| ć privacy and security at Countrywide | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Your Privacy | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| The opportunities you deserve, the privacy you expect | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| For more than 30 years, Countrywide has been a trusted leader in home loans. The Countrywide family of companies is now part of the Bank of America family of companies. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Our primary focus is on empowering you to meet your homeownership goals by offering a wide range of financial products and services. This notice explains how we protect and use your information in a safe, secure and responsible manner. When used in this policy, "we," "our," and "us" refer only to the Countrywide family of companies specifically identified in the section titled "Benefits to sharing within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies" below and do not refer to the other Bank of America companies. This policy does not explain how the other Bank of America companies manage customer information and what actions you can take regarding how the other Bank of America companies use and share your information. Please visit bankofamerica.com/privacy for more information on the policy of the other Bank of America companies. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We offer you products and services at a lower cost or with greater convenience by sharing limited information within our family of companies, within the other Bank of America companies, and with carefully selected business partners. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Your protection is our priority | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We strive to safeguard your data. We do this by: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| About our websites | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Our systems automatically switch to "secure" mode when you are asked to enter personal information on a Countrywide website (such as your loan number, account number or Social Security Number). To keep your data safe, we use: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| For more details on Internet security, please see our "About Internet Security" section. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Use of cookies, Web beacons and similar files | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We design many features of our website so new visitors may anonymously learn about our products and services, view today’s rates and use our educational tools without revealing their identity. For new visitors, we use "cookies" and Web beacons to collect limited data (such as the date, time and areas of our website visited and the website the new visitor came from). When you select one of our products or services, review your accounts online or respond to marketing materials sent to you directly, we will try to identify your browser and may combine information from "cookies," Web beacons and other information collected online with any other data we maintain about you. By improving the marketing and content of our website and making your online experience more convenient, we are able to better serve our customers’ financial needs. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Cookies are required to access your online accounts | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| You can have your web browser disable "cookies", but if you turn off "cookies," it is not possible to access your online accounts. Cookies are used for security purposes when you log into your account so that we can recognize your computer. Cookies used to access your online account are encrypted and used solely to support your online account activity. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Similar files | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Countrywide sometimes uses technologies similar to cookies to store information. For example, we also use files called Flash objects to help assure security as part of the online account log-in process. Flash object files are also encrypted and used solely to support your online account activity. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| How we obtain and use information | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| To fund and service your loan, comply with government regulations, improve our products and services, and better understand your financial needs, we collect and maintain customer and former customer data. We collect information: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| We disclose some of this data to third parties (such as credit reporting agencies, regulators and loan investors). We may share some of this information with companies performing services on our behalf (such as the vendor who prepares our monthly statements). These service providers agree to keep the information confidential and not use it for any other purpose. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Additionally, to provide you with valuable product and service offerings, we share this information (such as a list of customers in a certain income range) within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies and share limited information with business partners who are obligated to maintain the confidentiality of your information. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Benefits to sharing within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| To offer and recommend valuable products and services, we may share customer and former customer information within our family of companies and the other Bank of America companies. The other Bank of America companies include financial service providers, such as a brokerage company and a credit card company, and nonfinancial companies such as operation and servicing subsidiaries. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| The Countrywide family of companies are: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| All of the companies in the Countrywide family follow the same policies and procedures described in this notice. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| As Countrywide Financial continues to expand its Global Operations, we also look for ways to enhance customer satisfaction in the United States by using our resources overseas. Our mission is to quickly respond to your homeownership and financial needs. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Benefits to sharing outside our family of companies | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| To make products and services available, often at a savings to you, we may prudently share some customer and former customer non-public personal information with business partners under an agreement requiring the partner to keep the information confidential and only use it for those offers. