Last updated in February 2023
How we use your personal information
This privacy notice explains how companies within Lloyds banking Group use and look after your personal information. This includes what you tell us about yourself, what we learn by having the business as a customer, and your marketing choices. This notice also tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
This privacy notice will apply to you if you are or have been a customer of Lloyds Banking Group. If your personal information has been provided to Lloyds Banking Group, but you are a not a customer, it may also apply to you. For example, if you have applied for a product or raised a complaint with us.
There are a range of different products and services throughout Lloyds Banking Group. Each one may have different requirements for the collection and use of your personal information. For this reason, some sections of this notice do not apply to all Lloyds Banking Group products and services.
Our Privacy Promise
We promise:
- To keep your personal information safe and private.
- Not to sell your personal information.
- To give you ways to manage and review your marketing choices at any time.
Information and the law | How personal Information is used | The control you have |
This section tells you who we are, what your personal information is, and how we get it. It explains how the law protects you by controlling what is allowed to happen to it. | This tells you who we share personal information with. It explains what it’s used for in marketing, to provide credit and to combat fraud – and how this can affect you. | This section explains your data privacy rights and how you can action them. It also covers how to contact us or the data privacy regulator or how to make a complaint. |
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8. Who we share your personal information with
9. How we work out what marketing the business receives 10. How we use information to make automated decisions 11. Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) 12. Fraud Prevention Agencies |
13. Your data privacy rights
14. How to contact us
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Personal information and the law
Who we are This section gives you the legal name of the company that holds your personal information. This is known as the ‘legal entity’. It tells you how you can get in touch with us. Your personal information will be held by Housing Growth Partnership which is part of Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds Banking Group is made up of a mix of companies, set up on different legal entities. We’ll let you know which you have a relationship with, when you take out a product or service with us. You can find out more about us at https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/who-we-are/our-brands.html. |
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Contacting us about data privacy Please see the ‘How to contact us section’ to contact us about any of the topics set out in this privacy notice. |
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How the law protects you This section sets out the legal reasons we rely on, for each of the ways we may use your personal information. |
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As well as our Privacy Promise, your privacy is protected by law. This section explains how that works. Data Protection law says that we can use personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so. This includes sharing it outside Lloyds Banking Group. The law says we must have one or more of these reasons:
When we have a business or commercial reason of our own to use your personal information, this is called a ‘legitimate interest’. We will tell you what that is, if we are going to rely on it as the reason for using your personal information. Even then, it must not unfairly go against your interests. The law and other regulations treat some types of sensitive personal information as special. This personal information is called ‘special categories of personal information’. We will not collect or use these types of personal information without your consent unless the law allows us to do so. If we do, it will only be when it is necessary:
Here is a list of all the ways that we may use your personal information, and which of the reasons we rely on to do so. This is also where we tell you what our legitimate interests are, where it is the reason for using your personal information. We may rely on different reasons for using the same personal information, as this depends on the situation. For example, we may use your personal information to make automated decisions about you. This could be because of a legal duty, or to fulfil a contract we have made with you.
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Groups of personal information This explains the meaning of the different types of personal information, that data protection law covers. We use many different kinds of personal information for a range of reasons, including managing our relationship with you and the products you hold. They are grouped together and listed below. We may use all or only some of these groups depending on the relationship you have with us. The groups are all listed here so that you can see what we may know about you, even if we simply get it from seeing which shops you buy things in. We don’t use all this data in the same way. Some of it is useful for marketing, or for providing services to you, but some of it is private and sensitive and we treat it that way.
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Where we collect personal information from This section lists all the places where we get data that counts as part of your personal information. We may collect personal information about you from other Lloyds Banking Group companies and any of these sources: |
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Data you give to us
This covers data you give and data provided by people linked with you or the business’s product or service, or people working on behalf of you or the business. This could mean a joint account holder, trustee, or fellow company director.
Data we collect when our services are used
Data from outside organisations
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How long we keep your personal information This section explains how long we may keep your personal information for and why |
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We will keep your personal information for as long as you have a product or are using a service from us, and for up to 10 years. The reasons we may do this are:
We may also keep your data for longer than 10 years if we archive it for historical purposes or if we can’t delete it for legal, regulatory or technical reasons. For example, we have to hold pension transfer information indefinitely. We will only use your personal information for those purposes and will make sure that your privacy is protected. |
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If you choose not to give personal information You can choose not to give us personal information. In this section we explain the effects this may have. |
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We may need to collect personal information by law, or to enter into or fulfil a contract we have with the business.
