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B&Q Financial Services Privacy Policy

At B&Q Financial Services we know that you are concerned with how your personal and financial information is dealt with. This privacy statement sets out our current policies and demonstrates our commitment to your financial privacy. We may change the content or services found on our website at any time without notice, and consequently our privacy policy may change at any time in the future. You agree to revisit this page regularly and your continued access to or use of the website will mean that you agree to the changes.

When you apply for a product with B&Q Financial Services we will always tell you how we intend to use your personal information.

Please be aware, however, that any online Retailers, partners or third parties accessed through The B&Q Financial Services site will each have their own privacy policy. Neither B&Q Financial Services nor B&Q PLC is responsible or liable for the policies of any such third party however related to this site.

Collecting personal information

We collect information from you that will help us conduct your account, manage our business and provide you with the quality of service and products that you expect. We will only request information that is relevant. We don't collect any details to identify you unless you fill in an online application, questionnaire or email. We do collect non-personal data about visitors to our website. This helps us measure how many people visit the site, and identify any improvements we can make.

Our aim is to ensure your personal information is accurate and up to date. Where there are inaccuracies or incomplete information, we will endeavour to rectify this as quickly as possible.

Safeguarding your personal information

We will handle all personal information held in accordance with the United Kingdom's data protection legislation. We maintain strict security standards and procedures with a view to preventing unauthorised access to your data by anyone, including our staff. We use leading technologies such as (but not limited to) 128bit data encryption, firewalls and server authentication to protect the security of your data. All HSBC & B&Q Group companies, all our staff and whenever we hire third parties to provide support services, we will require them to observe our privacy standards and to allow us to audit them for compliance.

If you wish to service your account online, following registration, you will be provided with an Internet ID and password. This will ensure only you have access to your information. Do not disclose your Internet ID or password to anyone and do not respond to emails that request this information. If we need to verify your identity, we may telephone and/or write to you.

Marketing

We may want to use your personal information for marketing purposes. However, we will not do so unless you have agreed.

At any time when you give us your personal information we will tell you how it will be used, and you will have the chance to opt out of certain disclosures by using one of the following methods: by indicating your preference at the time the information is given, for example during the online application process;

Or by writing to:

Customer Services
PO Box 8758
Birmingham
B3 2PE
by emailing customerservices@bandqfs.com

Confidentiality

When we disclose personal information about you to a third party, such third parties are required to uphold the same privacy principles as those set out in this privacy policy. They are not permitted to use your personal information for any other purposes.

Your rights

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have a right to a copy of the information, which we hold about you. You can request this by writing to us at:

Customer Services
PO Box 8758
Birmingham
B3 2PE
or by emailing customerservices@bandqfs.com

Please also contact us by either of these methods if you have any query or concern about privacy on the B&Q Financial Services website.

Third Parties

We work with third parties to research certain usage and activities on our website, including the route by which you reached the website or a particular page on it. No personal information is shared, however, in the course of conducting this research, these third parties may use cookies, web beacons or spotlight tags.

Web beacons and spotlight tags are simply tools to obtain generic information. They are not used to obtain information about specific users.

WebTrends

In order to develop our website in line with customer needs B&Q Financial Services are working with WebTrends to track usage on our website. Webtrends provide B&Q Financial Services with statistics to show us which pages on our website are visited most frequently and how long visitors spend on our website. We use this information to help us plan how we should improve the website.

WebTrends uses a cookie to track the number of unique users of the site. It basically tells us whether we have a small number of regular visitors to the website or a large number of infrequent visitors. None of the information can be traced to an individual - we do not know who you are as a unique user, merely that there are a certain number of people using the website. The cookie only relates to what goes on in the B&Q Financial Services website and the information cannot be used for marketing on an individual basis.

Cookies

This website, along with most other major websites, uses cookies. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to the cookie file on your computer's hard disk. Cookies enable users to navigate around the website and (where appropriate) enable us to tailor the content to fit the needs of visitors who have accessed the site.

We may use two types of cookie on our website:

Session cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie, file of your computer until you close your browser at which point they are deleted.

Persistent or stored cookies that remain permanently on the cookie file of your computer.

Cookies cannot look into your computer and obtain information about you or your family or read any material kept on your hard drive and, unless you have logged onto Account Servicing cookies cannot be used to identify who you are.

Cookies cannot be used by anyone else who has access to the computer to find out anything about you, other than the fact that someone using the computer has visited a certain website. Cookies do not in any way compromise the security of Account Servicing.

Cookies will not be used to contact you for marketing purposes other than by means of advertisements offered within Account Servicing.

Cookies may be used to record details of pages relating to particular products and services that you have visited on our websites. This is to provide us with generic usage statistics to allow us to improve our websites and to provide you with information about products and services that may interest you. Information on products and services may be provided via the website or by other means.

This does not affect your right to opt-out from receiving marketing material from us.

The web browsers of most computers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can set your web browser to disable cookies or to inform you when a website is attempting to add a cookie. You can also delete cookies that have previously been added to your computer's cookie file.

You can set your browser to disable persistent cookies and/or session cookies but if you disable session cookies, although you will be able to view our public unsecured website, you will not be able to use Account Servicing.

If the computer that you are using is set to disable persistent cookies, you will be able to access Account Servicing, however, your navigation of the website may be less enjoyable.

How to Manage Cookies

Please visit www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies to discover how to manage, disable and delete cookies.