Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 25th October 2023

Welcome to BritFinance HQ. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data responsibly. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website www.personalfinance.uk (the "Site").

This policy is compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, as well as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Please read this privacy policy carefully. If you do not agree with the terms of this privacy policy, please do not access the Site.

1. Data Controller

For the purpose of UK data protection laws, the data controller responsible for your personal data collected via this Site is BritFinance HQ. You can contact us regarding privacy matters at .

2. Data Collection

We may collect personal data from you in a variety of ways, including when you visit the Site, register for an account, subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form, or interact with other activities, services, features, or resources we make available on our Site. The types of data we collect include:

2.1. Personal Identifiable Information (PII)

• Contact Data: If you sign up for our newsletter, leave a comment, or use a contact form, we may collect your name and email address.
• Communication Data: Records of your correspondence with us, such as emails or messages sent through contact forms.

2.2. Usage and Technical Data

When you visit our Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device and your interaction with our Site. This data is primarily non-identifying but may become associated with you if combined with other data.

• IP Address: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address.
• Browser Type and Version: Information about the web browser you are using.
• Operating System: Details of the operating system on your device.
• Referral Source: The website that referred you to our Site.
• Pages Visited: Which pages you view on our Site.
• Time and Date of Visit: The duration and time of your visit.
• Device Information: Information about the device you are using (e.g., mobile, desktop).

2.3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Site and hold certain information. For more details, please see our "Cookies" section below.

3. How We Use Your Data (Lawful Basis)

We collect and process your personal data based on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• Consent: Where you have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose (e.g., signing up for a newsletter). You can withdraw your consent at any time.
• Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms (e.g., improving our website, ensuring security, basic analytics).
• Legal Obligation: Where processing is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

Specific purposes for which we use your data:

• To operate and maintain our Site.
• To improve, personalise, and expand our Site.
• To understand and analyse how you use our Site.
• To develop new products, services, features, and functionality.
• To send you newsletters or promotional communications, if you have subscribed.
• To respond to your comments or inquiries.
• To detect and prevent fraud and other security issues.
• To display relevant advertisements through our advertising partners.

4. Cookies

Our Site uses "cookies" to enhance your user experience. Cookies are small text files placed on your device by websites that you visit. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

4.1. Types of Cookies We Use:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: These cookies are essential for the operation of our Site, enabling you to navigate and use its features. Without these cookies, services like accessing secure areas cannot be provided.
• Analytical/Performance Cookies: These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. We use Google Analytics for this purpose.
• Functionality Cookies: These are used to recognise you when you return to our Site. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences (e.g., your choice of language or region).
• Targeting/Advertising Cookies: These cookies record your visit to our Site, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our Site and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose, specifically our advertising partners.

4.2. Your Cookie Choices

Upon your first visit to our Site, you will be presented with a cookie consent banner, allowing you to accept or decline non-essential cookies. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through your browser settings. Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

5.2. Your Choices Regarding Personalised Advertising

You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices/ (for US users) or www.youronlinechoices.eu/ (for EU/UK users).

6. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or rent your Personal Identifiable Information to others. We may share your data with:

• Service Providers: We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Site, provide the Site on our behalf, perform Site-related services (e.g., hosting, analytics, email delivery), or assist us in analysing how our Site is used. These third parties have access to your personal data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your personal data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency).
• Business Transfers: If BritFinance HQ is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, your personal data may be transferred. We will provide notice before your personal data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

7. Data Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal data when you enter, submit, or access your personal data. These measures include using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology for data transmission and storing data on secure servers. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

8. Data Retention

We will retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your personal data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period, unless this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Site, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

9. International Data Transfers

Your information, including personal data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your country, where the data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction. For example, if you are located in the UK and our servers or service providers are located in the EU or US.

We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your personal data will take place to an organisation or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information, such as reliance on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or other legally approved transfer mechanisms.

10. Your UK GDPR Data Protection Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights concerning your personal data:

• The right to be informed: You have the right to be informed about how your personal data is collected and used.
• The right to access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
• The right to rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete the information you believe is incomplete.
• The right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The right to object to processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
• The right to data portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
• The right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we relied on your consent to process your personal data.

If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at .

10.1. Right to Lodge a Complaint with the ICO

If you are unhappy with how we have used your data, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

• By email:
• By visiting this page on our website: www.personalfinance.uk/contact