These terms and conditions (“Terms of Service”), which include our Privacy Policy, govern the use of the credit broking service (“Service”) provided by Funding Options Limited (“we”, “us”, “our”) to any business registered with us (“you”, “your”).
Funding Options Limited is incorporated in England & Wales with its registered office at Funding Options, Office 03-145, 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ (company number 07739337), authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm registration number 727867), and registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (reference number Z2992318).
We are a credit broker, not a lender. We are also a “designated finance platform” under The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, which means that if your application for finance from certain designated banks is unsuccessful, the bank must provide us with certain “specified information” related to that application. The Service includes a process for matching your profile, including any specified information we receive from any designated bank(s) to the lending criteria of the finance providers we work with (each a “Finance Provider”) in such a form that no individual business, and no person associated with the business, can be identified. The initial matching process satisfies our obligation under The Small and Medium Sized Business (Finance Platforms) Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”) to make available to the Finance Provider the specified information we receive from designated banks in that form. Where we have multiple Finance Providers with lending criteria matching your requirement, we may refer you to the Finance Provider that we believe most closely satisfies your requirements. We only maintain a Finance Provider’s access to the specified information related to such a business until either:
30 days after the date by when that information states that you require finance (or, if such date is not known, the date by which you have requested finance); or
the end of the Business Day after you inform us that either you do not wish any Finance Provider to access such information or you no longer require finance.
“Business Day” means any day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a bank or public holiday in England.
The Finance Provider may opt in or out of the shortlist of Finance Providers who might potentially provide financing to you. We will then present that list to you, and you may request us to provide the information we hold about you, including information that identifies you and any relevant person associated with the business. By the end of the Business Day following the day it receives any such request by you, we shall provide the relevant Finance Provider with that information as required under the Regulations.
Our Service is intended for your own business-related purposes only.
We do not provide debt counselling or debt advice. If you'd like support in this area, you may find contacting the Business Debtline useful.
We cannot guarantee that our Service will be successful for you, neither are we obliged to provide our Service to you.
Our Service is based on information from third parties over which we have no control, and may contain inaccuracies or errors.
Where you have not made us aware of your specific needs, it is your responsibility to ensure that any options presented through the Service meet your requirements.
Content and information provided as part of the Service may not be timely or correct, and will change without notice, meaning that it is for your general information and use only.
To support free usage of our Service, we must expressly exclude liability for any inaccuracies, service failures or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law. Accordingly, we cannot provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information offered through the Service.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, each party shall only be liable to the other party for any loss or damage which results as a directly foreseeable consequence of its breach of this Agreement or negligence (except in the case of fraud or willful misconduct).
Nothing in these terms shall seek to exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury or any other liability that cannot be lawfully excluded or limited.
While the Service is free of charge to you, we may receive commission from Finance Providers for introductions we make to them. We have a Conflicts Policy to detect and manage any potential conflicts that might arise.
The Service is not intended as advice or to be relied upon by you in any way, including as the basis for making or not making any decision, and you should obtain your own independent financial, accounting, tax and/or legal advice concerning your activities in connection with the Service and any finance application and/or agreement.
You use and download information from the Service at your own risk and should use software to detect and disinfect viruses in any information you use and download.
The availability of third party sites, links, services or information via the Service does not constitute any recommendation, advice, endorsement or publication by us and we are not responsible for any such sites, links, services or information provided by any third party.
We reserve the right to change any aspect of the Service at any time without notice or to suspend access to the Service, or end it.
By using the Service, you agree to notify us promptly of any changes in the details you have provided to us. You shall ensure that all information you provide to us is complete, true, up-to-date and accurate in all respects. You are solely responsible at your own cost and expense for creating backup copies and replacing any information you provide via the Service.
You agree that we and our lenders may carry out identity verification and credit checks on you and your owners or directors. You and your owners or directors acknowledge that credit reference agencies link together the records of you and anyone that you have advised is a financial associate (e.g. someone with whom you have a joint credit account) including previous and subsequent names of parties to the account. Links between financial associates will remain on yours and their credit reference files until such time as you or your associate successfully files for a disassociation with the credit reference agencies. We and any Finance Provider may take into account information about yours and your owners’ or directors’ financial associates in yours or their credit reference.
You agree to keep your username and password secure and when they are used to log-in we will assume that you are the person giving instructions and you will be liable for them unless and until you notify us that this is no longer the case. You are responsible for any activity through the Service arising out of any failure to keep your password secure. We may refuse or disable your access at our sole discretion without notice or explanation where it is lawful to do so.
If at any time you wish to cease using the Service, you may contact us to request deactivation of your account. Within a reasonable time of this notification, we will remove any third-party data access you may have given us. Historical data will be maintained by us as described below.
If you have agreed to pay us for any aspect of the Service, you recognise that we may withdraw your rights to use the Service as a result of non-payment.
You agree not to use the Service in a way that harms our reputation, and you agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
You agree to indemnify and hold us, our staff, officers, group companies and partners harmless from loss, damage or claim, made by third parties and/or incurred as a result your breach of these terms.
We will make reasonable efforts to provide support for the Service during office hours by email on support@fundingoptions.com, or by telephone on 0333 344 1015.
You recognise that unless otherwise stated in writing we do not grant you any intellectual property rights in relation to the Service, which include copyright, database rights, our trademarks, domain names, design rights and patents.
