This website is owned and operated by The Mutual Finance Company. (“TMFC”). We at TMFC respect and protect the privacy of visitors to our websites, and the privacy of our customers. This Privacy Policy describes our information handling practices when you access our services, which include our content located on this website, or any other websites, pages, features, or content we own or operate (collectively, the “Site(s)”) or third party applications relying on API, and related services (referred to collectively hereinafter as “Services”). This Privacy Policy applies to the information we collect through the TMFC websites and otherwise. Your use of the TMFC websites and our services is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.

Please take a moment to read this Privacy Policy carefully. If you have any questions about this Policy, please submit an email detailing your questions or concerns to contact@themutualfinance.com.  

1. Acceptance of this Privacy Policy

By accessing and using our Services, you signify acceptance to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Where we require your consent to process your personal information, we will ask for your consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described further below. We may provide additional “just-in-time” disclosures or information about the data processing practices of specific Services. These notices may supplement or clarify our privacy practices or may provide you with additional choices about how we process your data.

If you do not agree with or you are not comfortable with any aspect of this Privacy Policy, you should immediately discontinue access or use of our Services.

2. Information and Data

For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, “Personal information” is data that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.  This information personally identifies you, including your contact information, IP address and loan/financing application information.

(a) Information you provide to us:

To apply and access our Services, we’ll ask you to provide us with some important information about yourself and business. This information is either required by law (example: to verify your identity), necessary to provide the requested services (example: you will need to provide four (4) months of bank statements), or is relevant for certain specified purposes, described in greater detail below.  Some of the personal information we collect, use, share and store is sensitive in nature, such as your social security number and financial accounts. As we add new programs and Services, you may be asked to provide additional information.

Please note that we cannot guarantee we will be able to offer you our products to serve you as effectively or offer you our Services if you choose not to share certain information with us. Any information you provide to us that is not required is voluntary.

(b) Information we collect:

• Personal Identification Information: Full name, date of birth, gender, utility bills, phone number, home and mailing address, IP Address, social security number, and email
• Formal Identification Information: Government issued identity document such as Passport, Driver’s License, National Identity Card, State ID Card, Tax ID number, passport number, driver’s license details, national identity card details, visa information, and/or any other information deemed necessary to comply with our legal obligations under financial, consumer protection, and commercial lending laws
• Institutional Information: Employer Identification number (or comparable number issued by a government), proof of legal formation such as Articles of Incorporation, Articles of Organization, and personal identification information for all owners
• Financial Information: Bank Statements, Credit Card merchant processing statements, Average Daily Bank Balance, Tax return information, Federal and State Tax ID, Profit and Loss Statements, Balance Sheets, AR and AP Reports, Income statements, Credit Score, Business Invoices, and Wire Instructions
• Transaction Information: Information about the transactions you make on our Services, such as the name of the recipient, your name, the amount, and/or timestamp
• Employment Information: Business and Office(s) location, job title, and/or description of role
• Correspondence: Survey responses, information provided to our support team or user research team
• Business Information: business entity type, company size, list of officers, members, or managers of the business, articles of incorporation, certificates of good standing, and ownership structure
• Asset Information: Mortgage statements, Deeds, Appraisals, equipment schedule, information about a specific property
• Online Identifiers: Analytics such as Geo location/tracking details, browser fingerprint, operating system, browser name and version, and/or personal IP addresses
• Usage Data: Authentication data, security questions, click-stream data, public social networking posts, and other data collected via cookies and similar technologies

The documents and information collected are securely stored and safeguarded.  At your request and with your permission, these documents may be shared with certain lenders.  Under no circumstances will we disclose, transmit, or share in any way, these documents without your permission. In addition to collecting information from our website, we may also conduct a site visit to collect and obtain information or external data used by lenders to process applications and manage transactions (example: credit reporting agencies, other vendors as well as social media).  We also may use identifiers to identify you when you access our Sites via an external link, such as a link appearing on a third-party website.

