Privacy policy

Last updated: 9 October 2026

1. Who we are

This website, welcomefinance.co.uk, and our application platform at app.welcomefinance.co.uk are operated by Welcome Business Solutions Ltd, trading as Welcome Finance.

•        Company number: 17214545 (registered in England and Wales)

•        Registered office: 167–169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London W1W 5PF

•        Telephone: 020 8609 3897

•        Email: support@welcomefinance.co.uk

•        ICO registration number: ZC217118

We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. This means we decide how and why it is used.

2. We are a broker, not a lender

Welcome Finance is a commercial finance broker. We do not lend money, and we do not make lending decisions. We help eligible UK businesses find finance by introducing them to lenders and funders on our panel.

We only arrange unregulated commercial finance for the following UK businesses:

•        UK limited companies

•        limited liability partnerships (LLPs)

•        partnerships with four or more partners

Each lender on our panel sets its own minimum trading period.

This matters for your privacy. To do our job, we have to share information about your business, and about the people behind it, with lenders. Each lender then becomes a separate data controller of that information and uses it under its own privacy notice. Section 7 explains this.

3. Whose information we collect

We collect information about businesses. Some of it is personal data about individuals connected to a business, such as:

•        directors, partners and members

•        shareholders and people with significant control

•        anyone offering a personal guarantee

•        the person who contacts us or fills in a form for the business

•        visitors to our website

4. What we collect

Identity and contact details: name, job title or role, email address, phone number, business address and, where a lender requires it, home address and date of birth.

Business information: company name and number, legal structure, trading history, sector, turnover, how much funding is needed and what it is for, existing borrowing, and assets offered as security.

Financial information: bank statements, management accounts, filed accounts, tax information and similar documents that you choose to give us so a lender can assess an application.

Information about guarantors: where a lender asks for a personal guarantee, details of the guarantor and, where relevant, their personal assets and liabilities.

Communications: emails, messages and notes of phone calls.

Technical and usage data: IP address, device and browser type, the pages you visit, how you reach our site, and your interactions with it. This is collected through cookies and similar technologies (see section 9).

Marketing data: your marketing preferences, and how you respond to our emails and adverts.

We do not ask for special category data, such as health, religion or ethnicity. Please do not send it to us unless a lender specifically needs it and we have explained why.

5. How we collect it

We collect information:

•        directly from you, through our eligibility checker, our application form at app.welcomefinance.co.uk, our callback form, email, phone, SMS and meetings

•        from public sources, such as Companies House, the Insolvency Service, the Electoral Register and business websites

•        from introducers and partners who refer your business to us, where they are allowed to do so

•        from lenders, who may tell us the outcome of an application and the terms offered

•        automatically, through cookies and analytics tools when you use our website

6. Why we use it and our lawful basis

When we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed our interests against your rights. You can ask us for more detail about this.

7. Who we share it with

Lenders and funders. We share your business’s information, and the relevant personal data, with lenders and funders on our panel that we reasonably believe may be able to help. We only share with a lender once you have asked us to look for finance. We will tell you which lender(s) we have approached if you ask. Each lender uses your data under its own privacy notice, and you should read it.

Service providers who work for us under contract and only on our instructions. These include providers of:

•        website hosting

•        our CRM and application platform

•        email

•        telephone and SMS

•        document storage

•        analytics

•        IT support

Advertising and analytics partners, only where you have agreed to the relevant cookies (see section 9).

Professional advisers, such as our accountants, lawyers and insurers.

Fraud prevention agencies, law enforcement and regulators, where the law requires it or where we need to prevent or detect crime.

A buyer or successor, if all or part of our business is sold or restructured. In that case they would keep using your data in line with this policy.

We do not sell personal data.

8. Credit and identity checks

We do not carry out credit searches ourselves.

When you apply for finance through us, the lender may:

•        run credit and identity checks on your business, and on directors, partners or guarantors, using credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies

•        leave a search footprint on a credit file

•        use automated decision-making as part of its own assessment

These checks and decisions belong to the lender and are covered by its privacy notice. We do not make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

9. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website uses cookies in three groups:

•        Essential: needed for the site to work and to remember your cookie choices. These are always on.

•        Analytics: Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity. These help us understand how the site is used. Clarity can record anonymised page interactions, such as clicks and scrolls, and masks form fields.

•        Marketing: Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and LinkedIn. These measure our adverts and show relevant ads.

Analytics and marketing cookies only run if you accept them in our cookie banner. We use Google Consent Mode, so Google tags respect your choice. You can change your choice at any time using the “Cookie settings” link in the footer of our website.

10. Marketing

We may send you emails or messages about finance products and services that may interest your business. We do this where:

•        you have agreed to it, or

•        the law allows us to contact business contacts and you have not opted out.

Every marketing message includes a way to unsubscribe. You can also opt out at any time by contacting us. Opting out of marketing will not affect messages about an application you have made.

11. How long we keep it

We keep personal data only as long as we need it:

After this period, we securely delete or anonymise the data.

12. International transfers

Some of our service providers (for example Google, Microsoft, Meta and LinkedIn) may process data outside the UK, including in the United States. When this happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place. These include:

•        the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework

•        UK adequacy regulations

•        the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum

You can ask us for details of these safeguards.

13. How we protect it

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including:

•        encrypted connections (HTTPS)

•        access controls and staff confidentiality

•        secure storage

•        choosing reputable providers

No system is completely secure. If a breach affects your rights, we will tell you and the ICO where the law requires us to.

14. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

•        access the personal data we hold about you

•        correct inaccurate or incomplete data

•        erase your data in certain circumstances

•        restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances

•        object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time

•        data portability, for data you gave us under consent or a contract

•        withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on it

To use any of these rights, email support@welcomefinance.co.uk or write to our registered office. We will reply within one month. We may need to confirm your identity first.

Data that we have already passed to a lender is held by that lender as a separate controller, so you may also need to contact them directly.

15. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to put it right.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

•        Website: ico.org.uk

•        Helpline: 0303 123 1113

•        Post: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

16. Third-party websites

Our website may link to other sites, including lender websites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, so please read their privacy notices.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.