Your privacy is important to the Equity Release Council, and we are committed to respect and protect your privacy and your personal information. The following describes our policies for collecting, protecting, and disclosing your personal information and how we comply with relevant legislation including Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK-GDPR.
Who we are
The Equity Release Council (ERC/the Council), a not-for-profit organisation, is the industry body for the equity release sector. We are classed as a Data Controller which means we are responsible for deciding how your personal data will be processed.
Our contact details are: Equity Release Council, The Smithy, Sutton Lane, Dingley, Market Harborough, LE16 8HL.
Our designated privacy officer is Kelly Melville-Kelly, Head of Risk, Policy & Compliance
Information we collect
We will collect personal information from you to enable us to deal with your enquiry and or complaint. The information that we will collect may include the following:-
- Name;
- Date of Birth;
- Contact details including telephone number, email address and postal address;
- Details about your Equity Release Plan;
- For complaints we may request;
- Financial Information;
- Any other third parties involved; and
- Firm/adviser that arranged the plan for you.
The above is being processed under the legal basis of your consent and our legitimate interest. Our lawful ground for this processing is our legitimate interests to enable us to properly administer our website and business.
We will only retain your data for as long as is necessary and in line with our data retention policy. For general enquiries this will normally be until that query has been resolved and for complaints this will normally be for 7 years following resolution of the complaint in line with our legal obligations.
We will also use personal data to compile statistical information. When we use personal data for statistical purposes we will implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including pseudonymisation and anonymisation.
Information we share
So that we can investigate your complaint we may share your details with members of the Equity Release Board and Standards Board and with the firm that you used to advise and arrange your Equity Release Plan.
Your information rights
You have the following rights in respect of your personal information:-
- To know how we will process your personal data (this notice)
- To have a copy of your data that we hold (normally free of charge)
- To have the data corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete
- To have data the deleted if there is no compelling reason for us to continue to process it
- To object to our processing
- To restrict processing your data in certain circumstances
- The right to data portability
- The right to withdraw consent and;
- To make a complaint about how we use your personal information to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time. https://ico.org.uk/