(c)  Information collected from third parties

From time to time, we may obtain information about you from third party sources as required or permitted by applicable law. These sources may include:

• Public Databases & ID Verification Partners: We obtain information about you from public databases and ID verification partners for purposes of verifying your identity in accordance with applicable law. 
• Credit Bureaus: With your consent, we obtain information from credit bureaus, including your credit report. However, we will not disclose your credit report without your explicit permission. We obtain your credit information to better provide services to you, to match you with appropriate lenders, to ensure your identity, and to avoid fraud. 
• Financial Institution: With your consent, we obtain information directly from your financial institution, including copies of your account statements. We obtain this information to assist in providing Services to you, including the underwriting process. 
• Joint Marketing Partners & Resellers: For example, unless prohibited by applicable law, joint marketing partners or resellers may share information about you with us so that we can better understand which of our Services may be of interest to you.
• Advertising Networks & Analytics Providers: We work with these providers such as Google Analytics to provide us with de-identified information about how you found our Sites and how you interact with the Sites and Services. This information may be collected prior to account creation.

3. Use of Information and Data

TMFC uses the information we collect to:

• Compile, save, use and analyze your Personal Information in both a personally-identifiable form and as part of aggregated data
• Operate, maintain, improve, and provide to you the Service and to conduct our business, including our own lending and referring you to third party lenders
• To maintain legal and regulatory compliance
• Verify your identity and conduct appropriate due diligence
• Register you as a client and identify you when you use our Service
• Process your business’ application and determine whether or not your business qualifies for one of our products or Service
• Process your business loan product or Service, including deducting automatic payments
• To communicate with you to send confirmations such approvals or declines, respond to customer service requests, send marketing communications, and send account update notifications
• To provide customer service when you contact us to resolve any questions, disputes, collect fees, or to troubleshoot problems  
• Post and review your comments on our blog and other review sites;
• To detect, prevent and mitigate fraud and abuse of our services and protect you against account compromise
• Conduct research and analyses to better understand our customers; 
• To produce data analytics and reports containing de-identified summaries of Personal Information and other information that is not Personal Information (such information, “General Information”)
• To provide a personalized experience and the preferences and Services you may request
• To engage in marketing activities and inform you about events, deliver targeted marketing via emails or mobile SMS notifications, and provide you with promotional offers. 

4. How We Collect Your Information

TMFC and our partners (for example: our marketing partners), affiliates, or analytics or service providers, including our live chat, marketing trackers, and survey tool service providers use cookies or similar technologies. These technologies are used in analyzing trends, administering the Website, tracking users’ movements around the Website and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. 

We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies.

(a)  Log Files

Anytime you visit any of our websites, we gather certain information and automatically store it as log files.  This information from your browser includes your IP addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, OS system, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, prevent fraud, track visitor movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information. We do this to improve services we offer and improve our marketing, analytics and website. 

(b) Cookies

We use “cookies” to keep track of some types of information while you are visiting our website and/or using our services. Cookies are a very small text file that is placed on your computer, and they allow us to count the number of visitors to our website and distinguish repeat from new visitors. We also use cookies to prevent users from seeing the same popup repetitively in an attempt to make our users experience more pleasant while still delivering time sensitive messaging. They also allow us to keep records and save user preferences and track user trends. If your browser is set to reject all cookies, you may still use our website but you may lose functionality or be limited in some areas. Users who refuse cookies assume all responsibility for any resulting loss of functionality. 

(c) Application

To access our services, we require your name, address, phone number, email address, and other personal and business information. We also require the name of your business, its physical and mailing address, its federal and state tax ID, the type of business, business location, average monthly sales, state of incorporation, name of Landlord (if applicable), bank statements and credit card transactions per month, and use of funds. 

