The Data Protection Act requires Lloyds Banking Group companies to manage personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Principles. In particular, our Group of companies is required to process your personal information fairly and lawfully. This means that you are entitled to know how we intend to use any information you provide. You can then decide whether you want to give it to us in order that we may provide the product or service that you require. All our employees are personally responsible for maintaining customer confidentiality. We provide training and education to all employees to remind them about their obligations. In addition, our policies and procedures are regularly audited and reviewed.

Your information will be held by Lex Autolease Ltd which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group.

Lloyds Banking Group includes us and a number of other companies using brands including Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and their associated companies. More information on the Group can be found at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com. For these purposes "associated companies" includes Lloyds Banking Group plc and any subsidiary, affiliate or other firm directly or indirectly controlled from time to time by either Lloyds Banking Group plc or us.

Your personal information will be held securely in Lloyds Banking Group systems so that we and any other companies in our Group that you have dealings with, either now or in the future, can manage your relationship with us. This will include information you provide when you apply to us, and any additional information provided by you or others in various ways, including:

(a) in applications, emails and letters, during telephone calls and conversations in branch (where applicable), when registering for services, in customer surveys, when you participate in competitions and promotions, through Lloyds Banking Group company websites, and during financial reviews and interviews.

(b) from analysis (for example, the amount frequency, location, origin, and recipient) of your payments and other transactions, and your use of services involving other Lloyds Banking Group companies and what they know from operating your account; and

(c) information Lloyds Banking Group companies receive from each other, from our business partners, and from other organisations such as credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies.

We will not retain your personal information for longer than is necessary for the maintenance your account, or for legal or regulatory requirements.

We may share the personal information we hold about you across the Lloyds Banking Group for the following administrative activities:

(a) providing you with products and services and notifying you about either important changes or developments to the features and operation of those products and services;
(b) responding to your enquiries and complaints;
(c) administering offers, competitions, and promotions;
(d) undertaking financial reviews; and also for the following data sharing activities:
(e) updating, consolidating, and improving the accuracy of our records;
(f) undertaking transactional analysis;
(g) arrears and debt recovery activities;
(h) testing new systems and checking upgrades to existing systems;
(i) crime detection, prevention, and prosecution;
(j) evaluating the effectiveness of marketing, and for market research and training;
(k) customer modelling, statistical and trend analysis, with the aim of developing and improving products and services;
(l) assessing lending and insurance risks across the Lloyds Banking Group;
(m) managing your relationship with the Lloyds Banking Group companies.

By sharing this information it enables us, and other companies in the Lloyds Banking Group, to better understand your needs and run your accounts in the efficient way that you expect.

Your data may also be used for other purposes for which you give your specific permission, or, in very limited circumstances, when required by law or where permitted under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

We will treat your personal information as private and confidential, but may share it with each other and disclose it outside the Lloyds Banking Group if:

(a) allowed by this agreement;
(b) you consent;
(c) needed by our agents, advisers or others involved in running accounts and services for you or collecting what you owe Group companies;
(d) needed by subcontractors to help us manage your records;
(e) HM Revenue & Customs or other authorities require it;
(f) the law, regulatory bodies, agreements between Lloyds Banking Group and the Government or other regulatory bodies or the public interest permits or requires it;
(g) required by us or others to investigate or prevent crime;
(h) needed by market research companies to assist us in providing better products and services for you; or
(i) to any other parties connected with your account (including guarantors).
(j) required as part of our duty to protect your accounts, for example we are required to disclose your information to the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

We will always ensure your information remains safe and secure.

The Government also requires us to screen applications that are made to us to ensure we are complying with the international fight against terrorism and other criminal activities. As a result of this we may need to disclose information to government bodies.

Lloyds Banking Group companies may in the future wish to sell, transfer or merge part or all of their business or assets, or any associated rights or interests, or to acquire a business or enter into a merger with it. If so, they may disclose your personal information to a potential buyer, transferee, or merger partner or seller and their advisers so long as they agree to keep it confidential and to use it only to consider the possible transaction. If the transaction goes ahead, the buyers, transferee or merger partner may use or disclose your personal information in the same way as set out in this notice.

If you hold a credit or debit card with us, we will share transaction details with our scheme providers (e.g. Visa or Mastercard).

