Security and Privacy

You may have concerns about the security of your money on the internet or how your personal information is protected from misuse. This section explains our web security promise, the measures we take to protect you and what you can do to protect yourself from online fraud.

What we do

Our systems operate on 128-bit secure encryption. Look for the yellow padlock symbol in your browser status bar.
A team of independent security experts regularly tests our website.
Your session will time out after 15 minutes of keyboard inactivity.
Your log-in account will be locked out after three failed access attempts. You will need to call us to reset your account.
We will verify your identity before disclosing confidential information over the telephone or re-setting your password.

We do not guarantee the Site will be fault free and do not accept liability for any errors or omissions that occur.

Your Username and Password

On registering an account with us, you will have a username and password which must be used in order to access certain restricted parts of the Site. Your username and password are used by us to identify you and so are very important. You are responsible for all information posted on the Site by anyone using your username and password. Any breach of security of a username and password should be notified to us immediately.

What you should do

Never reveal your password to anyone or write it down.
Do not use a password that could be easily guessed by someone else.
Change your password immediately if you suspect someone else could know it.
Log off when you have completed your transaction.
Keep your PC updated with current anti-virus software and the latest browser versions.
Do not send us any confidential account information via email.
Treat emails you receive with caution. Remember we will never ask you to disclose your personal or account information to us by email.

We recommend that you regularly visit the www.banksafeonline.org.uk website to keep up to date with tips to protect yourself from the latest scams.

Security Notice

All forms and online account pages, i.e. those pages that show your information, use 128-bit encryption. Encryption makes your information unreadable to anyone who might intercept it. In addition, a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is used to connect your browser to our secure servers. The latest browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer 6, Netscape 6, Opera 5) support 128-bit encryption. Browsers older than this support lower levels of encryption (40-bit or 56-bit) but they still remain extremely secure.

You should note that ordinary e-mail is not secure. Please do not send us any confidential information via email. We will only use e-mail to send you account information such as your account balance and transaction information or special offers if you have given your consent for us to do so. We will not use e-mail to send other confidential personal information to you.

We cannot accept any responsibility for the unauthorised access by a third party and/or the corruption of data being sent by individuals to APS. It is our policy that if any of our customers are victims of unauthorised access to their accounts, and provided that you have not breached our security procedures, acted fraudulently or without reasonable care, we will cover any direct financial loss which you may have suffered.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

A "Secure Socket Layer" is a commonly used method of managing the security of messages transmitted across the Internet and is used by us to connect your computer to our secure server. You can tell that SSL is in use if you are using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator when a small padlock icon appears on your browser status bar. If you have problems getting to secure mode, install one of the latest browsers and try the site again.

Which browser do I need to view this site?

Our site has been designed to work with a variety of browsers on either Apple Macintosh computers or Windows based PCs. It will run on versions 4 and later of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and America On-Line (AOL), as well as Opera 5.
If you are using an older browser such as Internet Explorer 3, Netscape 3 or Opera 3 & 4, you will be able to view the information pages but you may not be able to apply for a card or access your account information. To make an application online we recommend you upgrade to the latest versions.

How do I change my screen resolution?

We recommend viewing this site with a screen resolution of 800x600 or above. To change the screen resolution depends on the operating system you use. Please consult your operating system manual for instructions.

Do I need plug-ins?

"Plug-ins" are additional software programs required by some sites to make them work properly. An example is Flash Player from Macromedia. Our site does not need any plug-ins to work effectively.

I am having difficulty accessing my account from work.

Most organisations have what is known as "firewalls" to protect their networks and their computers. A firewall is a secure server through which all communication passes and which protects the organisation's computers from unauthorised access by filtering the information getting in and out. Depending on how the firewall is set up, access to another secure server may be denied. If you are having problems accessing your account from work but can access it from home with no difficulties, check with your IT department to see if a firewall is in place that may be affecting access to our site and how this has been set up.

Cookies Policy

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a text-only string of data, which often includes a random unique identifier that is sent to your computer or mobile phone browser from a website's computer and is stored on your device. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other websites. Many websites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.

