PRIVACY POLICY
DebtClear is a licensee of the TRUSTe Web Privacy Seal Program. TRUSTe is an independent, organization whose mission is to build user's trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the Web site www.debtclear.com (the "Site"). Because this Site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact our support staff by sending an email to cs@debtclear.com If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry, or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at: http://watchdog.truste.com/pvr.php?page=complaint&url=
TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.
1. Registration and the Registration Profile
In order to use the Site, you must first complete the registration form. During registration you are required to provide valid contact information such as name, phone number, email address, zip code and your total amount of unsecured debt (such information, and together with your internet protocol address, your "Registration Profile"). If you call the toll free number on the Site, you may provide all or part of the same profile information to the DebtClear representative with whom you speak by phone, who will then enter this information into our databases. We use this information to a) contact you about the services offered on or in connection with our site, b) enhance your experience of the Site when you return to it, c) track our work with you in our system, and d) without disclosure of such information, to compensate our third party referral sources. In addition, with your separate consent, we may provide all or any part of your Registration Profile to third parties who provide services related to debt management.
Upon submission of your Registration Profile you will:
a. Be assigned to an internal DebtClear sales representative and automatically subscribed to our autoresponder series. Out of respect for your privacy, we present the option to opt-out of further email and phone communications by a) following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of any DebtClear email, b) responding via email to DebtClear emails with "Remove" in the subject line, c) sending an email to DebtClear customer service cs@debtclear.com, sending your opt-out request to us via physical mail to the DebtClear mailing address referenced under "Contact Us" below, e) following the instructions at debtclear.com/opt-out to be removed from all DebtClear correspondence, or f) by verbally asking any DebtClear representative to be removed from our email and phone list. Please allow us at least one week to update our records to adhere to your request; or
b. Be assigned to a third-party debt counselor(s), which may include Really Great Rate, Inc. DebtClear makes no representations or warranties regarding the use of your information once it is transmitted to any such third party. You acknowledge therefore, that you submit some information at your own risk. Please review the privacy policies of those third parties to understand how your information will be used by them. Please visit http://www.reallygreatrate.com/mortgage-lender-privacy.php for Really Great Rate, Inc's current privacy policy.
2. Other Information Sharing and Disclosure
A. Aggregate Information (non-personally identifiable)
We share aggregated demographic information about our user base with our partners and advertisers. This information does not identify individual users and is used to optimize future advertising efforts.
B. Personally Identifiable Information We Share with Third Parties
We share your Registration Profile and other information that identifies or has the potential to identify you personally, including but not limited to billing information you provide to sign up for a Site membership (individually and collectively, "Personally Identifiable Information") with third parties for any of the following reasons:
a. To match you with a third-party debt counselor(s) via Really Great Rate, Inc.;
b. To address SPAM or other complaints and verify that the information you provided us was indeed submitted through our site; or
c. To process payment, through a third party payment service, for your Site membership.
d. If we determine that we are required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process; b) protect and defend the rights or property of DebtClear and/or the Site, including but not limited to the prevention or investigation of a possible crime; or c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users or members of the public. We may also share information we collect via cookies (see below) for this reason.
C. Information You Share In Interactive Site Sessions
The Site archives information you may share on Site-sponsored conference calls, webinars. Site "forums" and other interactive Site sessions (collectively, "Interactive Site Sessions") and in some circumstances posts the transcripts of those sessions on the Site to make them available to members and other users. In addition, please be aware that any information you share during an Interactive Site Session will be available to all of the other participants in such sessions and if posted as part of a Site "forum", may be visible on the Site to other users. Furthermore, DebtClear does not and will not monitor who participates in Interactive Site Sessions and cannot control what those participants may do with shared information. Thus, please do not share any information about you or your financial circumstances during an Interactive Site Session which you would not want to be made publicly available. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT INTERACTIVE SITE SESSIONS ARE A PUBLIC FORUM AND THAT YOU SHARE ANY AND ALL INFORMATION DURING SUCH SESSIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
D. Cookies
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies on this site for two main purposes: a) maintaining a consistent user experience while you are using the Site, and b) saving your personalized settings so that when you return to the Site, the information you previously provided can be retrieved and you can easily use the Site's features that you customized. For this purpose, we link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.
