With whom and where will we share your personal data?

• Personal data may be shared with government authorities and/or law enforcement officials if required for the purposes above, if mandated by law or if needed for the legal protection of our legitimate interests in compliance with applicable laws.
• If we make a referral on your behalf, to which you agree, we may share some personal information, such as name and telephone number, with third party organisations for the purposes of facilitating said referral, in line with our legitimate interests.
• If we contact a third party on your behalf, such as a lender, we will undertake to have you complete a Mandate of Authority before proceeding.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We will not keep your personal information for any purpose for longer than is necessary and will only retain the personal information that is necessary in relation to the purpose. We are also required to retain certain information as required by law or for as long as is reasonably necessary to meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and abuse, or enforce our terms and conditions.

If you contact us through any or our services, we will keep your information for as long as is necessary to resolve your query and for 5 years after the query is closed, in line with Financial Conduct Authority regulations.

We will retain your data for a short time beyond the specified retention period, to allow for information to be reviewed and any deletion to take place. In some instances, laws may require ADS to hold certain information for specific periods other than those listed above.

How we keep your data secure?

As a controller of personal data, we have in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure we implement the data protection principles outlined.

Our approach to data protection is monitored by a core team involving both Senior and Junior Management. Guided by our ISO/IEC 27001:2013 accredited Information Security Management System and delivered by all personnel, our data protection approach is designed to ensure that our operations are resilient. All data we hold is stored in Tier 3 and Tier 4 Data Centres with multiple redundancies and extremely strict access requirements, within the European Economic Area (“EEA”).

If any personal information is stored on a third party, cloud-based solution, we ensure that the third party complies with data protection principles when processing your data.

Forms of Authority

In order to work with third-parties and discuss your case with creditors, we will require a Form of Authority. This allows third-parties and creditors to talk to us about your debt with the same level of detail as you would receive, and is a vital component in allowing us to help you. This Form will be provided by the advisor/portal where required.

What are your rights in relation to your personal data?

If the information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you can notify us and ask us to correct or supplement it.

You also have the right, with some exceptions and qualifications, to ask us to provide a copy of any personal data we hold about you.

You have a right to be “forgotten”. You can ask us to delete all personally identifiable data stored about you.

Where you have provided your data to us and it is processed by automated means, you may be able to request that we provide it to you in a structured, machine readable format.

If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, you may be able to ask us to restrict how we use your personal data while your complaint is resolved. In some circumstances you can ask us to erase your personal data (a) by withdrawing your consent for us to use it; (b) if it is no longer necessary for us to use your personal data; (c) if you object to the use of your personal data and we don’t have a good reason to continue to use it; or (d) if we haven’t handled your personal data in accordance with our obligations.

Cookies

Similar to most other websites, our website uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information stored on your computer which allows websites to recognise you when you visit. These cookies will not identify you as an individual but will collect statistical data concerning your browsing patterns and actions online. We use cookies in order to understand more about how our site is being used by visitors.

Cookies help us track various aspects of user visitations to our website. This includes the length of a user visit, their geographic location and patterns of user navigation on our site.

You can switch off cookies on your computer, although this may result in a loss of functionality when accessing our website.

Other websites

The moneyadvice.scot website may contain links to websites which are controlled by external organisations. This privacy policy only covers our own website. Therefore, we strongly advise that you read the privacy notices of other sites, even if they are accessed using links from our website.

Additionally, we are not responsible for the privacy policies and security practices of other third-party sites which may link you to our website. We are not responsible for the policies and practices of these sites and recommend that you read the privacy policy of these sites. 

Review process

Advice Direct Scotland ensure that this policy is kept under regular review. Any updates or amendments to the document will be posted on our website.

Where can you find more information about ADS’s handling of your data?

If you have any outstanding questions or requests regarding this policy or our privacy practices in general, you can contact us by email through this website. Alternatively, you can write to us at: