Privacy policy
What we collect when you use this website or contact us, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it.
Checked
Who we are
IVA Helpline (ivahelpline.co.uk) is a trading style of Simply Quote Comparison Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 15008284. Registered office: Sentinel House, Ancells Business Park, Harvest Crescent, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 2UZ.
Simply Quote Comparison Ltd is the data controller for the personal information collected through this website. That means we decide how and why it is used, and we are responsible for looking after it. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, registration number ZB659587.
The IVA Helpline service is provided on our behalf by Complete 2 Financial Solutions Ltd, company number 15167030. Their advisers answer our phone line and call people back.
To ask anything about your personal information, or to use any of your rights, email dataprotection@simplyquote.co.uk, or write to us at the address above.
What we collect
When you use the online check or call us
- Contact details: your name, phone number and email address
- Where you live: England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland, because the debt solutions available depend on it
- Your debts: roughly how much you owe, how many creditors you have, what kinds of debt they are, and whether you are keeping up with payments
- Your circumstances: your work situation, whether you own or rent your home, and roughly how much is left each month after essential bills
- Your preferences: the best time to call you
- Anything you tell us when we speak to you, and the adviser’s notes of those conversations
We do not ask for your bank details, and the online check does not search or affect your credit file.
If you start the online check but do not finish it
Your answers are saved in your browser as you go, so you do not lose them. If you give us a phone number or email address and then leave before sending your answers, the answers you have given so far are sent to us, so that we can contact you once to see whether you still need help. The check tells you this before you start.
When you visit the website
- Technical information such as your IP address and browser type, recorded by our hosting provider to keep the site running and secure
- Anonymous visit statistics. We use Ahrefs Web Analytics, which does not use cookies and does not collect personal data. It tells us which pages are read, not who reads them
- The page you came from. When you start the online check from one of our guides, we record which guide, so we know which pages help people
We do not use advertising tools on this website. If we add any, we will update this page and our cookies page first.
Information about other people
If you tell us about other people, for example a partner whose income or debts are linked to yours, please make sure they are happy for you to do so.
Information about your health or circumstances
We do not ask about your health. If you choose to tell us about a health condition, a disability, or something else that makes your situation harder, we will only use it to help you, for example to make sure you are given information in a way that suits you, and only with your permission.
How we use it
| Why we use your information | Our lawful basis |
|---|---|
| To respond to your enquiry and call you back | Taking steps at your request, and our legitimate interest in providing the service you asked for |
| To contact you once if you left the online check part way through | Our legitimate interest in making sure people who asked for help get it. You can ask us to stop at any time |
| To introduce you to a licensed insolvency practitioner, or to the provider of another debt solution you have chosen | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time |
| To keep records of what was said and agreed | Our legitimate interest in providing a reliable service, and to meet our legal obligations |
| To deal with complaints and legal claims | Our legitimate interests, and our legal obligations |
| To keep the website secure and prevent misuse | Our legitimate interest |
We do not use your information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. The online check does not decide whether you can have an IVA: only an insolvency practitioner can assess that.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not receive a fee for introducing you to anyone.
Who we share it with
We only share your information with the people who need it to help you, or to run the service:
- Complete 2 Financial Solutions Ltd, who provide the IVA Helpline service on our behalf. Your answers go to them so that their advisers can call you back.
- A licensed insolvency practitioner, or the provider of another debt solution, if you decide you want to go ahead, and only with your permission. They will then use your information under their own privacy notice, which they must give you.
- Service providers who run the systems we use, under contract and only on our instructions. These include our website hosting provider, our email delivery provider, and the system used to handle enquiries.
- Professional advisers, such as lawyers and auditors, where needed.
- Regulators, courts and law enforcement, where the law requires it.
We will not pass your details to anyone for marketing without your separate, specific consent.
Where your information is stored
We aim to store and process your personal information within the UK. Some of our service providers, such as our hosting and email delivery providers, may process data outside the UK. Where they do, we make sure the safeguards required by UK data protection law are in place, such as the UK government’s adequacy regulations or approved contract terms.
How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not go ahead: usually up to 12 months from the last time we were in contact
- Answers from an unfinished online check: usually up to 12 months
- If we introduce you to a provider: usually up to 6 years after the introduction, so we can deal with any questions or complaints, and meet our legal obligations
When information is no longer needed, it is securely deleted.
How we keep it safe
The website uses an encrypted connection (HTTPS), so what you type into the online check is protected on its way to us. Access to your information is limited to the people who need it, and our service providers are required to keep it secure.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Be informed about how your information is used, which is what this page is for
- See a copy of the information we hold about you
- Have it corrected if it is wrong or incomplete
- Have it deleted, in some circumstances
- Restrict how we use it, in some circumstances
- Object to us using it, including where we rely on our legitimate interests, for example contacting you about an unfinished online check
- Withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it
- Data portability: receive the information you gave us in a format you can take elsewhere, in some circumstances
To use any of these rights, email dataprotection@simplyquote.co.uk or write to us. It is free, and we will usually respond within one month. We may need to confirm who you are before we act.
Complaints about how we use your information
Please tell us first, so we can put it right. If you are still unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:
- Website: ico.org.uk
- Phone: 0303 123 1113
- Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Changes to this policy
We will update this page if the way we use personal information changes. The date it was last reviewed is shown at the top.