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| You have choices | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| You may limit how we share your personal information. This is called a right to "opt out." You have three options to consider. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| For loans to multiple borrowers, we will apply an opt out by any borrower to all borrowers on the loan. If you opt out, we will continue to share non-public personal information with our service providers (such as the vendor who prepares our monthly statements), with third parties as required or permitted by law (such as credit reporting agencies or regulators), and share transaction and experience information (such as your loan balance or payment history) within the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| During the application process, you will receive a privacy notice that includes a toll-free telephone number to call if you want to opt-out. Please have your account and billing information available when you call. If you have any questions about our privacy policy, please send an e-mail message to privacypolicy@countrywide.com. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| In today’s dynamic market, opting out may mean missing timely information about products and services that help you accomplish your homeownership and other financial goals. It’s something to think about carefully. We don’t want you to miss out on any opportunities. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| You may have other privacy protections under state law. For example, we have different information sharing practices in the following states: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Notice to CA Residents: We will provide a separate short form notice describing the rights of California residents to opt out under California law, including rights to opt out of affiliate sharing. We will only share non-public personal information as required or permitted by law. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Notice to ND Residents: We will share information within the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies unless you opt out by calling the number provided in the privacy notice you receive during the loan application process. If you opt out, we will continue to share only transaction and experience information (such as your loan balance and payment history) within the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies. In addition, we will only share information with our service providers and with third parties as required or permitted by law. We may also disclose your non-public personal information with your written consent. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Notice to VT Residents: We will not share non-public personal information with anyone except our service providers and third parties as required or permitted by law. We will share transaction and experience information (such as your loan balance and payment history) within the Countrywide family of companies and the other Bank of America companies. We may also share information with your consent or at your direction. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Please review the website privacy notices of the companies listed below for state-specific information of other members of the Countrywide family: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| http://insurance.countrywide.com/pages/cishomepage.aspx#1:About_Privacy | ||||||||||||||
| http://www.balboainsurance.com/Privacyandsecurity.aspx | ||||||||||||||
| http://www.countrywideinvestments.com/scontent.aspx?cmtag=Content-privacy_security | ||||||||||||||
| http://bank.countrywide.com/scontent.aspx?cmtag=Content-privacy_policy | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Countrywide websites may contain links to other companies not in the Countrywide family for your convenience and information. If you access those links, you will leave the Countrywide website. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any company before submitting your personal information. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| How to confirm accuracy of your information | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We commit to maintain accurate and up-to-date information on all of our customers. We provide access to account information in many ways – over the phone, in online and paper statements, and other communications. If you believe any of your information is incorrect, please notify us immediately using the customer service number provided on your account statement. We will respond timely to your request to correct inaccurate account or transaction information. However, in order to protect your information, we may ask to verify your identity and for other details to respond to your request. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Notification of changes | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| The policies and practices in this section replace all previous notices or statements about your privacy rights at Countrywide. If we make any significant changes, we will notify you and only apply those new changes to future use of your information. If we make such changes, we will also revise the policy effective date, so that you can keep track of when those changes occur. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Policy Effective Date: July 1, 2008 | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
* Countrywide Insurance Group consists of Balboa Insurance Company, Meritplan Insurance
Company, Newport Insurance Company, Newport E & S Insurance Company, Balboa Life
Insurance Company, Balboa Life Insurance Company of New York and Balboa Warranty
Services Corporation. ± Securities products offered through Countrywide Investment Services, Inc. Member SIPC. Insurance products offered through Countrywide Insurance Services, Inc. (CW Insurance Agency in New York), an insurance agency affiliate. Not available in all states. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| ć about internet security | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| How Does Browser Security Work? | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Recent versions of most internet browsers support the encrypted transmission of
on-line documents and the data you enter on a web page. This means that instead
of sending readable text, both your browser and the website's secure server encode
all text using a security key. That way, personal data sent to your browser or data
you send back would be extremely difficult to decode in the unlikely event it was
intercepted by an unauthorized party. The key used for encoding is a random number
that is unique to your session at the secure website.
