Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

TRDG Commercial Credit Management ("we", "us", "our") provides ethical commercial credit management and unpaid invoice recovery services to UK businesses. Our postal address is PO Box 480, Sevenoaks TN13 9JY, United Kingdom. You can reach us by email at enquiries@trdgcommercial.co.uk.

We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.

2. What this policy covers

This policy explains what personal information we collect when you visit this website or engage our services, how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

3. Information we collect

When you visit this website:

• Analytics data through Google Analytics 4 (only if you accept our cookie banner) — this includes anonymised IP address, browser and device information, pages visited, and how you arrived at the site
• Technical information required to deliver the site to your browser (server logs, request headers) — held briefly for security and diagnostics

When you contact us or become a client:

• Your name, business name, business address, and contact details
• Information about the matter you are contacting us about, including debtor details, invoice values, and correspondence history
• Bank or payment details if you engage us on a retainer or contingency basis
• Any other information you choose to share in your enquiry or during the engagement

4. Why we collect it and our lawful basis

Under UK GDPR we can only use your personal information if we have a valid lawful basis. Ours are:

• Contract (Article 6(1)(b)): to provide the services you have engaged us for, including recovery correspondence, client updates, and invoicing
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): to respond to enquiries, keep records of our dealings, protect our business from fraud, and improve our website. We have balanced these interests against your rights and consider them proportionate
• Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): to keep records required by HMRC, Companies House, anti-money-laundering regulations, and other applicable UK law
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): for non-essential cookies (analytics). You can withdraw this at any time through the cookie preferences link in our footer

5. Who we share information with

We share personal information only where it is necessary and only with:

• Debtors and their representatives — when acting under a Letter of Authority you have signed, we correspond with the debtor on your behalf and provide the information needed to pursue the matter
• Our infrastructure providers — Microsoft (email, document storage), Cloudflare (DNS and site security), Vercel (website hosting), Google (analytics if you have consented), and PC2Paper (postal letter delivery). All are contractually bound to protect your data and process it only on our instructions
• Professional advisers — accountants, solicitors, and insurers where required
• UK authorities — HMRC, ICO, courts, and regulators where we are legally required to disclose

We do not sell your personal information to anyone. We do not use it for advertising.

6. International transfers

Some of our providers (notably Google Analytics and Microsoft) may process data in the United States or the European Union. Where this happens, transfers are protected by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, together with additional safeguards where appropriate.

7. How long we keep it

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

• Enquiries that do not become clients: up to 12 months, then deleted
• Active client files: for the life of the engagement
• Closed client files: 6 years from the end of the engagement (to meet tax and limitation-period requirements)
• Website analytics: retained by Google Analytics for 14 months, then deleted automatically
• Accounting records: 6 years, in line with HMRC requirements

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you (right of access)
• Ask us to correct information that is wrong (right to rectification)
• Ask us to delete information where we no longer need it (right to erasure)
• Ask us to restrict how we use it (right to restriction)
• Ask us to transfer it to another provider (right to portability)
• Object to how we use it (right to object)
• Withdraw consent at any time where we relied on your consent

To exercise any of these rights, email enquiries@trdgcommercial.co.uk. We will respond within one month.

9. How we protect your information

We use industry-standard technical and organisational measures including encrypted email (DKIM, SPF, DMARC), TLS-encrypted website connections, access controls on our document storage, and staff-level need-to-know restrictions. No system is perfectly secure, but we treat client data with the seriousness the work demands.

10. Cookies

Our use of cookies is set out separately in our Cookie Policy. You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the link in the footer.

11. Complaints

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first at enquiries@trdgcommercial.co.uk so we can put it right. If you remain unhappy, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
ico.org.uk · 0303 123 1113

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date at the top and, if the change is material, we will let existing clients know by email.