Customer Portal UK T&Cs

Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Terms of Website Use

1. These terms and conditions are the (the Terms) are the terms of use on which you make use of our client portal website (portal). Please read these Terms carefully before you start to use the portal. By using the portal, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these Terms, please refrain from using the portal. We reserve the right to change these Terms (and the Privacy Policy contained within them) in our sole discretion at anytime. Please consult this page regularly in order to ensure that you are aware of the current version.

Accessing our Site

2. Access to the portal is provided on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide via the portal without notice. We will not be liable if for any reason the portal is unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the portal, or the entire portal, to users who have registered with us.

Regulatory information

3. Calls may be recorded for training purposes. Close Brothers Premium Finance is a trading style of Close Brothers Limited - a subsidiary of Close Brothers Group plc. Close Brothers Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. Registered Address: 10 Crown Place, London EC2A 4FT. Registered at Companies House Number 195626.

Use of this portal

4. The information provided on this portal or in any communication containing a link to this portal is for your personal use and for information purposes only. It is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction or in any country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject Close Brothers Limited or any member of the Close Group to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. Where any opinions are expressed on this portal, they are provided by Close Brothers Limited for personal use and for information purposes only.

5. The services and products on this portal are intended for use by residents of the United Kingdom only, and are not aimed at or intended for use by residents of any other jurisdiction.

6. Access to this portal is restricted to those persons who have activated their account and have a valid Close Brothers Premium Finance account number, user ID, and password. Access or attempted access by unauthorised individuals may lead to legal proceedings.

7. You must not misuse the portal by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the portal, the server on which the portal is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the portal. You must not attack the portal via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the portal will cease immediately. We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the portal or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or any website linked to it.

Our liability

8. The provisions in this 'Our liability' section should be read carefully as they set out the extent of our legal liability in connection with your use of this portal. Nothing in these Terms shall attempt to exclude liability that is not permissible to exclude under applicable law, including without limitation, for death or personal injury, or for fraudulent misrepresentation.

9. Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or limit or restrict our duties and liabilities to you under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or any conduct of business rules with which we are bound to comply.

10. The material displayed on the portal is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy. To the extent permitted by law, we, other members of the Close Group and third parties connected to us hereby expressly exclude:

whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract, or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

11. We take no responsibility for the inherent risks of the internet including but not limited to loss of data, computer virus infection, spyware, malicious software, trojans and worms. Also, we accept no liability in respect of losses or damages arising out of changes made to the content of this portal by unauthorised third parties.

12. To provide increased value to users of this portal, we may provide links to other websites or resources (that are not part of Close Group) for you to access at your sole discretion. You acknowledge and agree that, we have no control over the contents of such sites, are not responsible for the availability of those external sites or resources, and that we do not review or endorse and shall not be responsible or liable for (i) the privacy practices of such sites, (ii) the content of such sites, including (without limitation) any advertising, content, products, goods or other materials or services on or available from such sites or resources or (iii) the use that others make of those sites or resources; or (iv) any damage, loss or offence caused or alleged to be caused by, or in connection with, the use of or reliance on any such advertising, content, products, goods or other materials or services available on such external sites or resources. No endorsement or approval of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressed or implied by any information on our portal.

13. Messages sent over the internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure as they are subject to possible interception, loss or alteration. We are not responsible for such risks. We will not be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or otherwise in connection with any message sent by you to the Close Group or any message sent by the Close Group to you over the internet where such damages result from circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

14. You have responsibility for the adequate protection and back up of data and / or equipment and for ensuring that you take reasonable and appropriate precautions to scan for computer viruses or other destructive properties.

Privacy policy

15. "We", "our" or "us" means Close Brothers Limited trading as Close Brothers Premium Finance, Wimbledon Bridge House, 1 Hartfield Road, London, SW19 3RU and its subsidiaries, affiliates and their respective parent and subsidiary companies ("Close Brothers Group"). For the purposes of data protection law, we are a data controller in respect of your personal data. We collect and use your personal data and where applicable this may include information related to your spouse/partner, directors, partners and owners (your "representatives"). Close Brothers Limited is responsible for ensuring that it uses your personal data in compliance with data protection law. If you have any questions about this notice, about how we process personal data or about your rights over your personal data, our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dpo@closebrothers.com or DPO, Close Brothers Limited, 10 Crown Place, London EC2A 4FT.

16. This notice applies to any personal data we receive from you, create or obtain from other sources and explains how it will be used by us. It is important that you take the time to read this notice so that you understand how we will use your personal data and your rights in relation to your personal data.

Personal data that we collect about you

We will collect and use the following personal data about you and your representatives:

17. Information you give us

• This is information about you and your representatives that you give us by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. The information you give us may include your and your representatives name, address, e-mail address and phone number, financial and credit card information, employment history, health information, credit history, identification records, qualifications and vehicle or asset details.