In addition, the Service contains material which is owned by us or our licensors, including but not limited to source code, algorithms, databases, copy and graphics, and you recognise that unless otherwise stated in writing, we do not grant you any rights to these. You may only link to the home page of the Service. You must not display, frame or otherwise surround the contents or any page from the Service, or allow such content or page to be displayed framed or otherwise surrounded, with material not originating from us without our prior written consent.
You will not acquire any proprietary rights (including database rights) to any information provided via the Service.
You will not:
use the Service to:
collect any information of other users from the Service for the purpose of sending unsolicited communications outside the Service;
create a database of information obtained from this Service otherwise than for your own records;
transfer any information form the Service to any third party except where expressly permitted by us;
use automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Service;
use the Service in any unlawful manner or in any manner that could harm the Service or the servers on which it is hosted;
register any person or entity on, or otherwise use, the Service without that person or entity's prior written authorisation;
impersonate any person or entity, create a false identity in relation to the Service or falsely state or otherwise mislead or deceive us;
remove any copyright or trade mark notice(s) from any material on or obtained via the Service.
We take data protection very seriously and we are committed to taking care of your business data in accordance with the provisions of our Privacy Policy.
As part of providing our Service to you our systems will gather data provided by you, in some instances from your systems such as accounting software, as well as from third-party sources.
As part of providing our Service to you we may share data provided by you with our panel of approved Lenders, and those Lenders will share with us information regarding your case such as its current status and outcome
Our usage of such data may involve interfacing to third party systems, to enhance the databases we use to provide the Service and our Services to others, and for monitoring of performance, statistical analysis and the identification of improvements to the Service.
By using our Services to provide data to us, you agree to grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, sub-licensable, transferable, perpetual license to use, copy, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute these data for any purpose on or in connection with the Service, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works. We may share this information with other third parties who assist us in providing the Service. In such circumstances, any data used will be anonymous and will not identify you as the source unless we receive your permission to do so. If you choose to remove your data, this license will expire, provided that you acknowledge (a) we may retain archived copies and (b) we are required to maintain records that are relevant to demonstrating our compliance with the Regulations for no less than five years from the date on which the records were created.
For the avoidance of doubt, Funding Options does not hold or in any way handle any client monies whatsoever.
If you want to make a complaint you can email complaints@fundingoptions.com with brief details of your complaint and your reference. We will acknowledge your complaint within one Business Day, then investigate and send you an initial response within another three Business Days. We will aim to resolve the matter within four weeks of receiving your complaint.
If within eight weeks after receiving a complaint we are still not able to resolve the matter, we will send you a final response. If you don’t agree with our final response you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, who can be contacted by telephone on 0800 023 4567 or at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. You may also have the right to make a complaint directly to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
We reserve the right to vary these terms and conditions at any time, including assigning these terms.
We may send any notices to you by email to the address provided when you signed up to the Service, or otherwise as updated by you through the Service. You agree that we may send you notices via email or via alerts within the service.
If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain enforceable. Failure to exercise or enforce rights or provisions shall not constitute a waiver.
Your use of the Service is subject to English law, and we both agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the English courts to settle any dispute that might arise.
the name of the small or medium sized business;
the postal address, email address and telephone number of the business;
the amount of finance requested by the business (other than in relation to a request for a credit card account, unless the business has requested a credit card account with a specified limit);
the type of finance requested by the business (where a specific type of finance has been requested by the business);
the legal structure of the business (limited company, limited partnership, partnership sole trader, or other);
the period in years and months for which the business has been trading and receiving income;
the date by which the business requires finance or, if such date is not known, the date by which the business has requested finance.
At Funding Options Ltd, we are committed to offering our customers the highest possible standards of service. In doing so, we are pleased to support the Financial Conduct Authority (formerly Financial Services Authority) initiative ‘Treating Customers Fairly’.
Provide you with clear information about the service we offer, including any fees or charges.
Continually aim to understand your business needs, preferences and circumstances in order for us to narrow down the selection of options that may be available to you.
Source the most appropriate lender that we consider suitable for your business, and that you can afford (based on the information provided and is available to us).
We will tell you if we cannot find an option we consider suitable.
Aim to keep you fully informed in a clear and fair manner that is unambiguous and not misleading.
Encourage you to ask questions, if there’s something that you do not understand.
Work hard to ensure that service and risk information remains clear and prominent at all times.
Provide you with details of our formal complaints procedure should you be dissatisfied with our service.
Tell us as much as possible about your business income and outgoings, to enable us to properly assess how much your business can afford.
Let us know about future changes that might affect your business’ ability to make re-payments of your credit agreement (if known).
Let us know if there is any aspect of our service, or of a product/finance solution we have discussed that you don’t understand.
Tell us if you think there are ways we can improve our service.
For feedback, please forward your comments to: support@fundingoptions.com. Or write to us at: Funding Options, Office 03-145, 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ
Thank you for choosing Funding Options Ltd.
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding OptionsIf you’re not completely happy with our service, we’d like to hear about it — that way, we can do something to put it right.
At Funding Options we do everything we can to make sure our customers get the best possible service. However, sometimes, we don’t get things right first time. When that happens, we always encourage you to tell us about your complaint, so that we can put matters right.
Make it easy for you to tell us about your complaint.
Give your complaint the attention it deserves.
Resolve your complaint fairly without delay.
Make sure you are satisfied with how your complaint was resolved.
Call us on 0333 344 1015. We are available from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (please note that we are closed on all UK public and bank holidays).
Email us at support@fundingoptions.com
Write to: The Complaints Department, Funding Options, Office 03-145, 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ.
