Who we are
Advanced Collection Systems Limited (ACS/We) is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 04096010. ACS Utility Services Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of ACS and is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 10823036. This policy applies to both companies.
The registered address for both companies is;
Steele House
126 Great North Road
Hatfield
Herts
AL9 5JN
You can write to us at the above address, email us on
DataProtection@advancedcollection.co.uk or telephone us on 01707 252 900
You can also contact us via web chat on our website, www.advancedcollection.co.uk
About this policy
We believe it's important to protect your privacy. So we're committed to providing a professional service that meets your needs, at the same time as protecting your privacy.
This policy explains how we'll collect information about you and how we will use it. It also goes into the security measures we take to protect your privacy, and expands on a few things that we won't do.This policy explains how we'll collect information about you and how we will use it. It also goes into the security measures we take to protect your privacy, and expands on a few things that we won't do.
It has been written in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes in to effect from 28th May 2018 and will be updated from time to time in line with changes to that regulation.
What we do
ACS and our subsidiary company ACS Utility Services Ltd provide a range of financial and outsourcing services to our clients including credit control, debt recovery, tracing, managed field services (visits to an address) and legal action. We may need to store personal data about you if you work for or are a customer of, one of our clients or suppliers.
How we collect your data
If you register for a new service or product from us, we will collect data about you to enable us to provide that service or product. Additionally we may receive data about you from third parties (our clients) who choose to use the services we offer. We might collect information from credit reference agencies and other public databases that may provide us with more up to date contact information for you.
In the course of providing our service we may also collect and store further information about you. In addition, we may collect information from you or your appointed representative, through the use of this website and from communications between us such as within telephone calls, letters, emails or other channels.
For the purposes of the GDPR, where we have been provided your data by one of our clients, we are the Data Processor. Where we have collected additional data, either directly from you or through third parties or other means, including observation or inference, we are the Data Controller.
ACS Limited data protection registration number is Z4780954
ACS US Limited data protection registration number is ZA302888
1. How we'll use your information
1.1 We may use your information to:
*If you are a debtor, we may use automated profiling and decision making in order to assess ability or propensity to pay, affordability of any repayment plan or settlement requested and other factors which influence what actions we may take or recommend regarding your account. If that decision produces a legal effect or similarly significant effect on you, you have the right to obtain human intervention, express your point of view and obtain an explanation of the decision and challenge it.
1.2 We may also monitor and record any communications we have with you, like phone conversations and emails. This is for training and monitoring purposes, to help resolve complaints, to make sure we're providing a good service and meeting our regulatory and legal responsibilities.
1.3 Categories of personal data that we collect ourselves or receive from third parties, from you or from your representatives may include any or all of the following; your name, address, date of birth, relevant account details, email addresses, phone numbers, debt information, payment history, credit references and other details relating to your account. This is likely to include information supplied by the original creditor, where applicable.
1.4 Sensitive personal data; the GDPR defines certain personal data as "sensitive". This may include for example data regarding your physical or mental health.
In order to carry out our role, we are required by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to understand the circumstances of the people we are contacting and in particular to establish whether people we deal with could be regarded as vulnerable. In certain circumstances pertaining to debt collection, we may therefore ask you for some sensitive details and we would then ask for your consent to store that data. Alternatively, you or your representative may voluntarily share such data with us. We will only use this information for debt collection or accessibility purposes and would only share such information with those members of the company or our clients who need to be aware of the information for those purposes only.
Any sharing of your sensitive data will be on the basis of your explicitly given consent or if we are required or permitted to do so under the GDPR or if we have a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Advanced Collection Systems Ltd, our employees, agents or others.
2. How we'll get in touch
We'll use the contact information you've given us when we need to get in touch. So we might email you, give you a ring, send a text or use another form of electronic communication. We might even visit you in person.
3. Passing your information on
3.1 We may allow other people and organisations to use your information (including any current or future group companies or other companies that provide services to us). Why?
3.2 Occasionally, the other people or organisations we pass your information to might be outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Because of that, we may pass your information to countries that have different standards and laws about protecting personal information.
3.3 If we suspect someone has committed fraud or acted illegally, we'll note it in our account records and may share the information with relevant authorities, or anyone else who needs to know.
So we may record sensitive personal information like any criminal offences you've been accused of.
3.4 If we think that you (or anyone in your household) might need extra care (because of age, health, disability or financial circumstances, for example), we may record this in our records. We'll use this information if things go wrong in the future, and might share it with:
Support organisations
Like social services, charities, or healthcare organisations. We'll pass on your information to them if we think you (or someone else in your home) needs help. We may also share this information with our clients if there is a regulatory need (under Ofgem rules, for example).
