As you read this Privacy of Personal Information Statement (“Privacy Statement”), please remember that this Privacy Statement applies only to Canada Residents using our services. These companies will be referred to as “Acra” or, depending on the context, as “we”, “our”, or “us”, in this Privacy Statement. As well, “you” and “your” means an individual customer of Acra Lending.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT:
Any changes to this Privacy Statement and our information handling practices will be acknowledged in this Privacy Statement in a timely manner. We may add, modify, or remove portions of this Privacy Statement when we feel that it is appropriate to do so.
Categories of Personal Information We Collect and Hold:
The nature of personal information we collect and hold about you may include, but is not limited to:
- information we receive from you on applications or other forms, such as name, gender, date of birth, address, home telephone number, mobile telephone number, personal email address, occupation, employer, assets, income, language preference and personal identification information (such as government-issued identification, social security number, driver’s license, and/or passport);
- information we receive from you on a voluntary basis when we are conducting a survey of your preferences, needs or interests;
- information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or third parties, such as account numbers, account balances, payment history, and account activity;
- information about your device, your IP address, your location, your activities on Acra websites and your online preferences;
- information we receive from your employer;
- reports we receive from credit bureaus;
We are not collecting any sensitive information from our affiliates or third parties, such as medical information, detailed information regarding specific purchases of goods or services, or information concerning customer preferences, needs or interests where a reasonable person would expect the subject matter to cause offence or embarrassment. We have established policies and procedures pertaining to the retention and destruction of the personal information that we hold about you.
Purposes of Collecting Your Personal Information:
Acra may use the personal information we collect about you for the following purposes:
- to make decisions about applications, including identity verification and to detect and prevent fraud;
- in the case of a Social security Number, for tax reporting purposes, and for credit bureau file matching purposes;
- to evaluate credit worthiness, monitor, service and collect your account;
- to respond to your inquiries about applications, accounts or other services;
- to meet legal, security, processing and regulatory requirements;
- to contact you by email with offers, advertisements, and promotions which may be of interest to you (as permitted by law). You may unsubscribe at any time by using the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email or by contacting the appropriate Acra business at the address or telephone number listed in the Contacting Acra Lending to File a Privacy Complaint or to Make a Request section below;
- to understand your needs and to offer products and services to meet those needs;
- to allow our affiliates to promote their products and services to you;
- if you are a corporate or business account, to provide information on your account to your employer, its affiliates and its parent; and
- such other purposes as we disclose in this Privacy Statement or that we identify to you from time to time or as permitted by
You may refuse or withdraw your consent to 7. above, as explained in this Privacy Statement. We may also use or disclose personal information for other purposes with your consent, or as otherwise permitted or required by law (see Consent section, below).
Disclosures of Your Personal Information:
In common with many organizations, we keep our costs down by obtaining some routine services from service providers, and your personal information may be provided to them. These service providers must sign a confidentiality agreement and may only use the information disclosed to them for the specific purposes mentioned in the agreement, after which they must return this information to Acra or destroy it. These disclosures to service providers may be for:
- administrative services;
- service issuance services;
- settlement and valuation services;
- data processing and market research services;
- legal, regulatory and compliance purposes;
- updating of information to credit bureaus;
- servicing your home loan or refinance;
- distributing information and/or promotional offers to you related to the products and services you have with Acra Lending;
- managing corporate and business accounts;
- loan payment services;
- debt collection activities on accounts you maintain with us;
- assistance to third parties or investigative bodies to help prevent fraud, money laundering or other criminal activity; and
- any other activities relating to the servicing or administration of the accounts, products and services you have with Acra Lending, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.
Our service providers (including our affiliates acting in that capacity) that process or handle personal information on our behalf are located outside of Canada. As a result, your personal information may be transferred, stored and/or processed outside Canada in connection with the purposes described in this Privacy Statement. The contractual or other measures we use to protect your personal information are subject to the legal requirements of the foreign jurisdictions where your personal information may be transferred, stored, or processed (for example, a legal requirement to disclose personal information to government authorities in those foreign jurisdictions).
Affiliates With Whom We May Share Personal Information:
Our affiliates are the family of companies that form part of Citadel Servicing Corporation. A complete list of our affiliates is available by contacting [email protected].
Acra Lending and its affiliates share with each other “marketing lists” – lists of customers who meet certain general, non-sensitive criteria. This information may include your name, address, category of income, gender, preferred language of communication, preferences, needs or interests. The sharing of such information is done in order to assist our affiliates to offer products and services that may be of interest to you. We are not sharing specific financial information or medical or other sensitive information with our affiliates, except when our affiliates are acting for us as service providers, when we are authorized by law or if we have your consent. If you prefer that we not share our marketing lists containing your name and information about you with our affiliates, you may contact us at the appropriate address or telephone number mentioned in the Contacting Acra Lending to File a Privacy Complaint or to Make a Request section below, allowing for a reasonable time for the withdrawal of your name and that information.
Our affiliates described above are located outside of Canada, and personal information disclosed to those affiliates will be subject to the laws of the foreign jurisdictions where those affiliates are located. Please note that if you use products or services offered by one or more Acra Lending companies, you will need to separately notify each Acra company with whom you have a business relationship if you do not want such information shared with other Acra companies, or if you want to be removed from their marketing lists.
