Privacy Policy

HelpForDebtors.com (“HFD” or “we”) is committed to stringently safeguarding your privacy.  We want you to understand what information we will collect about you on our website and how we may use this information.  Please read the following notice of HFD’s privacy and security policy (the "privacy notice") to understand how HFD will treat your personal information.  This policy may occasionally change, so please check back from time to time.

This privacy notice will tell you about:

1. Introduction
2. What personally identifiable information HFD collects
3. How HFD will use this information
4. Safeguarding your information
5. Privacy online
6. Cookies
7. Security precautions to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, or alteration of your information
8. Additional information

1.  Introduction

If you choose to browse or utilize any part of HFD’s website, you agree that your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this privacy notice and our terms of use, which includes limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the laws of the state of Maryland. Our business constantly changes. This privacy notice and/or the terms of use may change also, and use of information we gather now is subject to the privacy notice in effect at the time of use. We may, but are under no obligation to, e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to. In any event, you should frequently check our website to see recent changes to this privacy notice. Further, once a year, we will post updates regarding our privacy policy, if any, and by using this site, you agree to affirmatively check here to check for any updates.

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2.  What personally identifiable information HFD collects

HFD is the sole owner of the information collected on our website.  HFD collects information from our users at several different points on our site, including our landing pages, user forums, account creation.  HFD uses the information for such purposes as tracking web-user and user interests and communicating with users.

In order for HFD to provide any meaningful service(s) and/or information, it is important for us to have current and accurate information.  HFD’s primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you with a customized personal experience.  Therefore, when you participate in any area of our site (such as the user forums), we may collect personal and/or financial nonpublic information from you.  This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, address,  phone number(s), e-mail address, occupation, employer name, birth date, gender and/or other information we deem appropriate.  We will likely receive this information from you on registration pages, such as any user forum registration or other like method.

We may use your IP address to track the total number of unique users to the site, verify identification, for system administration and diagnose problems. To help make e-mails we send more useful, we may request and/or receive a confirmation when you open an e-mail from us.

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3. How HFD will use this information

HFD will use the information we collect, as described above in Section 2, about you in order to learn more about your debt or credit situation and to provide you with basic information (not legal or otherwise professional advice) regarding various services and/or products.  As such, this will increase the potential for both you and us to receive:

• Timely and valuable information and resource materials;
• Highly optimized information and service;
• Pinpoint information regarding ours and other’s products and/or services;
• Expedited feedback to your request and inquiries;
• Data and information to improve our technology, products and services;
• Multiple means of communication with our company;
• Educational resources and links;
• Opportunities for our affiliates and other companies to inform you about the products or services they offer that may interest you; and
• Better response and adoption to your changing desires, needs or goals.

We do not disclose confidential client information except as we believe necessary to fulfill our commitments and provide the services and products you request from us. We will share or disclose limited portions of your personally identifiable information with third parties as part of our overall efforts to fulfill our obligations as mentioned and bulleted above.  This may include venders, such as mail services or data processing services.  In these limited cases where information is shared with other companies that perform services on our behalf or for joint marketing purposes, the information provided is limited to the information they need to perform their function.  These companies are also required to maintain the security and confidentiality of the information provided and use it only to perform the specified service on our behalf.  If the aforementioned should occur, our agreements with venders will prohibit the use or disclosure of your information for any purpose outside of their written agreement with us.

Additionally, we share information with companies that help us process your transactions and provide you with the products or services you may benefit from.

• We may disclose the information we collect, as described in Section 2, to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf and for our affiliates. The information we disclose for marketing purposes is limited to contact information (such as name, address, or email address), information that assists us to offer products or services that are of interest to you, and non-personally identifiable information;
• We may from time to time form close partnerships with other web sites and develop co-branded versions of the HFD site with these partners.  We may share any information collected from you with partner sites. 

We may share or sell limited portions of the information we collect to third parties that have products or services that may be of interest to you. We do not share or sell confidential client information (such as your bank account or credit card information) with anyone for marketing purposes. 

