Privacy Policy

The Purpose of this privacy statement is to explain how Top House Mortgage Solutions Ltd processes personal data to fulfil its data protection responsibilities in general terms. This statement will be supplemented by specific privacy notices when necessary.

The scope of this statement covers all related activities by the staff and associates of Top House Mortgage Solutions Ltd, referred to as THMS for the remainder of this privacy statement.

The Role of THMS in data protection terms is that of a data controller where it determines the purpose and use of the personal data being processed. Once received it becomes the responsibility of the THMS privacy manager (PM) to ensure that it is processed in accordance with the latest UK and EU data protection legislation.

The PM can be contacted using [email protected] or by writing to The Privacy manager, Victoria House, Lowside, Outwell, Wisbech, PE14 8RE.

The sort of personal data processed by THMS will be:

• Basic contact and financial information to follow up enquiries regarding mortgages in general and any associated applications; and
• Health related information will be requested in relation to separate life cover policies, or similar, regardless of whether these are used in conjunction with mortgage applications.

The information being requested will be kept to a minimum and will only be used in relation to the purposes for which it is needed. This will be made clear at the time of data collection.

THMS’s duty of confidentiality means that THMS staff will treat clients’ and service providers’ personal data with respect and in confidence. It is only disclosed to staff and associates/ brokers that need to know it. THMS uses reasonable organisational and technical measures to safeguard all personal data. We also expect the same duty of confidentiality of all third parties with whom we share personal data which will only be done on a need to know basis.

THMS processes personal data against a lawful basis in instances described below:

• To respond to your general enquiries and to ensure the high standards of our appointed brokers, we will use our legitimate interests;
• To comply with our legal obligations;
• When it is necessary for the performance of a contract and its prior preparation; and
• When processing for a pre-defined purpose, such as the collection of health-related data, for which your consent will be sought prior to that processing commencing.

In all cases the processing of personal data by THMS shall be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly and transparently;
• Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
• Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary (and no more);
• Accurate and, when necessary, updated;
• Kept for no longer than is necessary; and
• Processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security.

THMS will share personal data, but only when absolutely necessary, with some or all of the following third parties:

• Solicitors appointed by THMS, as and when required;
• The Inland Revenue (HMRC) for invoice purposes;
• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to support audit requests;
• The appointed mortgage lender for mortgage applications;
• The appointed insurance company for life cover policies;
• Associates appointed by THMS, but only on a strict need to know basis;
• The Mortgage Alliance for the purposes of monitoring the work of our brokers; and
• Accountants appointed by THMS and only for accounting purposes.

THMS will process your data in the UK and it is backed up on a contractual basis with a trusted third party, whose servers are based in the UK. It should be noted that no personal data is stored on the THMS website server.

THMS follows a retention schedule to determine the length of time it holds different types of personal data. The retention schedule is shown below:

• Contact data is stored indefinitely unless a valid request to erasure is received from the interested data subject;
• Copies of all mortgage and life cover policy applications and related documents are retained for 7 years in accordance with conditions set out by the FCA;
• Financial records and invoices, which may include personal data, will be retained for 6 years after the end of the current tax year of processing; and
• By exception, documentation that includes personal data may be retained by THMS beyond the schedule, but only for a specific purpose and only when THMS believes there is a legitimate interest or a legal obligation to do so. 

At the end of the retention schedule THMS will either return, destroy or delete your personal data and any associated emails or relevant documentation. If it is technically impractical to delete electronic copies of personal data, it will put it beyond operational use. It should be noted that THMS allows up to 2 months after the retention schedule to complete this action.

The THMS website uses cookies (and similar technologies) and all but strictly necessary ones, if used at all, will require the users’ permission before they are dropped.

THMS’s website may link to appropriate websites of potential interest. If these are used, the visitor should be aware that the THMS has no responsibility for the control, content or handling of personal data by these other websites.

The General Data Protection Regulation defines the rights that you have (although these do not apply in all situations), For convenience, these rights are shown below:

• Right to be informed as to how your personal data is being processed by us – this is done through this statement or specific privacy notices that may be issued separately;
• Right to access your personal data held by us which is done by making a ‘Data Subject Access Request’ (DSAR) to the THMS privacy manager;
• Right to rectification of your personal data if you believe THMS has collected it incorrectly or it needs to be updated;
• Right to erasure of your personal data for which we no longer have a legitimate purpose to process or where your interests outweigh our own;
• Right to restrict processing under certain circumstances, during which time your personal data but will not be in operational use until the related matter is resolved;
• Right to data portability of your personal data in a machine-readable version, as you have provided but only applicable to data provided with your consent or under contract;
• Right to object to THMS processing your personal data for which it does not have a legal or contractual obligation; and
• Rights related to automated decision making and profiling (however THMS does not use these techniques in its decision making).

Further details on data subjects’ rights can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website: https://ico.org.uk.

Raising concerns, exercising rights or making queries about our processing of personal data can be done by contacting the THMS privacy manager. Please be aware that we will need to verify your identity before responding fully, therefore, you may be asked for proof of your ID. Alternatively, you may wish to contact the ICO directly, using the details provided above, but naturally we would welcome the opportunity to handle any concerns you have first.

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September 2020