Accessity Privacy Notice

Last modified: Oct. 1, 2024

  1. Introduction

Accessity (“Accessity” or “we” or “us”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.

This Privacy Notice (our “Privacy Notice”) describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.accessity.org (our “Website”) and use our mobile applications that you download from an official mobile application store, such as the Apple App Store® or the Google Play Store® (each, an “Application”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. This Privacy Notice also applies to information you provide us as a donor, whether online or offline.

This policy applies to information we collect:

  • on our Website and Applications;
  • when you make a donation, either online or offline;
  • in email, text, and other electronic messages between you and our Website and/or Applications; and
  • offline when you provide it to us such as through offline loan applications and similar documents.

It does not apply to information collected by:

  • us through any other means, including on any other website operated by Accessity or any third-party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries);
  • us or any of our affiliates or subsidiaries related to your or any other individual’s employment or potential employment with us; or
  • any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries), including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Website and Applications.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website and Applications. By accessing or using the Website and Applications, you agree to this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Notice). Your continued use of the Website and/or Applications after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check this Privacy Notice periodically for updates.

2. Children Under the Age of 18 or the Legal Age to Form a Binding Contract in Your Jurisdiction

Our Website and Applications are not intended for children under 18 years of age or the legal age to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher. No one under this age may provide any Personal Information to or on the Website or Applications. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under this age. If you are under this age, do not use or provide any information on our Website or Applications or on or through any of their features, submit an application on the Website or Applications, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received Personal Information from a child under this age without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from a child under this age, please contact us at privacy@accessity.org

3. Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It Generally

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Website and Applications (“Personal Information”):

  • by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, social security number, bank account and other financial numbers (as part of the loan application process), student identification codes, driver’s license number, passport number, state identification number, account name, credit or debit card information (when you make a donation); or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline;
  • that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as traffic data, location data, logs, referring/exit pages, date and time of your visit to our Website or Applications, error information, clickstream data, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website and Applications. This may also include certain demographic information that you voluntarily submit to us, such as age, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, race, and marital status; and/or
  • about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website and Applications and usage details.

We collect this information:

  • directly from you when you provide it to us;
  • automatically as you navigate through the Website and Applications. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies; and
  • from third-parties such as consumer credit reporting agencies who provide information about your creditworthiness, and other organizations who help us prevent and investigate fraud and manage risk.

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect from you offline or on or through our Website and Applications are:

  • information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website and Applications, when interacting with the Website’s Chatbot, or by sending us documents offline. This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our Website or Applications, on loan applications or other transaction documents, make a donation, and signing up for newsletters, email lists, or events. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website or Applications;
  • records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us;
  • your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes;
  • details of transactions you carry out through our Website or Applications or offline. For example, you may be required to provide Personal Information when you submit a loan application or sign an approved loan through our Website or Applications or offline; and
  • your search queries on the Website or Applications.

The Personal Information we collect from you may be required to enter submit a loan application or get approved for a loan with Accessity, for Accessity to perform under the loan agreement, and to provide you with our products and services. If you refuse to provide such Personal Information or withdraw your consent to our processing of Personal Information, then in some cases we may not be able to enter consider you for a loan or provide you with a loan or fulfill our obligations to you under it.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Website and Applications, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns:

  • details of your visits to our Website and Applications as described above; and
  • Information about your computer and internet connection, i.e. your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

The information we collect automatically may include Personal Information or we may maintain it or associate it with Personal Information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and Applications and to deliver a better and more personalized service by enabling us to:

  • estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
  • store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website and Applications according to your individual interests;
  • maintain whether you are logged in or logged out from our Website and Applications;
  • speed up your searches; and
  • recognize you when you return to our Website or Applications.

The automatic data collection technologies that we use include:

  • Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies or alert you when cookies are being sent by activating the appropriate setting or settings on your browser. However, if you refuse to accept cookies by selecting such a setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website or Applications. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website or Applications. You can find more information about cookies at http://www.allaboutcookies.org;
  • Session Cookies.  Our use of cookies also includes “session cookies.” Each time you log into use our services, a session cookie containing an encrypted, unique identifier that is tied to your account is placed on your browser. We use session cookies containing encrypted information to allow us to uniquely identify you when you use our Website and Applications. Session cookies are required to use our services; and
  • Web Beacons. Pages of our Websites and Applications and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit Accessity, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

By continuing to allow us to use these technologies (see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information), you hereby consent to our recording and disclosure to third-party technology providers of your use of the Website or other communications you may have with our Website.