On the APS Group's websites (APS), we may use cookies to record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor the websites to your interests and needs. Users have the opportunity to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised features cannot then be provided to that user and accordingly they may not be able to take full advantage of all of APS website's features. Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

If cookies are enabled then during the course of any visit to an APS' website, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are stored to your device. On a repeat visit the APS website may check to see, and find, any cookie left there on the last visit to enable us to present personalised feature. APS might also look at IP addresses to add general information about the country, city or region in which you are located, along with your domain name (e.g. what internet service provider you use)

There are two types of cookies that may be used across the APS suite of websites:

Session Cookies

These are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you close the browser. They enable information to be maintained across pages of our site and avoid you having to re-enter information.

Persistent Cookies

These remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer (though how long will depend on the life time of that specific cookie). These cookies help APS recognise you as a unique visitor (just a randomly generated number) when you return to our website and to allow us to tailor content or advertisements to match your preferred interests or to avoid showing you the same adverts repeatedly. On some of our sites, as with session cookies, they also enable information to be maintained across pages of our site and avoid you having to re-enter information.

Cookies cannot be used by themselves to identify you. It is important to note that at no time will we or our service providers attempt to identify you individually during your access of our general websites, and at no time do we know who you are or what pages you individually have been looking at - we simply aggregate the relevant information to create the market segments of groups of people.

The exception to this is within our secure websites - our secure banking site (Members Area) and our Online Application site - where we have to securely identify you and track your usage to protect your account. However the cookies themselves do not contain any personal or identifiable information.

Why does APS use cookies?

Information supplied by cookies can help us to analyse the profile of our visitors and help us to provide you with a better user experience. For example, if on a previous visit you went to our iAdvance pages, we might find this out from your cookie and highlight general iAdvance information on your second and subsequent visits.

APS group also use a number of independent measurement and research companies. They gather information regarding the visitors to APS websites on our behalf using cookies, log file data and code which is embedded on our website. APS use this type of information to help improve the services it provides to its users. All third parties are strictly required not to use any information for their own business or other purposes and at no time does the information identify you individually.

Third Party Cookies on APS pages

Authorised Third Parties serve cookies via our sites, under our direct control. These are used for the following purposes:

To compile anonymous, aggregated statistics that allow us to understand how users use our site and to help us improve the structure of our website. We cannot identify you personally in this way.
To serve advertisements on our site and track whether these advertisements are clicked on by users.

For more information and to opt-out of cookies used for this purpose please visit the Omniture Visual Sciences Privacy Centre: Adobe® SiteCatalyst® HBX Products and Services Privacy Statement

If you wish to immediate remove these cookies then please go to the SiteCatalyst HBX Cookie Opt-Out tool.

Phishing

Some customers may receive an email claiming to be from APS or APS Financial Limited (AFL) with a link to what appears to be the our or the AFL website, where they are prompted to enter their personal and account details. APS is in no way involved with this email and the website does not belong to us or AFL. APS will never send emails to its customers requesting security or any other confidential information. Do not reply to any such emails or disclose any personal information in these websites.

If you think you have received a fraudulent email that looks like it is from APS or AFL, forward the entire email including the header and footer to fraud@apsgroup.com and then delete it from your email account.

Personal Information

Data Protection

When you apply for a product or service from us (or another party), you will be asked for personal information that is needed to process your application. The information that you provide will only be used for the purposes described at the time of your application and where applicable in the terms and conditions that apply to the relevant product or service.

We will also collect, store and process your personal information on the APS computers to;(a) personalise aspects of our overall service to you; or (b) communicate with you; or (c) learn from the way you use and manage your account(s), for example from the transactions you make and from the payments which are made to your account.

We will use your personal information to manage your account(s), and provide our services, for assessment and analysis (including credit and/or behaviour scoring, market and product analysis), and to develop and improve our services to you.

If you do not want to receive information about our products and services, please write to Customer Services at PO Box 52768, London, EC3P 3WR or by emailing us at info@apsgroup.com.

We will not disclose any such information outside of APS except:

to fraud prevention agencies and other organisations who may use the information to prevent fraud and money laundering;
to persons acting as our agents under a strict code of confidentiality;
to anyone to whom we transfer or may transfer our rights and duties under our terms and conditions with you;
as required by law or regulation.

If we transfer your information to a service provider or agent in another country outside the European Union, we will make sure that the service provider or agent agrees to apply the same levels of protection as we are required to apply to personal information held in the UK and to use your information only for the purpose of providing the service to us.