There are two grades of internet security: International-grade encryption uses a 40-bit random number negotiated between your browser and the web server. This means that only one out of about 1,000,000,000,000 possible decoding keys can be used to decipher your data. Domestic-grade encryption uses a 128-bit key, so that the number of possible keys is vastly larger. The Countrywide site uses the highest grade of encryption supported by your browser and your internet connection. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| How Do I Know If Security Is Operating? | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Your internet session is encrypted if your security-enabled browser is connected
to a web site using the Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol. URL strings beginning
with "HTTPS://" instead of the usual "HTTP://" indicate that the secure protocol
is in effect. Your browser may also tell you if security is operating. For example,
Mozilla’s Firefox will display the
If secure transmission is not in effect or only part of a frame-based page is secure, Firefox shows the "red-slashed lock" Most browsers can be set to give you a pop-up announcement when you enter or leave a secure web page. In Firefox, these settings are on the Security section when you select "Options" on the Tools menu. In IE, the setting is on the "Advanced" tab when you select "Options" on the View menu. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Secure Mode and Frame-Based Web Pages | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Security may be operating without displaying any security icons (or Firefox may show the "red-slashed lock" icon) if only part of a frame-based page is employing security. You can verify the security of a page within a frame by opening it in a new browser window. Both IE and Firefox allow you to open a link in a new window by right-clicking on the link and selecting that option from the pop-up context menu. When a secure page is open in its own window, instead of being viewed within a frame, you can then see the security icons provided by your browser as well as the "https://" secure protocol prefix in the URL string. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| ć cookies, Web beacons | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Cookies | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| When you visit a website, a small file called a "cookie" may be saved to your computer’s hard drive during your visit. When you revisit the site, the website’s server may open the cookie file and access the stored information. You can usually set your browser to limit or let you know about cookies that a website places on your computer. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Web Beacons | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| A Web beacon is a graphic image (such as a pixel tag or clear GIF) that is placed on a web page or in an e-mail message to monitor user activity (such as whether the web page or e-mail message is read or clicked). They are often invisible because they are very small in size. They are also used on many web pages for alignment purposes. We sometimes use Web beacons to provide an independent accounting of how many people visit our websites or to gather statistics about browser usage at our websites. Some of our web pages and HTML-formatted e-mail newsletters use Web beacons in conjunction with cookies. It is difficult for you to limit the use of Web beacons because there is no easy way to distinguish their use from alignment and other purposes. They may be loaded from a different web server than the rest of the page. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Third Party Advertising | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We sometimes use third party advertising companies to serve our internet ad banners on our site and other sites on which we advertise. If you click on one of those ads, you will be directed to one of the Countrywide Financial sites offering that particular product or service. If you view a web page where our ads appear, the advertising company may place a cookie on your computer or use a Web beacon to access a cookie they previously placed on your computer. These companies do not collect information that can identify you personally, but may use information about your visits to our sites and other sites to measure the effectiveness of ads. We do not give any personally identifiable information to these companies. Unless you are first notified, these advertising companies do not link any online actions or cookie to any information that can be used to personally identify you (such as your name, address or e-mail address). The companies that distribute our ads are prohibited by contract from using information other than for the agreed upon purpose – to help us market our products and services and to measure response rates. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Third party advertisers are subject to their own privacy policies. Currently, we
use web beacons provided by Doubleclick, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. If you prefer
that Doubleclick does not record your information by means of these web beacons
on our website, please click
here.
If you prefer that Yahoo! not record information by means of these Beacons on
our web site, visit Yahoo! at
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/webbeacons/details.html to opt out.
To view Google’s privacy policy, visit
http://www.google.com/privacy.html. To view MSN’s privacy policy, visit
http://advertising.microsoft.com/microsoft-adcenter/privacy-policy.
To prevent other advertising companies from placing cookies on your computer, you may adjust the privacy settings for your browser to block or filter cookies, or visit each website individually and opt-out. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Similar Devices | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| For example, we include URLs in e-mail marketing materials sent directly to you (such as special offers) so that we can identify that it is you responding to the campaign and provide details on the offer available to you. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| ć shared secrets | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
