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Privacy Policy

Information we hold about you

This policy applies to information we hold about you.  In this policy ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ mean Barclays Partner Finance, which is a trading name of Clydesdale Financial Services Limited, a member of the Barclays Group, registered number 2901725, registered office 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Our trading address is PO Box 2501, Cardiff CF23 0FP.  ‘You’ means the person the information relates to.

This policy applies to information held about customers and possible future customers, suppliers and possible future suppliers, contacts and all other people we hold information about.  By ‘information’ we mean personal and financial information about you that we collect, use, share and store.  This may include your name, address, date of birth, contact information, financial information, details about your health and lifestyle, employment details, device identifiers including internet protocol (IP) address, and vehicle details, where relevant.  

It includes information about any other Barclaycard and Barclays products and services (or products and services provided by our partners) you currently have, you’ve applied for or you’ve had in the past. 

Where this information comes from

We collect, use, share and store information about you to provide you with the services you have asked us for and to share information with you about services that may be of interest to you. 

You may provide this information direct to us, for example by the way you communicate or do business with us, such as:

  • applying for our products or services;
  • using our telephone services or websites;
  • writing to us;
  • entering competitions or promotions;
  • using our websites or digital services, in which case we may gather information about how you access and use these services, such as your IP address and information about the devices or software you use (we may also make other requests or give you more details about how we use your information, for example, we may ask for your location to help find nearby services);
  • giving information to us at any other time, including through social media; and
  • using and managing your accounts (we may take information such as the date, amount and currency of payments made to your account).

This information may also come from other organisations or people, such as other Barclays companies, other organisations you have a relationship with, joint account holders, credit reference agencies (who may search the Electoral Register), employers, fraud prevention agencies or other organisations. 

If you do not provide the information that we tell you must provide, this may mean that we are unable to properly provide you with our services or carry out all our obligations under our agreement with you.

Your information

We collect your information to provide our services to you and to help us develop new and improved products and services to meet our customers’ needs. We also use your information to carry out checks for security purposes, to prevent fraud and money laundering, to check your identity before we provide services to you, for training, and to communicate with you. We may use automated processes whenever we use your information. 

Under data protection laws, whenever we process your personal information we must meet at least one set condition for processing. These conditions are set out in data protection law and we rely on a number of different conditions for the activities we carry out.  Specifically, we and other Barclays companies may use your information for the following purposes and under the following legal basis.

How we use your information
Legal basis

To provide and manage your accounts and our relationship with you.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you.
  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where it's in our legitimate interests to make sure that our customer accounts are well-managed, so that our customers are provided with a high standard of service, to protect our business interests and the interests of our customers.

To give you statements and other information about your account or our relationship with you.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you.
  • Where the law requires this.

To handle enquiries and complaints.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you.
  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where it's in our legitimate interests to make sure that complaints are investigated, for example, so that our customers receive a high standard of service and so that we can prevent future complaints.
  • Where you agree, if we are using sensitive information such as medical details.

To provide our services to you.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you.
  • Where the law requires this.

If you apply for an Instalments account with our retailer partners.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you, Barclays and our retailer partners will share information about your application for an Instalments account, your purchases, our lending decision, the status of your account and your remaining balance.

For assessment, testing (including systems tests) and analysis (including credit or behaviour scoring (or both), statistical, market and product analysis and market research.  We may use this information to prepare statistical reports to be shared internally or externally with others, including non-Barclays companies.  We produce these reports using information about you and our other customers.  The information in these reports is never personal and you will never be identifiable from them.

  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where it's in our legitimate interests to build business models and systems which protect our business interests and provide our customers with a high standard of service.

To evaluate, develop and improve our services to you and other customers.

  • Where it’s in our legitimate interests to continually evaluate, develop or improve our products as well as the experiences of users of our sites, so that we provide our customers with a high standard of service.

To protect our business interests and to develop our business strategies.

  • Where it's in our legitimate interests to protect our people, business and property and to develop our strategies.
  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement or to take steps to enter into an agreement with you.
  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where you agree, if we are using sensitive information such as medical details.

To contact you, by post, phone, text, email and other digital methods. 

This may be:

  • to help you manage your accounts;
  • to meet our regulatory obligations; or
  • to keep you informed about products and services you hold with us and to send you information about products or services (including those of other companies) which may be of interest to you.


  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where we have agreed to contact you in our agreement.
  • Where you agree.
  • Where it’s in our legitimate interests to share information with you about products or services that may be relevant and beneficial to you. Where we send you marketing messages, you can always tell us if you no longer want to receive them. Please see more information in the ‘Contact us’ section.

To manage or collect any debts you owe us.

  • Where it's in our legitimate interests to manage or collect any debts you owe us.
  • Where you agree, if we are using sensitive information such as medical details.

To prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute fraud and alleged fraud, money laundering and other crimes, and to confirm your identity.

  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where it's in our legitimate interests to prevent and investigate fraud, money laundering and other crimes, and to confirm your identity in order to protect our business and to keep to laws that apply to us.
  • Where we must process your information under the contract for the services or financing you have asked us to provide.

