Privacy
Policy
BALANCE is committed
to assuring the privacy of individuals and/or families who have
contacted us for assistance. We realize that the concerns you bring
to us are highly personal in nature. We assure you that all information
shared both orally and in writing will be managed within legal and
ethical considerations. Your "nonpublic personal information," such
as your total debt information, income, living expenses and personal
information concerning your financial circumstances, will be provided
to creditors and others only with your authorization. We may also
use anonymous aggregated case file information for the purpose of
evaluating our services, gathering valuable research information
and designing future programs.
Types of
information that we gather about you
- Information
we receive from you orally, on applications or other forms, such
as your name, address, social security number, assets, and income;
- Information
about your transactions with us, your creditors, or others, such
as your account balance, payment history, parties to transactions
and credit card usage; and
- Information
we receive from a credit reporting agency, such as your credit
history.
COUNSELING
ONLY
You may opt-out
of certain disclosures
1. You have
the opportunity to "opt-out" of disclosures of your nonpublic personal
information to third parties (such as your creditors), that is,
direct us not to make those disclosures.
2. If you choose
to "opt-out", we will not be able to answer questions from your
creditors. If at any time, you wish to change your decision with
regard to you "opt-out", you may call us at (888) 456-2227 and do
so.
3. If you have
not chosen to "opt-out," we will confirm with your creditors if
asked:
- Verification
of appointment with us
- Date of counseling
- Disposition:
e.g.
- You will
handle affairs on your own
- Pending
action (like Debt Management Program)
Release
of your information to third parties
1. So long as
you have not opted-out, we may disclose some or all of the information
that we collect, as described above, to your creditors or third
parties where we have determined that it would be helpful to you
or would aid us in counseling you.
2. Generally
we will provide only the following information to your creditors
if asked:
- Verification
of appointment with us
- Date of counseling
- Disposition:
e.g.
- You will
handle affairs on your own
- Pending
action (like Debt Management Program)
3. We may compile
data and aggregate information that you give to us, but this information
may not be disclosed in a manner that would personally identify
you in any way.
4. We may also
disclose any nonpublic personal information about you or former
customers to anyone as permitted by law (for instance, if we are
compelled by legal process).
5. We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.
FOR CLIENTS
PARTICIPATING IN A DEBT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
1. If you need
intervention on your behalf with creditors through a Debt Management
Program or a similar program, we will obtain your express consent
to disclose with creditors nonpublic personal information about
you. We will not be able to assist you with a Debt Management Program
if you do not provide us your consent to share information with
your creditors.
2. We restrict
access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees
that we determine need to know that information to provide services
to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards
to guard your nonpublic personal information.
3. We may also
disclose any nonpublic personal information about you or former
customers to anyone as permitted by law (for instance, if we are
compelled by legal process).
Internet
Privacy Policy
The purpose
of gathering information is so that we may contact you. In accordance
with our standard security policy, information is not transferred
to any third parties. Further note, BALANCE does not sell, rent,
loan, trade or lease any personal information collected at our site.
All personal information is used solely by BALANCE.
Safeguarding our clients' information is a primary concern of ours and we have taken a number of steps to ensure that your information is secure. First, all areas of our site that collect sensitive information utilize
encryption to protect your data. This system ensures that your data is going to our servers, and only our servers, by encrypting all network traffic between our machines. |