• You must ensure that in respect of any information you provide us with, which does not relate to you (for example, information about your representatives), you have obtained the necessary consent in order to disclose such information and provided the individual o whom the information relates with a copy of this notice.


• Information we collect or generate about you and your representatives


• Website Usage Information - Our website uses Google Analytics to automatically gather certain statistical information such as the number and frequency of visitors and their IP addresses. This information is used as aggregated statistical information about users, providing usage by IP address. This information helps us to measure how individuals use the website and our services, so that we can continually improve them.


• We sometimes record telephone conversations to resolve complaints, improve our service and for training and quality assurance purposes.


• We generate data for statistical analysis.

Use of Cookies

18. For full details on what cookies are, what they do, and which cookies are used by us, please see our Cookie Policy www.closebrotherspf.com/cookies.
To enable you to sign in and personalise your online experience we use "cookies". A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies contain information that can later be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. We use cookies to store your preferences and other information on your computer in order to save you time by eliminating the need to repeatedly enter the same information and to display your personalised content and appropriate advertising on your later visits to our website.

19. Information we receive from other sources

• Financial / Credit Information - We will use information provided by credit reference agencies when assessing your application for finance and to verify your or, if applicable, your representatives identity. Such information may include some details about other credit you have taken out, any credit arrangements you have met or failed to meet, and any court judgments made against you.


• Fraud Prevention Agencies - When verifying your identity as part of our application process, we may access information recorded by fraud prevention agencies within and outside the UK. This may include information about any criminal convictions and any allegations regarding criminal activity that relate to you.


• Intermediaries - We will receive information from dealers, brokers and introducers including your personal details, contact details and relevant asset or policy details for the purposes of entering in to and administering your agreement.


• Social Media Profile - Where you have clicked through one of our promotions or event notices posted on a third party social media website such as LinkedIn, we will receive your contact information provided as part of your user profile such as your name, email address and telephone number and any other relevant business information such as your organisation's name, address and your industry. Some of this information may be prepopulated based on your social media profile; other parts may be completed by you, as and when requested.


• Public databases - we may obtain information about individuals from public databases. We use reputable sources including but not limited to the electoral register, Companies House and Companies Registration Office. We employ appropriate measures to assure the quality of information which we collect.

How we use your personal data

20. Credit Scoring & Crime Prevention

• to verify your identity as part of the account opening process for new customers;

for making a credit check on you. We may carry out a search with a credit reference agency who will keep a record of our enquiry against your name and which may be linked to your representatives ("associated records"). For the purposes of any application for products or services from us, you may be assessed with reference to "associated records". Where any search or application is completed or agreement entered into involving joint parties, we may record details at credit reference agencies, as a result an "association" will be created that will link your financial records. Details of which credit reference agency we have used are available on request. We may also add to your or, if applicable, your business's, record with the credit reference agencies details of your agreement with us, any payments you make under it and any default or failure to keep to its terms. These records will remain on the credit reference agencies' files for 6 years after our agreement with you is settled or terminated whether settled by you or, if applicable, your business or by way of default. These credit reference agencies may create, or add to, their own record about you, or, if applicable, your business, details of our search and your application. This and other information about you or, if applicable, your business and those with whom you are linked financially may be used to make credit decisions about you or your business.


• You can find further information about how credit reference agencies (CallCredit, Equifax and Experian or Irish Credit Bureau) may process your personal data at www.experian.co.uk/crain or www.icb.ie or you can contact us to obtain a paper copy of this information;


• We may use credit scoring techniques and automated decision making systems to either fully or partially assess your information. These credit scoring techniques and automated decision making systems may take into account any previous applications for finance, defaults or existing debt. The results of this decision may decide whether we provide you with our services or not. If you disagree with the results of an automated decision, you can request a review of your application;


• to allow us to detect and prevent fraudulent activity including sharing personal data with fraud prevention agencies; and


• to allow us to detect and prevent money laundering activity or terrorist financing.

21. Products & Services

• to provide you with information, products or services that you may request from us;


• to carry out our obligations arising from any agreements you enter into with us;


• to make payments;


• to recover monies;


• where we are permitted to do so, to send promotional information about our products and services via methods such as email, post, telephone, etc.; and


• to contact you via post, e-mail or telephone in relation to the administration of your account or to carry out quality control research.

22. Statistical Analysis

• as part of our legal and regulatory obligations, to conduct statistical analysis in order to improve our credit risk profile, tackle fraud, and improve our credit decisions. This may include statistical analysis on your personal data even if your application is declined by us or you decide not to complete your application with us; and


• in order to identify and offer you tailored products and services that are suitable for you and improve our service.

Legal basis for processing your personal data.