We'll do all we can to resolve your complaint within three working days. If we can't do this, we'll write to you within five working days to tell you what we've done to resolve the problem, or acknowledge your complaint and let you know when you can expect a full response. We will contact you regularly until your complaint has been resolved.
If we haven't issued our response within eight weeks from the date you first raised your complaint, or if you're dissatisfied with our response, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent review.
Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower London E14 9SR
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding OptionsWe're offering £200 in vouchers to our customers when they refer another business that's successfully funded through us. Please read the following terms and conditions of our customer referral scheme:
We will give you vouchers worth £200 for every business you refer to us that
successfully obtains funding via Funding Options
This offer is only available to existing or previous customers within the Funding Options Limited database
Please note that the customer referral reward is only available for referred businesses who have not previously been in direct contact with Funding Options
The referred business must tell us that they have been referred before their facility has been arranged. In doing so, we will take this as acceptance of the terms and conditions of this customer referral scheme
We cannot guarantee that all referred businesses will obtain funding through an introduction to a lender
There is no limit to the number of businesses you can refer to us — for each that is
successfully funded through Funding Options, we'll give you vouchers worth £200 if the funding has been approved with 6 months of the referral
The time between the referral making contact with us to a successful provision of finance can take several weeks, therefore it may take a number of weeks before you receive your reward
We will contact you once you are eligible to receive the referral reward
Please note, for data security reasons if you contact us about the status of a referral, we will be unable to give you any confidential information, such as the amount of funding requested
For questions or comments please contact support@fundingoptions.com
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding Options1st August 2018
The purpose of this document is to explain what we do and how we’ll work with you. This covers our services, how we get paid, how we process your data, and what to do if you’d like to make a complaint. It’s important that you read and understand this document.
The term ‘Funding Options’ or ‘us’ refers to the owner of the service. Funding Options Limited (07739337). The term ‘you’ or ‘your’ refers to the user of the service.
We are Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Reference Number: 727867.
At Funding Options Ltd, we help businesses access finance from a wide range of lenders that are suitable for your requirements (based on the information you disclose to us). We will provide you with information about the finance and the provider to ensure you understand the conditions of any offer before you decide to proceed.
You will not receive advice or a recommendation from us. We may ask some questions to narrow down the selection of products/options that may be available to you. You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.
For the avoidance of doubt, Funding Options Ltd is not a lender; we are a Credit Broker and the purpose of our service is to introduce you to suitable business lenders.
We will make reasonable efforts to provide support for the service, by phone on 0333 344 1015 (9:00 – 5:30, Monday to Friday) and by email on support@fundingoptions.com. However, no guarantee is made as to the availability or response time of the Service, and we have the right to withdraw access at any time.
If, for any reason, you wish to make a complaint about our service, you can do this by writing to our Complaints Manager at Funding Options, Office 03-145, 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ or by telephoning us on 0333 344 1015 where we will try to resolve your concern at the earliest time possible.
We will not charge you any fee for our service as we receive payment directly from the lender(s) based upon successful provision of finance. If you would like to know how much we will be paid by the lender, we will disclose this information to you on request.
Should you have any questions relating to the above, please feel free to contact us on 0333 344 1015.
When we provide services to you we will need to gather information about your personal circumstances. The information you provide to us will be subject to the Data Protection Act 1998, as amended or replaced by the Data Protection Act 2018, incorporating the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 216/679 (“GDPR”).
Please see our Privacy Policy for full details about:
The information we collect;
Disclosure of your information;
Processing of personal data not provided to us by you;
Use of Personal Information;
Where and how we store your personal data, and
Your rights.
The information provided may also contain sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Data Protection Act, being information as to your physical or mental health or condition; the committing or alleged committing of any offence by you; any proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by you, including the outcome or sentence in such proceedings; your political opinions; religious or similar beliefs; sexual life; or your membership of a Trade Union.
If at any time you wish us or any company associated with us to cease processing your personal data or sensitive personal data, or contacting you for marketing purposes, please let us know. See below:
You can telephone the Data Protection Officer on 0333 344 1015,
Write to us at Funding Options, Office 03-145, 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ
You may be assured that we and any company associated with us will treat all personal data and sensitive personal data as confidential and will not process it other than for a legitimate purpose. Steps will be taken to ensure that the information is accurate, kept up to date and not kept for longer than is necessary. Measures will also be taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss or destruction or damage to the data.
We take your continuing use of our service as your consent to our terms of business as outlined in this document and as available at www.fundingoptions.com/terms. If you do not consent to these terms please notify us immediately and we will stop providing our services. For your own benefit and protection you should read these terms carefully. If you do not understand any point please ask for further information.
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding OptionsFunding Options Privacy Notice
Hello! We’re Funding Options Limited, and this notice sets out how we will process your data when you use our products and services, or when you visit our website.
This privacy notice is divided into the following sections:
Who we are
Funding Options is your Data Controller
Funding Options is also your Data Processor in some cases
When we are a ‘Data Processor’
Third party providers of services available via Our Website
Personal data we collect
Where we collect personal data and who we share it with
Our key partners as Data Controllers
Sharing anonymised data
Third-party links
How long we keep your personal data
Transfer of your data out of the EEA
Cookies and other tracking technologies
Your rights
How to contact us and how to complain
How to withdraw your consent or opt-out of processing
Security
Keeping your data accurate
Updates to this Privacy Policy
Who we are
We’re Funding Options Limited. We’re a company that respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data – and this privacy notice helps set out how we do this.
