1. Using your personal information for our Shared Equity Loan products
Why does Help to Buy (Wales) Limited need to use my personal information?
If you apply for a Shared Equity Loan, we need to use your personal information to assess your eligibility.
If successful, we will use your information for keeping in touch with you and taking care of your Shared Equity Loan Account. We’ll use your personal information to:
Process your application for a Shared Equity Loan.
Manage your Shared Equity Loan account and keep in touch with you.
Send you communications to service your Shared Equity Loan account.
Manage any queries and complaints you might have.
Make sure the data we hold about you is correct and up to date.
We also use information provided by others, such as financial associates. For instance, if you are financially associated with an applicant, then we will need to collect personal information about you both.
We will also share your personal information with third parties to comply with our legal and contractual obligations, and where it is in our legitimate interests to do so (for example, to prevent fraud or financial misconduct, or to monitor compliance with the terms and conditions of the scheme).
What personal information does Help to Buy (Wales) Limited collect and hold about me?
The information we might collect and hold about you includes:
Identity and contact details, such as your name, address, phone numbers, email addresses, and date of birth.
Information about your work or profession, your nationality and education.
Details of the accounts and products you hold and/or previously held with us, and how you use them.
Information about your financial position and history, which may include source of funds and wealth.
Details of when you contact us and when we contact you.
Information about your interactions with us in writing or by telephone.
Other information that you supply to us or that we obtain from our relationship with you.
Particularly sensitive personal information, known as special category data (e.g. information about your health).
When we talk about ‘information’ throughout this notice, we’re referring to all of the above.
What personal information does Help to Buy (Wales) Limited collect from third parties?
We may collect or receive personal information about you from third parties, including but not limited to:
Credit reference agencies (CRAs)
Government bodies and agencies
HM Revenue & Customs and other tax authorities
Regulators
Law enforcement agencies
Fraud prevention agencies (FPAs)
Insurers
The Electoral Roll and other sources of publicly available information (e.g. Sanctions list, media)
Our service providers
Companies and organisations that introduce you to us
Financial advisers
Land agents
Card associations
Retailers
Comparison websites
Market research providers
Tracing and debt recovery agents
Organisations providing data services to support us in managing our relationship with you and operating our business.
On occasion, we may also collect information from people who are acting on your behalf. This could be from a joint applicant or a power of attorney. If this person provides us with information, well record that it’s been provided and by who.
What does Help to Buy (Wales) Limited do with my information?
When you provide your information to us, or it is provided by others as part of an application, we will use it to:
Our uses of your information include:
Credit Referencing: Conducting searches at credit reference agencies, which provide us with credit information and electoral register data. These agencies will record details of any searches, whether or not your application proceeds. More information about how your information is used by these agencies is available in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice ("CRAIN"). You can access the CRAIN here.
Financial Crime Prevention: Sharing your personal information with fraud prevention agencies to help prevent financial crime. If required for fraud or criminal investigation reasons, we (and the fraud prevention agencies) may also allow law enforcement agencies to access and use your information.
Developer and Landlord Communication: Sharing your information with developers and private landlords to assign a plot of land for your property development.
Legal Formalities: Sharing your information with solicitors/conveyancers for legal formalities related to your property transaction.
Property Data Validation: Sharing your data with HM Land Registry to validate property data.
Compliance Assessment: Sharing your data with Rent Smart Wales to assess compliance with the HtBW scheme policy on subletting property.
Research and Feedback: Sharing your data with the Welsh Government and their agents for research purposes, including scheme reviews, customer feedback, and statistical surveys. You can opt-out of these activities. HtBW may also share this data with other government departments, local authorities, and agencies working on their behalf.
Financial Assessment: Sharing your information with independent financial advisers and mortgage brokers to assess the financial implications of your property purchase.
Arrears Collection: Sharing your information with tracing agents to collect arrears if you fall behind on Shared Equity Loan repayments.
Complaint Resolution: Using your information to handle and resolve complaints, including sharing information with an Ombudsman, Dispute Resolution Service, or Regulatory Authority.
Terms and Conditions Compliance: Using your information in accordance with the fund's Terms and Conditions.
As part of these activities, we may share your information with the specified parties, your accountants, employers, and the Welsh Government.
