Privacy Policy

1.      General

This Privacy Policy sets out how we, Askews Legal LLP (trading as ‘Debt-Claims Solicitors’) obtain, store and use your personal information when you use or interact with our website, debt-claims.com.

Please note that if you enlist our debt recovery services, both parties will enter into a separate agreement that will govern the processing of all information and data collected by us in connection with the service, including some data collected through our website. Such agreement is subject to, and shall be construed in accordance with, any conflicting provision in this Privacy Policy.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

This Privacy Policy is effective from 01 June 2023.

2.      The information that we collect and where we get it from

• We collect or obtain your information:
  • When you provide it to us e.g. by contacting us or inserting your details on our website;
  • From your use of our website via cookies (such as the type of browser you are using, the type of operating system you are using, and the domain name of your Internet service provider);
• We do not collect personally identifiable information about you unless you choose to fill out a form, found on many of the pages of our website, or email us directly. The personal information that we process includes:
  • Basic information, such as your name (including name prefix or title), the company you work for, your title or position and your relationship to a person;
  • Contact information, such as your postal address, email address and phone number;
  • Financial information, such as payment-related information;
  • Identification and background information provided by you or collected as part of our business acceptance processes; and
  • Any other information relating to you which you may provide to us.
• We do automatically collect certain non-personally identifiable information when you visit our website – such as the type of browser you are using, the type of operating system you are using, and the domain name of your Internet service provider.
• We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

3.      If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of the Agreement we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the Agreement we have or are about to enter into with you. In this case, we may have to cancel our service with you but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

4.      How we use the information we collect

• We use non-personally identifiable information to analyse website usage (such as aggregated information on the pages visited by our users), which allows us to improve the design and content of our website. We may do the following with your personal information:
  • Respond to your inquiry or form you have completed on various sections of our website;
  • Use it to provide legal services and other related matters;
  • Use it to engage in marketing and business development activity in relation to our services. This may include sending you newsletters, legal updates, marketing communications and other information that may be of interest to you;
  • To comply with legal and regulatory obligations that we have to discharge; and
  • Use it for our legitimate business interests, such as undertaking business research and analysis, managing the operation of our websites and our business.

5.      Grounds for using your personal information

• We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
• Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

6.      How we share information with third parties

• We do not sell or rent your personal information to third-parties.
• We may share your personal information with third parties, only to the extent necessary to run our business, provide a service to you, comply with the law, enforce our legal rights or because you have provided consent. This may include the following:
  • Third party agents/suppliers or contractors, in connection with the processing of your personal information for the purposes described in this Policy. This may include, but is not limited to, website hosting, IT and communications service providers.
  • Third parties relevant to the services that we provide.
  • To the extent required by law, regulation or court order, for example, if we are under a duty to disclose your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation.
  • Where it is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim, or for the purposes of a confidential alternative dispute resolution process.

7.      Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.
In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party website, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party website and recommend that you check the policy of that third party website.

8.      Website forms

• Any forms which are available on our website are powered by Jotforms, also bound by the EU General Data Protection Regulations.
• When you fill out a form, the data that you submit will be forwarded to Jotforms and will be collated into an email and sent to us.
• The data that you submit via the form will not be stored within this website’s own database or in any of our internal computer systems.
• Your data will remain within Jotform’s secure database in the EU for as long as we continue to use Jotform’s services or until you specifically request removal by emailing us.
• We consider JotForm to be a third party data processor.
• For more information, please see https://www.jotform.com/privacy.

9.      Transferring your information outside of Europe

• We may transfer your personal information outside of the European Economic Area.
• If we do transfer your personal data outside the EEA:
  • It will be because you have consented or because we have a legal reason to do so; and
  • We will take steps to ensure that reasonably appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.

10.  16 or Under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under.  If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

11.  Keeping your information and information security

• How long we hold your personal information for will vary and will depend principally on:

The purpose for which we are using your personal information – we will need to keep the information for as long as is necessary for the relevant purpose, and

Legal obligations – laws or regulation may set a minimum period for which we have to keep your personal information.

• We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
• To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
• We will ensure that the personal information that we hold is subject to appropriate security measures. In particular, we have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know.  They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have also put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

12.  Third-party links

Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

13.  Cookies

• A cookie is a piece of data stored on a user’s hard drive containing information about the user. The information below explains the cookies we use on our website and why we use them:

14.  Your choices and rights

• You have a number of legal rights in relation to the personal information that we hold about you and you can exercise your rights by contacting us using the details set out below.
• These rights include:
  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request“). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
    • If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
    • Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
    • Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
    • You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

• • Lodging a complaint with the relevant data protection authority, if you think that any of your rights have been infringed by us. We can, on request, tell you which data protection authority is relevant to the processing of your personal information.

15.  Changes to our privacy policy

This privacy policy may change from time to time, in line with legislation or industry developments.  We will not explicitly inform our clients or website users of these changes. Instead, we recommend that you check this page occasionally for any policy changes.

16.  Glossary

LAWFUL BASIS

• Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.
• Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
• Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.

17.  How to contact us and other important information

If you would like further information on the collection, use, disclosure, transfer or processing of your personal information or the exercise of any of the rights listed above, please contact us.  You can do this by writing to us at enquiries@debt-claims.com.