CloseWise

Privacy Policy - CloseWise

CloseWise

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: August 1, 2023

The privacy and security of your personal information are important to us and we are committed to safeguarding it. CloseWise, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “CloseWise“, “we”, “us”, or “our”) have prepared this Privacy Policy to describe to you our practices regarding the Personal Information we collect from users of our website, or any other websites of CloseWise (collectively, the “Website“), in any way, including using services or resources available or enabled via, or that interact with, the Website (collectively, the “Services“), unless otherwise indicated.  All capitalized terms not defined in this Privacy Policy have the definitions assigned in the Terms of Service.

Applicability Of This Privacy Policy

By using our Website or Services, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This is our entire and exclusive Privacy Policy and it supersedes any earlier version.

In conjunction with this Privacy Policy, you should also review our Terms of Service, available here, for a more complete understanding of the rules governing the Services. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to the Terms of Service, in particular, the provisions concerning dispute resolution and liability.

You should also understand, in reading our Privacy Policy, that while we typically handle Personal Information relating to four categories of User (Companies, Notaries, Borrowers, and Participants), our processing of Borrower and Participant personal information is solely in our role as a service provider to a Company. So, if you are a Borrower or a Participant representative, we may not have the authority to act on your privacy questions or requests, in which case we will direct you to the Company for whom we provided the Services. If you are a User from a Company or Notary, CloseWise has a direct relationship with you and as such we can respond directly to you on your Personal Information questions or requests.

Types of Data We Collect

“Personal Information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular person or even a household. Information You Provide to Us.

  • We require certain Personal Information from you, such as your first and last name, e-mail and mailing addresses, company name, and password, when you create an account to log in to our Website (“Account“).
  • When you use our Services, we may collect Personal Information from you:
    • Such as your governmental identification, date of birth, and other information to obtain or verify your identity;
    • If you are a Borrower, we may collect information related to your loan transaction, including without limitation Personal Information in your loan application, your signature;
    • If you are a Notary, we may collect your notary certification, qualifications related to being a notary, office location, professional history, and other information related to providing notary services.
    • If you use our Services on your mobile device, we may collect your phone number and the unique device id number.
  • If you are a Company or a Notary, then we will collect all information necessary to manage payment flows for the completed transaction. Depending on whether you need to pay fees (Company) or we need to forward fees to you (Notary) this information may include your name, credit card information, bank information, automated clearing house information, billing information, and billing address. We do not store this information directly on our servers, but this information will be collected by or shared with third party payment processors, who will help process any Fees.
  • We retain information on behalf of the Company initiating the transaction, such as files, messages, transaction history, and timestamp information.
  • If you provide us testimonials, feedback, or contact us via e-mail, we will collect your name and e-mail address, as well as any other content you have included, in order to send you a reply.
  • When you participate in one of our surveys, we may collect additional profile information.

Information Collected from Others About You.   

If you are a Borrower or a Participant, we will initially receive your basic contact details from the Company handling the transaction, as the Company invites you to the CloseWise platform. You will then create an Account, as described above.

If you are a Borrower, beyond the Personal Information you submit to create your Account, the Company will upload Personal Information within the documents related to your loan transaction, such as your loan application, so that we can provide our Services. We rely on the Company to obtain from the Borrower (and Participants) any consents required to: (i) allow the Company to share such Personal Information with us, and (ii) allow us to use and disclose your Personal Information for the purposes of the Services and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

For all Users, we collect certain Personal Information about you from our service providers for purposes of verifying your identity. For Companies and Notaries, we may receive Personal Information about you from third parties that sponsor contests for which we have contributed our products for prizes. These third party companies may supply us with Personal Information for fulfillment of prizes and our marketing. We may add this information to the information we have already collected from you via our Website in order to market and improve the Services we provide.

Information Collected via Technology.

To make the Services more useful to you, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) collect information when you visit the Website and use the Services, including your browser type, operating system, Internet Protocol (“IP“) address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet, which may vary from session to session), domain name, and/or a date/time stamp for your visit. While most of this data cannot be associated or linked to you, some of it may be, which is why we include this explanation in our Privacy Policy.

Log Files.

As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes IP addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (“ISP”), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the Website, track Users’ movements around the Website, gather demographic information about our user base as a whole, and better tailor our Services to our Users’ needs. For example, some of the information may be collected so that when you visit the Services again, it will recognize you and the information could then be used to serve advertisements and other information appropriate to your interests. Except as noted in this Privacy Policy, we do not link this automatically-collected data to Personal Information.

Cookies.

Like many online services, we use cookies to collect information. “Cookies” are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer’s hard drive while you are viewing the website. We may use both session Cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Website. This type of information is collected to make the Website more useful to you and to tailor the experience with us to meet your special interests and needs.