Personal data we collect from you will be held by Funding Options Limited, referred to as “Funding Options”, “we” , “our” or “us”. More information about us can be found on Our Website. We are part of the wider corporate group of Tide Platform Ltd. providing business and financial services to small and medium businesses and we may share your personal data with Tide Platform Ltd. and their subsidiaries and affiliates for the same purposes as described in this notice.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration no. Z2992318) and we are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a credit broker and as an introducer of insurance (firm reference number 727867); we are also authorised under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 as an Account Information Services Provider (791902).
We provide the Funding Options Services offered via our website identified by the following Uniform Resource Locator (URL): www.fundingoptions.com, including its subdomains (“Our Website”).
Funding Options is your Data Controller
Funding Options is the Data Controller of your data, which means we’re responsible for your personal data processed in relation to your use of the products and services accessible via Our Website. When you visit or receive services via Our Website we collect, process, use and are responsible for certain personal data about you. When we do so, we are regulated under the applicable laws on the protection of personal data, privacy and electronic communications, including but not limited to The Data Protection Act 2018 (the “DPA 2018”, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (the “UK GDPR”) and The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (“PECR”).
For the purposes of these laws we are responsible as a ‘Data Controller’ for the processing of your personal data. If you have any queries about this Privacy Policy or how we or any other Funding Options Group company (may) collect, store or use your data, please contact us by email at support@fundingoptions.com.
Throughout this Privacy Policy the terms “Personal Data”, “Data Controller”, “Data Processor”, “Data Processing”, “Data Subject” and “Profiling” shall have the meaning assigned to them by the applicable data protection laws mentioned above.
Funding Options is also a Data Processor in some cases
When we collect certain personal data on behalf of our business partner(s), we act as a data processor for them. Details are below.
When we are a ‘Data Processor’
When using some of the services and products on Our Website, Funding Options will process your personal data as a ‘Data Processor’ on behalf of our partner(s) who will be ‘Data Controller(s)’. This means we will process such personal data solely for the purposes of supplying our partner(s) with the personal data they have requested in order to provide you with their products and services.
Personal data we collect
We collect personal data for a variety of reasons, including to meet our legal obligations, manage our operations, improve our business and deliver products and services to you.
Below is a list of types of personal data that we may collect and use when you apply for, or use, any of our products or services.
Type of personal data | Description | Purpose | Lawful basis |
Contact | Your name, business addresses, residential addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and other ways in which to contact you | Managing our relationship with you or your business. Communicating with you about our and our business partners’ products and services. Delivering the Funding Options Products and Services to you, including to facilitate your use of the Funding Options Services via username and password. Developing and carrying out marketing or business development activities. | Fulfilling our contract with you When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Communicate with our customers. • Keep our records up to date. • Resolve issues and improve the service we provide to you. • Optimise your user experience |
Transactional | Details about the transactions you have carried out with your banking provider(s) and which you have decided to share with Funding Options via Open Banking | Delivering our and our business partners’ products and services. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Facilitate delivery of our services and products. • Develop products and services, our pricing for them and types of Customers that may want to use them. • Develop and improve how we deal with financial crime, as well as discharging our legal duties in this respect. |
Financial and Business Data | Including financial requirements (e.g. how much our customers would like to borrow), business information, bank statements, filed accounts, VAT returns, bank account information; in the case of sole traders – other personal financial data relevant to business finance application, such as value of personal pension, value of property equity; County Court judgements (personal and business), credit ratings (personal and business). | Carrying out our obligations arising from and exercising our rights set out in our contracts. Operating our business in an efficient and proper way, including managing our financial position, business capability, planning, and audit. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Understand and improve how we contract with our customers • Understand each party’s obligations and risks under any agreements • Be efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. |
Contractual | Details about the products or services we or our business partner(s) provide to you | Carrying out our obligations arising from and exercising our rights set out in our contracts. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Understand and improve how we contract with our customers • Understand each party’s obligations and risks under any agreements • Be efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. |
Locational | Data we get about where you are. This may come from the IP address assigned to your mobile telephone or computer when you connect to the internet. | Delivering our and our business partners’ products and services. Identifying, investigating, reporting and preventing fraud, security breaches, money laundering and other crime. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Be efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. • Determine the risks that applicants for a Funding Options account may pose to Funding Options’ business and our customers. • Develop products and services, our pricing for them and types of customers that may want to use them. |
Behavioural | Details about how you use Our Website, incl. products and services offered on Our Website from us and other organisations | Studying how our customers use products and services from us and other organisations. Delivering more personalised user experiences to our customers. Developing and carrying out marketing or business development activities. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Work out which of our products and services may interest you and telling you about them. • Develop products and services, our pricing for them and types of customers that may want to use them. |
Technical | Details on the devices and technology you use, for example your website browser settings, marketing choices. | Delivering our products and services to you. Delivering our and our business partners’ products and services. Identifying, investigating, reporting and preventing fraud, money laundering and other crime. Developing and carrying out marketing or business development activities. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Be efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. • Develop products and services, our pricing for them and types of customers that may want to use them. |
Communication | Any emails, calls or other communications you’ve sent to us or we’ve sent to you What we learn about you from communications between us | Investigating and responding to your enquiries, complaints and feedback. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Communicate with our customers. • Be efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. • Resolve issues and improve the service we provide to you.
