Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

My Debt Support understands how important your privacy is. We have implemented measures designed to ensure that personal information obtained through our website is processed and maintained in accordance with accepted principles of good information handling and applicable data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

This policy explains the types of information we may hold about you, how we obtain and process that information and the steps we take to protect your privacy.

This privacy policy applies to My Debt Support and the personal information collected or obtained by us.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Where changes are made, the revised policy will be published on this website and may also be provided to you by email.

2. How We May Contact You as Part of Your Debt Help Application

We, and our panel of authorised debt advisory firms and insolvency practitioner firms, may contact you to keep you informed about the progress of your enquiry or application.

Unless you tell us otherwise, you may be contacted by telephone, email, post, SMS or automated message.

Our basis for processing your personal information

We process personal data on different legal bases depending on why you have provided the information to us.

When you browse our website, we may process non-sensitive information, such as your IP address and website usage information, where permitted by law and subject to your cookie choices.

When you submit information through one of our forms to request information about debt solutions, we process the information in order to deal with your enquiry and connect you with a debt solution provider that may be able to assist you.

3. How You Contact Us

If you telephone us using a number displayed on our website or within our advertising or marketing communications, your call may be recorded for training, quality control, customer service and regulatory purposes.

Recording calls allows us to monitor and improve the service and customer experience we provide.

4. How We Keep You Informed

We may contact you to provide information about services that we believe may be relevant to your enquiry or of interest to you.

This contact may be made by telephone, email, SMS or automated message, subject to applicable data protection and electronic marketing laws.

Trusted third parties may also contact you where your information has been shared with them for the specific purpose described when your information was collected.

A third party may pass your details to another organisation identified within this privacy policy where that organisation may be able to help with your enquiry.

5. Obtaining Your Personal Data

You may access and browse our website without directly providing personal information. However, certain technical information may still be collected through cookies and similar technologies. Please refer to the cookies section of this policy for further information.

Information we may collect

The personal information we may collect includes:

• Your name
• Your country or location
• The approximate value of your debts
• The number of creditors you have
• Your employment status
• The amount you may be able to afford to pay towards your debts
• Your mobile telephone number
• Your email address
• Your residential status
• Your monthly income
• Your answers to our eligibility assessment questions

If you contact us with a question about our services, we may collect the information you provide so that we can respond to your enquiry.

6. Customer Communication

Unless you tell us otherwise, we may contact you by telephone, SMS or email to provide information and updates relating to our services and the services offered by relevant partner organisations.

We may also receive personal information from third parties where you have previously expressed an interest in products or services of the type we provide.

Where information is obtained from a third party, we will take reasonable steps to confirm that it was collected lawfully and is accurate.

Keeping your details up to date

You should ensure that the information you provide to us is accurate, complete and up to date.

Please contact us as soon as possible if your information or communication preferences need to be updated.

7. What Personal Information Do We Collect?

We collect personal information when you provide it to us while requesting information about debt solutions.

We may also store information about how you use our website, including:

• The pages you view
• The website or advert from which you arrived
• Changes you make to information provided through our forms
• Information contained within your enquiry or application
• Your IP address, browser and device information

A third-party debt solution provider may need to collect information that data protection legislation classifies as special category or sensitive personal data. This may include information about your health or criminal convictions where it is relevant to assessing your circumstances.

The relevant provider will be responsible for explaining why that information is required and identifying the lawful basis on which it will be processed.

We may retain information you provide to make it easier for you to use the website during a return visit, where permitted by law.

We may monitor or record telephone calls, emails, SMS messages or other communications for legitimate business purposes, including:

• Quality control and staff training
• Preventing unauthorised use of our systems
• Ensuring effective system operation
• Meeting legal and regulatory obligations
• Preventing or detecting crime and fraud

We periodically review the personal information we hold to ensure it is not kept for longer than necessary.

8. How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

We may use your personal information:

1. To enable you to access and use our website and services.
2. To personalise and improve aspects of our website and services.
3. To conduct research, analyse market trends and understand customer demographics.
4. To communicate with you regarding your enquiry and services that may be of interest to you.
5. To provide your information to an authorised debt advisory firm or licensed insolvency practitioner that may be able to assist you.
6. To process an enquiry or application between you and a third-party debt solution provider.
7. To validate and analyse your information and, where permitted, match it against information obtained from other lawful sources.
8. To help ensure the information we hold is accurate, consistent and organised.
9. To send marketing communications where you have provided consent or where another lawful basis applies.

A debt solution provider may carry out identity, fraud prevention or credit reference checks where permitted by law and where any required consent has been obtained.

9. Who Do We Share Your Personal Information With?

When you submit an enquiry or application, your personal information may be disclosed to one or more organisations that may be able to provide debt-related information, advice or solutions.

The panel of organisations identified in the original policy includes:

• Anchorage Chambers
• Aristotle Finance Limited
• Assist My Finances
• Astute Finance Ltd
• CDM Financial
• CK Debt Help Ltd
• Consumer Claim Service Ltd, trading as Consumer Information Services
• Eden Debt Experts Ltd
• Finance Lead Tech Limited
• FnKlegal Ltd
• Guardian Insolvency
• KIC Consultancy Services Ltd
• Leadfix Limited
• MoneyPlus Group
• Pacific Financial Solutions Limited
• Phoenix Insolvency
• Simplify Debt Ltd
• The Debt Advice Service Ltd
• The Debt Advice Team Ltd
• Focus Insolvency Smart Family Ltd
• NDH Financial Ltd
• Curtis Faraday Ltd
• Fresh Start UK Debt Management Ltd
• Clear Path Debt Solutions Ltd
• Avondale Finance Ltd
• Wise Financial Solutions (Mcr) Ltd
• Inception Leads Limited
• Dexter Bell Limited
• Claim-Smart Ltd

These organisations may contact you about products or services relevant to your enquiry and may use your information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

Website and channel operators

Some parts of our website, advertising systems or communication channels may be operated or maintained on our behalf by third-party service providers.

We may receive personal information from those providers and use it in accordance with this privacy policy.

We will only use information received from third parties where we have reasonable grounds to believe that it was collected and processed lawfully.

Fraud prevention

Where permitted by law, information about you, including electronic identifiers such as IP addresses, may be disclosed where necessary to prevent or detect fraud, money laundering or other unlawful activity.

If we reasonably believe that false or inaccurate information has been provided and fraud is suspected, information may be passed to fraud prevention agencies.

10. Who Might Our Panel of Debt Solution Providers Share Your Information With?

A debt solution provider may use your personal information to assess your circumstances and verify the information you have provided before offering information, advice or a proposed solution.

Some providers may carry out checks with fraud prevention agencies and credit reference agencies.

These checks may involve public information, such as the electoral register, and private information, such as your credit history, where permitted by law.

11. What Cookies Do We Use?

A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer, mobile telephone or other device.

Cookies may help us to:

1. Understand how visitors use our website.
2. Measure the number of visitors and the pages they view.
3. Remember preferences during future visits.
4. Improve website functionality and performance.
5. Measure the performance of our advertising campaigns.

Some cookies are deleted when you close your browser. These are known as session cookies. Other cookies remain on your device until they expire or are deleted and are known as persistent cookies.

You may block or delete cookies through your browser settings or use any cookie preference controls provided on our website.

Blocking certain cookies may affect the performance or functionality of the website.

12. How Secure Is Our Website?

Our website uses HTTPS and secure socket layer technology to help protect information transmitted between your device and our website.

Protecting your personal information is important to us. However, no transmission of information over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

We take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to protect information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, disclosure or alteration.

Despite these precautions, you provide information online at your own risk and acknowledge the inherent risks associated with internet communications.

Where your personal data may be held

Your personal data may be processed or stored within the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area or in another country.

Where personal data is transferred internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that suitable safeguards are in place and that the transfer is permitted under applicable data protection laws.

13. Your Rights in Relation to Your Personal Information

You have rights under UK data protection legislation. Subject to applicable exemptions, these may include the right to:

• Request access to the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Request completion of incomplete personal information.
• Request restriction of certain processing.
• Object to certain uses of your information.
• Request deletion of your information in certain circumstances.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Request a portable copy of certain information.

We may need to confirm your identity before processing a request.

We will normally respond within one month of receiving a valid request. In some cases, the response period may be extended where permitted by law.

It is your responsibility to ensure that information submitted through our website is accurate, complete and not misleading.

14. How Long Will We Retain Your Personal Information?

The amount of time we retain personal information will depend on the reason it was collected and any legal or regulatory requirements that apply.

• If you opt out of marketing, we may retain limited information to record and respect that preference.
• Information relating to an enquiry or application may be retained for a minimum of six years after your relationship with us has ended, where required for regulatory, legal or complaint-handling purposes.
• Your information will not ordinarily be used for marketing purposes after 12 months have passed following your application, unless a different lawful basis applies.

15. Your Right to Opt Out of Future Contact

You may opt out of future marketing contact from us at any time.

Marketing emails and SMS messages will normally include an unsubscribe or opt-out option.

Please allow up to 48 hours for an opt-out request to be processed. During this time, communications that were already scheduled may still be delivered.

17. How to Make a Complaint

We aim to resolve complaints fairly, honestly and as quickly as possible.

We will aim to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days.

We aim to provide a final response within four weeks. If we are unable to do so, we will contact you to explain the reason for the delay.

We will aim to provide a full response to your complaint within eight weeks.

If you remain unhappy with how your complaint or personal information has been handled, you may raise the matter with the Information Commissioner's Office.