Privacy Policy

We compile our database using carefully vetted partners who have collected your data through:

• Online Competitions
• Online Comparison Websites
• Online Lifestyle Clubs
• Online Offer websites

As an ethical company, Mdeg only works with partners we think you can trust with your data. In each case we ensure that our partners have collected your data fairly and compliantly and that you have been informed that your data will be shared with Mdeg (normally in their own privacy policy). In addition, we ensure that they have been clear and transparent about the purposes for which Mdeg will use your data.

You have a right to withdraw your consent or object to our processing of your data under our and our service providers legitimate interest at any time by contacting us using the details at the top of this policy.

We only hold personal information about you that you have provided to our data partners. This includes names, postal addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, IP addresses, Mobile Ad ID’s, lifestyle and demographic data.

We do not hold or process any sensitive data about you such as:

• Financial data
• Credit scores
• Health information
• Political preferences
• Religious preferences
• Sexual preferences
• Data relating to children

Your data is used by Mdeg, our clients and their brands for the following purposes:

• Verification and enhancement of customer and marketing databases – to help our clients keep their own databases up to date and to add extra information to help them make better decisions about how and when to communicate with you
• Enhance targeting relevance through market research, analysis, segmentation and profiling – to provide relevant and targeted marketing to consumers by preferred channel.  The data that we provide to our Clients and Service Providers may be added to the information that they already hold about you. As an example, a car insurance company will check whether you have been a customer of theirs before. This is to ensure that they provide the right types of products, services and pricing to you.
• Identity verification, credit and risk management, revenue collection, database tracing activities – to help our clients protect you – and themselves – from financial harm such as fraud or identity theft.
• Email marketing – If you give permission to be contacted by advertisers via email, Mdeg may help identify relevant advertisers and support the email communication to you. Any email you might receive will always be sent on behalf of the source to whom you have given your consent to be contacted by and will always be identified as having originated from said source you have consented with. This approach is described as a ‘host emailing’ where the ‘sender’ represents the holder of your consent for such communications. Any email received will be clearly identified as having originated from the original data controller. Their details will also always be provided – name, address, telephone number.
• Postal marketing – If you give permission for advertisers to contact you by post we may make your postal address available for them to do so, governed by strict usage terms and monitoring tools, and provided you have not registered with the MPS
• Telephone marketing – If you give permission for advertisers to contact you by phone, we may make your number available for them to do so, governed by strict usage terms and monitoring tools, and provided you have not registered with the TPS.
• Data linking – Your data may be used for linkage purposes – linking offline data with online IDs for targeting and identity resolution purposes. Third party clients, such as third parties operating in the marketing technology sector, can associate information they have collected about you with certain identifiers linking personal data with cookies and mobile IDs helping marketers to deliver a more personalised and appropriate service. The types of data that can be used for linkage purposes will include name, postal address, phone number and email address.

If you would like to unsubscribe from your data being used from any of the above services and from the Mdeg database, please email compliance@mdeg.co.uk

Your data may be used by our clients and their brands in the following areas:

• Automotive – car dealerships and manufacturers
• Careers and Education – job opportunities, college course details
• Charity – volunteering, events
• Entertainment and Leisure – sporting events, local activities
• FMCG – supermarkets, pharmacies
• Finance – bank accounts, credit cards, loans, mortgages, investments, pensions and savings
• Insurance – car warranties, home insurance, life insurance, pet insurance, private medical insurance, travel insurance, vehicle insurance
• Legal Services – claims management including PPI claims, will writing
• Lifestyle – health and beauty, fitness
• Marketing and Surveys – direct marketing, marketing agencies, market research, consumer surveys
• Public Sector – local information and services
• Publishing and Media – TV services, magazine subscriptions
• Property – home improvements, estate agencies
• Retail – clothing and fashion, food and drink, home furnishings, online retail
• Telecoms – broadband and internet services, mobile phone contracts
• Travel – airlines, holidays, hotels, travel bookings
• Utilities – electricity and gas providers, solar power, water suppliers, energy saving solutions

Services Providers

In addition, we may supply some or all of your data, which may include your address, telephone number, email address, IP address and date of birth, under strict licensing terms to Service Providers (which may include companies who will use it for a variety of direct and email marketing, targeted advertising, measurement, identity resolution, testing and resource & development purposes on behalf of themselves and/or their clients). Service Providers carry out data profiling and will combine your data with data they get from other sources (including public sources) and use it to create “predictive models”. Service Providers use these models to try to predict behaviour and preferences (e.g. how likely you are to buy a holiday online or take a particular type of holiday) or likely circumstances (e.g. whether you are eligible for a particular credit card).