We use both session ID cookies and/or persistent cookies. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser's "help" file.
We set a persistent cookie to track the performance of our business partners. Persistent cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site.
If you reject cookies, you may still use our site.
Some of our business partners use cookies on our site. We have no access to or control over these cookies. See "Third Party Advertisers."
E. Our Referral Service
If you choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about our Site, we will ask you for your friend's name and email address. We will then automatically send your friend up to three emails inviting him or her to visit the Site. We store this information for the sole purpose of sending these three emails, unless your friend indicates to us via an emails response or by signing up on the Site that he/she is interested in our services. If we receive such indication, then we will use the friend's personal information in the same manner as we use other personal information, as described in this privacy policy. If we do not receive an indication from the friend that he/she is interested in our services, we will not send additional emails to the friend after the initial three and will eliminate his/her information completely from our records.
Your friend may contact us at cs@debtclear.com to request that we remove this information from our database, or opt out from further communication as described in 1a above.
3. Links to Other Sites
This Web site contains links to other sites that are not owned or controlled by DebtClear. Please be aware that DebtClear is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites.
We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site you should read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information.
This privacy statement applies only to information collected by this Web site.
4. Third Party Advertisers
The ads appearing on the Site are delivered to users by RateSpecial, LLC, our advertising partner. We share Web site usage information, personally identifiable information and information collected via cookies about users with this third party for the purpose of targeting our Internet banner advertisements on this site.
In the event that you elect to receive additional information or sign up for special offers from our third party advertisers, such as by clicking on the credit monitoring service offer made available by our advertising partner RateSpecial, we may use your personal information (e.g. your name, address, etc) to complete corresponding forms on the their party Site. We do this solely to assist you in completing such forms. If you do not wish to complete the third party advertiser form and have such information sent to the third party advertiser, then simply close the browser and your personal information will not be recorded by our third-party advertiser(s).
RateSpecial, LLC uses cookies and clear GIFs on this site, which allow it to recognize a user's cookie when a user visits this site. The information that RateSpecial, LLC collects and shares through this technology is not personally identifiable.
For more information about our third-party advertiser, or to learn more about the choices available to you regarding this anonymous information, please visit http://www.ratespecial.com/privacy.html.
5. Security
The security of your personal information is important to us. Our servers are managed by third-party professionals who continuously monitor and update the hardware and software protecting the servers containing your information.
In addition, when you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number, or other identifying information) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). To learn more about SSL, follow this link http://help.godaddy.com/topic/186?isc=gdbb46&prog_id=GoDaddy.
We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can email us at cs@debtclear.com.
6. Updating Personal Information
If you wish to update or change your personal information on the Site, please contact us at cs@debtclear.com. If you are a Site member, you may also update your personal information via the "profiles" section of the membership site.
7. Children's Privacy
DebtClear is committed to complying with all relevant legislation regarding the protection of children and their personal information online, including the Children's On-line Privacy Protection Act in the United States. If you believe that DebtClear has received information from a child or other person who is not of majority age in their relevant jurisdiction, please contact us at cs@debtclear.com or via our physical mailing listed in the "Contact Us" section below and we will take all reasonable efforts to remove the information.
8. Governing Law
This Privacy Policy is governed by the law of the state of Washington, United States of America, without regard to conflict of law principles.
9. Changes in this Privacy Statement
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the page, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.
10. Cancelling your Account
You can cancel your membership with us at any time by a) calling DebtClear customer service at (800) 793-0603 x 3, b) sending an email to cs@debtclear.com or c) logging into your account at http://www.debtclear.com/member_login and selecting the "Cancel Your Account" option in the Profile section of our membership website.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at 800-793-0603 x3 or cs@debtclear.com.
DebtClear
1414 12th Ave, Ste. 510
Seattle, WA 98122
Effective February 22, 2010