Sometimes, when you open a joint account or product, this may mean that your personal data will be shared with the other applicant. For example, transactions made by you will be seen by your joint account holder and vice versa.

The Data Protection Act defines certain information as ‘sensitive’ (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life, criminal proceedings and offences). If you apply to us for insurance, a pension, health insurance or life assurance, we may ask you for some ‘sensitive’ details. We will only use this information to provide the service you require and we will ask for your explicit consent. As a customer, there may be times when you give us sensitive information. We may share it with other parts of the group and our subcontractors to keep your records up to date.

All countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the UK, have similar standards of legal protection for your personal information. We may run your accounts and provide other services from centres outside the EEA (such as the USA and India) that do not have a similar standard of data protection laws to the UK. If so, we will require your personal information to be protected to at least UK standards. We may process payments through other financial institutions such as banks and the worldwide payments system operated by the SWIFT organisation if, for example, you make a CHAPS payment or a foreign payment. Those external organisations may process and store your personal information abroad and may have to disclose it to foreign authorities to help them in their fight against crime and terrorism. If these are based outside the EEA, your personal information may not be protected to standards similar to those in the UK.

When you apply for credit, an automated system known as credit scoring may be used when considering whether to agree the borrowing. It is a method of assessing your likely conduct of an account based on a range of data, including the conduct of previous similar accounts. It is a system widely used by credit providers to help make fair and informed decisions on lending.

Credit scoring takes account of information from three sources - the information you provide on your application, information provided by credit reference agencies and information that may already be held about you by companies in the Lloyds Banking Group. A credit scoring system will consider information from these sources, to make an overall assessment of your application.

The credit scoring methods used are regularly tested to ensure they remain fair, effective and unbiased.

Using a credit scoring system helps our Group companies to lend responsibly. If you submit an application and it is declined through this automated process, you can contact us within 21 days to have the decision reconsidered. You also have the right to ask that the decision is not made based solely using a credit scoring system.

Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) collect and maintain information about consumers' and businesses' credit behaviour. This includes Electoral Register, fraud prevention, and credit information - including details of previous applications and the conduct of your accounts - and public information such as County Court Judgements, decrees, and bankruptcies.
The information that Lloyds Banking Group companies and other organisations provide to credit reference agencies about you, your financial associates and your business (if you have one) may be provided to other organisations and used by them and us to:
(a) help make decisions, for example when:
     (i) checking details on applications for credit and credit-related or other facilities;
     (ii) managing credit and credit-related accounts or facilities;
     (iii) recovering debt;
     (iv) checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance;
     (v) checking details of job applicants and employees; (b) detect and prevent crime, fraud and money laundering. (c) check your credit history; (d) verify your identity if you, or someone financially linked with you, applies for services; (e) trace your whereabouts; and (f) undertake research, statistical analysis and systems testing.

If a Lloyds Banking Group company needs to make a credit decision when you apply for a credit-based product or service (e.g. mortgage, personal loan, credit card, or current account) or to review the amount of credit it provides under an existing agreement, such as an overdraft, your records will be searched, along with those of anyone who is financially associated with you such as your spouse or partner. The CRA will keep a record of this search and place a "footprint" on your credit file, whether or not the application proceeds.

We may give details of your account and how you conduct it to credit reference agencies, including if you borrow and do not repay in full and on time. If you fall behind with your payments and a full payment or satisfactory proposals are not received within 28 days of a formal demand being issued, then a default notice may be recorded with the CRAs. Similar information may also be given about your other lending/credit relationships with members of the group. Any records shared with CRAs will remain on file for 6 years after your account is closed, whether it has been settled by you or as a result of a default. Other organisations may see these searches and updates if you apply for credit in the future, and these may affect your ability to borrow from other lenders.

If you apply for or hold an account in joint names, or tell us that you have a spouse or financial associate, a financial association will be created between your records, including any previous and subsequent names used by you. This means that your financial affairs may be treated as affecting each other. These links will remain on your and their files until such time as you or your partner is successful in applying for a disassociation with the CRAs to break that link. You must be sure that you have their agreement to disclose information about them. Searches may be made on all joint applicants, and search footprints will be left on all applicants' records.

You have a right to apply to the credit reference agencies for a copy of your file.