If you choose not to give us this personal information, it may delay or prevent us from fulfilling our contract with the business or doing what we must do by law. It may also mean that we can’t run your products or services. It could mean that we cancel a product or service the business has with us. We sometimes ask for personal information that is useful, but not required by law or a contract. We will make this clear when we ask for it. You do not have to give us these extra details and it won’t affect the products or services the business has with us. |
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Cookies and similar tracking technologies This section explains how we use data on our websites, apps and emails. |
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We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies on our websites and apps, and in emails we send you.
Cookies Cookies are small computer files that get sent to your computer, tablet or mobile device by websites when you visit them. They stay on your device and get sent back to the website they came from, when you go there again. Cookies store information about your visits to that website, such as your choices and other details. Some of this data does not contain personal details about you or the business, but it is still protected by this Privacy Notice. Email tracking We may track emails to help us improve the communications we send. Small images called pixels within our emails to tell us things like whether you opened the email, how many times and the device you used. We may also set a cookie to find out if you clicked any links in the email. To find out more about how we use cookies and email tracking, please see our Cookies Policy |
How personal information is used
Who we share your personal information with We may share your personal information with outside organisations such as credit card providers, insurers or tax authorities. This is so that we can provide products and services, run our business, and obey rules that apply to us. Here we list all the types of organisation that we may share your personal information with.Lloyds Banking Group We may share your information with other companies in Lloyds Banking Group. Authorities
Banking and financial services
Insurers
Other services and schemes
General business
We can try to find new customers who are like you, or have similar interests to yours Outside companies you may use
We only do so if you buy something from us through such a company. We only share details needed to confirm what you have bought, to fulfil our own contract with the company.
This includes the amount, type location, origin and recipients. Company mergers, takeovers, and transfers of products or services
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Sharing data that does not say who you are
We may share or sell some data to other companies outside Lloyds Banking Group, but only when no-one’s identity can be known or found out. One of the ways we can do this is by grouping customers together. We do this so we can look for general patterns and trends in the data, while keeping the customer identities secure. For instance, we might look at customers in a specific location shopping for clothes. We could look at a group of customers by their age group,, the area they live in, their spending habits, such as the average amount spent in one month. But we would not include any data about who these customers are. When we use data this way, we use all the information – including current and historical data – that we hold about you, the business, and our other customers. We, and those other companies, do this to learn about the types of customers we each have, how they use our products, and how our products perform for them. We, and those other companies may also learn about the markets we each operate in and how our companies perform. The law says data is not considered to be personal information after it has been grouped in this way.
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How we work out what marketing you receiveWe use marketing to let you know about products, services and offers that may be of interest. This section describes how we decide what marketing to show or send. It also explains how we work out what may be interesting to you or the business. We may use your personal information to make decisions about what products, services and offers we think you or the business may be interested in. This is what we mean when we talk about ‘marketing’. |
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When we can use your personal information for marketingWe can only use your personal information to send marketing messages if we have either consent or a ‘legitimate interest’. That is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your personal information, and it must not conflict unfairly with your interests.