Sharing Information with Credit Reference Agencies
We share your personal information with credit reference agencies to ensure that a Shared Equity Loan is right for you. We do this for the following reasons:
Assess your creditworthiness and ensure you can afford the Shared Equity Loan.
Check the information you have provided is accurate.
Prevent financial crime.
Manage our ongoing relationship.
Trace and recover debts.
Things You Need to Know About Credit Referencing:
When we ask a credit reference agency to do a search on our behalf, this may leave a search footprint on your credit file that may be seen by other lenders. This happens whether or not you, or us choose to proceed with your Shared Equity Loan application.
The number of searches carried out may have an impact on credit decisions made by us and other lenders.
If you’re making a joint application, your credit records will be linked together. This creates what’s known as a ‘financial association’ at credit reference agencies. You should always discuss and agree this with other applicants before disclosing their information to check that they’re happy to proceed.
Information about any financial associations will be shared with other lenders if either of you make a credit application in the future – whether it’s in just your name or together with someone else. We may receive and use information about your existing financial associations as part of our decision-making process.
What is the lawful basis for using my information?
Under data protection law, we must have a valid lawful basis for collecting and using your personal information. When you apply for a Shared Equity Loan with us, the following lawful bases may apply:
Performance of a Contract
We use your personal information to perform necessary pre-contractual steps, enter into a contract with you, and fulfil our contractual obligations.
Legal Obligation
We use your personal information to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. This includes, for example, compliance with anti-money laundering legislation and Financial Conduct Authority requirements.
Legitimate Interests
We use your personal information where it is necessary for our legitimate interests. This includes:
Checks on Potential Customers: Conducting appropriate checks on potential customers, including ID checks.
Shared Equity Loan Repayment: Ensuring Shared Equity Loan repayment.
Compliance Assessment: Assessing compliance with scheme policies and terms.
Property Management: Managing the development of your property and transaction.
Data Validation: Validating property data with HM Land Registry.
Enquiry and Complaint Management: Investigating and managing enquiries and complaints and analysing them to prevent failures and rectify impacts.
Customer Welfare: Considering customers' welfare needs and providing necessary adjustments, support, or protection.
Financial Crime Prevention: Identifying, preventing, and investigating financial crime, including fraud and money laundering, and other financial misconduct.
Product and Service Improvement: Developing and improving our products and services, including conducting customer surveys and research.
Business Continuity: Ensuring business continuity, disaster recovery, and network and information security.
Lawful Basis for Processing Special Category Data
Data Protection laws treat some types of personal information as being particularly sensitive. This information is called ‘Special Category Data’. We will not collect or use these types of data unless the law allows us to. If we do, it will be under one of the following lawful bases:
Substantial Public Interest: For reasons of substantial public interest; or
Explicit Consent: We have your explicit consent to do so; or
Legal Claims: To establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
How long does Help to Buy (Wales) Limited keep my information?
We keep your personal information for different lengths of time based on the purpose we process it for. These purposes are listed below:
Successful Applications: If your application is successful, we will keep your personal information for the duration of your contract with us, and for 12 years after the contract ends. This ensures a full record of the contract in case of disputes.
Unsuccessful or Withdrawn Applications: If your application is unsuccessful or withdrawn, we will keep and delete your personal data in accordance with our data retention schedule.
Email Correspondence: Emails are kept for 2 years. If needed, emails may be kept longer to comply with legal requirements, manage existing claims or complaints, or for regulatory or technical reasons.
Legal Obligations and Claims: We may hold your information for as long as necessary to comply with legal obligations, exercise legal rights, comply with the Terms and Conditions of the fund, or defend legal claims.
Customer Relationship: Information will be kept for as long as necessary to manage your relationship with us and comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
Shared Equity Loan Account: Personal information may be kept up to 12 years after your Shared Equity Loan Account has closed.
Legal, Regulatory, or Technical Reasons: Information may be kept longer than indicated if deletion is not possible due to legal, regulatory, or technical reasons.
Research or Statistical Purposes: Information may be kept for research or statistical purposes. In such cases, your privacy will be protected, and the information will only be used for these purposes.
What happens if I do not provide my information to Help to Buy (Wales) Limited?
If you don’t provide us with the information we need, we will be unable to assess your application and it may result in you not being able to access our Shared Equity Loan.
