The Data Protection Act puts obligations on users of personal information and lays down principles for its use. One principle states that information has to be processed fairly and lawfully. This means that you're entitled to know how we intend to use any information you provide, or that we may obtain from other sources eg. credit reference agencies or your employer. You can then decide whether you want us to have that information.

To provide the highest level of customer service we need accurate customer information. You can help by informing us whenever your circumstances change, either by phone, post or while you are logged into your plan on our website.

Organisations must lodge a notification with the Information Commissioner, describing the purposes for which they process personal information. The details are publicly available from the Commissioner's Office at:
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Tel: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510.

Alternatively, see the Commissioner's website at http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

A 'cookie' is a small piece of information which a website places into your browser and can retrieve later. It cannot be read by any website other than that which placed the cookie. We use cookies for several reasons. For example, we can store your preferences for certain kinds of information, or keep track of your progress through our site.

Intelligent Finance uses Microsoft Active Service Pages which need cookies to operate properly. It is important that your browser is set to accept cookies, otherwise you will only be able to access our marketing site.

The way in which you can set your browser to accept or disable cookies varies slightly according to exactly what browser (and operating system) you are currently using.

Below are full instructions for changing your browser settings to accept or disable cookies

• From the menu bar select Tools (View in IE4), and then Internet Options.
• On the Security tab, select Internet Zone at the top.
• Click Custom Level at the bottom of the dialog box.
• From the list that appears you can choose Enable or Disable Cookies.
• Click OK.

• From the menu bar select Edit, and then Preferences.
• In the list on the left select Advanced.
• In the cookies section at the lower right you can choose to Accept all cookies or Disable all cookies.
• Click OK.

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Our main use of your personal information is to look after your plan or to provide the specific service you require.

If you apply to us for insurance we will pass your details to the insurer. If you make a claim, any information you give to us or to the insurer may be put on to a register of claims and shared with other insurers to prevent fraudulent claims. A list of the participants is available from the insurer.

Occasionally, we may contact you by letter, telephone, email or otherwise to inform you about other products and services which may interest you. We try to limit our customer contact programme to acceptable levels, but if you wish to exercise your right to opt out, simply call us on 0845 609 4343 or write to our Head of Regulatory Risk at the following address:

Remember that by opting out of receiving marketing information you'll not be told of any offers or new products and services which may benefit you. For example, you may not hear about a new savings or mortgage product that offers you a better rate or saves you money.

Unless you have given us your consent, we'll not provide information about you to companies outside our group to use for their own marketing purposes. We disclose information about our customers only with their consent, or if we are required to do so by law. Sometimes we need to give information to our agents and subcontractors so that they can provide a particular service for us. Sometimes these companies may be located abroad in countries that don't have data protection laws. In these circumstances we always ensure that the information is safe and secure. Your information may also be shared by other members of our group to keep their records up to date and administer your relationship with them.

Occasionally, the Banking Code Standards Board who monitor compliance with the Banking Code, audit a sample of our customer records to assess our compliance with the Code. Whenever this happens, strict confidentiality conditions are always imposed.

Under the Data Protection Act you've the right to have access to information we hold about you on our records. The act allows us to charge a fee of £10 for this service. If anything is inaccurate or incorrect, please let us know and we will correct it.

If you don't want to receive unsolicited mail from other companies, you can prevent this by registering with the Mailing Preference Service. In addition the Telephone and Fax Preference Services enable you to object to receiving unsolicited marketing phone calls or faxes from other companies. To register, simply telephone the appropriate number below:

For more details about all the Preference Services, please see the Direct Marketing Association's website at: http://www.dma.org.uk/

If you apply for an Intelligent Finance credit based product, we'll perform a search with a credit reference agency. The agency will keep a record of the search. After you open a credit based product, we will provide the agency with regular information about how you use it. Other lenders may use this to make decisions on future applications for credit. It may also be used for tracing debtors and to prevent fraud.

When opening jars and plans we may search public records such as the Electoral Roll that are available from Credit Reference Agencies to help us verify your identity.