To assess any application you make, including checking for fraud, confirming your identity, and carrying out any other regulatory checks.  We may compare your details with the details of countries, organisations and people who sanctions apply to, to decide whether we are prevented from doing business with you or processing a transaction under sanctions law.

  • Where you have made the information public.
  • Where it’s in our legitimate interests to protect our business interests.
  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where you agree, if we are using sensitive information such as medical details.

To monitor, record and analyse any communications between you and us, including phone calls.

  • Where it’s in our legitimate interests, to check your instructions to us, to prevent and detect fraud and other crime, to analyse, assess and improve our services to customers, and for training purposes, to improve the services we provide to our customers and to protect our business interests.
  • Where you agree, if we are using sensitive information such as medical details.

To transfer your information to or share it with any organisation your account has been or may be transferred to following a restructure, sale or takeover of any Barclays company.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement.
  • Where we have a legitimate interest in restructuring or selling part of our business.

To share your information with UK or other relevant tax authorities, credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies, and UK and overseas regulators and authorities.

  • Where the law requires this.
  • Where we have a legitimate interest in carrying out certain credit checks so that we can make responsible business decisions.  As a responsible organisation, we need to make sure that we only provide certain products to companies and individuals if the products are appropriate, and that we continue to manage the services we provide, for example if we believe that you may have difficulties making a payment to us.
  • Where we have a legitimate interest in helping to prevent and detect fraud and other crime.
  • Where we have a legitimate interest in helping UK and overseas regulators who monitor banks to make sure that they work within the law and regulations.

To share your information with our partners and service providers.

  • Where necessary to carry out our agreement.
  • Where we have a legitimate interest in using other organisations or people to provide some services for us or on our behalf.

Data protection law allows us to use personal information for our genuine and legitimate reasons as long as we respect your rights and freedoms. This lawful basis for using your information is called ‘legitimate interests’.  When we rely on our legitimate interests as the legal basis for processing your personal information for the purposes set out above, we will carefully consider and balance any possible effect this may have on you and your rights.

Automated decision-making

If you apply to us for a loan, your application may be processed by an automated decision-making process which may carry out affordability checks to decide whether we will accept your application. 

We will also carry out automated anti-money-laundering and sanctions checks (which means that your details will be compared with the details of countries, organisations and people who sanctions apply to, to decide whether we are prevented from doing business with you under sanctions law).  This means that we may automatically decide that you present a fraud or money-laundering risk if the processing reveals your behaviour to be consistent with money-laundering or known fraudulent behaviour, is inconsistent with information you have previously provided, or you appear to have deliberately hidden your true identity.

You have rights relating to automated decision-making. If you want to know more, please contact us using the details set out in the ‘Contact us’ section.

If we, or a fraud prevention agency, decide that you present a fraud or money-laundering risk:

  • we may refuse to provide the services and financing you have applied for or refuse to employ you, or we may stop providing existing services to you; and
  • the fraud prevention agencies will keep a record of any fraud or money-laundering risk, and this may result in others refusing to provide services, financing or employment to you.

If you have any questions about this, please contact us using the details set out in the ‘Contact us’ section.

Sharing your information with others

We’ll keep your information confidential but we may share it in certain circumstances, for the purposes set out in this policy. These may include, but are not limited to:

  • other Barclays companies;
  • other companies who provide a service to you, for example if you use our products to make a purchase or payment;
  • our retailer partners if you apply for and/or use an Instalments account with us;
  • our service providers and agents, including their subcontractors;
  • any company we are providing services with;
  • anyone we transfer or may transfer our rights and duties to;
  • fraud prevention agencies; and
  • credit reference agencies; and
  • insurance companies if you have a motor loan with us

The people and organisations listed above will also have to keep it secure and confidential.

We may also share your information:

  • with UK and overseas regulators and authorities in connection with their duties (such as preventing crime);
  • with any other person or organisation after a restructure, sale or takeover of any Barclays company, as long as that person uses your information for the same purposes as it was originally given to us or used by us (or both); and
  • if we have a duty to reveal it, if it is needed to manage your accounts, or if a law or regulation allows us to do so for legitimate business purposes or with your permission.

Sharing your information with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies

When processing your application, we will carry out credit and identity checks on you with one or more credit reference agencies. To do this, we will give the credit reference agencies your personal information and they will give us information about you.

We will also continue to exchange information about you with credit reference agencies while you have a relationship with us, for example, if we have asked you to pay an amount you owe us and we do not receive a satisfactory reply from you within our stated time limit, or if you give us false or inaccurate information. The credit reference agencies may share your personal information with other organisations.

If you are a UK resident:

The credit reference agencies, and the ways in which they use and share personal information, are explained in more detail at www.experian.co.uk/crain/index.html.  Examples of circumstances when we may share your information or information relating to your partner or other members of your household include when we are:

  • checking details on applications for products and services, and credit and credit-related, or other, facilities;
  • managing credit and credit-related accounts or facilities;
  • recovering debt;
  • checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance;
  • checking details of job applicants and employees; and
  • making enquiries when you ask for any lending products or investment products and to help us manage your account.
If you are a Republic of Ireland resident:

If you are a Republic of Ireland resident, we will give the Irish Credit Bureau D.A.C. (the ICB) your personal information and they will give us information about you. The ICB will be using legitimate interests as the legal basis for processing of your personal and credit information.