3.5 We may check your details with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies to help us and our clients make decisions about whether or not you're eligible to make payments for goods and services or to maintain any payment plan we are discussing.
A. We'll search credit reference and fraud prevention agencies for information about you. If you use information that's false or wrong, we might suspect fraud. In that case, we'll pass your details on to credit reference and fraud prevention agencies. Some government agencies (like the police and HM Revenue & Customs) can see and use this information too.
B. We (and other organisations) may also access and use information about you that we have obtained from credit reference and fraud prevention agencies to, for example:
C. When credit reference agencies receive a search from us, they'll record this on your credit file (whether your application is successful or not).
D. We'll send information on your account to credit reference agencies and they'll record it. We'll give them details of your account and how you manage it. Credit reference agencies will also make a record if you don't repay money you owe us in full or on time. They may give this information to other organisations and fraud prevention agencies to carry out similar checks, find out where you are and deal with any money you owe. The credit reference agencies keep records for six years after your account has been closed, you have paid the final debt or action has been taken against you to recover the debt.
E. If you want to know what information credit reference and fraud prevention agencies hold about you, contact these agencies.
It's worth contacting them all, because the information they have might not be the same. They'll charge you a small fee.
Call Credit
Consumer Services Team
PO Box 491
Leeds
LS3 1WZ
Phone: 0870 060 1414
Website: callcredit.co.uk
Experian
Consumer Help Service
PO Box 8000
Nottingham
NG80 7WF
Phone: 0870 241 6212
Website: experian.co.uk
Equifax Plc
Credit File Advice Centre
PO Box 1140
Bradford
BD1 5US
Phone: 0844 335 0550
Website: equifax.co.uk
3.6 We will not share your data with third parties for marketing purposes.
4. You're entitled to have a copy of the information we hold on you and you can have any inaccurate information corrected. We may charge a small fee for providing a copy of any information we hold about you. If you're interested, talk to our privacy team at:
Steele House
126 Great North Road
Hatfield
Herts
AL9 5JN
Telephone: 01707 252 900
Or you can email us at DataProtection@AdvancedCollection.co.uk
4. Protecting your information
4.1 We have strict security measures to protect your personal information. This includes following our security procedures (like checking your identity when you call us) and encrypting all the data on our websites and held in our databases.
4.2 How long we keep your data. We will keep your data for 6 years after your account has been closed unless we are required to keep it longer for regulatory, compliance or legal reasons. After this period data will be deleted from our systems or anonymised if we are retaining it for statistical purposes.
5. The internet
Remember that communications over the internet like emails and web chats (messages sent through a website) aren't secure unless you've encrypted them. These kinds of messages may go through a number of countries before they are delivered. That's just the nature of the internet, so we can't accept responsibility for any unauthorised access or loss of personal information if it's beyond our control.
6. Other rights
In addition to the rights contained in this document, you may also have other rights in certain circumstances. These rights are;
The right to erasure, the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability and the right to object to processing. These rights apply in certain well defined circumstances which will rarely, but not necessarily never, be the case with the processing we carry out. If you wish to exercise any of these rights in respect of the personal data we may hold about you please contact us using the details above.
We will investigate your request and either comply or advise you clearly why we do not have to.
7. Cookies
We may use "cookies" to monitor how people use our site. This helps us to understand how our customers and potential customers use our website so we can improve things like layout, function and design.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a piece of information stored on your computer's hard drive that records how you've used a website. The next time you visit that website, it can tailor your options based on the information it has stored about your last visit.
How do I stop using cookies?
You can normally alter the settings of your browser to prevent it from accepting cookies, or to tell you when a website tries to put a cookie on your computer. (But you might not be able to use some of the products or services on our website without cookies.)
Have a look at our cookies policy to find out more about cookies and how to manage them.
8. Links
Our website has links to other sites and recommended suppliers. We're not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. This policy only applies to what's on the ACS website.
9. Further Information
If you'd like any more information, or you have comments or questions about our privacy policy, write to us at:
Data Protection Officer
Advanced Collection Systems Ltd
Steele House
126 Great North Road
Hatfield
Herts
AL9 5JN
Or email us at DataProtection@AdvancedCollection.co.uk
We may amend this policy from time to time. When that happens, we'll publish the amended version on our website and notify you by email where appropriate. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.
10. Complaints
If you wish to complain about the way we have stored or processed your data, you can do so directly to our Data Protection Officer using the above contact details or you can complain to the supervisory authority, which in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioners Office. Their telephone number is 0303 123 1113 and further information can be found on their website, www.ico.org.uk
