Read our Privacy Policy which outlines how we protect your data
Last updated: 18/09/2020

Our Commitment to Protect Your Privacy
RareHeights Financials seeks to provide the best possible service to its customers by providing the best possible range of financial products and services. We understand how important it is to protect your personal information. This document sets out our Privacy Policy commitment in respect of personal information that you may provide to us. We recognize that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes indicated in our policy. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we collect from you or is received by us will be treated with appropriate respect ensuring protection of your personal information. Our commitment in respect of personal information is to abide by the National Privacy Principles for the protection of personal information, as set out in the Privacy Act and any other relevant law.

Security
We recognize how important it is to protect and manage the personal and financial information you share with us.
We protect that information using secure socket layer (SSL) encryption technology and by limiting employee access on a need-to-know basis. We store data in encrypted form on computers and control access via secure web pages. We employ firewalls and other security technologies to protect our servers from external attack.
Our security systems meet or exceed industry standards and we are constantly monitoring internet developments to ensure our systems evolve as required.  We also test our systems regularly to make sure our security mechanisms are up to date.

Collecting your data
We collect information about you in a number of ways. For example, directly from you when an online application is completed, when you give us information or provide feedback while the loan is outstanding, or afterwards. We also collect information from outside sources such as credit bureau and customer service providers.

Additional data collection
In addition to the personal and financial information you submit, we may collect information about your computer including, where available, your IP address, operating system and browser type - for system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers.
This is statistical data about browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual. We may also obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer, which again does not identify any individual. This information is sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server which enables the webserver to identify and track the web browser. Cookies enable us to improve our service to you, estimate our audience size and usage patterns, store information about your preferences and recognize you when you return to our site.
We use cookies to provide an enhanced experience for our customers and to provide our service to you. Cookies allow us to remember your preferences and personalize the web site, including the personalized welcome message and Trust Rating that you see when you visit the site as a returning customer. Cookies also help us understand what customers like to look at on our site, for example, we use cookies to count the number of visits to particular pages or how many customers complete an application. This information does not allow us to identify any particular customer but helps us to understand our customers’ needs and improve our service to you. We also set cookies to manage the loan application and account management process which are critical to providing our service to you.
We will set a cookie on the landing page but as soon as possible we will provide you with information about our use of cookies. By using our site, you agree to our use of cookies.
You can set your web browser to refuse cookies (or just to refuse third party cookies), but if you do this you may not be able to enjoy full use of the site and you may not be able to take advantage of certain promotions we may run from time to time.  Please note that third parties who advertise on our site may also use cookies, but we do not have access to or control over them.
We want to provide you with the best possible service, so calls to RareHeights Financials may be recorded and/or monitored for quality checks and staff training. Recordings may also be used to help us combat fraud.

Information we hold
We are the data controller and we will hold and use the following details about you:
    ° personal information such as your name, address, phone numbers, email address, date of birth, employment and banking and financial details;
    ° demographic and lifestyle information;
    ° information we receive when making a decision about you, your loan or application;
    ° details of the loans you have and have had with us and all transactions;
    ° details of when you contact us and when we contact you; as well as any other information which we reasonably need to operate your account, make decisions about you or fulfill our regulatory obligations.
    ° We may keep details of any phone number that you call us from and use it to contact you
    ° If you provide us with any debit card number(s), either during application or subsequently, we will keep the details of the card(s) and may use the details to take further payments both on your current loan and on any subsequent loans.
    ° When we are managing your account, we may be given sensitive information such as information about your health and medical information which we may hold and process. *References to personal information include all of the information above whether obtained from you, from a Credit Reference Agency or Fraud Prevention Agency, from the internet or from any other source.

Information we share
We will keep your personal data confidential and only share it with others for the purposes explained below and elsewhere in this policy. We have trusted relationships with carefully selected third parties who perform services on our behalf.  All service providers are bound by contract to maintain the security of your personal information and to use it only as permitted by us.
We may share information about you with:
    ° any person working for any entity within the RareHeights Financial group of companies
    ° any firm, organization or person we use to help us operate our lending business, to collect payments and recover debts or to provide a service on our behalf;
    ° any firm, organization or person in conjunction with whom we provide  products and services;
    ° any person who has told us and who we reasonably believe to be your parent, career or helper where you are unable to handle your own affairs because of mental capacity or other similar issues;
    ° any payment system we may use;
    ° certain authorities in order to detect and prevent terrorism (including to authorities outside the UK) if a payment is processed through a global payment system;
    ° any person to whom we sell or transfer (or enter into negotiations to sell or transfer) our business or any of our rights or obligations under any agreement we may have with you.  If the transfer or sale goes ahead, the transferee or purchaser may use your personal information in the same way as us;
    ° regulators, ombudsmen or other authorities, including tax authorities, including those overseas, where we are requested by them to do so;
    ° Credit Reference Agencies and Fraud Prevention Agencies or any similar organization which provides a centralized application matching service that collects information from and about mortgage and/or credit applications, for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud. We may also provide information to third parties to help them to make decisions about whether to lend to you, allow you extended payment terms or otherwise do business with  you;
    ° Suppliers of goods and services with whom we have an arrangement to enable you to buy their goods and services using a loan from us.

