PRIVACY STATEMENT
Prime Business Credit respects your privacy and
will vigorously protect your privacy rights beyond what is required by the Federal Financial Privacy Law. This policy covers personally identifiable information about a consumer or a
consumer's current or former relationship with Prime Business Credit. This policy applies to all Prime Business Credit companies
and subsidiaries.
Protection from Outside Marketers
Unlike many other financial institutions, Prime Business Credit does not sell or share any customer information with marketers outside Prime Business Credit. You do not need to take any additional action in order to receive this benefit.
Security of Information
Safeguarding our customers' financial information is one of our paramount concerns. We use physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect Customer Information. Our employees may access Customer Information from time to time, but only to the extent necessary to provide you with the requested products and services or to regularly maintain your accounts. Our employees are required to follow a strict code of ethics that requires confidential treatment of Customer Information. Our employees are subject to discipline should they ever breach this code.
Collection of Information
We may collect Customer Information and use various types of data in our effort to service your accounts more effectively, to respond to your requests in a timely manner, and to save you time and money. Customer Information is defined as:
1. Application Information. Data that you provide to us on applications, personal financial statements and through other means, such as but not limited to, assets, income and debt.
2. Transaction and Experience Information. Data accumulated about your transaction and account experience, such as but not limited to, account balances, payment history and parties to transactions.
3. Consumer Report Information. Data obtained from credit bureaus, such as but not limited to, creditworthiness and credit history.
4. Information from Outside Sources. Data obtained from outside sources, such as but not limited to, business history, loan balances and insurance coverage.
5. Other General Information. Data obtained from outside sources that is not collected or used to determine if you are eligible for a product or service, such as but not limited to, public records.
Use of Information within Prime Business Credit
We may share Customer Information among our companies. If you maintain an account with one of our companies and open an account with another of our companies, we may share information we already have. Sharing information may save you time opening your new account and reduce the need for redundant information. Sharing information also helps protect your accounts against unauthorized access and usage.
Use of Information with Companies that Work for Us
We may share Customer Information with companies that work for us. We require all companies that work for us to keep the Customer Information we provide to them confidential. We also restrict their use of Customer Information to provide the services we request them to perform for you and us. These companies may include other financial institutions that are used to process and facilitate financial transaction, and non-financial institutions that may assist us in fulfilling your service requests and preparing account statements.
Disclosure of Information in Other Circumstances
We may disclose certain Customer Information to credit bureaus and similar companies, and when otherwise required or permitted by law. For instance, we may disclose Customer Information in connection with a subpoena or similar legal process; a fraud inquiry; recordation of UCC filings and the like; processing your requests for products or services; and the sale of your account to another financial institution. We may also share Customer Information with your express written authorization.
Accuracy of Information
Keeping your account information current and accurate is important. We offer you several methods of obtaining your account information. You may use whichever method is most convenient for you. These include regular account statements, telephone, online access and specific written requests. If your account information is incomplete, incorrect or outdated, please contact us. We will promptly update or correct said information that is brought to our attention.
Customer Preferences
You have choices when it comes to how Prime Business Credit shares and uses data. You may ask us not to share Application Information, Consumer Report Information and Information from Outside Sources among Prime Business Credit companies. We will continue to share Transaction and Experience Information, as well as, Other General Information among our companies to service your accounts and better meet your financial goals. We want to reduce the amount of telemarketing our customers receive. You may ask us not to make marketing offers to you by direct mail, telephone and/or e-mail. This preference applies to offers about our products and services, and about other products that we think may be of interest to you.
If you ask us not to send product information by direct mail, telephone or e-mail, we will continue to contact you as necessary to service your account; have your account manager or assigned account representative contact you, if applicable; provide marketing information with your regular account mailings and statements; and provide marketing information when you visit us online. It may take up to twelve weeks for your preferences to be fully effective since some marketing programs may already be in progress.
Informing Us of Your Preferences
Keep in mind that Prime Business Credit goes beyond what the law requires and does not sell or share any Customer Information with marketers outside Prime Business Credit, who may want to offer you their own products and services. You may instruct us not to share Application Information, Consumer Report Information and Information from Outside Sources among Prime Business Credit companies. However, if you choose to restrict sharing of said information, you may need to provide the same redundant information to service your account and to apply for new services in the future. You may instruct us not to make direct marketing offers through any or all of the following means: mail; telephone; and e-mail. However, if you decide to instruct us not to make such offers, you may not learn about current and future Prime Business Credit products and services that may be of value to you.
You may inform us of your preferences by notifying us at www.pbcusa.com through Contact Us, directing your written request to Prime Business Credit, 1055 West Seventh Street, Suite 2200, Los Angeles, CA 90017-2577, or specifically instructing your account manager at 213.488.6400 during regular business hours.
Once you have informed us of your preferences, we will continue to honor them. You are not required to take any additional action..
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of information which a
web server may place on your computer when you visit a web site. Cookies are
commonly used by web sites to improve the user experience and have not been
known to transmit computer viruses or otherwise harm your computer. Many cookies
last only through a single session, or visit. Others may have an expiration
date, or may remain on your computer until you delete them.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies for a number of purposes - for example, to maintain continuity
during a user session, to gather data about the usage of our web site for
research and other purposes, to store your preferences for certain kinds of
information and marketing offers, or to store a username or encrypted customer
identification number so that you do not have to provide this information every
time you return to our site.
Our cookies will track only your activity relating to our online promotions,
which may be located at our web site or the web sites of others, and your online
activity on our web site. They will not track your other internet activity.
Cookies set by us cannot be read by and are not shared with any non-Prime
Business Credit, Inc. web site, although we may share some of the cookie
information we gather with other Prime Business Credit companies. Our cookies
typically do not gather personally identifiable information.
Cookie Filters
You can decide if and how your computer will
accept a cookie by configuring your preferences or options in your browser.
However, if you choose to reject cookies, you may not be able to use certain of
our online services or web site features.
Your browser software may contain a feature which is intended to notify you of
the cookie policies of the various web sites you visit. For example, the
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6 browser software contained in Microsoft® Windows®
XP contains a version of such a cookie-filtering device, commonly known as P3P.
To learn more about P3P and how it may affect your online experience go to
www.w3.org/P3P. Prime Business Credit, Inc. has attempted to make www.pbcusa.com
compatible with the P3P privacy filtering tool. However, P3P is still an
evolving standard and therefore, we are not responsible for any problems you
experience when using a P3P filter, or any discrepancies between the
machine-coded statement of our privacy policy which are read by the P3P tool and
the human readable policy which you see here. This Privacy Notice is the
controlling document to which you should refer if you have questions about Prime
Business Credit, Inc.'s privacy policies.
Reducing Direct Marketing from Other Companies
If you would like to reduce the volume of unsolicited advertising you receive from companies outside of Prime Business Credit, you may contact the following agencies:
For advertising received by mail:
Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
www.dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html
For advertising received by telephone:
Direct Marketing Association
Telephone Preference Service
P.O. Box 1559
Carmel, NY 10512
www.dmaconsumers.org/offtelephonelist.html
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
National Do Not Call Registry
600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20580
1.888.382.1222
www.donotcall.gov
For advertising received by e-mail
Direct Marketing Association
E-mail Preference Service
www.dmaconsumers.org/emps.html
This version of the Privacy Policy Notice is effective as of September 8, 2003.
This notice is the Prime Business Credit Do Not Call Policy under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for all consumers.
* 15 U.S.C. 6801-6810
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