It's a business team at Experian. We gather, analyse, combine and process data to help organisations communicate more effectively, saving them (and you) time and money.

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It's a piece of European legislation, implemented into UK law, that updates and strengthens data protection for people. Under GDPR, all organisations need to provide you with clear and easy to understand information about what happens to your personal data. This is so that you can have better control over how your personal data is used, especially when it comes to choosing your marketing preferences.

We have created the Consumer Information Portal (or CIP) so that you can see how we process personal data to support organisations with their marketing and advertising. We have designed the CIP to make it really easy for you to opt out of us using your data in this way, if you'd like to do so.

We use only very limited amounts of credit data and only in a very limited number of circumstances. We never use it to help organisations select you for offers or advertising. We do use it, for example, to help lenders avoid sending inappropriate financials promotions to people who may be vulnerable. You can find a full explanation here.

No. The information we gather to help organisations with their marketing does not impact your credit score.

Experian Marketing Services help organisations to communicate with consumers (you) more effectively. Experian Consumer Services offer you products to help individuals (you) understand the importance of your credit data and use it to take control of your finances and reach life goals, like getting a mortgage.

We get data from a variety of sources, including:

• Data partners we trust;
• Publicly available data, such as the Edited (or "Open") Electoral Roll or the register of County Court Judgments;
• Consumer and market research surveys;
• Credit activity data (although we only use limited data for limited purposes).

We obtain two categories of data;

• Personal data – any piece of information that could identify you, such as your name and postal address
• Non-Personal – This is anonymised data that can't identify you, or where any personal data has been removed

To find out more about the personal data we obtain in "The Data We Obtain" section, click here.

You can find details about the products and services we build in the How we use your data section.

We create "profiles" by building segments and models which describe the likely characteristics of groups of individuals, households or geographic areas. These profiles allow organisations to make sure their marketing is being sent to people who are most likely to be interested in it.

For example, a council can use profiling to see which of their local residents are most likely to find targeted mobile library services useful, so that they can make sure they're going to the right places. These statistical segments and models represent our opinion about the likely characteristics of groups of individuals or households. They are not, and not intended to be, statements of fact.

Mosaic is an example of one of the profiling products that we build. You can see the Mosaic type associated with your postcode here.

Data protection law, including the GDPR, means that every organisation must have a lawful ground, or reason, for processing any personal information about an individual. We process your personal data under a lawful ground called 'legitimate interest'. You can find out more here.

It's easy to find out - please complete the form on the Check if you are on Experian's current Marketing Services file page and we'll process your request.

If you want to see every piece of data Experian holds on you, including in our marketing services business, and on your credit file, you can make a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR). You can do this at https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/data-access/confirm.html

We're a trusted partner for many of the world's most recognised brands as well as many small and medium-sized businesses. We help our clients to better understand their existing customers and find new ones.

We only work with clients that pass our regulatory and compliance checks and we put in place contractual restrictions. Of course, both us and our clients have legal obligations to comply with data protection and other laws.

To find out more about who we work with, click here.

Data protection law, the GDPR, requires that organisations use your personal data properly and legally. The rights that GDPR gives you about us include:

• Right to be informed – understand what we do with your personal data
• Right of access – see what personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification – Correct any information that we have about you and that you think is wrong
• Right to be forgotten – in limited circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data
• Right to restrict processing – for example, to opt-out of us using your data to supply marketing services to organisations
• Right to portability – the right to move your personal data (although this has limited application to the type of data processing that we do)
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – the right to understand whether we use your personal data in decision making and profiling and, for example, to opt-out

Some of these rights are subject to certain circumstances and will not always apply. You can find more details here.

If you ask us to "Opt out", then we will:

• Not pass your data on to our clients for marketing purposes; and
• Not process your personal data for any profiling activity that supports marketing.

This could result in organisations sending you marketing communications that are less relevant to you. It could also mean organisations will have less accurate information about you, even if you're their customer.

Opting out with us does not stop other organisations processing data about you for marketing purposes. You'll still see ads online and you'll probably still receive direct mail, but its more likely to be for stuff about which you have no interest.

To opt out, head to the home page and select opt out, and then complete the forms.

So that we can continue to respect your choice, we'll need to keep the minimum amount of personal data about you to make sure that we keep you excluded.

