before doing so. You can ask Lloyds Banking Group companies to change your personal information to keep it accurate and up to date. If you want to find out what information we hold about you, please write to the:

Data Unit,
Freepost NWW15306,
City House,
City Road,
Chester CH88 3YZ.

You can also find out from us the address for personal information queries and requests for other Lloyds Banking Group companies.

How we may contact you

Using your Email address for service contact

Making sure we deliver excellent customer service is very important to us and to do this various methods of communication may be used to keep you updated about your account. Most of the time we communicate by telephone or post, but we recognise that E mail is becoming a more popular process. If we decide to use E mail to contact you, we will only do this if we have ensured that using E mail will not put your information at risk, or, if you have requested we E mail you, that we have explained the risks of sending an "insecure" E mail and that you are happy to accept that risk.

In addition you may wish to choose a channel of communication that suits you when you need to contact us. If you need to E mail a Lloyds Banking Group company, we recommend you check their website to see if a secure E mail facility exists so that your E mail can be sent securely. If you send us E mails in other ways, such as from your personal account, then remember that the message may not be secure and there is a risk that it could be intercepted. If you choose to send an "insecure" E mail, please keep the amount of confidential information you include to a minimum. With some of our products we offer a number of communication update services via SMS. If you have signed up to this service, we may send you text messages containing administrative information about your relationship with us. You can ask us to stop sending these messages at any time. Additionally, in extraordinary circumstances (such as natural disaster or civil unrest) we may also send you updates by text message or email when we consider it to be appropriate.

Using cookies

In general, you can visit Lloyds Banking Group websites without identifying who you are or revealing any information about yourself. However, cookies are used to store small amounts of information on your computer, which allows certain information from your web browser to be collected. Cookies are widely used on the internet and do not identify the individual using the computer, just the computer being used. Cookies and other similar technology make it easier for you to log on to and use our websites during future visits. Visit our cookies policy page for more information.

When you apply for and use our products & services

How we manage sensitive personal information

Data Protection Act defines certain information as 'sensitive' (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life, criminal proceedings and offences). When you apply for certain product or services, we may ask you for some 'sensitive' information, but we will always ask for your explicit consent. As a customer, there may also be times when you give us 'sensitive' information. We will use it to provide the service you require and may share it with other parts of the group and our subcontractors to keep our records up to date.

How we check your identity

We may ask you to provide physical forms of identity verification when you open your account. Alternatively, we may search credit reference agency files in assessing your application. The agency also gives us other details and information from the Electoral Register to verify your identity. The agency keeps a record of our search, whether or not your application proceeds. Our search is not seen or used by lenders to assess your ability to obtain credit.

Undertaking Anti-Money Laundering checks

To comply with money laundering regulations, there are times when we need to confirm (or reconfirm) the name and address of our customers. This information may be shared with other group companies

Changes to Privacy Notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review and we will reflect any updates within this notice. This privacy notice was last updated 06 June 2012