Some Service Providers use the data we supply to help their clients with fraud prevention, tracing and ID verification. Service Providers will also try to match and then link your data with data that they receive about you from other sources, to make sure that the data they hold about you is correct. For example, they might do this to

• check whether you have recently moved address; or
• keep the IP address they hold about you up to date. IP addresses change regularly. The IP address they receive from us might change too quickly to make the data you provide through us useful for marketing purposes. Marketing Services Providers might find it helpful for this to be refreshed from time to time to ensure marketing messages are being delivered to the correct consumers, on the correct device(s).

They share your data, including the profiled data they have created about you, primarily to:

• help organisations better understand the likely characteristics of their customers (and find others like them);
• improve the relevancy and appropriateness of an organisation’s marketing to its customers (e.g. offers, its products and services); and
• help them communicate with their customers more effectively offline and online. This may mean that you receive tailored advertising via direct mail or when you visit a website.

In sharing your data with Service Providers, we rely on a lawful ground called ‘legitimate interest’, as our business depends on our ability to partner with third parties who process personal data for marketing-related reasons.

The Service Providers we work with are limited to only those organisations who we have completed checks on and who will only process personal data in compliance with all relevant privacy laws, regulations and guidance.

We may share your personal information with MR Consumer Services Limited, trading as Mis-sold Expert, for the purpose of assessing and progressing a potential mis-sold vehicle finance claim on your behalf. They may contact you by telephone, email, or SMS to discuss your potential claim. MR Consumer Services Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 838452).

To understand more about the use of your data by Service Providers, and to find out how to exercise your data protection rights in relation to their use of your data (including how to opt-out), please click through to the websites of the companies below:

We process your data for marketing purposes under the consent you have provided to our data partners when they collected your data. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact us and we will globally suppress your details from receiving any further third-party marketing, typically within 24hrs.

For some processing, we rely on our legitimate interest as a business or those of a third-party, provided those interests are not outweighed by your interests, fundamental rights and freedoms.

In each of our data partner’s privacy policies, Mdeg is highlighted as a designated third-party with whom your data will be shared under the data partner’s legitimate interest particularly for fraud prevention, tracing and ID verification. We further process your data for use by our Service Providers under our legitimate interest as a business to provide your data for these purposes.

In specific situations, we may process your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

You have the right to object to this processing and if you wish to do so, please inform us by emailing or by using any of the other contact details at the beginning of this policy.

We only retain information for as long as it is required for the purpose(s) for which we legitimately use it, or for longer periods if required for legal and regulatory reasons. The period for which we use personal data can vary depending on the contract terms with our data partners.

If we are asked to delete personal data from our files, we fulfil the request within 24 hours. In addition, we will inform the data partner who provided the personal data to delete it within 7 days and ensure our Service Providers delete the personal data within 14 days.

We store your personal information in an Amazon Web Service cloud environment located in the European Economic Area (EEA). We do not transfer your data to any country that outside this area.

Our clients may transfer your data outside of the EEA only where we are satisfied that adequate levels of protection are in place to protect the integrity and security of any information being processed and compliance with applicable privacy and data protection laws. These measures may include the use of Standard Contractual Clauses.

Under data protection law you have rights regarding how we process your data. Please use the contact details listed below to exercise any of your following rights:

Your right of access

You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. This right always applies. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process. You can read more about this right here.

Your right to rectification

You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. This right always applies. You can read more about this right here.

Your right to erasure

You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. You can read more about this right here. 

Your right to restriction of processing

You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances. You can read more about this right here.

Your right to object to processing

You have the right to object to processing if we are able to process your information because the process forms part of our public tasks, or is in our legitimate interests. You can read more about this right here. 

Your right to data portability

This only applies to information you have given us. You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another, or give it to you. You can read more about this right here.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. We have one month to respond to you.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office whose address is Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.