|
Public and third-party records | Details about you that are in public records, such as the Electoral Register, Companies House, and data about you that is publicly available on the Internet. We also collect data about you which we receive from other companies, such as credit reference agencies. | Registering you with a Funding Options account. Developing and carrying out marketing or business development activities. Identifying, investigating, reporting and preventing fraud, money laundering and other crime. Verifying the credit history of employees and contractors who wish to work for us. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Determine the risks that customers may pose to Funding Options’s business • Keep our records up to date. • Work out which of our products and services may interest you and telling you about them. • Develop products and services, our pricing for them and types of customers that may want to use them. |
Usage data | Data about how you use our products and services | Studying how our customers use products and services from us and other organisations Testing new products Managing how we work with other companies that provide services to us and our customers Developing and carrying out marketing or business development activities. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Work out which of our products and services may interest you and telling you about them. • Determine the risks that Funding Options Customers may pose to Funding Options’s business • Develop products and services, our pricing for them and types of customers that may want to use them. |
Documentary data | Details about you that are stored in documents in different formats, or copies of them. This could include things like your passport or driving licence. | Identifying, investigating, reporting and preventing fraud, money laundering and other crime. Complying with laws and regulations. Verifying the identity of partners who wish to introduce customers to us. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Be efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. • Develop and improve how we deal with financial crime, as well as doing our legal duties in this respect. • Determine the risks that employees and contractors may pose to Funding Options’s business • Determine the risks that Funding Options customers may pose to Funding Options’s business |
Consents | Any permissions, consents or preferences that you give us | So we know what your preferences are in regards to marketing, automated decision-making and profiling (where this activity is based on your consent), cookies and any other relevant processing activities that you can opt-out of. Developing and carrying out marketing or business development activities. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you consent to it. When it is in our legitimate interest to: • Keep our records up to date. • Ask for your consent when we need it to contact you. |
Special category data and criminal offence data | We do not collect most types of special categories of data. In certain cases we collect biometric documentation (photo ID) on behalf of lender(s), or to verify the identity of directors or partners who wish to introduce customers to us. | Operating our business in a proper way, including corporate responsibility. Verifying the identity of partners who wish to introduce customers to us. | Fulfilling our contract with you. When it is our legal duty. When you provide explicit consent. It is in the public interest. It is in your vital interest to protect yours or someone else’s life. |
Your customer or employee data | Any data that you provide us with about your employees or customers including contact details, personal details (e.g., name, date of birth, bank account information) in our capacity as a data processor for lender(s). | Delivering our and our business partners’ products and services to you. | When you have instructed us to do so and by virtue of your relationship with us. |
Automated decision-making and profiling
To make quicker and more consistent decisions, we may also conduct automated individual decision-making. This means that we may analyse information about you via technological means to assess your personal circumstances and thus predict risks or outcomes. For example, we perform automated decision making in the following cases:
When you sign up for an account on Our Website.
When you apply for credit services via Our Website.
When we take automated decisions that significantly affect you in those and any other circumstances, you can request a review of such a decision by Funding Options, express your point of view or contest the decision by contacting us at support@fundingoptions.com.
Funding Options may also conduct profiling for purposes of communicating effectively with you, for example, to send you relevant notifications or updates, according to the type of services usage, interests of different groups of customers. Funding Options may also use such profiling for targeted or direct marketing purposes (for example, to issue advertisements tailored to your usage or interests in Funding Options Products and Services or depending on your account information or usage of our website).
Where we collect personal data and who we share it with
We may collect personal data about you (or your business), from the following sources:
Information from you
This includes data given by you or your business, as well as data provided by people linked with you or your business’ product or service, or people working on your behalf, among others:
When you apply for our products and services
When you talk to us on the telephone
When you use Our Website
In emails, web chats and letters
In surveys
If you take part in our competitions or promotions.
Information collected from and shared with others
We collect personal data from a number of different third-parties, as detailed below:
Type of third party | Description | Collect | Share |
Members of the Tide Corporate Group | Funding Options is part of the wider Tide Corporate Group that comprises of Tide Platform Ltd. and other Tide-affiliated companies | ✓ | ✓ |
Credit reference agencies (CRAs) and similar entities | We carry out credit checks when you apply for a product or service for your business. We may use CRAs to help us with this. From time to time, we may also search or use data that the CRAs have. The identities of the CRAs and similar entities, and the ways in which they use and share personal data are explained in more detail at: CreditSafe (which also provides us with TransUnion’s data); Credit Reference Agencies Information Notice available at TransUnion and Experian. | ✓ | ✓ |
Support tools and operational partners | These include analytics, search engine service providers, customer experience support platforms to optimise and improve our services, as well as subcontractors we may use to supplement our customer support resources. | ✓ | ✓ |
Hosting and IT service providers | IT vendors, including cloud storage providers, to securely store your personal data. | X | ✓ |
Financial services providers, including banks | In order to help you provide information about your banking transactions to us, you may decide to provide us with your bank account information using Open Banking, which means financial services providers, including banks, may be able to send information they hold about your account and transactions to us. Also, you may agree to provide us with access to your accounting software, so we can access your financial accounting transactions. | ✓ | X |
Identity and other information verification providers | We work with third parties to verify the information provided to us, for example the identity and address of partners wishing to introduce customers to us. | ✓ | ✓ |
Partner platforms, providing business services | We work with partners to offer you ‘add-ons’ to our service and products. Such products and services may include insurance services, energy savings, credit-repair services. | ✓ | ✓ |
Social networks and other online platforms providers | Social media sites, for the purposes of conducting market research, marketing campaigns, targeted and retargeted marketing and understanding the success of our marketing activities. These social media sites may check if you hold an account with them and, based on the characteristics they have about you, provide targeted advertising to you (for example, to show you tailored advertisements on their social media platforms, depending on your potential interest in Funding Options Products and Services). | ✓ | ✓ |
Public data sources | Companies House, LinkedIn and other public data sources. | ✓ | X |
Marketing, business development and sales partners | Third parties that help us generate sales and marketing leads, and create and deliver our marketing activities. | ✓ | ✓ |
Data services third parties | Such as data analytics and insight firms, for example to test the quality of our data, to improve the effectiveness of our crime prevention controls, etc. | X | ✓ |
Government and regulatory organisations | Government, law enforcement agencies, authorities and regulatory bodies when Funding Options has to comply with its legal obligations. | X | ✓ |
In addition, if we sell our business we may disclose your information to the purchaser.