23. We process your personal data pursuant to the following legal bases:

• your consent to share your personal data with third party affiliates who may wish to offer you products and services which may be of interest to you;


• taking steps (at your request) prior to entering into an agreement with you, and subsequently for the administration and performance of our agreement with you;


• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;


• to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights and / or for the purpose of (or in connection with) legal proceedings; and


• the use of your personal data as described is necessary for our legitimate business interests which are:


• enforcing the terms and conditions of any agreement we have with you;


• the recovery of outstanding debts existing under an agreement with you;


• for statistical analysis to improve our products and services; or


• to contact you about products and services that may be of interest to you. You may object to this at any time by contacting us at customerservicespf@closebrothers.com or by calling 0333 321 8566 or by mail addressed to Close Brothers Premium Finance, Wimbledon Bridge House, 1 Hartfield Road, London, SW19 3RU;

Sharing your personal data

24. We may disclose your personal data within the Close Brothers Group and to third party service providers in the circumstances described below:

• to ensure the delivery or maintenance of products or services you have taken out with us;


• to ensure the safety and security of our data; and


• as part of our internal research and statistical analysis activity.

25. We will take steps to ensure that the personal data is accessed only by personnel that have a need to do so for the purposes described in this notice.

26. We may also share your personal data outside of the Close Brothers Group:

• to our professional advisers in order to enforce or apply the terms of use and other agreements you have with us;


• to an insurer or insurers for administration;


• to claims handlers and fraud prevention agencies;


• to any guarantor;


• to any funder in order to enable funders to assess the value of our assets;


• to any broker or introducer of an agreement with us;


• to tracing and repossession agents;


• if we sell any of our business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective buyer for due diligence purposes;


• if we are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about you will be disclosed to the third party buyer;


• to third party agents or contractors (for example, the providers of our electronic data storage services or call centres) for the purposes of providing services to us; and


• with your consent, to third party affiliates who may wish to offer you products and services which may be of interest to you.

27. These third parties will be subject to confidentiality requirements and they will only use your personal data as described in this privacy notice.

28. We may also share your personal data outside of the Close Brothers Group to the extent required by law, for example if we are under a duty to disclose your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation including but not limited to disclosures made to:

• Credit agencies;


• Companies House or Companies Registration Office;


• Central Credit Register;


• and to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

Transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area

29. The information you provide to us will be transferred to and stored on our secure servers in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). However, from time to time, your personal data may be transferred to, stored in, or accessed from a destination outside the EEA. It may also be processed by staff operating outside of the EEA who work for a company in the Close Brothers Group or for one of our suppliers.
Where we transfer your personal data outside the EEA, we will ensure that it is protected in a manner that is consistent with how your personal data will be protected by us in the EEA. This can be done in a number of ways, for instance:

• the country that we send the data to might be approved by the European Commission or a relevant data protection authority;


• the recipient might have signed up to a contract based on "model contractual clauses" approved by the European Commission, obliging them to protect your personal data; or


• where the recipient is located in the US, it might be a certified member of the EU-US Privacy Shield scheme.

30. In other circumstances the law may permit us to otherwise transfer your personal data outside the EEA. In all cases, however, we will ensure that any transfer of your personal data is compliant with data protection law.
You can obtain more details of the protection given to your personal data when it is transferred outside the EEA (including a copy of the standard data protection clauses which we have entered into with recipients of your personal data) by contacting us in accordance with the "Contact us" section below.

How long we keep your personal data

31. How long we hold your personal data for will vary. The retention period will be determined by various criteria including:

• the purpose for which we are using it - we will need to keep the data for as long as is necessary for that purpose; and


• legal obligations - laws or regulation may set a minimum period for which we have to store your personal data.


• If you are a customer we will retain your personal data for 7 years following the end of our relationship with you, unless we are required by law to keep it for a longer period of time (in which case, we will keep it until the expiry of the period required by law).

Your rights

32. You have a number of rights in relation to the personal data that we hold about you. These rights include:

• the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we process your personal data pursuant to our legitimate business interests. Please note that there may be circumstances where you object to our processing of your personal data but may be legally entitled to refuse that request;


• the right to obtain information regarding the processing of your personal data and access to the personal data which we hold about you;


• the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal data at any time. Please note, however, that we may still be entitled to process your personal data if we have another legitimate reason (other than consent) for doing so;


• in some circumstances, the right to receive some personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or request that we transmit those data to a third party where this is technically feasible. Please note that this right only applies to personal data which you have provided to us;


• the right to request that we rectify your personal data if it is inaccurate or incomplete;


• the right to request that we erase your personal data in certain circumstances. Please note that there may be circumstances where you ask us to erase your personal data but we are legally entitled to retain it;


• the right to request that we restrict our processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. Please note that there may be circumstances where you ask us to restrict our processing of your personal data but we are legally entitled to refuse that request;


• the right to object to any automated decision making (including profiling) which we conduct based on your personal data, which significantly affects you. Please note that there may be circumstances where you object to us conducting automated decision making but we are legally entitled to refuse that request;


• the right to object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes; and


• the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator (details of which are provided below) if you think that any of your rights have been infringed by us.