We carry out most of our credit searches using Experian, but details of how you have run your account(s) may be disclosed to all the credit reference agencies. The information they hold may not be the same and there is a small fee that you may need to pay to each agency that you apply to. Their addresses are:

• Experian Consumer Help Service, PO Box 9000, Nottingham NG80 7WP or call 0844 481 8000 or log on to www.experian.co.uk
• Equifax plc, Credit File Advice Centre, PO Box 1140, Bradford BD1 5US or log on to www.myequifax.co.uk
• CallCredit, Consumer Services Team, PO Box 491, Leeds LS3 1WZ or call 0870 060 1414 or log on to www.callcredit.plc.uk

We have systems that protect our customers and ourselves against fraud and other crime. Customer information can be used to prevent crime and trace those responsible. We will share your personal information from your application with fraud prevention agencies. If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details of this fraud will be passed to these agencies. Law enforcement agencies may access and use this information. We and other organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and money laundering, for example, when:

• Checking details on applications for credit and credit related or other facilities.
• Managing credit and credit related accounts or facilities.
• Recovering debt.
• Checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance.
• Checking details of job applicants and employees.

Please contact us if you want to receive details of the relevant fraud prevention agencies. We and other organisations may access and use from other countries the information recorded by fraud prevention agencies.

We may ask you to provide physical forms of identity verification when you open your account. Alternatively, we may search credit reference agency files in assessing your application. The agency also gives us other details and information from the Electoral Register to verify your identity. The agency keeps a record of our search, whether or not your application proceeds. Our search is not seen or used by lenders to assess your ability to obtain credit.

The Data Protection Act does not generally apply to companies but it does cover personal data relating to sole traders and partnerships. When we receive an application from a business we may perform a search with a credit reference agency on the individual company directors or partners, or any guarantors.

Making sure we deliver excellent customer service is very important to us and to do this various methods of communication may be used to keep you updated about your account. Most of the time we communicate by telephone or post, but we recognise that E mail is becoming a more popular process. If we decide to use E mail to contact you, we will only do this if we have ensured that using E mail will not put your information at risk, or, if you have requested we E mail you, that we have explained the risks of sending an "insecure" E mail and that you are happy to accept that risk.
In addition you may wish to choose a channel of communication that suits you when you need to contact us. If you need to E mail a Lloyds Banking Group company, we recommend you check their website to see if a secure E mail facility exists so that your E mail can be sent securely. If you send us E mails in other ways, such as from your personal account, then remember that the message may not be secure and there is a risk that it could be intercepted. If you choose to send an "insecure" E mail, please keep the amount of confidential information you include to a minimum. With some of our products we offer a number of communication update services via SMS. If you have signed up to this service, we may send you text messages containing administrative information about your relationship with us. You can ask us to stop sending these messages at any time. Additionally, in extraordinary circumstances (such as natural disaster or civil unrest) we may also send you updates by text message or email when we consider it to be appropriate.

†We may monitor or record phone calls with you in case we need to check we have carried out your instructions correctly, to resolve queries or issues, for regulatory purposes, to help improve our quality of service, and to help detect or prevent fraud or other crimes. Conversations may also be monitored for staff training purposes.

As part of our ongoing commitment to understanding our customers better, we may research comments and opinions made public on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right of access to your personal data. The Act allows us to charge a fee of £10 for this service. If anything is inaccurate or incorrect, please let us know and we will correct it. For further details on how to request a copy of your information, please write to: Compliance Manager – Contract Hire Risk, Lex Autolease Ltd, Heathside Park, Heathside Park Road, Stockport, Cheshire. SK3 0RB

Organisations must lodge a notification with their Regulator describing the purposes for which they process personal information. The details are publicly available from the Regulator's office and you can view ours at http://www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/DoSearch.asp?reg=5499728

We keep our privacy notice under regular review and we will reflect any updates within this notice. This privacy notice was last updated September 2012.

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Security

You must not use any computers, computer equipment, network resources or any services provided by us for any illegal purpose, or for accessing, receiving or transmitting any material deemed illegal, indecent, offensive or otherwise unacceptable under UK law.

All passwords and usernames allocated to you must be kept secret and must not be disclosed to anyone without our prior written authorisation. You must not use any false identity in email or other network communications. You must not attempt or participate in the unauthorised entry or viewing of another user's account or into another system.

You must not use the services and/or network systems or any part thereof for fraudulent activities, or to breach another organisation's security (cross-network hacking). This is an illegal act and prosecution under criminal law may result.