Sharing anonymised data
In addition to the data sharing listed above, we may share some data to other companies outside Funding Options, but only when it is converted so that no person’s identity can be known or found out and is no longer considered personal data under the law (anonymised data).
Third-party links and third-party providers of products and services available via Our Website (including lenders)
Our primary business service is to provide you with potential funding options from our panel of lenders. In order to do this, we share information with lenders, so that they may assess whether to provide finance to you.
Occasionally, at our reasonable discretion, we may include or offer products or services to you from our business partners (third parties). These are independent service providers whose services are made available to you or promoted via Our Website (for example business insurance, foreign exchange, energy comparison).
As a Funding Options customer, you can opt to make use of these services, such that your data may be shared with the third-party providers or we may redirect you to the third-party provider. The personal data we may share and collect in those cases may include, depending on the service involved, the name and contact details of your business.
Business partners may act as data processors to Funding Options or as data controllers. When business partners act as data processors to Funding Options, they will process your personal data solely to deliver the Funding Options products and services that you have requested and as described in this Privacy Policy. When business partners act as separate Data Controllers – they will have their own and independent privacy policies that apply when you use their products and services or visit their website. We (and any other Funding Options Group company; or any of our Funding Options company directors, officers, agents, contractors, sub-contractors or workers) have no responsibility or liability (however so caused) for the content, activities, data processing and services relating to those service providers or their linked websites. You can contact those third-party business partners for more information on how they may use your data.
You can find access to the privacy policy of two of our lenders Funding Circle Ltd here and of New Wave Capital (t/a Capital on Tap) here.
How long we keep your personal data
We will keep your personal data as long as you are a customer of Funding Options.
We may keep your personal data after you stop being a customer. The reasons we may do this are:
To respond to a question or complaint, or to show whether we gave you fair treatment
To establish, exercise or defend our legal claims
To study customer data as part of our own research when this will not cause harm to your privacy and personal data protection rights
To comply with legal rules that apply to us about keeping records or information in which case we will retain your data for a minimum of six years.
We may also keep your data if certain laws that Funding Options is subject to stipulate that we cannot delete it for legal, regulatory or technical reasons.
Transfer of your data out of the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area
The personal data that we hold will be stored by Funding Options in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA), but may also be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the UK or EEA, with and by third parties, when this is necessary for us to provide our products or run our services. If we do transfer your personal data outside the UK or EEA, we will make sure that it is protected to the same extent as in the UK and EEA. We’ll use one of these legal safeguards:
Transfer it to a non-UK or non-EEA country with privacy laws that give the same protection as those under the UK or the EEA.
Put in place a contract with the recipient that means they must protect it to the same standards as the UK and EEA.
Use the standard contractual clauses approved by the EU or UK authorities under EU and UK data protection laws to achieve this.
In the second and third case we will also make sure to supplement the transfer tools that we rely on with sufficient additional safeguards to comply with UK/EEA guidance on risks associated with data transfers to third-countries.
Cookies and other tracking technologies
We may use cookies to distinguish you from other users of our products or services when you visit Our Website. This helps us provide you with a good experience, allows us to improve our products or services, keep Our Website safe and present you with advertising content that is relevant to you. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your device when you visit Our Website or use Our App. Cookies send data back to the originating website or app on each subsequent visit, or to another website which recognises that cookie. Cookies also make it easier for you to log in and use Our Website.
We may use the following cookies:
Strictly necessary cookies required for the operation of our products or services (including, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure accounts and use interactive features);
Analytical/performance cookies that allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and users and see how they use our products or services (e.g., to help us improve the way our products or services work or are provided, by ensuring that users easily find what they are looking for);
Functionality cookies to help us recognise you when you return to Our Website (this enables us to e.g., personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences, such as choice of language or region);
Targeting cookies to record your visit to Our Website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We may use this data to make our products and services and the data displayed on it, which we reasonably think is more relevant to your interests. We may also share this data with third parties for this purpose. In some instances, with respect to targeting cookies we act as joint controllers with third parties, such as social media platform TikTok.
For more detailed information on what specific cookies we use, please read our Cookie Policy.
You can block or disable cookies by activating the setting on your website browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies or through the banner on Our Website and in the “Cookie Settings” page on Our Website. All browsers provide tools that allow you to control how you handle cookies: accept, reject or delete them. These settings are normally accessed via the ‘settings’, ‘preferences’ or ‘options’ menu of the browser you are using, but you could also look for a ‘help’ function or contact the browser provider. However, if you set your browser settings to block or disable all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of Our Website for which we require the use of cookies.
