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Privacy
PURPOSE OF THIS PRIVACY
NOTICE
Title V of the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the laws of the state of
California generally prohibit us from sharing nonpublic
personal information about you with a third party unless we
provide you with this notice of our privacy policies and
practices describing the type of information that we collect
about you and the categories of persons or entities to whom
that information may be disclosed, In compliance with the GLBA
and California law, we are providing you with this document,
which notifies you of the privacy policies and practices of
Affiliated Funding.
OUR PRIVACY POLICIES AND
PRACTICES
Information we collect:
Categories of Information
Collected and Sources From Which We collect It
We collect nonpublic
personal information about you from the following sources:
Information that you
provide us on applications and other forms.
Information about you
from verifications authorized by you.
Information we receive
from credit reporting agencies or other consumer
reporting agencies.
Information we receive
from Title Insurance companies we contact to
underwrite your loan.
Unless it is specifically
stated otherwise in an amended Privacy Policy Notice, no
additional information will be collected about you.
Person From Whom
Information Is Collected
We may collect nonpublic
personal information from individuals other than those
proposed for loan consideration.
Information we may disclose to
third parties:
We do not disclose information
about you to third parties whose only use of the information
is to market a product or service. However, in the course of
our general business practices, we may disclose the
information that we collect (as described above) about you or
others without your permission, as permitted by law, to the
following types of institutions for the reasons described
below:
To a third party if the
disclosure will enable that party to perform a
business, professional or insurance function for us.
To a Title Company,
insurance institution, agent or credit reporting
agency in order to detect or prevent criminal
activity, fraud or misrepresentation in connection
with a loan transaction.
To a Title Company,
insurance institution, agent or credit reporting
agency for either this agency or the entity to whom we
disclose the information to perform a function in
connection with a loan transaction involving you.
Your right to access and amend
your personal information:
You have the right to request
access to the personal information that we record about you.
Your right includes the right to know the source of the
information and the identity of the persons, institutions or
types of institutions to whom we have disclosed such
information within 2 years prior to your request. Your right
includes the right to view such information and copy it in
person, or request that a copy of it be sent to you by mail
(for which we may charge you a reasonable fee to cover our
costs). Your right also includes the right to
request corrections, amendments or deletions of any
information that is in our possession.
Our practices regarding
information confidentiality and security:
We restrict access to nonpublic
personal information about you to those employees who need to
know that information in order to provide products or services
to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural
safeguards that comply with federal regulation to guard your
nonpublic personal information.
Our policy regarding dispute
resolution:
Any controversy or claim
arising out of or relating to our privacy policy, or the
breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance
with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and
judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be
entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
Reservation of the right to
disclose information in unforeseen circumstances:
In connection with the
potential sale or transfer of its interests, Affiliated
Funding, and its affiliates (if any), reserve the right to
sell or transfer your information (including but not limited
to your name, address, age, sex, zip code, state and country
of residency, and other information that you provide through
other communications) to a third party entity that (1)
concentrates its business in a similar practice, product or
service; (2) agrees to be Affiliated Funding’s successor in
interest with regard to the maintenance and protection of the
information collected; and (3) agrees to the obligation of
this privacy statement.
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Security |
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Regarding Cookies
To provide better service
and a more effective Web site, we use "cookies"
as part of our interaction with your browsers. A
"cookie" is a small text file placed on your
hard drive by our Web Page Server. Our cookies cannot
retrieve any other data from your hard drive, pass on
computer viruses, or capture your e-mail address. Cookies
are commonly used on Web sites and do not harm your
system. |
We use cookies in places
where you need to register, such as Internet banking, or
where you are able to customize the information you see.
Recording a cookie at such points makes your online
experience easier and more personalized. |
Our cookies do not collect
personally identifiable information and we do not combine
information collected through cookies with other personal
information to determine who you are or your e-mail
address. By configuring your preferences or options in
your browser, you determine if and how a cookie will be
accepted. However, if you configure your web browser so
that "cookies" are turned off, our website will
not be able to process your transaction. If this happens,
please turn your cookies back on and log onto our site
again. |
Encryption |
Your password as well as all information
relating to your accounts and your enrollment are
scrambled using some of the strongest forms of encryption
commercially available for use over the World Wide Web.
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How does encryption work?
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Everything that travels
through the Internet during your online user session -
from your password to your instructions to your social
security number- becomes a string of unrecognizable
numbers before entering the Internet. Both Affiliated
Funding’s computers and the browser you use to surf the
Web understand the mathematical formulas, called
algorithms, that turn you web site session into numeric
code and back again into meaningful information.
These algorithms serve as
locks on the doors of your account information. And while
Affiliated Funding and your computer can easily translate
this code back to meaningful language, this process would
be a daunting, almost impossible task for unauthorized
intruders. That's because there are billions of possible
keys that could potentially solve each formula - but only
one that will work. Every time you begin an online user
session, your computer and Affiliated Funding’s systems
agree on a random number that serves as the key for the
rest of the conversation. What that random number is
depends largely on the strength of encryption used by your
browser.
Affiliated Funding ensures
that all Affiliated Funding user sessions via the Internet
are encrypted. If for any reason your secure session ends,
your user session terminates.
For maximum protection,
Affiliated Funding encourages you to use browsers offering
128-bit encryption. This is also known as high or strong
encryption. It means there are 2128 possible keys that
could fit into the lock that holds your account
information. In other words, a hacker attempting to get to
your account information would need to use a computer with
exponentially more processing power than for 40-bit or
56-bit encryption, which is standard banking practices, to
find the correct key.
Note: Currently, browsers
that offer 128-bit encryption can only be used by citizens
and permanent residents of the United States and citizens
of Canada, and can only be downloaded to locations in the
United States or Canada.
All browsers provide
detailed information on security levels. See your
browser's help or documentation for more information.
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How do I know if my user
session is encrypted?
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You can determine if
encryption is being used on a given Web page by looking
for the following icons in the lower portion of your
browser:
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Browser Secure Not
Secure
Netscape Navigator or
Communicator 4.0 or later Microsoft Internet Explorer (any
version) No Icon |
Netscape Navigator displays
the icon in the lower left corner of the browser. In
addition, Netscape Communicator displays the icon in the
navigation toolbar. Microsoft Internet Explorer displays
the icon in the lower right corner of the browser. |
Neither Netscape
Communicator nor Microsoft Internet Explorer display any
icon that distinguishes between 40-bit or 56-bit and
128-bit encryption. But if you use Netscape Communicator
4.5 or later, you can click on the icon displayed to
determine what level of encryption is being used for a
particular Web page. IE5 will display the encryption level
in a pop-up window when you place your cursor on the
encryption icon in the lower right corner of the browser. |
If you use WebTV, you need
to press the info button on the keyboard (or, if using the
remote control, select the options button and then select
info). If a "Security Details" button displays
on the screen, the page is secure. Select this button for
more information about security. |
If you do not have a secure
version of either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape
Navigator, you can download them from this page. |
Download Internet
Explorer or Download Netscape
Navigator |
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