How we use your information
We will use your information to:
    ° search Credit Reference Agencies’ and Fraud Prevention Agencies’ records (including information from overseas);
    ° make, or assist in making, credit decisions about you, assess lending (and insurance) risks and to check the details that you have let us and others have;
    ° operate and manage your account and manage any application, agreement or correspondence you may have with us;
    ° carry out, monitor and analyze our business;
    ° contact you by email, sms, post phone or in any other way about our products and services, unless you tell us that you prefer not to receive marketing;
    ° to identify, prevent, detect or tackle fraud, money laundering, terrorism and other crimes
    ° to form a view of you as an individual and to identify, develop or improve products, that may be of interest to you;
    ° carry out market research, business and statistical analysis;
    ° provide information to independent external bodies such as governmental departments and agencies, universities and similar to carry out research;
    ° carry out audits;
    ° perform other administrative and operational purposes including the testing of systems
    ° trace your whereabouts;
    ° recover any debt you owe us;
    ° comply with our regulatory obligations;
Your data may also be used for other purposes for which you give your permission or where we are permitted to do so by law or it is in the public interest to disclose the information or is otherwise permitted under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) and Fraud Prevention Agencies (FPAs)
When you apply for a loan with us, we will check the following records about you (and others where applicable) :
I.     our own;
ii.   those at CRAs;
iii.  those at FPAs
Whether or not your application is successful, when CRAs receive a search from us they will place a search footprint on your credit file that may be seen by other lenders. Large numbers of applications within a short time period may affect your ability to obtain credit.
They, and we, may also link your records with those of your financial associate(s) including any previous and subsequent names, these links will remain on your and their files until you or they tell the agency you are no longer financially linked and the agency accepts this.
They supply to us both public (including the electoral register, county court judgments and bankruptcies) and shared credit and fraud prevention information including information about previous applications and the conduct of your accounts in your and your financial associate(s)’ name(s).
Information on applications will be sent to CRAs and will be recorded by them.
Information held by CRAs and FPAs will be disclosed to us and to other organizations to, for example:
    ° Prevent fraud and money laundering and to check and assess applications for credit, credit related or other facilities;
    ° Recover debts that you owe and trace your whereabouts;
    ° manage credit accounts and other facilities and decide appropriate credit limits;
    ° Verify your identity;
    ° Make decisions on credit and other facilities for you, your financial associate (s), members of your household or your business.
    ° Checking details of job applicants and employees.
CRAs and FPAs will use your information for statistical analysis about credit and other fraud.
When you borrow from us, we will give details of your loan and how you manage it to CRAs. We may make periodic searches at CRAs and FPAs to manage our relationship with you.

Transfer of Data
We may transfer your personal information abroad to other countries outside the UK, including to other countries in the EEA (European Economic Area), Switzerland and South Africa. If we do so, we will ensure the information is held securely to standards at least as good as those in the UK and only used for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

Incomplete Applications
If you commence an application with us but this application is not completed, we will (except where you have agreed to receive occasional updates and information form us) retain your data for no more than 30 days in order for us to contact you about your application and to make it easier for you to proceed with it, if you decide to do so.  Where you have agreed to receive occasional updates and information from us, we will retain your name and email address only for that purpose.

Declined Applications
If we are unable to offer you a loan when you apply, we will keep your data for eighteen months. We will keep your data for statistical analysis, fraud prevention and credit scoring purposes. During this time, we may also email you about our products and services.

Access to your information
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have a right to access certain personal records we hold about you. This is called a Data Subject Access Request, which you can make by writing to customercare@rareheights-uk.com.
We want to make sure that your data is accurate an up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove any data that you think is inaccurate.
You have a right under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to request CRAs to provide you with information that they hold about you.  A fee is payable.

Contact from RareHeights
As part of the application process, we ask you whether we may contact you about our products and services by telephone, post, email and SMS (or other reasonable method).  If you ticked “yes” but no longer wish to receive such communications, please visit the "My Account Page", login and change your communication preference at any time, or follow the instructions in the message itself.

Third party links
Our site may contain links to third party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own terms and privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for them.

Change in our privacy policy
We are constantly reviewing all of our policies and attempt to keep up to date with market expectations. Technology is constantly changing, as is the law and market place practices. As a consequence we may change this Privacy Policy from time to time or as the need arises.
Age
To register with us you must be 18 years of age or older. Minors are strictly forbidden from using the service.