Business Transactions:
From time to time, we may contemplate or participate in various business transactions that might involve access to your personal information by other participants in those business transactions. Personal information may be used by Acra Lending and disclosed to parties connected with certain business transactions, including the proposed or actual financing, securitization, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposal of all or part of Acra Lending’s business or assets, for the purposes of evaluating and/or performing those proposed business transactions. These purposes may include:
- permitting those parties to determine whether to proceed or continue with a proposed business transaction;
- fulfilling inspection, reporting or audit requirements or obligations to those parties; and
- permitting those parties to use and disclose your personal information for substantially the same purposes as described in this Privacy
Consent:
Depending on the nature and sensitivity of your personal information, your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of such information can be express and positive (express and positive consent may be oral, in writing or electronic) or implied (such as by using or maintaining one of our products or services or by not responding to our offer to remove your personal information from our marketing list, in which case we assume that you consent). Consent may be given by your authorized representative. You may withdraw your consent at any time so long as you give reasonable notice of withdrawal. To withdraw your consent, please contact the appropriate Acra Lending business at the address or telephone number mentioned in the Contacting Acra Lending to File a Privacy Complaint or to Make a Request section below:
By using our services, you are consenting to us establishing and maintaining a file of personal information about you and obtaining and exchanging, from time to time, all information about you (including credit information) with our branches, affiliates and agents and with any credit reporting agency, credit bureau, person or corporation with whom you have or may have financial relations, government or regulatory agency, or supplier of services or benefits relating to your account for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement.
Withdrawal or refusal of consent is subject to legal and contractual restrictions. Acra Lending can collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent for legal, security, or certain processing reasons when authorized by law. For example, your consent is not required when collecting or exchanging your personal information to deter fraud, money laundering or other criminal activity, and upon approval of your application, consent may not be withdrawn as it relates to processing, collecting or reporting your account information. Where permitted or required by law, we may collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent, for example to collect a debt. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide some products or services to you.
Please remember that your telephone conversations with our representatives may be monitored and/or recorded for quality control, internal training and recordkeeping purposes. As well, please remember that we and our affiliates and third parties with whom we share your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Statement may contact you by telephone, using the telephone number information you have provided to us.
Please also remember that during the term of a loan you have with us, you may not withdraw your consent to our ongoing collection, use or disclosure of your personal information in connection with such loan. This inability also applies to our continuing disclosure of your personal information to credit bureaus after your loan or credit facility has been retired. This ongoing disclosure assists with the maintenance, accuracy, completeness and integrity of the credit reporting system.
Accessing Your File:
We will establish and maintain a file of personal information for each applicant and customer. In doing so, it is your responsibility to inform us of any changes whatsoever that could affect the status of your accounts or services with us. Your file will be kept by us and will be accessible at Acra Lending. Only our employees, agents and mandataries who need to access your file in the course of their duties will have access to your file. You have the right to access your file and request rectification of any personal information in the file that may be obsolete, incomplete or incorrect. We want to make this as simple as possible for you. You can obtain the Customer Access to Personal Information Request form from us by contacting Acra Lending at [email protected] or at the address or telephone number mentioned below. We will need to validate the identity of anyone making such a request to ensure that we do not provide your personal information to anyone who does not have the right to that information. We may charge you an administration fee for providing access to your file in accordance with your request. Normally, we will respond to access or rectification requests within 30 days.
Please note that in certain circumstances, we may not be able to provide you with access to specific portions of file information about you. For example, we will not provide you with access to the following information:
- information containing references to other persons;
- information containing our confidential or proprietary information;
- information that has been destroyed; or
- information that is too costly to retrieve, such as information that is dated and
Protecting Your Personal Information:
Personal information in our possession may be kept in electronic or paper format in our offices or in third party provider facilities. Personal information may also be kept in secure offsite storage facilities. We have policies, procedures, guidelines, and safeguards in place at Acra to ensure that your personal information is protected. Security measures such as passwords, restricted access to our offices and records, physical access security, and file encryption have been put in place to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, theft or misuse.
Acra employees are responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of all personal information accessed. Every employee must sign a confidentiality agreement, which includes requirements ensuring the protection of your personal information. Any personal information collected from you will be used for the purposes identified at the time of collection and will be retained for as long as is necessary to fulfill the service, or as required by law.
Contacting Acra to File a Privacy Complaint or to Make a Request:
To file a privacy complaint, an opt-out request, to request access to your personal information, to report incorrect personal information, or to obtain information about our policies and practices including our use of third parties and affiliates with whom we share your personal information, please contact us at [email protected] or write to us at 25531 Commercentre Dr., Ste., 160, Lake Forest, CA 92630 Attn: Legal Department or by phone at 888-800-7661 or fill out our Privacy Request form located here.
We will investigate all complaints and will generally respond within 30 days of receipt of your complaint. If we find a complaint to be justified, we will take all appropriate measures, including, if necessary, amending our policies and practices.
Note: You must file an opt-out request with each Acra Lending company to which you want an opt-out request to apply. If you have already filed an opt- out request in the past at an Acra Lending company with whom you have an account or service, there is no need to file another opt-out request with Acra Lending.