Pixel Tags.

In addition, we use “Pixel Tags” (also referred to as clear .gifs, web beacons, or web bugs). Pixel Tags are tiny graphic images with a unique identifier, similar in function to Cookies, that are used to track online movements of web users. In contrast to Cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, Pixel Tags are embedded invisibly in web pages. Pixel Tags also allow us to send e-mail messages in a format users can read, and they tell us whether e-mails have been opened to ensure that we are sending only messages that are of interest to our Users. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to a user. We do not tie the information gathered by Pixel Tags to our Users’ Personal Information.

How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals.

Our web servers and other tools to deliver the Services do not currently respond to “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that might enable Users to opt out of tracking on our Website or across websites.

Interest-Based Advertising.

In addition to using Cookies and related technologies as described above, we may also permit third parties to help us tailor advertising that we think might be of interest to Users and to collect and use other data about user activities on our Website (e.g. to allow them to tailor ads on third party services). Those companies may deliver ads that might also place Cookies and otherwise track user behavior. If you prefer that we not share information with companies that use tracking technologies to deliver targeted display advertising based on such information, you might be able to opt-out by visiting http://www.aboutads.info/ or http://networkadvertising.org/choices/. or if you are located in the EU, http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/.

Analytics Services and Interest-Based Advertising.

In addition to the tracking technologies we place, other companies may set their own cookies or similar tools when you visit our Website. This includes third party analytics services, including but not limited to Google Analytics (“Analytics Services“), that we engage to help analyze how Users use the Website, as well as third parties that deliver content or offers. We may receive reports based on these parties’ use of these tools on an individual or aggregate basis. We use the information we get from Analytics Services only to improve the Services. The information generated by the Cookies or other technologies about your use of the Services (the “Analytics Information“) is transmitted to the Analytics Services. The Analytics Services use Analytics Information to compile reports on user activity. The Analytics Services may also transfer information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process Analytics Information on their behalf. Each Analytics Services’ ability to use and share Analytics Information is restricted by such Analytics Services’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. By using the Services, you consent to the processing of data about you by Analytics Services in the manner and for the purposes set out above. For a full list of Analytics Services, please contact us at compliance@CloseWise.com.

Use of Your Personal Information

General Use.   

In general, we use the Personal Information you submit to us or we receive from others about you to help you create an Account or to deliver the Services.  For example, we use your Personal Information in the following ways:

  • facilitate the creation of and secure your Account on our network;
  • identify you as a user in our system;
  • identify the type of user you are in our system;
  • verify and check your identify;
  • confirm ownership of your email address, and payment provider account;
  • preventing and protecting against fraud, including, without limitation, with respect to handling of payments;
  • to provide you with a streamlined account experience;
  • to process and fulfill your transactions or contact you concerning the status of a transaction;
  • provide improved administration of the Services;
  • improve the quality of experience when you interact with our Website;
  • send you a welcome e-mail to verify ownership of the e-mail address provided when your Account was created;
  • send you administrative e-mail notifications, such as security or support and maintenance advisories;
  • respond to your inquiries related to employment opportunities or other requests;
  • provide you with targeted offers and advertising, including on the Website, via direct mail, e-mail, or push notifications, and to contact you about upcoming sales, promotions, offers and product information. You may receive these offers in advertising that is directed to you via third party websites and media properties, including in social media;
  • send newsletters, surveys, offers, and other promotional materials related to our products and for other marketing purposes of CloseWise; and
  • enforce our Terms of Service.

User Testimonials and Feedback.   

We often receive testimonials and comments from Users who have had positive experiences with our products. We occasionally publish such content.   We obtain your consent prior to posting your name along with the testimonial. We may also post user feedback on the Website from time to time. We will share your feedback with your first name and last initial only. If we choose to post your first and last name along with your feedback, we will obtain your consent prior to posting your name with your feedback.

Disclosure of Your Personal Information. We disclose your Personal Information as described below and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.

We do not sell, share, or otherwise disclose your Personal Information to any third party for that third party’s direct marketing purposes without having received your prior express consent. Recall from our opening paragraphs that we are typically holding User information and transaction information in our role as a service provider to the Company handling a Borrower’s mortgage closing. To the extent that we at CloseWise have any authority over Personal Information we’ve collected, it is generally limited to those individuals within Companies and Notaries who have created an Account for the Services. And while we at CloseWise might advertise to an existing or prospective Company or Notary, we will not sell your Personal Information.

We share your Personal data with the following categories of third parties and for the following purposes:

Third Parties Designated by You. When you use our Services, some of the Personal Information you provide will be shared with third parties you designate to receive such information.

