We are required to check your identity. We do this by making searches at Credit Reference Agencies ("CRAs"), Fraud Prevention Agencies ("FPAs") and by checking the information you give us. If you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud we will record this with FPAs.

When you apply for credit with us we will check our own records for information we hold about you and we will check the credit records held by the same CRAs, as we use to check your identity. CRAs may provide us with credit information and other information (including public information, electoral register information and fraud prevention information).

If you tell us that you have a financial link with another person, or a link has already been recorded by CRAs, applications for credit by either of you (separately or together) will take the other's financial information into account and will be affected by it. This linking will continue (covering any other names used by both of you) until you, or the person who is financially linked with you, successfully apply to CRAs to be disassociated.

We may also use credit scoring and automated decision-making systems when considering your application and managing your account. This may involve further searches at CRAs. These searches will not affect your ability to obtain credit.

We will disclose the information supplied to us and about how you run your accounts to CRAs. If you fail to keep up with your payments, we may tell CRAs who will record the outstanding debt.

CRAs record credit application searches we make about you and people financially linked to you. CRA credit application searches may be used by other organisations to help make credit decisions about you. FPAs may also record information we share with them about you. FPAs may also record information we share with them about you. We and any other organisation may use CRA and FPA records about you, people financially linked to you, anyone in your household and your business (if you have one) to (1) assess lending and insurance risks, (2) make decisions on and manage credit, insurance and related services, (3) help make decisions on motor, household, credit, life and other insurance proposals or claims, (4) for fraud prevention, debtor tracing, debt recovery and to check your or their identity to prevent money laundering and (5) for statistical analysis and systems testing. CRAs and FPAs may also use your data for other purposes for which you give specific permission or, in very limited circumstances, when required by law or where permitted under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

We will use and disclose Personal Information in accordance with Condition 9. We, GE Group companies, and other organisations we disclose your Personal Information to, may contact you personally (by letter, fax, phone and mobile phone (including recorded messages, automatic dialling and automatic calling), email, SMS and other electronic methods) about this agreement and with details of other products and services (provided by us or others) that we or they think might interest you, based on the information we hold about you.