Cookies policy
1. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, smartphone or tablet) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work, improve efficiency, and provide information to the website operator.
Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies you, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
2. Who We Are
This Cookie Policy applies to the website chatmortgages.co.uk, operated by:
| Trading name | Chat Mortgages |
| Principal | Luke Nicholson |
| Address | 35 Spring Hill, Sheffield, S10 1ET |
| luke.nicholson@chatmortgages.co.uk | |
| Regulated by | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) via HL Partnership Limited |
3. Types of Cookies We Use
We use the following categories of cookies on our website:
3.1 Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential for you to browse our website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas and using our interactive tools (including affordability calculators, the mortgage quiz, and the fact-find form). Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided.
These cookies do not require your consent. They are set in response to actions you take, such as filling in a form or setting your privacy preferences.
3.2 Performance & Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use our website — for example, which pages are visited most often and whether visitors receive error messages. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. We use this data to improve how our website works.
We may use tools such as Google Analytics or similar services to gather this information. If you decline these cookies, we will not be able to monitor and improve the performance of our website.
3.3 Functional Cookies
These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as answers given in our mortgage quiz or calculator tool) and provide enhanced, more personal features. They may also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other customisable parts of web pages.
3.4 Marketing & Targeting Cookies
These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement, as well as to help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations, such as advertisers.
Please note: we may receive a commission or other remuneration from lenders or third parties for introductions made via our site. The use of marketing cookies supports this commercial model. For full details, please refer to our commission disclosure on the relevant pages of this website.
4. Cookies Used on This Website
The table below sets out the specific cookies used on chatmortgages.co.uk. Please note this list may be updated from time to time as we add or change tools and services on the website.
Strictly Necessary
| Cookie Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
| wordpress_logged_in_* | Necessary | Session | WordPress login authentication cookie. Confirms you are logged in and which account you are using. |
| wordpress_sec_* | Necessary | Session | WordPress security cookie used in the admin area. |
| wp-settings-* | Necessary | 1 year | Stores user preferences for the WordPress admin interface. |
| PHPSESSID | Necessary | Session | Preserves your session state across page requests. Used by the fact-find form and calculators. |
| cookie_consent | Necessary | 1 year | Stores your cookie consent preferences so you are not shown the banner on every visit. |
Performance & Analytics
| Cookie Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
| _ga | Analytics | 2 years | Google Analytics — distinguishes unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. |
| _ga_* | Analytics | 2 years | Google Analytics 4 — used to persist session state. |
| _gid | Analytics | 24 hours | Google Analytics — stores and updates a unique value for each page visited. |
| _gat | Analytics | 1 minute | Google Analytics — used to throttle request rate. |
Functional
| Cookie Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
| mf_quiz_state | Functional | Session | Stores your answers as you progress through the mortgage finder quiz so your progress is not lost if you navigate away. |
| calc_inputs | Functional | Session | Remembers values entered into our affordability and comparison calculators during your session. |
Marketing & Third-Party
| Cookie Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
| _fbp | Marketing | 3 months | Set by Facebook/Meta to deliver and track advertisements across Facebook products. |
| _fbc | Marketing | 2 years | Facebook — stores the last ad click attribution for advertising measurement. |
| checkmyfile_ref | Marketing | 30 days | Set when you click through to our credit score partner (checkmyfile.partners). Used to attribute referrals and calculate any commission due. |
Third-party cookies: when you click links to external services such as Check My File, those third-party websites may set their own cookies. Chat Mortgages has no control over these cookies. Please refer to the relevant third-party privacy and cookie policies for further information.
5. How Long Do Cookies Last?
Cookies can be either session cookies or persistent cookies:
- Session cookies are temporary and are deleted from your device when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period of time (as indicated in the table above) or until you delete them manually.
6. Legal Basis for Using Cookies
We use cookies on the following legal bases under UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR):
- Strictly necessary cookies: legitimate interest / contractual necessity — these do not require your consent.
- Performance, functional and marketing cookies: your consent — collected via our cookie consent banner when you first visit the website.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by adjusting your cookie preferences (see Section 7 below).
7. How to Manage or Delete Cookies
Using our Cookie Preference Centre
When you first visit our website, you will be shown a cookie consent banner. You can use this to accept all cookies, decline optional cookies, or customise your preferences by category. You can revisit your preferences at any time by clicking the ‘Cookie Preferences’ button available on our website.
Browser Settings
You can also control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:
- See what cookies have been set and delete them individually.
- Block third-party cookies.
- Block cookies from specific websites.
- Block all cookies.
- Delete all cookies when you close your browser.
Please be aware that restricting or deleting cookies may impact your experience of our website. In particular, the interactive tools (affordability calculators, mortgage quiz, and fact-find form) may not function correctly without certain cookies.
For guidance on how to manage cookies in your specific browser, please visit:
- Google Chrome: support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647
- Mozilla Firefox: support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cookies
- Microsoft Edge: support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4027947
- Safari: support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari
Opting Out of Google Analytics
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
8. Third-Party Links and External Websites
Our website contains links to third-party websites and services, including but not limited to:
- Check My File (checkmyfile.partners) — credit reference service
- HL Partnership Limited (hlpartnership.co.uk) — our principal firm
- Lenders and product providers accessed via our tools hub
When you click these links, you will be directed away from chatmortgages.co.uk. Chat Mortgages and HL Partnership Limited are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those external websites. We encourage you to read the cookie and privacy policies of any external website you visit.
We display a disclosure notice before directing you to any external site, which informs you that you are leaving our website and that we may receive a commission for referring you.
9. Commission Disclosure and Cookies
Some cookies on our website — particularly marketing and referral tracking cookies — are related to our commercial arrangements with lenders and third-party service providers. When you are directed to a third-party service via our website, we may receive a commission or other remuneration.
We will always make this clear to you at the point of referral. The use of tracking cookies supports this process by attributing referrals accurately. This does not change the cost to you or affect the quality of the service you receive.
10. Changes to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, regulation, or our business practices. When we make material changes, we will update the ‘Last updated’ date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you via the website or by email.
We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.
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