Privacy & Cookies

1. About FRN Watch

FRN Watch is committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you have any questions about how we handle your data, you can contact us at privacy@frnwatch.com

2. What Information We Collect

When You Sign Up

• Your name and email address
• A password (which is encrypted and we can't see)
• Your company name (optional)

For Payments

Payment card details are handled by Stripe (a payment processor). We never see or store your full card details. We only receive a confirmation that payment was successful and store your billing email.

When You Use the Service

• The FRN numbers you choose to monitor
• Email addresses where you want to receive alerts
• Your notification preferences

Automatically Collected

• Basic usage information (which pages you visit, when you use the service)
• Technical information (IP address, browser type) for security and troubleshooting
• Cookies (see Cookies section below)

Public FCA Data

We collect publicly available information from the FCA Register about the firms you monitor. This is public regulatory data that anyone can access.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Run the service: Create your account, check the FCA Register daily for changes, and send you alerts
• Process payments: Handle your subscription through Stripe
• Provide support: Help you when something goes wrong or you have questions
• Improve the service: Understand how people use FRN Watch to make it better
• Keep it secure: Detect and prevent fraud, spam, and unauthorized access
• Comply with the law: Keep records for tax purposes and respond to legal requests

The legal basis for this processing is: providing the service you signed up for (contract), our legitimate interests in running and improving the service, and legal obligations (like tax records).

4. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell your data to anyone. We only share it with services that help run FRN Watch:

These services are all reputable companies with strong security practices. Some of them (like Vercel and Stripe) are based in the USA, which means your data may be transferred internationally. They all have appropriate data protection agreements in place.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law or to protect against fraud or illegal activity.

5. How Long We Keep Your Data

• While you're a customer: We keep all your data so the service works
• After you cancel: We keep basic account and payment records for 6 years (required by UK tax law), then delete everything
• Usage logs: Deleted after 12 months
• Support emails: Kept for 2 years, then deleted

6. Security

We take security seriously:

• All connections use HTTPS encryption
• Passwords are encrypted (we can't see them)
• Database is encrypted at rest
• Regular backups
• We use established, secure services (Supabase, Stripe, etc.)

That said, no system is 100% secure. Please use a strong, unique password and don't share your login details.

7. Your Rights

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

• Access your data: Ask us what data we have about you
• Correct your data: Fix anything that's wrong (you can also do this in your account settings)
• Delete your data: Ask us to delete your account and data (some records must be kept for tax purposes)
• Export your data: Get a copy of your data in a portable format
• Object to processing: Ask us to stop processing your data in certain ways
• Withdraw consent: Stop receiving marketing emails (we'll still send essential service emails)

To exercise any of these rights, email us at privacy@frnwatch.com and we'll respond within a month.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

8. Cookies

Cookies are small files stored on your device. FRN Watch uses two types:

Essential Cookies (Required)

These are necessary for the service to work:

• Authentication: Keeps you logged in (from Supabase)
• You can't disable these without breaking the service

Analytics & Performance Cookies (Optional)

These help us understand how people use FRN Watch and monitor for errors:

• Vercel Analytics: Anonymous page views and performance data
• Sentry: Error monitoring and performance tracking to help us fix bugs
• CookieChimp: Cookie consent management
• You can opt out via the cookie banner when you first visit

Most browsers let you block cookies entirely, but this will stop FRN Watch from working properly.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy occasionally. If we make significant changes, we'll email you. Otherwise, check the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

10. Questions?

If you have any questions about privacy or data protection, email us at privacy@frnwatch.com