Yes, we can delete any data that we hold about you on our marketing databases.

However, if the reason that you want us to erase data about you is because you do not want to receive marketing communications, then deleting records is unlikely to achieve this. This is because we might legitimately receive data about you again at some point in the future but we won't have any record that you do not want to receive marketing communications.

If, instead, you opt-out, we will keep a minimum amount of data about you so that we can make sure that we do not process any data about you in the future for marketing purposes.

If you still want us to delete your data from our marketing databases, including from our suppression file, please contact us:

• By email: customerservices@uk.experian.com
• By post: The Experian Team, Customer Support Centre, Nottingham, NG80 7WF

If you want to stop receiving direct marketing from other organisations, there are some simple steps you can take. You'll find details of how to do this on our Opt Out Options page, under the question 'Want to opt out of other organisations using your data?'.

Most of the data we hold in our marketing database is not "real" data. Instead, much of it is modelled data and segments. We create these using statistical methods to provide insight for our clients into the likely characteristics of individuals, households and geographic locations in the UK. An example of this sort of data is our Mosaic types.

A Mosaic types is not a statement of fact about you, it is a statistical model representing our view of likely characteristic. As a result, we cannot change the Mosaic type allocated to you.

However, if you think other actual personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete (such as your name or address), you can ask for it to be corrected or completed under your 'right to rectification'. You can contact our customer services team at customerservices@uk.experian.com to do this.

If you think the contact details we hold about you are inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask for it to be corrected or completed under your 'right to rectification' by contacting our customer services team at customerservices@uk.experian.com.

Experian Marketing Services hold very little actual data about individuals, it's limited to contact information (such as name and postal address), your self-reported date of birth and/or your insurance renewal date.

We don't collect this data directly from you but receive it (where available) from, for example, our data partners where they have appropriate legal basis to share it with us. If you believe that any of this data is inaccurate, please let us know so that we can amend it. We'll keep a record your request.

Protecting, securing and using your data in the right way is our highest priority and we keep those principles at the heart of the way we do business. We do this because it's the right thing to do, not just because it's a legal obligation.

Because we take data security seriously, we take lots of actions, such as:

• We regularly review the commercial organisations from whom we source data;
• We regularly review our clients marketing activities to make sure they're using our data in the right way;
• We only work with clients where we are satisfied that they are not offering products and services that could cause detriment to you, be intrusive, or create risk for the vulnerable
• We're members of relevant industry bodies, such as the Data & Marketing Association (DMA). You can look at our entry on the DMA's website.
• By following industry codes of practice that always put people first, we can ensure we're meeting high standards in marketing practice.

We're continually looking to improving our safeguards and controls. We do this to ensure:

• We comply with industry best practice
• Our suppliers and clients safeguard your data
• We use the minimum data required
• The quality & accuracy of personal data
• We're honest about how we collect & use your data
• Your data is secure here in the UK and overseas
• We only keep your data for a reasonable time
• We constantly protect your data and rights

We work with many of the brands and organisations you'll be familiar with across a mix of market sectors, such as;

• Automotive
• Charity
• Education
• Entertainment and leisure
• Financial Services
• FMCG, Health and Beauty
• Insurance
• Lifestyle
• Mail Order
• Political organisations
• Public sector
• Publishing and media
• Retail
• Telecommunications
• Travel
• Utilities
• 3rd Party Partners

You can find more details here.

Our Marketing products and service help organisations to:

• Find new customers
• Create segments, models and make predictions
• Solve problems using insights from data
• Keep contact lists up to date and relevant
• Share insights across groups

Whatever your question or concern, we're here to help.

If you have a question, please contact our Customer Service team by post or email and they'll be happy to help you.

• Email: customerservices@uk.experian.com
• Post: Experian Customer Service team, Experian Ltd, PO Box 8000, Nottingham, NG80 7WF

If you have any questions, concerns or issues about the way we are handling your personal data or want to exercise any of the data subject rights and to find out if they apply, then please contact our Data Protection Office (DPO)

• Email: uk.dpo@experian.com
• Post: The Data Protection officer, c/o Experian Customer Service Team, Experian Ltd, PO Box 8000, Nottingham, NG80 7WF