• We disclose information in response to the orders of government agencies that show they have proper jurisdiction of matters requiring disclosure;
• We share aggregated statistical data with our business partners or for public relations.  For example, we may disclose that a specific percentage of our users are between the ages of 25 and 35;
• Like any other business, it is possible that in the future we could merge with, be acquired by another company or change ownership.  If such an acquisition occurs, the successor company would have access to the information maintained by us, including customer account information. The successor would continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy unless and until it is amended as described in Section 3, above;
• We share your information with parent, subsidiary or joint marketing companies to help coordinate the services we provide to you. They too would be bound by our terms and conditions.

If we are going to use your personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you via e-mail. You will have a choice as to whether or not we use your information in this different manner. 

If you do not wish that your personally identifiable information be shared for purposes other than for issues relating to this website, if any, you may opt-out by filling out this form and following the instructions set forth therein.

If have any further questions and/or issues relating the opt-out procedure, you can contact us via our contact form or by writing to us at:

NFAN, Inc.
ATTN: Privacy Policy
13455 Noel Road
Suite 1000
Dallas, TX 75240

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4.  Safeguarding your information

We take steps to safeguard customer information.  We employ basic measure, such as password-protected user accounts and maintaining security patches to our content management system, to safeguard user information. We also may require third-parties to comply with our privacy policies if there is an exchange of information between HFD and the third-party.

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5.  Privacy online

Our system safeguards include the use of a password-protected user account system to protect the confidentiality of data that you transmit to us over the internet. When you visit one of our websites, we may collect and store information about your visit on an anonymous, aggregate basis. This information may include information such as the time and length of your visit, and the pages you looked at on our site. No confidential information is collected from you online, unless you have provided it to us. We use this information only to measure site activity and to develop ideas for improving our sites.

Although we take all possible precautions to safeguard your information, you should never send confidential information via e-mail. The e-mails you send us are not secure. Customers always have the option of mailing or calling us to provide any information they wish to keep confidential.

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6.  Cookies

Cookies are pieces of data assigned by our web server and stored on your computer's hard drive for later retrieval.  This helps us recognize you the next time you visit our site.  We will not use cookies to record information that will enable anyone to contact you via telephone, e-mail, or regular mail.  We may also use clear gifs.  Clear gifs are used to tag the pages you visit on our site to help us improve the design and content of our site. All of this information is considered confidential and is only available for our use.  Unless you specifically tell us who you are (for example by completing an application), if you are just browsing our site, we will never know who you are even though we assign you a cookie.  This site contains links to other sites. If you use a link to visit the site of another company, we cannot be responsible for the privacy practice or the content of that company or its site.

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7.  Security precautions to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, or alteration of your information

Unfortunately, no one can guarantee that data transmitted over the internet is 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, HFD cannot and does not ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you transmit such information at your own risk

As a service to our users we provide the below information to point you in the right direction so that you can reduce the amount of advertising you receive from other companies.  Individuals can write to the following agencies:

1.  For advertising received through the mail:
Mail Preference Service
c/o direct marketing association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008

2.  For advertising received via the telephone:
Telephone preference service
c/o direct marketing association
P.O. Box 9014
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014

Individuals can also have their name taken off pre-approved credit solicitations, by calling 888-5optout (888-567-8688), by opting out online through www.optoutprescreen.com or writing to the following credit reporting agencies. Be sure to include name, (first, middle, and last name including; jr., sr., iii), current address, (previous address if moved in the last six months), and social security number.  Also, you may also want to check each company’s website because you may be able to submit an on-line request.

Experian
Consumers Opt-Out
P.O. Box 919 701
Experian Parkway
Allen, TX  75103

Equifax
P.O. Box 749123
1150 Lake Hearn Dr.
Atlanta, GA  30374-0123

Trans Union
Name Removal Option
P.O. Box 97328
Jackson, MS 39288-7328

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8.  Additional information

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, the practices of this site or your dealings with this site, you can contact us via our contact form or by writing to us at:

NFAN, Inc.
ATTN: Privacy Policy
13455 Noel Road
Suite 1000
Dallas, TX 75240

In the event a user of our site registers as forum participant, this privacy statement is incorporated by reference into and subject to the Forum User Agreement.

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Amendment policy

HFD reserves the right to change this privacy statement in its sole and absolute discretion. Any changes to the HFD privacy statement will be communicated through this site at least FIFTEEN (15) days in advance of implementation.

(last revised on August 1, 2006)