Last updated: 28 October 2026
OnTheLadder (“OTL”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a mortgage lead-generation and introduction service operated by Ben Smith as a sole trader.
Data controller: Ben Smith, trading as OnTheLadder
Email: hello@ontheladder.net
Website: https://www.ontheladder.net
OnTheLadder does not currently publish a business address in this Privacy Policy. Contact us by email if you have questions about this policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you visit our website, submit a mortgage enquiry or communicate with us.
We are responsible for deciding how and why we process your personal information for the purposes described in this policy.
OnTheLadder connects people seeking mortgage-related assistance with mortgage advisers.
We collect information about your enquiry, carry out relevant verification checks and introduce you to one mortgage adviser. Our standard service is based on exclusive introductions: we do not distribute the same enquiry to multiple advisers.
We receive payment or another commercial benefit from the adviser who receives your enquiry. Our service is free for consumers.
OTL does not provide mortgage advice or recommend mortgage products. The adviser is responsible for any mortgage advice they provide and for their subsequent handling of your information.
We do not guarantee that an adviser will be able to help you obtain a mortgage or that a lender will approve an application.
The information we collect depends on the type of enquiry you submit.
This may include:
Your name, email address and telephone number.
Your postcode and relevant location information.
The type of mortgage assistance you are seeking, such as a first-time buyer mortgage, home move, remortgage, buy-to-let mortgage or equity release.
Relevant financial and property information that you provide through our forms.
Information about your mortgage enquiry, circumstances and requirements.
Your preferred contact method and availability.
Information you provide during verification calls or subsequent communications.
Your privacy preferences and any consent records, where applicable.
We aim to collect only information reasonably necessary to handle your enquiry and make the intended introduction.
Please do not provide sensitive personal information unless it is specifically requested and necessary for the relevant purpose.
When you visit our website, we or our service providers may collect:
Your IP address and general device information.
Browser type and operating system.
Pages visited and interactions with the website.
Referring website and advertising campaign information.
Cookie identifiers and similar online identifiers, where permitted.
The information collected depends on the technologies in use and your cookie preferences.
We may receive information relating to your enquiry from advertising platforms, website service providers or a mortgage adviser involved in responding to you.
Where we receive personal information from another source, we will provide any additional information required by applicable data protection law.
We process personal information only where we have an appropriate lawful basis under applicable data protection law.
We use your information to receive, review and administer your request for mortgage-related assistance.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests. Our legitimate interest is operating an introduction service and responding to enquiries that people submit to us.
Where processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, we may rely on that basis where applicable.
We may contact you to confirm that you submitted the enquiry, check your contact details, clarify information you provided and prevent invalid or fraudulent submissions.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests in maintaining the accuracy, security and quality of our service.
Our verification activity is intended to administer your enquiry, not to provide mortgage advice.
We use relevant information about your enquiry to allocate it to one appropriate adviser and share the information necessary for that adviser to contact you.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests in operating our introduction service and facilitating the connection you requested, subject to an assessment of necessity, proportionality and your rights and freedoms.
Where consent or another lawful basis is required for a particular disclosure or use, we will establish that before proceeding.
We may process technical information to maintain website security, troubleshoot faults, prevent misuse and improve the reliability of our service.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests where appropriate. Where cookies or similar technologies require consent, we will obtain it before using them.
We may use advertising platforms, including Meta, to promote our services and measure campaign performance. Depending on the tools and settings used, this may involve information about website visits, advertising interactions or enquiry submissions.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests where appropriate for relevant processing. Where consent is required for cookies, tracking technologies or other processing, we will obtain it before the relevant activity takes place.
Submitting a mortgage enquiry does not automatically mean you have consented to receive unrelated marketing.
We may process information when necessary to comply with applicable legal obligations, respond to lawful requests, handle complaints, establish or defend legal claims or protect our rights.
Lawful basis: Legal obligation where a legal requirement applies, or legitimate interests where appropriate.
We assess the appropriate lawful basis for each relevant processing activity and document that assessment.
We share personal information only where necessary for the purposes described in this policy and where we have a lawful basis.
We share the relevant information you provide with one mortgage adviser so they can respond to your request.
Our standard model is an exclusive introduction. We do not automatically send your enquiry to several advisers to see who responds first.
If we cannot allocate your enquiry as intended, we will not automatically distribute it to additional advisers. We will handle the situation in accordance with the information provided to you and applicable law.
We receive payment or another commercial benefit from the adviser in connection with the introduction.
The adviser will generally act as a separate data controller for their subsequent use of your information. They are responsible for providing their own privacy information and explaining how they handle your information after the introduction.
You should review the adviser’s privacy notice when they contact you.
We use third-party services to operate our website, manage enquiries and communicate with consumers. These include:
NameHero: website hosting and related infrastructure.
Lovable: the platform used to build or maintain our custom CRM.
Supabase: database, storage and related infrastructure used by our CRM.
Resend: email delivery services.
Meta: advertising services and, where enabled, advertising measurement and lead-generation tools.
Depending on the service and configuration, these providers may process personal information on our behalf or process certain information for their own purposes.