Third Parties Designated by a Company. If you are a Borrower, some of the Personal Information provided by you to a Company may be shared with other Users that such Company designates to receive such information. For example, when a Company uploads a Borrower’s loan documents that require notarization, such loan documents will be shared with the applicable Notary to provide notary signing services for you and the Company.

Our Service Providers. We may share your Personal Information with third party service providers to: provide you with the Services that we offer through our Website; to facilitate creation of Accounts; to facilitate transactions; to provide technical support; to provide other services to CloseWise, such as marketing messages; and/or for the maintenance, improvement, and enhancement of our services. Our service providers use your Personal Information only to support our delivery of the Services and they must protect your Personal Information consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Our Payment Processor. We use a third-party payment processor to process payments made by Companies to us and potentially to Notaries. We do not retain any financial information used in connection with the processing payments through our payment processor. Rather all your financial information, such as your name, billing address, and credit card information, is provided directly to our payment processors, and their use of such information, as well as any of your Personal Information, is governed by their respective privacy policies. By paying or receiving funds through the Services, you agree to be bound by our current payment processor Stripe’s US Terms of Service available at https://stripe.com/us/terms and Privacy Policy available at https://stripe.com/us/privacy.

Affiliates. We may share some or all of your Personal Information with our parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control (“Affiliates“), in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy.

Corporate Restructuring. In the event that we sell all or a part of our business in any sort of transaction including bankruptcy, your account information and thus your Personal Information may be a part of that transaction. If another company acquires our company, business, or assets, that company will possess the Personal Information collected by us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Other Disclosures. Regardless of any choices you make regarding your Personal Information, CloseWise may disclose Personal Information if it believes in good faith that such disclosure is necessary (a) in connection with any legal investigation; (b) to comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on CloseWise; (c) to protect or defend the rights or property of CloseWise or Users of the Services; and/or (d) to investigate or assist in preventing any violation or potential violation of the law, this Privacy Policy, or our Terms of Use.

Third Party Websites.   

Our Website may contain links to third party websites. When you click on a link to any other website or location, you will leave our Website and go to another website, and another entity may collect Personal Information from you. We have no control over, do not review, and cannot be responsible for, these outside websites or their content. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to these outside websites or content, or to any collection of your Personal Information after you click on links to such outside websites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of every website you visit. The links to third party websites or locations are for your convenience and do not signify our endorsement of such third parties or their products, content or websites.

Your Choices and Rights About Your Personal Information.   

You have choices regarding the use of your Personal Information on our Website and in the context of the Services.

Email Communications.   

If you are a current or prospective Company, Notary, or Participant, we may periodically send you free newsletters and e-mails that directly promote the use of the Services. When you receive newsletters or promotional communications from us, you may indicate a preference to stop receiving further communications from us and you will have the opportunity to “opt-out” by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive or by contacting us directly (please see contact information below). Please note that while we will apply your opt out request within ten (10) business days for marketing communications, we may still contact you in relation to your order(s) or any issues relating to any business you conduct with us, including notices of any updates to our Terms of Use or Privacy Policy.

Accessing, Changing or Deleting Your Personal Information.   

All Users may review, update, correct or unpublish the Personal Information in their Account by editing their profile via the Services. If you completely delete all of your Personal Information, then your Account may become deactivated. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to honor your request. You may also request – depending on where you live – certain additional records, such as the categories and specific pieces of Personal Information we hold about you, the categories of sources of that Personal Information, and the categories of third parties and service providers with whom we’ve shared your Personal Information. We may retain an archived copy of your records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes, such as managing our opt out list.

Changes to This Privacy Policy.   

We may add to, delete from, or otherwise amend and update this Privacy Policy from time to time and without prior notice. If we change this Privacy Policy, we will post a new version of this Privacy Policy on the Website with a new “Last Updated” date. It is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy regularly. Your use of the Website or Platform after any such updates constitutes your acceptance of the then-current Privacy Policy.

Note to Users Outside of the United States.

If you are a non-U.S. User of the Services, by visiting the Website and providing CloseWise with data, you acknowledge and agree that your Personal Information may be processed for the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy. In addition, your Personal Information may be processed in the country in which it was collected and in other countries, including the United States, where laws regarding processing of Personal Information may be less stringent than the laws in your country. By providing your data, you consent to such transfer.

A Note About Children.   

Our Website is not directed toward children, and we do not intentionally gather Personal Information from visitors who are under the age of 13. If we learn that a child under 13 has submitted Personal Information to us via our Website, we will attempt to delete the information as soon as possible. If you believe that we might have any Personal Information from a child under 13, please contact us at support@CloseWise.com.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Notice, our Privacy Policy, or the collection of your personal information, please contact us at support@CloseWise.com.