Your rights
Under the DPA 2018 and the UK GDPR, you are entitled to the following rights:
Question any data about you that you think is incorrect and have us take reasonable steps to correct it for you
To be told about how we process your data
Require the erasure of personal data concerning you in certain situations
Access personal data and receive copies of data (free of charge, where reasonable for us to do so at the time) concerning you
Object at any time to processing of personal data concerning you e.g. for direct marketing
Object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or which similarly may significantly affect you
Object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data
Otherwise, restrict our processing of your personal data in certain circumstances
The right to move, copy or transfer your personal data (where reasonable and proportionate for us to do so).
For further data on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individual rights under the GDPR .
If you would like to exercise your rights, please contact us at support@fundingoptions.com or at:
Funding Options Limited 5th Floor 1 Appold St London EC2A 2UT United Kingdom
How to contact us and how to complain
We hope that our Data Protection Officer (DPO) can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your data. You can write to our DPO at support@fundingoptions.com or at 5th Floor, 1 Appold St, London EC2A 2UT, United Kingdom
You also have the right to complain to the regulator. The supervisory authority in the UK regarding data protection matters is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find out how to report a concern on their website – https://ico.org.uk/.
How to withdraw your consent or opt-out of processing
You can withdraw your consent to our processing of your data at any time. Please contact us if you want to do so at support@fundingoptions.com.
This will only affect the way we use data when our basis for processing your data is your consent. See the section ‘Your Rights’ and more specifically your right to restricting use of your data.
You may also opt out of some forms of data processing we are conducting, such as:
Marketing, including email, telephone and SMS marketing.
Social media and targeted marketing, including retargeting and curated audiences.
Non-essential cookie collection on Our Website. You may be unable to opt out of ‘necessary’ cookies as discussed above.
Non-essential profiling and automated decision-making, including those activities undertaken for marketing purposes.
If you withdraw your consent and/or opt-out, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. If this is so, we will tell you. You then have the option to give us your consent again if you want to access our products or services.
Security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, changed, shared or accessed in a way it shouldn’t be. We will employ adequate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data. These methods include:
The pseudonymisation and encryption of personal data, where possible.
Ensuring the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of processing systems and services via role-based access controls, confidentiality undertakings of our staff, etc.
The ability to restore the availability and access to personal data quickly in the event of or technical incident.
A process for regularly testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of our technical and organisational measures.
We will also limit access to your personal data to employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a strict need to see it in order to perform their business functions. They will only process your personal data on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, pursuant to our instructions and they will keep your personal data confidential.
We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breaches.
Keeping your data accurate
We will use reasonable efforts to ensure that your personal data is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Please ensure you notify us without undue delay of any changes to the personal data that you have provided to us by updating your details on Our Website or by contacting us at the details provided in this Privacy Policy.
Updates to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure that it remains accurate. Please check back from to time to time for updates.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 10 May 2023.
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding Options22nd May 2018
This policy (“Cookie Policy”) forms part of the Funding Options Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”). Capitalised terms not otherwise defined in this Cookie Policy have the meaning given to them in the Privacy Policy.
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your browser, computer or other device when you visit websites, including our website (“our Website”). Cookies usually contain anonymous information which is accessible by the website which set it, on each later visit to that website or sometimes when you visit other websites.
Please note that we can also collect information about your usage of our Website from data contained in “log files”. Log files are not cookies; they do not contain any personal data; and they are not used to identify your personal use of our Website. When you request any web page from our Website, web servers automatically obtain your domain name and internet protocol (“IP”) address, but they reveal nothing personal about you and that data is only used to examine Website traffic in aggregate, to investigate abuse of our Website and its users, and/or to cooperate with law enforcement. Such data is not disseminated to third parties, except in aggregate.
We use cookies to store the following data:
How you use our Website
Identifiers such as your device and location
Your preferences for our Website and services
Cookies cannot harm your computer or other device.
There are four different types of cookie, which we explain here, and then we set out the cookies we uses in the table below.
Necessary cookies:
those required for the operation of our Website, which do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
Analytical/performance cookies:
these allow us to collect information about how you use our Website, such as, how you move around our Website and if you experience any errors. These cookies do not collect personal data. The information collected is anonymous and is only used to help us improve the way our Website works, understand what interests our users generally and measure how effective our advertising is. Some of the performance cookies we use are issued as part of services provided by third parties, like Google Analytics.
Functionality cookies:
these are used to provide services or to recognise you when you return to our Website. These would enable us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences and improve your visit.
Targeting cookies:
these record your visit to a certain website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. They are linked to services provided by third parties, such as "Like" and "Share" buttons, in return for recognising that you have visited the relevant website. The third party may subsequently use information about your visit to target advertising to you on other websites and present you with advertisements that you may be interested in.
Please note that configuring your computer and/or mobile browser to reject ‘necessary’, ‘performance’ or ‘functional’ cookies may severely impact your experience on our Website and some parts of our Website will not function at all.
All browsers provide tools that allow you to control how you handle cookies: accept, reject or delete them. These settings are normally accessed via the ‘settings’, 'preferences' or 'options' menu of the browser you are using, but you could also look for a ‘help’ function or contact the browser provider.
You should check the privacy policy any third party service(s) you may use that set Targeting cookies on your browser or device. You may also be able to use tools provided by those third parties (and the third parties mentioned in the table above) to prevent their Targeting cookies being set.
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding Options1. Our Philosophy and Ambitions
Our stance
Funding Options believes in a net-zero world and the immediate need to mitigate climate change. Through initiatives such as the United Nations’ Paris Agreement and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the financial services sector will need to be at the forefront of change to enable the world to meet its carbon reduction targets. In addition to this, SMEs will play a vital role in enabling the UK to meet its own carbon reduction targets.