33. You can exercise your rights by contacting us using the details set out in the "Contacting us" section below.

• You can find out more information about your rights by contacting the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner, or by searching their website at https://ico.org.uk or www.dataprotection.ie

Changes to our privacy policy

34. We keep our privacy policy under regular review. Any changes we make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Contact us

35. We are registered in the UK and our registered address is at 10 Crown Place, London EC2A 4FT and our company registration number is 195626.
Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or personal data we hold about you:
Write to us at our address: Close Brothers Premium Finance, Wimbledon Bridge House,
1 Hartfield Road, London, SW19 3RU;
By telephone: 0333 321 8566; or
By email: customerservicespf@closebrothers.com

36. Close, Close Bank, Close Brothers, the Close Brothers Logo and I-PROMPT are trade marks of Close Brothers Group plc. The display of trade names or trade marks within this portal does not imply that any licence has been granted to any third party in respect of the same.

37. We own and reserve all rights with respect to the copyright, and other intellectual property rights in the portal and the content published on it except where indicated otherwise by the inclusion of a third party proprietary notice and will enforce our rights to the full extent of the law. Nothing on this portal shall be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any licence or right to use any part of this portal including any image, trade mark, logo or service mark. No act of downloading or otherwise copying from this portal will transfer title to any software or material on this portal (or any copyright or other intellectual property right in it) to you.

38. You must not use any part of the materials on our portal for commercial purposes without obtaining an express licence from us to do so.

Advice

39. The contents of this portal are not intended to provide any financial, investment or professional advice on which reliance should be placed and nothing on the pages of this portal shall be deemed to constitute financial, investment or other professional advice in any way. You must obtain advice from a qualified expert before making any investment decision. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to the portal or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

No Offer

40. Nothing on this portal should be construed as a solicitation or offer, or recommendation, to acquire or dispose of any investment.

Changes to this portal

41. The contents of this portal, including these Terms are subject to change by us without notification. Additionally Close Brothers Limited shall not be obliged to remove any outdated information from the portal or to expressly mark it as being outdated.

Telephone calls

42. Calls may be recorded for monitoring and training purposes.

Internet communications

43. In order to maintain the security of its systems, protect its staff and detect fraud and other crimes, Close Brothers Limited reserves the right to monitor all internet communications, including web and email traffic, into and out of its domain. Monitoring includes (without limitation) checks for viruses and other malignant code, criminal activity, and use or content that is unauthorised or unlawful or material that may cause offence in any way.

FSCS

44. Important information about compensation arrangements. We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to depositors if a bank is unable to meet its financial obligations. Most depositors - including most individuals and small businesses - are covered by the scheme.
In respect of deposits, an eligible depositor is entitled to claim up to £50,000. For joint accounts each account holder is treated as having a claim in respect of their share so, for a joint account held by two eligible depositors, the maximum amount that could be claimed would be £50,000 each (making a total of £100,000). The £50,000 limit relates to the combined amount in all the eligible depositor's accounts with the bank, including their share of any joint account, and not to each separate account. For further information about the scheme (including the amounts covered and eligibility to claim) please ask at your local branch, refer to the FSCS website www.FSCS.org.uk or call 020 7892 7300.

Complaints

45. If you are not satisfied with the products or services provided by Close Brothers Premium Finance or Close Payment Services and need to raise a complaint you can do so by writing to us at Close Brothers Premium Finance, Wimbledon Bridge House, 1 Hartfield Road, London, SW19 3RU. Alternatively you can call us on 0333 321 8566 or fax to 0870 243 0029. Close Brothers Premium Finance adheres to the Financial Conduct Authority's rules on complaints handling. We will acknowledge all complaints within 5 business days of receipt. We will aim to issue a final response within 8 weeks.

46. If you are still not satisfied after following Close Brothers Premium Finance procedures, you can contact The Financial Ombudsman Service and ask the Ombudsman to review the complaint. You can write to them at: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR or telephone 020 7964 1000.

Enforceability

47. In the event that any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, it will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

Governing law

48. These Terms are governed by the laws of England and any dispute regarding this portal shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Disability discrimination act

49. We are committed to eliminate on the grounds of disability any discrimination in the work place and to making all reasonable and practical adjustments to meet the needs of staff, prospective staff, customers and prospective customers equally. Our Running Account Credit Agreement (RACA) is available on Audio and in Braille. To request these or to seek assistance on any other matters pertaining to the Disability Discrimination Act please contact us at customerservicespf@closebrothers.com or 0333 321 8566.