BankSmarts Privacy Policy

We are committed to ensuring the privacy of our visitors. Your personal information will be protected at all times and below we have provided our policies regarding the information gathered from visitors to our websites. These policies are designed to help you in understanding how we collect, use and protect any personal information so that you can make informed decisions when using our website.

These policies will also be regularly checked against current best practices and other methods that will meet our customer's needs when it comes to privacy.

What Information Do We Collect?

Visitors to our websites may provide us with two types of information: 1) Personal Information that you choose to disclose to us that is collected from you individually and 2) Anonymous Information that is gathered through website and server technologies.

1. Personal Information

By registering for any of our products, services or email newsletters, you will be asked to provide information about yourself. This information helps us to process your orders and provide you with the services that you have requested. When you register on our Site, you agree and acknowledge that your Personal Information will be placed into our database and that such Personal Information may be shared with third parties for marketing purposes. The Personal Information that you submit to us remains your property of course, but by submitting such information to us, you grant us the right, subject to applicable state and federal law, to use the Personal Information (other than credit card information) for marketing purposes.

We are able to offer our Products to you, in part, based on your willingness to be reached by our third-party advertisers. Your Personal Information (other than credit card information) may be shared with advertisers on an aggregate and non-aggregate basis. We also use contact information from your Personal Information to send you information about us, our Products, the Member program and to keep you informed of our other products and services that may be of interest to you and to contact you about your billing account status.

Please keep in mind, though, that we do not control, and are not responsible for, the practices of our third-party advertisers. If you wish to stop receiving future communications from us and/or third party advertisers, or if you wish to prevent the transfer and/or sale of your Personal Information to third parties (subject to restrictions contained in applicable state and federal law), please send an email to: privacy@banksmarts.net.

By submitting your Personal Information at the Site, you agree to receive e-mail marketing from BankSmarts.com and our third-party advertisers. In addition, you agree that such act constitutes a purchase, an inquiry and/or an application for purposes of the Amended Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 CFR §310 et seq. (the "ATSR"). With respect to the ATSR, and notwithstanding that your telephone number may be listed on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do-Not-Call List, we retain the right to contact you via telemarketing in accordance with the terms of the ATSR.

If you subscribe to or purchase one of our Products or enroll in the Member program, we may use your Personal Information to send you a welcoming email that may confirm your user name and password. If you "opt-in," we may send you electronic newsletters, contact you about our Products and other products, services, information and news that may be of interest to you, and provide you with targeted feedback. In addition, if you identify yourself to us by sending us an email with questions or comments, we may use such information (including Personal Information) to respond to your questions or comments, and we may file your questions or comments for future reference.

Credit Card Information

If we have earned your business, you will need to provide us with credit card information in order to process your orders. The information needed to do this may include: Name Mailing Address Email Address Credit Card Number Name on the Credit Card Credit Card Billing Address Business or Home Phone Number Email Information If you choose to communicate with us using email, we may store the content of your emails along with your email address to maintain a record of our conversations so that we can serve you more effectively. This information is held in the strictest confidence.

2. Anonymous Information

Cookies

As with most other commercial websites on the internet, our web sites employ the use of "Cookies". These are very small text documents that are placed on your web browser so that our website can recognize visitors who return to our sites so that we can provide a better user experience. These files do not retrieve any other information from your computer and because they are simply text files, they do not pose a threat to the security of your computer. Cookies may be disable in your browser however it is important to not that disabling them may render parts of our websites unusable.

Action Tags, Web Beacons and other Data Collection Methods

An action tag or a web-beacon (also known as a clear gif or a pixel tag) is a method used to track responses or actions by visitors who view certain advertisements or other information on our sites. Action tags are 1x1 pixel images embedded in a website page that are used to transparently collect information. We may use action tags to count the number of times that visitors click on a particular banner ad or visit the pages of the Site and to provide information about what products/services are viewed or purchased. We reserve the right to retain this cookie and action tag data indefinitely. At no time will we share cookie-related, action-tag-related and/or generated information and/or data with third parties.

Server Logs

These logs store anonymous information about the date and time of visits to our sites, the pages that were viewed, how long the visits were and where you arrived at our site from. These logs do not contain any personal information and they are standard on all server technology throughout the internet.

How Do We Use The Information That We Obtain?

In the most general terms, we use the personal information for: conducting our regular business activities, providing you with our products and services, process payments, moniture the use of our websites, in our marketing and promotional efforts, improve the content of our websites, improve visitor experience and other lawful purposes. Personal information may be shared with other parties as outlined in this policy and as required by law. Other information in aggregate may be shared for business purposes.

Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you of changes to our website, special offers and other information we feel you may find valuable. You may cancel this communication from us at any time by simply using the "unsubscribe" link in the emails you receive from us.

IP Addresses

An IP address is use by your computer every time you connect to the internet. This number is used by other numbers on networks to identify your computer. This information is automatically collected by our servers so that we can send the web pages and other information from our site to you.

Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information

We reserve the right to disclose information if we are legally compelled to do so or if we believe that the law requires this disclosure or it is needed to protect legal rights.We may also disclose account information if we have reason to believe that doing so is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against a person or persons who may be violating our Terms of Service or to protect the saftey of our visitors and the Public at large.

Websites That Link to Our Websites

We cannot be held responsible for the content and business practices of websites that are linked to or from ours. It is important to remember that when you follow a link from our website to another site on the web, this Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. All sites that we link to on our websites have their own policies. Please view those policies before deciding whether to interact with that particular website. Consent By using our websites, you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to change, append or modify this policy at any time and without notice.

Data Security

All information that is collected by our websites is stored and processed on server in the United States.The laws on holding personal data in the United States may be less stringent than the laws of your Country of residence or citizenship. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Opting Out of Communications

All requests to unsubscribe from communcations such as newsletters and emails will be honored as soon as it is technically feasible to do so.

Surveys & Contests

Occassionally we will ask our visitors to participate in surveys or offer special promotions and contests. Participation in these efforts is completely optional. Contact information may be required to participate. Survey information may be used to enhance and improve our customer experience, products and services and contact information will be used to notify winners of any contests or promotions that are held.

Use of This Site by Children

Unsupervised children under the age of 18 are not authorized to use this site. If you are younger than 16 years of age, refrain from sending any personal information through our websites. If you are a minor, you can use this website and services only with the direct supervision of an adult parent or guardian.

Acquisition and Changes in Ownership

If this website (or a substantial portion of its assets) are acquired by a 3rd party, your information will be considered a part of those assets and may be part of the assets that are transferred.

Privacy Policy Changes

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If/when changes are made to this privacy policy, we will email users who have given us permission to do so. We will post any changes here, so be sure to check back periodically. However, please be assured that if the Privacy Policy changes in the future, we will not use the personal information you have submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, without your prior consent. If you are a resident of the State of California and would like to opt-out from the disclosure of your Personal Information to any third party for marketing purposes, please e-mail us at: privacy@banksmarts.net. Please be advised that where California residents opt-out from permitting their Personal Information to be shared, such individuals may still receive selected offers directly from us, in accordance with the law.