Sustainability will impact the SME lending industry
Sustainability has been at the forefront of financial services for many years now, and it is only a natural progression for the SME alternative finance industry to adopt this new ethos. The industry plays a pivotal role in supporting UK SMEs access finance to grow, develop and prosper. And by extension, should play a key role in enabling UK SMEs to assist driving the wider economy to a net-zero world.
Funding Options has a pivotal role in enabling SMEs to decarbonise
Operating at the intersection of demand and supply for business finance in the UK, Funding Options has the opportunity to support our customers to reach their net-zero goals and drive a more sustainable economy. We welcome this challenge and are enthused to utilise our strengths to assist the UK create a more sustainable economy.
2. Introduction to the Objectives of the Policy
This policy sets out Funding Options’ commitments to supporting SMEs and our partners to decarbonise the UK economy through sustainable finance. This policy outlines how Funding Options will look to achieve this through our strategy, governance structure, approach to climate opportunities and the targets we have set ourselves.
3. Commitments and Standards
Funding Options’ is committed to assisting SMEs play their part to reach the UK’s net-zero goals for 2050. In line with the United Nations’ Paris Agreement and the UK Government’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, Funding Options is striving to enable SMEs to decarbonise the UK economy and build businesses that green the real economy.
Our sustainability policy is underpinned by the following framework.
Strategy
Risk Management
Metrics and Targets
Governance
Strategy
Funding Options’ climate strategy and purpose is to enable SMEs to participate in realising climate mitigation activities and measures and to therefore, build greater resilience against climate related risk in the UK economy. It is underpinned by the below two elements:
Fund Green
To enable UK SMEs to fund green assets, green projects, green operations and green businesses. Data capture and insights and will be a key priority to ensure this takes place.
Lend Green
To enable any UK SME to be able to identify, engage with and where possible receive business funding from a green lender.
Definitions
Green Assets: A renewable, low/zero carbon asset.
Green Project: A renewable, low/zero carbon project.
Green Operation: A renewable, low/zero carbon operation.
Green Business: A business that has renewable, low/zero carbon or sustainable business activities, products or services.
Green Lender: Meets at least one of the following criteria:
1. A product specifically tailored to the purchase or leasing of green assets or green businesses.
2. A proposition developed to support green businesses/
3. An appetite to fund businesses at a different pricing rate who have renewable, low/zero carbon or sustainable business activities, products or services.
4. A sustainability, ESG or green policy.
Risk Management
Operational level
Funding Options’ recognises our own business activities can produce greenhouse gases (GHG) and consequently contribute to climate change. Therefore, Funding Options will identify, assess and manage our Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions on an annual basis commencing in Q4 2021.
Customer level
Funding Options recognises the opportunity to assist our customers manage their climate related risks. These risks are specifically related to their transition risks (such as policy and legal, technology, market and reputational risks). And we will be enabling this by providing our customers easier access to funding so that they can decarbonise their own products, services and operations.
Metrics and Targets
Measure our Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions in Q4 2021.
A target to engage with the SME lending market more often regarding climate change.
Through a combination of educational content, webinars, blogs and thought leadership pieces we will continue to educate Funding Options customers on the importance of sustainability becoming net-zero.
Conduct staff awareness raising and training to educate Funding Options employees on the importance of sustainability and our organisation becoming net-zero.
Advocacy on policy. (Advocacy on policy could be for example, setting up a meeting with the BBB in the next 12 months to discuss the importance of greater government engagement with the alternative finance industry to drive climate reduction with SMEs.)
Governance Structure
The below sets out the governance structure that Funding Options will utilise to ensure accountability and optimum information flow across the business. As with all of our business operations, the outcomes of our customers is the most important consideration. This governance structure will ensure all internal stakeholders have the required level of oversight to ensure the execution of our sustainability policy.
CEO climate related roles & responsibilities
The CEO has executive oversight of Funding Options’ sustainability strategy and mandate. They are responsible for ensuring all divisions within the firm are adhering to this policy.
Departmental climate related roles & responsibilities
1. Risk and Compliance
The Risk and Compliance team is In charge of implementing the sustainability policy into our risk department. Key responsibilities include (but are not limited to) updating the policy as necessary changes, due to internal or external considerations and ensuring Funding Options remains compliant with internal and external regulations.
2. Sales and Commercial
The Sales and Commercial teams are responsible for ensuring Funding Options meets the commercial requirements of the sustainability policy. This includes (but is not limited to) ensuring we have the required level of engagement and growth of the green lender panel, assisting green businesses and those with green finance requirements as well as broader strategic opportunities relating to greening the UK economy.
3. Engineering, Product, Design & Data (EPDD)
The Engineering, Product, Design & Data (EPDD) team is responsible for ensuring Funding Options meets the technical requirements of the sustainability policy. This includes (but is not limited to) ensuring data capture and quality is of the necessary standard and that the wider systems Funding Options use are functioning appropriately to assist businesses with their sustainable finance needs.
4. Marketing
Marketing is responsible for having a clear external position on Funding Options' ESG policy and impact on society. Key responsibilities include communicating Funding Option's sustainability ambitions in relation to achieving net-zero and communicating key data points that demonstrate impact and progress towards this goal.
5. People
The People team is responsible for ensuring Funding Options’ staff are aware and cognisant of the impact the organisation has on carbon emissions and climate change. They are responsible for ensuring the organisation has measures and initiatives in place to assist staff in reducing their own carbon emissions.
Let us help you find the best financial product in the market. We will guide you through the whole process and make sure you get the best deal.
See your Funding Options