We take steps to ensure that appropriate contractual, security and data protection arrangements are in place for providers that process personal information on our behalf.
We may also use additional providers where necessary to operate our service. Our internal records will identify the providers that have access to personal information and the role each provider performs.
We may disclose information to legal or professional advisers, insurers, regulators, law enforcement agencies or other authorities where necessary and lawful.
If our business is transferred or restructured, personal information may be disclosed to relevant parties where lawful and subject to appropriate safeguards.
We do not share personal information with unrelated third parties for their own purposes without an appropriate lawful basis.
OnTheLadder is a commercial lead-generation and introduction service. Mortgage advisers pay us for exclusive enquiries or introductions.
Your information is used to facilitate the introduction you requested. We do not represent that an introduction guarantees a mortgage offer, lender acceptance or a particular financial outcome.
We allocate enquiries according to the type of assistance requested and relevant operational factors. The adviser remains responsible for assessing your circumstances and providing any mortgage advice.
We will make any disclosures concerning payments, commissions or other commercial benefits that are required by applicable law before making an introduction.
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, taking account of applicable legal obligations, complaints, disputes and legitimate business requirements.
Our retention schedule is intended to operate as follows:
Incomplete or unsubmitted enquiries: information retained temporarily for troubleshooting or security will be deleted within 30 days unless a documented reason justifies longer retention.
Unconverted enquiries: personal enquiry information will be deleted or anonymised within 90 days of the last meaningful contact, unless a complaint, dispute, legal obligation or other documented reason requires longer retention.
Completed introductions: enquiry information will normally be retained for up to 24 months after the introduction to administer the service, address quality issues and handle reasonably foreseeable complaints or disputes.
Complaints and disputes: relevant information will be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to investigate and resolve the matter and meet any applicable legal requirements.
Accounting and tax records: relevant financial records will be retained for the applicable statutory period, which may be six years for certain records. This does not mean that every piece of consumer lead data will automatically be retained for six years.
Marketing objections and suppression records: where necessary, minimal information will be retained to ensure that a person’s objection or opt-out is respected.
Technical and analytics information: retained in accordance with the purpose of collection and the retention settings of the relevant service.
These periods are based on our proposed retention policy and are not statutory retention periods. We will implement them in our systems and review them periodically. Where information is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymise it, including from relevant service providers where applicable.
If a particular record needs to be retained longer, we will document the reason, limit the information retained and review it periodically.
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure or destruction.
Depending on the system involved, these measures may include access controls, secure authentication, restricted permissions, backups, supplier safeguards and security monitoring.
No online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs, we will assess it and take the action required by applicable law.
Our technology providers may process personal information in different countries, depending on their legal entities, infrastructure, subprocessors and service configurations.
Before using a provider to process personal information, we will establish where relevant processing takes place and whether personal information is transferred to a separate organisation outside the United Kingdom.
Where a restricted international transfer occurs, we will ensure that it is covered by an applicable transfer mechanism, such as UK adequacy regulations, appropriate contractual safeguards or a lawful exception. We will also meet any applicable assessment and documentation requirements.
Information about relevant transfers and safeguards will be made available where required by law.
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to support essential website functionality, remember preferences, maintain security, measure performance and support advertising.
We will obtain consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies where required by law.
You can manage your preferences through the cookie controls provided on our website. Blocking some cookies may affect website functionality.
Please refer to our Cookie Policy for further details.
Under applicable data protection law, you may have the right to:
Access your personal information.
Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Request deletion of your information in certain circumstances.
Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
Object to processing based on legitimate interests, where applicable.
Object to direct marketing at any time.
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
Receive certain information in a portable format where the legal conditions apply.
Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
These rights are subject to applicable legal conditions and exceptions. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
To exercise your rights, contact hello@ontheladder.net.
We will respond within the applicable legal timeframe.
We may contact you by telephone or other means to verify your enquiry, clarify information you provided or administer the introduction you requested.
We do not use your submission as automatic consent to unrelated marketing from OnTheLadder.
The adviser receiving your enquiry may contact you about that enquiry. Any further use of your information by the adviser is subject to the adviser’s own legal obligations and privacy information.
If we introduce additional marketing activities in future, we will review the applicable legal requirements and update our privacy information and consent mechanisms where necessary.
Our service is intended for adults seeking mortgage-related assistance. We do not knowingly seek to collect children’s personal information through our standard enquiry process.
If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact hello@ontheladder.net so we can assess the situation and take appropriate action.
Our website may contain links to external websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties operating those websites.
If you visit an external website or engage directly with a mortgage adviser, you should review the relevant organisation’s privacy notice.
We may update this policy when our practices, technology or legal obligations change.
The latest version will be published on our website with its updated date. Where required, we will take additional steps to inform individuals about material changes before using their information for a new purpose.
For questions about this Privacy Policy, our handling of personal information or your data protection rights, contact:
Ben Smith, trading as OnTheLadder
Email: hello@ontheladder.net
Website: https://www.ontheladder.net
If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal information, please contact us first so we can investigate your concerns.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:
The ICO website provides guidance on your rights and how to make a complaint.