These legitimate interests are promoting greater financial stability by supporting a full and accurate assessment of loan applications, aiding in the avoidance of over-indebtedness, assisting in lowering the cost of credit, complying with and supporting compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, enabling more consistent, faster decision-making in the provision of credit and assisting in fraud prevention.   

The ICB, and the ways in which it uses and shares personal information, are explained in more detail at http://www.icb.ie/policy_privacy.php.

It documents who they are, what they do, details of their Data Protection Officer, how they get the data, why they take it, what personal data they hold, what they do with it, how long they retain it, who they share it with, what entitles them to process the data (legitimate interests), what happens if your data is inaccurate and your rights i.e. right to information, right of access, right to complain, right to object, right to restrict, right to request erasure and right to request correction of your personal information.

We will share your information with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money laundering, and to confirm your identity.  We and fraud prevention agencies may also allow law enforcement agencies to access and use your personal information to detect, investigate and prevent crime.  If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services or finance.

Fraud prevention agencies can hold your personal information for different periods of time, and if you are considered to present a fraud or money-laundering risk, they can hold your information for up to six years.

If you have any concerns about the way we use your information, you alternatively have the right to complain to the Data Protection Commissioner, which regulates the use of personal information in the Republic of Ireland, by calling 0761 104 800.

We may make changes to this notice and how we use your information in the future.  If we do this, we'll post an updated version of this notice on our website.  You can find the current version of this notice, which explains how we'll use your information, by visiting our website at www.barclayspartnerfinance.com.

Sharing your information outside the European Economic Area

When we or fraud prevention agencies transfer your information outside the European Economic Area, we or the fraud prevention agencies will:

  • make sure that the organisations we transfer your information to apply an equivalent level of protection;
  • include conditions in the contract with the people or organisations receiving your personal information to protect it to the standard required in the European Economic Area; and
  • possibly ask the people or organisations receiving your information to subscribe to international frameworks intended to allow information to be shared securely. 

If we are transferring your information, we may also transfer it to a country considered by the European Commission to provide adequate protection of your information, or to a different country if you agree to the transfer.  If we transfer your information outside the European Economic Area in other circumstances (for example, because we have to reveal the information to help prevent or detect a crime), we’ll make sure we share that information lawfully.

You can obtain more details of the protection given to your information when it’s transferred outside the EEA by contacting us using the details in the ‘Contact us’ section below.

Sharing your information after Brexit

The UK has left the European Union and ceased to be an EU member state. Nonetheless, we may still be required (for the purposes described in this notice) to:

  • Transfer personal data from the UK to the EU, the EEA or elsewhere; and
  • Receive personal data from outside the UK (including from the EU/EEA) into the UK

Where we make or receive such transfers, we will ensure that those transfers are lawful and (where necessary) we shall put in place appropriate measures, such as contractual commitments, to ensure that personal data is sent and received in accordance with applicable law.

How long we will keep your information

We will keep your information for as long as is needed for the purposes set out above or as required by any laws that apply.

If you close your account, if we refuse your application for an account or product, or you decide not to go ahead with your application for an account or product, we’ll still keep your information. We may also continue to collect information from credit reference agencies to use after your account is closed. We’ll do this for as long as we’re allowed to for legitimate business purposes, to help prevent fraud and other financial crime, and for other legal and regulatory reasons.

Your rights

You have rights relating to the way that we use your information.  You have the right to:

  • ask us to send you (or someone you nominate) a copy of the information we hold about you; 
  • ask us to correct or delete any incorrect or incomplete information we hold about you (we will correct any information we believe is incorrect or incomplete);
  • ask us to stop using your information (we will do this if there is no legal reason for us to continue to hold or use that information);
  • object to any automated decision-making;
  • ask us to transfer certain personal information to you or to another person or organisation, including service providers, in a format they can use where this is technically possible (known as the right to data portability); 
  • withdraw any permission you have previously given to allow us to use your information; and
  • ask us to stop or start sending you marketing messages at any time (contact us using the details in the ‘Contact us’ section).

To use any of the rights set out above, or to discuss any other issue relating to your information, please contact us using the methods set out in the ‘Contact us’ section. 

If you have any concerns about the way we use your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, which regulates the use of personal information in the UK, by calling 0303 123 1113.

Contact us

If you have any questions or comments about privacy issues, or you have a complaint about how we are using your personal information, you can contact us by:

  • visiting our website at www.barclayspartnerfinance.com;
  • writing to The Data Protection Officer, Barclays Partner Finance, PO Box 2501, Cardiff, CF23 0FP; or
  • calling our customer services department on 0800 15 22 888.  (Calls may be recorded or monitored for training purposes.)