Third Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies. Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website or Applications are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Website or Applications. The information they collect may be associated with your Personal Information or they may collect information, including Personal Information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content. We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. When possible, we endeavor to put these third-parties under contractual limitations to only use this data for providing the services to us and to maintain this information as strictly confidential.

By continuing to use our Website, you hereby consent to our recording actions that you take on the website or communications you may have with our Website and other uses of such tools and our disclosure of such recorded information to third-party providers of such tools.

Information We Collect From Third Parties

We may receive information about your creditworthiness from credit reporting agencies and financial institutions that you list on your application. We may receive additional information from any entity listed on your credit report. This information may include your credit score, current and historical payment information, credit limits, and existing creditors. We use this information in order to make loan decisions and to underwrite your loan.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information:

  • to present our Website and Applications and their contents to you;
  • to provide you with information about your loan or a loan application;
  • to provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us;
  • if you have made a donation, to process your donation, issue tax receipts, learn about our donors, plan future fundraising activities and events, contact you about our charitable activities, events, and requests for future support, and analyze giving patterns;
  • to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you submitted a loan application that includes credit references, we will use your Personal Information to verify your references and creditworthiness;
  • to send newsletters and surveys to you;
  • to provide you with financial training material;
  • to provide you with support and respond to your inquiries;
  • to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection;
  • to notify you about changes to our Website and Applications or any products or services we offer or provide though them; and
  • in any other way we may describe when you provide the information.

We may also use your information to contact you about our goods and services that may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to consent to this use, please check the relevant box located on the form on which we collect your data. If you wish to change your choice, you may do so at any time by logging into the Website or Applications and adjusting our user preferences in your account profile by checking or unchecking the relevant boxes or by sending us an email stating your request at  privacy@accessity.org. For more information, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

5. Disclosure of Your Information

We do not share phone numbers collected for SMS purposes with third parties or affiliates for marketing purposes. However, phone numbers may be shared with trusted third parties solely as necessary to provide our services, such as loan guarantee programs, credit agencies, and business mentoring services, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We may disclose Personal Information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Notice:

  • to our subsidiaries and affiliates;
  • to contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and provide you with our services. These entities provide IT and infrastructure support services, payment processing services, loan guarantee partners, file storage platforms, chatbot provider, legal services, loan portfolio management systems, and custom relationship management systems. Our payment processors’ privacy policies may be found at https://www.blackbaud.com/company/privacy-policy/north-america (for donation information), https://home.iatspayments.com/privacy-policy/ (for donation processing), and https://www.comerica.com/site-tools/resources/privacy-notice.html (for loan payment processing);
  • to investors and donors;
  • credit reporting agencies and collection agencies;
  • state and local governments (when required to record your loan);
  • to a potential or actual buyer or other successor in the event of a planned or actual merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Accessity’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Information held by Accessity about our Website and Applications’ users is among the assets transferred;
  • with your consent, to selected business partners who can provide you with financial information and other guidance to help make your business successful;
  • to government loan program administrators that guarantee your loan;
  • to fulfill the purpose for which you provide it; and
  • for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.

We may also disclose your Personal Information:

  • to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
  • to enforce or apply our terms of use https://accessity.org/accessity-terms-of-use/ and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes; and
  • if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Accessity, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Our website includes an interactive Chatbot feature designed  to assist you with inquiries and provide customer support. Please be aware that when you engage with the Chatbot, the information you provide, such as your name, email address, and any other details you choose to share, may be collected, transcribed, recorded, and transmitted to our third-party Chatbot service provider to facilitate the functionality of this feature.  By Using the Chatbot, you consent TO the Collection, transcription, recording, and TRANSMISSION of the information provideD to our third-party chatbot provider, INtercom, in accordance with Accessity’s Privacy Notice and Intercom’s Privacy Policy available HERE.

6. Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We do not control the collection and use of your information collected by third parties described above in Disclosure of Your Information. When possible, these organizations are under contractual obligations to use this data only for providing the services to us and to maintain this information as strictly confidential. These third parties may, however, aggregate the information they collect with information from their other customers for their own purposes.

In addition, we strive to provide you with choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with control over your Personal Information:

  • Tracking Technologies and Advertising. We may use certain tracking technologies, including analytics cookies, that may record your activities on our Website and your other online activities, and such recordings may be disclosed and processed by third-parties who provide such technologies. This helps us understand our users and the use of our Website. You may set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent, however, if you disable or refuse cookies in this manner, please note that some parts of our Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly. By continuing to allow us to use these cookies and similar technologies, you are consenting to our collection of information about your use of the Website and our disclosure of such information to such third-party cookie providers.
  • Promotional Offers from Accessity. If you do not wish to have your contact information used by Accessity to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt out by checking or unchecking the relevant box located on the form on which we collect your Personal Information at any time by logging into one of the Website or Applications and adjusting your user preferences in your account profile by checking or unchecking the relevant boxes or by sending us an email stating your request to news@accessity.org. If we have sent you a promotional email, you may send us a return email asking to be omitted from future email distributions or select an option to be omitted in the promotional email.

You can learn more about interest-based advertisements and your opt-out rights and options from members of the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) on its website (www.networkadvertising.org) and from members of the Digital Advertising Alliance on its website (www.aboutads.info). We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can also opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the NAI on its website.

7. Donor Privacy

We respect and value the privacy of our donors. If you would like to provide us with a donation, we will protect the confidentiality of your financial and credit card information. We will not sell, trade or share a donor’s personal information with anyone else, nor send a donor mailings on behalf of other organizations unless the donor has provided permission to do so. We like to recognize our valued contributors in a variety of ways, including listing your name in our annual report. Please let us know in your donation form if we may share your name, and/or if you wish your donation to remain anonymous.

Accessity adheres to the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Donor Bill of Rights: https://afpglobal.org/donor-bill-rights

8. Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information

You may contact us at privacy@accessity.org to request access to, correct or delete any personal information that you have provided to us. When applicable, we cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your loan account (which may include closing your loan upon full payment of the balance) or withdrawing your loan application. We may not accommodate a request to delete or change information if we believe the deletion or change would impact record retention or other operational requirements (such as email opt-out preferences), violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

9. Do Not Track Signals

Our Website and Applications may use automated data collection technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). Some web browsers or operating systems permit you to broadcast a signal to websites and online services indicating a preference that they “do not track” your online activities. At this time, we do not honor such signals and we do not modify what information we collect or how we use that information based upon whether such a signal is broadcast or received by us.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website and Applications, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to our Website and Applications. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website and Applications.

10. Consent to Receive Texts and Emails from Accessity

By providing your cell phone number and email address to Accessity, you agree to be contacted by or on behalf of Accessity at the email address and telephone number provided, including emails to your email address and text (SMS) messages to your cell phone and other wireless devices, to provide you with information relating to your loan application or to respond to your inquiry. Accessity shall not use or disclose your phone number or email for any other purpose without your consent and will not share your phone number or email with any third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

You may opt out of receiving text (SMS) messages from Accessity at any time by replying with the word STOP from the mobile device receiving the messages. You need not provide this consent in order to obtain services from Accessity. However, you acknowledge that opting out of receiving text (SMS) messages may impact your experience with the service that rely on communications via text (SMS) messaging.

12. Changes to Our Privacy Notice

We may change this Privacy Notice at any time. It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Notice on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ Personal Information, we will notify you by email to the email address specified in your account or through a notice on the Website or Applications’ home page. The date this Privacy Notice was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Website and Applications and this Privacy Notice to check for any changes.

13. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, complaints or suggestions regarding our Privacy Notice, have any requests related to your Personal Information pursuant to applicable laws, or otherwise need to contact us, you must contact us at the contact information below or through the “Contact” page on our Website or Applications.

To Contact Accessity

Accessity

404 Euclid Avenue, Ste 271

San Diego CA 92114

(619) 795-7250

privacy@accessity.org