What are Shared Secrets? Shared secrets are the most common security method for accessing confidential information. A shared secret is something known to both the user and the holder of the confidential information. The most common shared secrets are a user ID and password. These shared secrets allow the user to log into the site of the holder of confidential information such as a financial institution or online merchant. Shared secrets form an integral part of user authentication in today's online environment. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Protecting Your Shared Secrets Protecting your shared secrets ensures that information accessed via those shared secrets is protected. You should never record your shared secrets electronically such as in documents or spreadsheets. In the event of a compromise of your computer hard drive, your shared secrets can be compromised as well placing all the data protected by those shared secrets at banks and merchants at risk. Likewise you should never store credit card numbers, expiration dates, bank account number, social security numbers, driver’s license number or other personal identifying information electronically on your computer for the same reason. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Your shared secrets should never be revealed in response to unsolicited e-mails. Criminals attempt to obtain individual’s personal identifying information and use that information illegally such as to open and/or use credit cards, obtain phone or utility accounts, obtain loans, work, open bank accounts and/or pass fraudulent checks using a technique called "phishing" (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt127.shtm). Criminals may also attempt to obtain that information over the phone posing as a survey taker, telemarketer or other unsolicited caller ("pretexting") (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/pretext.shtm). | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Common Shared Secrets To minimize the potential compromise of your shared secrets, you should avoid commonly used secrets such as names (yours, your spouse's, your children's, parents), common terms that appear in the dictionary (brute force attacks to crack passwords often use dictionaries in an attempt to randomly match the password), exclusively numbers (numbers range from 0 to 9 for each character where letters range from a to z creating 26 potential variations or 52 if case sensitive). The best passwords are a combination of both letters and numbers where the letters do not spell words that could be found in a dictionary and the password is of sufficient length, 6 characters or preferably more, to make brute force attacks harder. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We suggest you do not use shared secrets across multiple domains (e.g. websites). If you use the same logon and password while shopping or surfing online as you use for your bank, if one of the online merchant sites is compromised, your user ID and password could then be used to access your bank information. Not all websites apply the same level of security to their database. The use of a single logon ID and password across multiple sites is only as secure as the least secure site. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
What Do I Do If My Shared Secrets are Compromised? Immediately change your shared secrets with all sites on which you have used the same shared secrets. Follow the instructions What Should I Do if I Become a Victim of Identity Theft? |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| ć safeguarding social security numbers | ||||||||||||||
| Tips to Protect Your Social Security Number | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
Countrywide Safeguards Your Social Security Number Countrywide’s Privacy Protection Policy (1) protects the confidentiality of Social Security numbers, (2) prohibits unlawful disclosure of Social Security Numbers, and (3) limits access to Social Security Numbers. Our consumer customers can obtain more information by reviewing the Countrywide privacy policy for consumers |
||||||||||||||
| ć identity theft | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
What is Identity Theft? Identity theft is when someone takes and uses your personal information (such as your name, social security or credit card number) without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. These criminals take the identities of others to open new credit cards; obtain phone or utility accounts, loans, or employment; open bank accounts; and/or pass fraudulent checks. According to the FBI, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
How Does Identity Theft Occur? Criminals gain access to personal information in many ways, but the most common method is to take it from the victim themselves. They steal mail (such as account statements, new checks and offers of credit) left in a mailbox, discarded in the trash or stored in an easy to get to location in your home or office. They take credit card and personal identification from your purse or wallet. Without knowing it, you may give the information directly to the criminal when you enter data at an unsecured or unknown website, or in response to a fraudulent request for account information through an unverified e-mail ("phishing") (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt127.shtm). Imposters also ask for information from you in unsolicited phone calls, tricking you into thinking it is someone you know, such as your bank ("pretexting") (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/pretext.shtm). |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
What Happens to the Victim? Identity thieves can damage the credit reputations and lives of victims. Studies have shown that victims spend an average of $808 and 205 hours resolving the identity theft. Time and money is spent clearing credit reports, reporting the theft to lenders and merchants, and filing complaints with law enforcement and governmental agencies. One of the menacing problems of identity theft is that it can happen more than once. Once the initial incident is resolved, the thief may begin using the victim’s identity again after waiting 6 months to a year and the cycle begins all over again. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
How Can I Prevent Becoming a Victim? Identity theft requires someone to gain access to your personal information. You can take steps to decrease the risk of someone stealing your information. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| What Should I Do if I Become a Victim of Identity Theft? | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Identity Theft Resources | ||||||||||||||
|
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
1-877-438-4338 Social Security Administration Fraud Hotline 1-800-269-0271 Department of Justice US Postal Inspection Service 1-800-372-8347 Privacy Rights Clearinghouse 1-619-298-3396 Identity Theft Resource Center 1-858-693-7935 Identity Theft Statistics Identity Theft Laws (by state) |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| What is Countrywide Doing to Assist in the Battle Against Identity Theft? | ||||||||||||||
| Protecting the confidentiality and security of our customers’ personal information is a priority for Countrywide and its family of companies. You can find more information in our Privacy and Security Policy. We understand the implications identity theft can have and take very specific steps to reduce the chance that identity thieves can damage the credit reputations of our customers. As a result, Countrywide has put multiple safety measures in place to combat identity theft. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Reporting Identity Theft on a Countrywide Relationship | ||||||||||||||
| If you think your identity has been stolen, affecting any of your loans or accounts with any of the companies in the Countrywide family, or resulting in the establishment of a fraudulent relationship with us, please contact us immediately. The Identity Theft Complaint provided below should be completed and then faxed or mailed back to us at the address shown below. The Complaint, which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, can be obtained by clicking the link below: | ||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||