Last updated January 2016
Here at Select Options Loans we realise that many people may not be familiar with cookies and other similar technologies, so we feel it's important to shed some light on what they are and how they're used to help our site visitors understand them a bit more. That way you can make informed decisions about your cookie preferences. Below you'll find a guide to cookies in general, as well as more detail about the cookies used on the Select Options website. Once you've read this information, you will be in formed of how to change your cookie settings.
A cookie is a small piece of text information that a website transfers to your computer's hard drive so that it can remember you.
The information in a cookie usually includes the name of the website, their ‘duration' or ‘lifetime' (i.e. how long they will remain on your hard drive) and a unique identifier, which is usually a randomly generated number.
Cookies are generally used by most website operators to recognise visitors when they return, to store any preferences expressed by visitors when using the website and help highlight areas for website improvement, all of which is intended to improve the visitor experience.
It is important to note that cookies cannot be used by themselves to personally identify you unless you offer up personal information, i.e. when you complete an application form, as cookies only know what you've told them. They are also unable to access any personal information stored on your computer's hard drive.
Yes; different types of cookie include:
Session cookies - – temporary cookies that are only stored on your computer for as long as on a particular website. If you close your browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome) and end your ‘session', the cookie will automatically be deleted.
Session cookies tend to be used to remember things whilst you're browsing a website. For example, if you're shopping online, a session cookie will be used to remember that you've added something to your ‘shopping basket' and it will allow the website to keep it there for you.
Persistent cookies - – more long-term cookies that remain on your computer after you've closed browser. How long they stay on your computer changes from cookie to cookie, but it's usually 30 days.
Like session cookies, persistent cookies are also used to remember things from when you've been browsing, but because they're still on your computer after you've left a website, they can be used to make sure that when you return what you're seeing is relevant to you e.g. clothes like those you may have looked at previously or grocery items you may have bought before.
Third party cookies -– cookies that are set by or whose information is sent back to a website that different to the one you're viewing.
For example, search engines like Google often set cookies so they can know where people go after using their website, but the anonymous, statistical information is collected when you've moved onto another website. Alternatively, advertisers often show adverts on sites that aren't their own and use cookies to find out when people are viewing and clicking on them.
Many people may be worried that website operators using cookies will be able to personally identify them and/or access their private information stored on their computers hard drive.
This is not the case; cookies, and certainly those set by Select Options Loans, cannot access any information that is stored on your computers hard drive. In addition, the only way a cookie could be used to personally identify you is if you choose offer up personal information i.e. when you complete an application form
It is important to note that you should only ever provide your personal information on secure websites that you know you can trust. A quick and easy way to check whether a website is secure is to look out for the padlock symbol. You can be assured that the Select Options Loans website is secure.
For the most part, the use of cookies is intended to improve a visitors experience of a website, either by remembering personal preferences or collecting anonymous statistics that, when analysed, can be used to improve your experience.
No: We do not use cookies to track you on our website. However, we may have 3rd party partners who may use cookie data to provide you with a better overall web experience in order to make sure you see ads you might be interested in across the web.
Third party cookies
For marketing purposes e.g. to show advertisements for our website on other websites and search engines and to track when people click on them.
Yes; you can delete cookies from your computer by clearing the history from your browser. The way to do this varies depending on which browser you use, but you can find simple step-by-step instructions for many different browser types on the About Cookies website.
You can also amend your settings to control whether or not your browser accepts cookies, but it's worth bearing in mind that many websites rely on cookies to allow them to function properly and choosing to reject cookies may mean you're not able to use all the features you're used to. You can again find information on how to do this on the About Cookies website.