Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Aptus Financial Ltd (company number 09615405) is a commercial finance broker. We arrange and introduce commercial finance; we are not the lender. Our registered office is 5 Imperial Court, Laporte Way, Luton, Bedfordshire LU4 8FE. Our correspondence address is Arquen House, 4-6 Spicer Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 4PQ.

Aptus Financial Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference number 806065. For data-protection purposes, Aptus Financial Ltd is the controller of the personal data described in this notice.

You can contact us about privacy at info@aptusfinancial.co.uk, by telephone on 01727 634 600, or by writing to our correspondence address above.

2. Who this notice applies to

This notice applies to prospective and existing clients, borrowers, company directors, shareholders, beneficial owners, partners, guarantors, occupiers, tenants, introducers and other individuals whose information is provided in connection with a commercial-finance enquiry or application. If you give us information about another person, you should make this notice available to them.

3. Information we may collect

Depending on the proposed transaction and the lender’s requirements, we may collect:

• identity and contact details, including name, date of birth, home address, previous addresses, telephone number, email address and identification documents;
• business and ownership details, including directorships, shareholdings, beneficial ownership, trading history and company information;
• financial and transaction details, including income, assets, liabilities, bank information, accounts, tax information, property or security details, funding requirements, source of funds and source of wealth;
• creditworthiness information, including credit history, existing borrowing, arrears, defaults, insolvency and other adverse-credit information;
• information required for identity, anti-money-laundering, sanctions, fraud-prevention and other due-diligence checks;
• criminal-offence information, but only where relevant to the proposed finance or a lender’s due diligence and where the law permits us to process it; and
• correspondence, call notes, records of consent or authority, website usage data and marketing preferences.

4. Where we obtain information

We obtain information from you and from people acting for or connected with you. We may also receive information from introducers, professional advisers, lenders, credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies, identity and anti-money-laundering service providers, public registers and records (including Companies House and property records), sanctions and politically exposed persons databases, and other lawful public sources.

5. How and why we use information

We use personal data to assess and progress an enquiry; understand your objectives and circumstances; identify potentially suitable lenders; package, present and administer an application; communicate with you and relevant third parties; carry out identity, anti-money-laundering, sanctions and fraud checks; manage fees and our business relationship; comply with legal, regulatory and record-keeping duties; establish, exercise or defend legal claims; improve our services and security; and, where permitted, provide relevant marketing communications.

Our lawful bases include taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, performing a contract, complying with legal obligations, and our legitimate interests in operating a responsible commercial-finance brokerage, preventing fraud, maintaining records and developing our services. Where the law requires consent, we will ask for it. You may withdraw consent at any time, although this will not affect processing already carried out lawfully.

6. Lenders, guarantees and credit searches

When you instruct us to proceed, we may provide relevant information to the lender or lenders being considered for your application. Your adviser should explain the proposed lender approach before submission. Each lender will use your data under its own privacy notice and will make its own lending, guarantee and security decisions.

Aptus may use identity, anti-money-laundering and fraud-prevention services. A lender or service provider may also carry out a credit-reference search. A search may be recorded on the relevant person’s credit file and may be visible to other organisations. Before a credit search is requested, the party conducting it should explain whether it is a soft or hard search and the authority relied upon.

Signing an enquiry or application form does not itself create a personal guarantee. Any guarantee requirement and its terms must be separately explained and documented by the proposed lender and its legal advisers.

7. Who we may share information with

We share only what is reasonably necessary with potential and selected lenders or funders; credit-reference, identity, anti-money-laundering, sanctions and fraud-prevention providers; valuers, surveyors and other property professionals; solicitors, accountants, insurers and other professional advisers; payment, IT, document-management, communications and secure-storage suppliers; our professional insurers, auditors and compliance advisers; regulators, law-enforcement bodies, courts, tax authorities and other public authorities where required or permitted; and a buyer, investor or adviser involved in a proposed sale or reorganisation of our business. Some recipients act as independent controllers and will provide their own privacy information.

8. International transfers

Some suppliers or recipients may process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where UK data-protection law requires safeguards, we use an approved adequacy arrangement, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, or another lawful safeguard. You may contact us for information about the relevant safeguard.

9. Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet legal, regulatory, accounting, fraud-prevention and claims requirements. We generally retain client and application records for up to six years after the relationship or application ends, unless a longer or shorter period is appropriate or required. Different periods may apply to anti-money-laundering records, call records, unsuccessful enquiries, marketing preferences and legal claims. We securely delete or anonymise information when it is no longer needed.

10. Security

We use proportionate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful loss, alteration, disclosure or access. Access is limited to people and service providers who need the information and are subject to appropriate duties of confidentiality and security.

11. Your rights

Subject to the law and any applicable exemptions, you may ask us to give you access to your personal data; correct inaccurate or incomplete data; erase data; restrict processing; provide certain data in a portable format; or stop processing based on legitimate interests. You may also withdraw consent and object to direct marketing at any time. To exercise a right, contact us using the details in section 1. We may need to verify your identity.

12. Automated decisions

Aptus does not make lending decisions. A lender may use automated tools when assessing an application. The lender’s privacy notice should explain any solely automated decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect and the rights available to you.

13. Marketing and cookies

We may contact business clients and prospective clients about relevant services where permitted by law. You can opt out at any time by using an unsubscribe link or contacting us. Our website uses cookies and similar technologies; further information is available in our cookie information on the website.

14. Complaints

Please contact us first if you have a concern about how we use personal data. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

15. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice to reflect changes in our services, suppliers, legal requirements or regulatory guidance. The current version and effective date will be published on our website.

This notice explains how Aptus uses personal data. It does not replace any lender’s own privacy notice, facility documents, guarantee documents or independent legal advice.

Last updated: 28 September 2026