Occasionally we search credit reference and fraud prevention agency files as well as our own internal group records to manage your account and take credit decisions such as whether to offer credit or continue to extend existing credit. These searches are not seen or used by lenders to assess your ability to obtain credit.

'Associations' linking your financial records may be created on credit reference agency records when you apply for jars or plans in joint names. Your financial records, and those of anyone financially associated with you, may be considered in any future applications you make. This association will continue until one of you successfully files a 'disassociation' at the credit reference agencies.

You've the right to apply to the credit reference agencies for a copy of your credit file. You can write to them at any time, enclosing a non-returnable fee of £2.00. Please give your name, address, postcode, date of birth and any other address you've lived at in the last six years to help them find your information. If there's anything incorrect on your credit file, you've the right to ask the agency to add a Notice of Correction.

We use Equifax plc, whilst other members of the HBOS Group also use Experian Limited. A third credit reference agency (Call Credit) has recently started up in the UK. Their addresses are as follows:

Equifax plc, PO Box 1140, Bradford, BD1 5US (www.uk.equifax.com)

Experian Ltd, Consumer Help Service, PO Box 8000 Nottingham, NG1 5GX (www.experian.co.uk)

Call Credit plc, One Park Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS3 1EP (www.callcredit .co.uk)

If you've been refused credit you can get advice from your local Trading Standards Department, Citizens Advice Bureau or Consumer Advice Centre. The Information Commissioner also produces a useful leaflet entitled 'No Credit?'. You can obtain a free copy on the Information Commissioner's website www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk or by telephoning 0870 600 8100. Comprehensive consumer help information can also be found on the agencies' websites.

When you apply to us for a credit based product, the details you provide, the information we already have and information from credit reference agencies are used to assess credit risk using a technique known as credit scoring.

Various factors in all these details help us to assess the risk. A score is given to each factor and a total credit score obtained. If your score is above a confidential, pre-set pass score, the application is likely to succeed. For more details see credit scoring.

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Our systems protect customers and ourselves against fraud and other crime. Customer information can be used to prevent crime and trace those responsible. We may check your details with fraud prevention agencies.

If you give us false or misleading information and we suspect fraud, we will record this. We and other organisations may use and search these records to help us:

• make decisions about credit and related services for you and members of your household
• make decisions on household, life and other insurance proposals and insurance claims for you and members of your household
• trace debtors, recover debt, prevent fraud and to manage your accounts or insurance policies
• check your identity to prevent money laundering unless you provide us with other satisfactory proof of identity

If your relationship with us was 'introduced' by a third party, we will provide them with sufficient information about you to help with their accounting and administration. The introducer may, with your consent, use your details to contact you about his own products and services.

As part of our product opening process, by law, we've to confirm your name and address. Some Acts of Parliament oblige us to disclose information about our customers to certain bodies with statutory powers. For example, if asked, we must give the information to authorised benefit fraud investigators where fraudulent benefit claims are suspected. In addition, the InIand Revenue has the statutory authority to audit our customers' accounts from time to time.

If you email us, or give us your email address, we'll keep a record of it. We may use it to contact you occasionally about our products and services - unless you ask us not to do so. We'll not give your email address to any unauthorised third parties. When emailing us, always use the email facility on our website to make sure that the content of your email is secure. If you send us email in other ways, remember that it will be 'unsecure' and could be intercepted. If you do send us 'unsecure' email, please keep any confidential information in it to a minimum. We'll do the same when we reply.

We may record telephone conversations to offer you additional security, resolve complaints and improve our service standards. Conversations may also be monitored for staff training purposes.

All our employees are personally responsible for maintaining customer confidentiality. We provide training and education to all our staff to remind them about their obligations. Our policies and procedures are regularly audited and reviewed.

The Data Protection Act defines information about the following as 'sensitive': racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life, criminal proceedings and offences.

If you apply for insurance or life assurance through us, we may ask you for some 'sensitive' details. We'll only use this information to provide the service you require and we will ask for your explicit consent.

The Intelligent Finance website contains links to sites operated by persons outside the HBOS Group. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or the product and services provided through those sites.