Privacy and security statement

Insuredrisks.co.uk, a trading name of Master Cover Insurance Services Ltd, promises to respect your personal information supplied. We will only request necessary information from you at the time of your application and we will try to ensure that your details are accurate and kept up to date. Information is collected lawfully and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Any personal data that is saved is held safely on our computer with security systems preventing unauthorised access. Please take a few moments to read the sections below and learn how we may use your personal information. You acknowledge that by providing your personal information to us, you consent in its processing in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

How your information will be used

General

We will use your information for:

Processing your quotes
Administering your policy including claims handling
Fraud prevention and detection
Credit scoring or other automated decision-making systems
Administering debt recoveries
Verifying your identity when required
Undertaking market research
Keeping you informed about promotions and new developments by email, telephone or post.

Marketing

The information you give us will be used by Master Cover Insurance Services Ltd and may be exchanged with other approved organisations for underwriting and fraud prevention purposes. However, we will only reveal your personal data to third parties if it is necessary for the performance of your agreement with us, you have given your consent or it is required or permitted by law. You can opt out of receiving marketing emails during the quote and buy process.

Collecting Personal Information

We will collect your personal information when:

You ask for a quote
You purchase our products and services
You make customer enquiries
You register for information or other services
You respond to communications or surveys
When providing information about others who may be insured you confirm that you have the consent of these individuals to supply their personal information.

The type of personal information we may collect could include:

Name and address, date of birth and gender
Telephone numbers and email address
Credit/ debit card details
We may also collect information defined as "sensitive data" within the Data Protection Act 1998. This includes:
- Medical history
- Claims history
- Criminal convictions etc.

By accepting your policy with us you agree to our collecting such information. We are unable to offer you any insurance product unless you provide explicit consent for the collection and use of such sensitive data as defined in the Act.

We may also monitor or record calls, emails, text messages or other communications in accordance with UK law, and in particular for:

Business purposes such as quality control and training
Processing necessary for entering into or performance of a contract
Prevention of unauthorised use of our telecommunication systems and websites
Ensuring effective systems operation
Meeting any legal obligation
Protecting your vital interests
Prevention or detection of crime
For the legitimate interests of the data controller.

Please visit www.dataprotection.gov.uk or www.dti.gov.uk for further information.

All personal information will be held in the strictest confidence and used only for the purposes for which we collect it. If you would like us to remove any personal information from our records, then please write to us at:

Quality Department
Master Cover Insurance Services Ltd
Groupama House,
17 Station Road,
New Barnet,
EN5 1PJ

We will make all reasonable efforts to delete your information from our files if it is deemed appropriate.

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Security

We take security seriously and we use one of the strongest available security systems to protect your communications with us. Whenever you fill in a form containing sensitive data, such as credit card details, it is automatically protected using something called a Secure Socket Layers (SSL) between your computer and ours. SSL works in the following ways:

It prevents impersonation - you can tell that you are using a genuine SSL site by the padlock symbol at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on either the padlock or the image opposite will reveal our Registration Certificate that is issued by Verisign, a leading Internet security company.
It encrypts data - as soon as your computer has recognised our computer they encrypt all information that is passed between them. Data encryption means that no one else can read or change your information as it travels over the Internet.
It prevents scrambling - SSL uses a Message Authentication Code (MAC) to prevent anyone tampering with our Internet site. Your computer will always check this code before it takes a message from us. This means that if anyone tried to interfere with a message, your computer would not recognise the code and would alert you.

There are two minor problems with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Neither problem has any effect on the actual security in force, but may make it appear to you as if it is not fully secure. Internet Explorer 4. The padlock symbol does not always appear at the bottom when it should. A full description of this error, number Q154621, is at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q154/6/21.asp.

Internet Explorer 5. If you click on the padlock symbol to view the security certificate the following message may be displayed: "This certificate has failed to verify for all of its intended purposes". The other details of the certificate shown are correct. A full description of this error, number Q233479, is at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q233/4/79.asp.

For added peace of mind The Consumer Credit Act (1974) also applies to transactions over the Internet. It limits your maximum liability on your credit card to £50, in the event of its loss or fraudulent use. Furthermore, all liability ceases completely once the credit card issuer has been notified of any loss or fraudulent use.

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Cookies

A cookie (a small text file) is stored on your computer with a unique identification number. This simply allows us to identify you as a user amongst our many other users. Cookies are commonly used on the Internet and do not harm your computer system.

The cookies used on the Site do not include any information that others could read and understand about you, such as your name, or any account or policy number. They contain no personal information about you.

We currently use a combination of first and third party cookies in the following ways:

To facilitate your ability to navigate through the Site.
To collate anonymous aggregated information that is used to manage and plan enhancements to our services. For example, cookies help us to understand the popular paths that users take through the Site and how often it is visited.
To evaluate the effectiveness of our advertising and promotions on third party websites by tracking whether these advertisements are clicked on by users. We use third party agents to assist in providing information on promotion delivery. We own and control the use of all data collected and it is not shared with any other third party. All data collected is anonymous and non-personal.
As a flag to help us recognise when we have already asked you to participate in any on-line market research and to prevent you from being asked to complete the same questionnaire every time that you visit the Site while any particular research work is being carried out.

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Confidentiality

We will endeavour to treat your personal information as private and confidential. Other than under the terms of this Statement, we will not disclose any of your information to anyone.

We would like to bring to your attention our obligations to disclose information in the following four exceptional cases permitted by law, and the other situations set out below. These are:

Where we are legally compelled to do so
Where there is a duty to the public to disclose
Where disclosure is required to protect our interest
Where disclosure is made at your request or with your consent.

Also, from time to time we will employ agents and subcontractors to process your personal information on our behalf. The same duty of confidentiality and security will apply to them and all processing will be carried out under our instruction.

If you make a complaint about the service we have provided, we may be obliged to forward details about your complaint, including your personal information, to the relevant ombudsman. You can be assured that they are similarly obliged to adhere to the Data Protection Act and keep your personal information strictly confidential.

In the unfortunate event that you have to make a claim then we will need to disclose information with any other party involved in that claim. This may include:

Third parties involved with the claim, their insurer, solicitor or representative
Medical teams, the police or other investigators.

Insurers pass information to the Claims Underwriting and Exchange Register, run by Insurance Database Services (IDS) and the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register, run by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). This helps insurers check information and prevent fraudulent claims. When we deal with your request for insurance we may search these registers. Under the conditions of your policy, you must tell us about any incident (such as an accident or theft) which may give rise to a claim. When you tell us about an incident we will pass information to the Registers.

Your policy details will be added to the Motor Insurance Database (MID), run by the Motor Insurers' Information Centre (MIIC). MID data may be used by the DVLA and the DVLNI for Electronic Vehicle Licensing and by the police for establishing whether a driver's use of a vehicle is likely to be covered by a motor insurance policy and/or for preventing and detecting crime. If you are involved in an accident (in the UK or abroad), other UK insurers, the Motor Insurers' Bureau and MIIC may search the MID to obtain policy information. Persons pursuing a claim in respect of a road traffic accident (including citizens of other countries) may also obtain information which is held on the MID. Find out more at www.miic.org.uk.

December 2007

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