Who we are
DebtWave Credit Counseling, Inc., is a 501(c)3 consumer credit counseling agency headquartered in Escondido, California. Our website address is: www.debtwave.org.
This Privacy Policy applies to your access and use of all products and services that are made available by DebtWave Credit Counseling, Inc. or its affiliates through our websites, including but not limited to www.debtwave.org.
This Privacy Policy describes the information that we gather from you, how we use your information, whom we share your information with, and the steps we take to protect your information. By using DebtWave’s services, you consent to the privacy practices described in this Policy.
DebtWave’s data collection, use, and sharing practices are governed by and complies with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Contact forms
DebtWave does not sell, rent, loan, trade, or lease any personal information collected through this or any other online property. All personal information is used solely by DebtWave, with consumer consent.
Many sections of DebtWave’s website are provided for the benefit of the consuming public. You may request consumer educational information or other services in these sections. In order for us to fulfill your request, you may need to provide us with your email address, regular mail address, or telephone number. Our use of that information will be as described on those pages.
Should you choose to seek financial counseling from DebtWave, you may voluntarily complete all or a portion of our online counseling form. Several types of personal information may be gathered through this form for use in your confidential counseling session, including name, address, telephone number, social security number, employment information, and creditor information, including account numbers.
Specific uses of this information may be to:
- Identify your accounts with your creditors
- Contact you and to confirm your identity when you call us
- Contact and negotiate with your creditors
Demographic data may also be used for statistical studies, though names are not used without specific permission.
Cookies
When you visit DebtWave.org, use DebtWave’s services, or open an email from DebtWave, we may automatically receive and record certain information from your computer, web browser and/or mobile device, including without limitation:
- IP address or other device address or ID.
- Web browser and/or device type.
- Geolocation data, including if you use the Site on a mobile device.
- Hardware and software settings and configurations.
- Web pages or sites that you visit just before or just after visiting the Site.
- Pages you view on the Site.
- Your actions on the Site.
- Dates and times that you visit, access, or use the Services.
Some areas of DebtWave.org utilize tools, including browser cookies, in order to enhance the client experience. You have the option of disabling cookies in your browser if that is your preference.
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
As part of an effort to improve advertising quality, DebtWave may allow Google to detect a short segment of text (known as a cookie) that Google previously placed on your computer. No personal information (e.g. your name or contact information) is included in the cookie that Google detects. For more information about Google and privacy, please read Google’s Privacy Policy.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
We do not collect personal information, such as your name, address, phone number, or email address, while you browse DebtWave.org. However, we do gather information regarding how our online property is used, such as the number of visitors, length of each visit, and which pages are commonly used to enter and exit each website or app.
Children
DebtWave does not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under 13, we will take steps to delete the Personal Information as soon as possible.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Who we share your data with
DebtWave is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information consumers voluntarily provide via email or electronic forms on our website. DebtWave will not sell or rent this information to anyone.
No sensitive information (such as credit card data) is collected via this website. When you submit contact information, the data is sent directly to our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, credit counselor or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information.
DebtWave uses your information to respond to you regarding the reason(s) you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization unless necessary to fulfill your request.
Additionally, DebtWave will share Personal Information with others if we have a good-faith belief that disclosure is necessary or appropriate to:
- comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request;
- protect our operations or customers
- detect, investigate, or address fraud, security, or technical problems; or
- Investigate potential violations of and enforce applicable terms of service.
In the event of a reorganization, merger, or sale we may transfer any and all personal information we collect to the relevant third party.
Non-Personal Information: We may share Non-Personal Information publicly and with our strategic partners. For example, we may share Non-Personal Information to describe the size and success of our company.
How long we retain your data
Typically we retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. You may, however, request information about how long we keep a specific type of information, or request that we delete your personal information by contacting us at the address described below.
If required by law we will grant a request to delete information, but you should note that in many situations we must keep your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or for another one of our business purposes.
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products and services, or updates to our Privacy Policy.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. Contact us via email at [email protected] or via phone (888) 686-4040 in order to:
- See what data we have about you, if any.
- Change/correct any data we have about you.
- Have us delete any data we have about you.
- Express any concerns you have about our use of your data.
You have the option to refuse any free consultations or offers for services provided after you submit a request to DebtWave and/or a third party through DebtWave.org or a DebtWave service.
Unsubscribing from Emails
If you do not wish to receive email offers or newsletters from us, you can opt out of receiving email information from us (except for emails related to the completion of your registration, correction of user data, change of password, and other similar communications essential to your transactions through the Services) by using the unsubscribe process at the bottom of any marketing email from us.
Although your changes are reflected promptly in active user databases, we may retain all information you submit for a variety of purposes, including backups and archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, and analytics.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Your contact information
If you have any questions, comments, or complaints concerning our privacy practices please contact us at the appropriate address below. We will attempt to respond to your requests and to provide you with additional privacy-related information.
DebtWave Credit Counseling, Inc.
1835A S Centre City Parkway
#508
Escondido, CA 92025
Re: DebtWave Privacy Notice
Email: [email protected]
Toll-Free Number: 888-686-4040
Additional information
How we protect your data
We take precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss, theft, and misuse, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These precautions include technical, physical, and managerial procedures. We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption on all pages where personal information is collected. We retain personal information only for the time necessary and reasonable to fulfill the account purpose, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.
No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is fully secure. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. In the event that we are required by law to inform you of a breach to your personal information we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.
Some of our websites permit you to create an account. When you do you will be prompted to create a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and you are responsible for any access to or use of your account by someone else that has obtained your password, whether or not such access or use has been authorized by you. You should notify us of any unauthorized use of your password or account.
What third parties we receive data from
DebtWave uses your information to respond to you regarding the reason(s) you contacted us. We may share information with our corporate affiliates (e.g., parent company, sister companies, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control). We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization unless necessary to fulfill your request.
Industry regulatory disclosure requirements
DebtWave Credit Counseling, Inc., is approved to provide debt management and consumer credit counseling services in 46 states plus Washington, D.C. For specific state-licensure information, please visit our state licenses page here.
Agreement
By using our online properties, you agree to DebtWave Credit Counseling Inc.’s Internet Privacy and Usage Policy and to the use of the information we receive and collect as stated herein and in ways we may notify you of in the future. By providing any personal information, you acknowledge that you fully understand and consent to the collection and processing of such information. We reserve the right at our discretion to modify this Internet Privacy and Usage Policy at any time. Your continued use of DebtWave online properties following the posting of changes to these terms means you accept these changes.