How we decide what marketing may interest you The personal information we have is made up of what you tell us, and data we collect when you or the business use our services, information we learn from the business, or from outside organisations we work with. We study this to form a view on what we think you or the business may want or need, or what may be of interest. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant. This is called profiling for marketing purposes. How we send you marketing We may show or send marketing material online (on our own and other websites including social media), in our own and other apps, or by email, mobile phone, post or through smart devices and other digital channels. You can also tell us not to collect data while you are using our websites or mobile apps. If you do, you may still see some marketing but it may not be tailored to you. See our Cookies Policy for details about how we use this data to improve our websites and mobile apps. Your marketing choices You can tell us to stop sending you marketing at any time. Whatever you choose we’ll still send you statements and other important information such as changes to any existing products and services. We do not sell the personal information we have about you to outside organisations. We may ask you or the business to confirm or update these choices, if you take out any new products or services with us in future. We’ll also ask for marketing choices to be confirmed or updated if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business. You can contact us at any time and ask us to stop using your personal information this way. Please see the ‘Your data privacy rights’ section for more information, and the ‘How to contact us’ section about this. If you change your mind, you can contact us to update your choices at any time. Please see the ‘Your data privacy rights’ section for more information, and the ‘How to contact us’ section about this. How we use your information to make automated decisions Here we tell you how we use automated systems to make decisions about you and your money. We also explain your rights to challenge decisions made this way. We sometimes use systems to make automated decisions about you or the business. This helps us to make sure our decisions are quick, fair, efficient and correct, based on what we know. Automated decisions can affect the products, services or features we may offer you now or in the future, or the price we charge. They are based on personal information that we have or that we are allowed to collect from others. Here are the types of automated decision we make: Pricing Tailoring products and services We also use customer segments from outside companies we work with, such as social networks. We ask then for groups of people who are similar to you or have interested that are like yours in some ways. These companies help us look for new customers who may be interested in products, services or offers that our existing customers are interested in.
How we send you marketing We may show or send marketing material online (on our own and other websites including social media), in our own and other apps, or by email, mobile phone, post or through smart devices and other digital channels. You can also tell us not to collect data while you are using our websites or mobile apps. If you do, you may still see some marketing but it may not be tailored to you. See our Cookies Policy for details about how we use this data to improve our websites and mobile apps. Here are the types of automated decision we make: Pricing Tailoring products, services, offers and marketing We also use customer segments from outside companies we work with, such as social networks. We ask then for groups of people who are similar to you or have interested that are like yours in some ways. These companies help us look for new customers who may be interested in products, services or offers that our existing customers are interested in. Detecting fraud Opening accounts Approving credit Credit scoring uses data from three sources:
It gives an overall assessment based on this. Banks and other lenders use this to help us make responsible lending decisions that are fair and informed. Credit scoring methods are tested regularly to make sure they are fair and unbiased. This credit score can determine whether we will give credit, or allow another product or service to be taken. Your rights If you want to know more about these rights, please see the ‘Your data privacy rights’ section for more information, and the ‘How to contact us’ section about this. |
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Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs)This section explains how we work with outside companies to decide whether to lend money through products like credit cards or loans. It also explains how we manage our products during your relationship with us. It explains what we do and why we do it. We carry out credit and/or identity checks when the business applies for a product or service. We may use Credit Reference Agencies to help us with this. We will go on sharing your personal information with CRAs for the duration of your relationship with us. From time to time, we may also search information that the CRAs have, to help us manage your accounts. We will share your personal information with CRAs and they will give us information about you. The information we exchange can include:
We’ll use this data to:
This will also include details of money going into the account, and the account balance. If the business borrows, it will also include details of repayments and whether these are made in full and on time. We will also tell the CRAs when accounts are settled with us. The CRAs may give this information to other organisations that want to check your or the business’s credit status. When we ask CRAs about you or the business, they may note it on your credit file. This is called a credit search. Other lenders may see this and we may see credit searches from other lenders. If you apply for a product with someone else, we’ll link your records with theirs. We’ll do the same if you tell us you have a spouse, partner or civil partner – or that you are in business with other partners or directors. You should tell them about this before you apply for a product or service. It is important that they know your records will be linked together, and that credit searches may be made on them. CRAs will also link your records together. These links will stay on your files unless one of you asks the CRAs to break the link. You’ll normally need to give proof that you no longer have a financial link with each other. You can find out more about the CRAs on their websites, in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN). This includes details about:
Here are links to the information notice for each of the three main Credit Reference Agencies: We use these agencies mainly with UK, Isle of Man or EEA products and customers. For non-UK, Isle of Man or EEA products and customers, we may not use these agencies. We may instead use other regional CRAs. Please see the ‘How to contact us’ section if you’d like to speak to us about this. |
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Fraud Prevention Agencies (FPAs)This section deals with information we share outside our Group to help fight financial crime. This includes crimes such as fraud money laundering, sanctions screening, bribery, and terrorist financing. |
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We may need to confirm your identity before we provide products or services to you or the business. This may include carrying out fraud and financial crime checks at the point of sale.
Once the business has become a customer of ours, we will share your personal information as needed to help combat fraud and other financial crime. The organisations we share data with are:
Throughout our relationship with you, we and these organisations exchange data to help prevent, deter, detect and investigate fraud and financial crime. We and these organisations can’t use your personal information unless we have a proper reason to do so. It must be needed either for us to obey the law, or for a ‘legitimate interest’. When we have a business or commercial reason of our own to use your personal information, this is called a ‘legitimate interest’. We will tell you what that is, if we are going to rely on it as the reason for using your personal information. Even then, it must not unfairly go against your interests. We will use personal information to:
We or an FPA may allow law enforcement agencies to access your personal information. This is to support their duty to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute crime. These other organisations can keep personal information for different lengths of time, up to six years. The information we use
Automated decisions for fraud and financial crime prevention We and other organisations acting to prevent fraud and financial crime may process your personal information in systems that look for fraud and financial crime by studying patterns in the data. We may find that an account or policy is being used in ways that criminals work. Or we may notice that an account is being used in a way that is unusual for you or the business. Either of these could indicate a risk of fraud or financial crime out against a customer, the bank or the insurer. How this can affect you This may result in other organisations refusing to provide you with products or services, or to employ you. Data transfers out of the UK and EEA Here is the web page for the information notice of the main Fraud Prevention Agency we use CIFAS |
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Sending data outside the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands and EEAThis section tells you about the safeguards that keep your personal information safe and private, if it is sent outside the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands and EEA. We will only send your data outside of the UK Isle of Man, Channel Islands and European Economic Area (EEA) to:
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The Control you haveYour data privacy rights This section explains your data privacy rights and how to contact us about them. You have several rights around use of your personal information. Following is a list of these rights, including a description and, if applicable, how to contact us about them. These rights do not apply in all scenarios. The right to be informed You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information. This means that we should provide you with details of how we use your personal information. This Data Privacy Notice is an example of this. The right of access You have the right to access a copy of your personal information, referred to as a Subject Access Request (SAR). Please see the ‘How to get a copy of your personal information’ instructions in the ‘How to contact us’ section. The right to rectification You have the right to question any information we have about you that you think is incorrect. We’ll take reasonable steps to check this for you and correct it. Please visit one of our branches, or see the ‘How to contact us’ section if you want to do this. The right to erasure You have the right to have your personal information deleted or removed if there is no reason for us to keep it. This is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’. There may be legal or other official reasons why we need to keep or use your personal information. Please see the ‘How to contact us’ section if you think we shouldn’t be using it. The right to restrict processing You have the right to restrict processing of your personal information. This means it can only be used for certain things, such as legal claims or to exercise legal rights. You can ask us to do so if your personal information is not accurate, has been used unlawfully, is not relevant anymore, or if you have already asked us to stop using your personal information but you are waiting for us to tell you if we are allowed to keep on using it. If we do restrict your personal information in this way, we won’t use or share it in other ways while it is restricted. Please see the ‘How to contact us’ section to do this. The right to data portability You have the right to get certain personal information from us as a digital file. This means you can keep and use it yourself, and give it to other organisations if you choose to. If you want, we will give it to you in an electronic format that can be easily re-used, or you can ask us to pass it on to other organisations for you. Please see the ‘How to contact us’ section to do this. The right to object You have the right to object to us keeping or using your personal information. There may be legal or other official reasons why we need to keep or use your personal information. Please see the ‘How to contact us’ section if you think that we shouldn’t be using it. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling You have rights around automated decision making and profiling. Automated decision making means a decision made solely by automated means, without any human involvement. Profiling means the automated processing of your personal information to evaluate certain things about you. You have the right to information about these kinds of processing, and the right to ask for human intervention or to challenge an automated decision. You can do this when an automated decision is made about you, or you can see the ‘How to contact us’ section to speak to us about this. Please see the ‘How we work out what marketing you receive’ section for more information on profiling, and see the ‘How we use your information to make automated decisions’ section for more information on automated decision making. The right to withdraw consent You have the right to withdraw your consent for us to use your personal information at any time. This will only affect the way we use personal information when our reason for doing so is that we have your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. If this is so, we will tell you. You can manage your preferences for activities like marketing in a few ways. Use your internet or mobile banking applications, visit one of our branches, or see the ‘How to contact us’ section to speak to us about this.
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