(e) E-Mails and Telephone Calls

We require an e-mail address from you when you register for our services. We use your e-mail for both transactional (example: order confirmation, refund and renewal processing) and promotional (example: newsletters, new product offerings, promotional discounts, event notifications, special third-party offers) purposes. E-mail messages we send you may contain code that enables our database to track your usage of the e-mails, including whether the e-mail was opened and what links (if any) were clicked. If you would rather not receive promotional e-mails from us, please see the section below labeled “Choice/Opt-Out”. We reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to the TMFC services, such as service announcements and administrative messages, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. We may also contact you by telephone or text message (including to any wireless number you may provide to us) solely in connection with TMFC’s services. If you would rather not receive telephone calls or text messages from us, you may ask to be removed or unsubscribe from our contact list if you receive a call or text message from us. We fully comply with the requirements of the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act.

(f)  Other Sources

We may obtain information about you from third parties such as credit reports. We do not pull a credit report without your permission.

5. Sale of Personal Information

We do not sell personal information.

6. Privacy and Third Party Disclosure

You acknowledge and agree that we TMFC will match and share your Personal Information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this Privacy Policy and as required by law. We do not and will not sell your Personal Information to third parties.

We will provide your Personal Information, which may include application information, to our trusted business partners, third party lenders of TMFC products, service providers, and subsidiaries and affiliates to provide financing and/or to provide services to help us with our business activities, such as offering customer service, processing credit cards or secure data storage, and other similar services. 

Upon completing and filling out the application via our website, email or link, we may share your information with third party service providers with whom you are matched. By accepting the Terms and Conditions, you agree to receive various marketing materials from our trusted third parties, including potential trusted partners, lenders and service providers. We are not responsible for the material of the third parties or their actions.

These companies are authorized to use your Personal Information only as necessary to provide these types of services to us. In addition, we may share your basic information (name, company name, phone number, email address and requested loan amount) with one of our business partners to market their services to you, provided. Please be aware that the business partners, and/or other service providers with whom you are matched and with whom your information is shared may retain your information, even if you do not enter into an agreement for their products or services. Please contact each such party directly to review their privacy and information policies.  Also, if you enter into an agreement with a trusted business partner, lender or other service provider through an TMFC service and make changes to the information you have provided to us, we may share the updated information with such partners, lenders, and/or service providers.

If you do not want us to share your Personal Information or you want to make a Privacy Request in these circumstances with these business partners, please contact us to opt out by email at contact@themutualfinance.com or by postal mail at the contact information listed below.

We may also disclose your Personal Information:

• If required to do so by law, such as to comply with: 
  • A subpoena, or similar legal process
  • Request or orders from law enforcement;
  • To protect or defend TMFC’s or a third party’s rights or property;
• When we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a request from a governmental entity;
• If TMFC is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets or equity, in which case, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Website of any change in ownership
• To any other third party with your prior consent to do so.
• With our professional advisors who provide banking, legal, compliance, insurance, accounting, or other consulting services in order to complete third party financial, technical, compliance and legal audits of our operations or otherwise comply with our legal obligations. 

 By disclosing your information to us through signing up on any of the Websites and agreeing to the Terms, you expressly consent to any transfer of your information as described in this Privacy Policy, the Terms, and the Site.

If you believe that we have infringed your rights, we encourage you to contact us at contact@themutualfinance.com.

7. Information Obtained From Third Parties

We purchase marketing data about our customers from third parties and combine it with information we already have about you, to create a more custom user experience advertising and products you may be interested in.

If you provide information about others, or if others give us your information, we will only use that information for the specific reason for which it was provided to us.

Any information we obtained from a third-party will be used to assist in matching your business with various trusted partners, lenders and/or service providers.  These third parties are solely responsible for their own websites and we encourage you to reach out to such third parties for copies of and information regarding their privacy policies, terms of use and security practices. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the privacy and security practices of these third parties.

8. User Choice Policy 

You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but this will likely result in the inability to use certain features of the Websites and to obtain the Products and Services you are seeking. At TMFC, we recommend you do not post personal information on public forums or blogs. You are solely responsible for the posting of any personal information on public forums.

If your Personal Information changes, or if you no longer desire to use our Services, you may correct, update, amend, delete/remove, and/or ask to have it removed from marketing campaigns including emails, SMS text messages, and phone calls by emailing our Customer Support team at contact@themutualfinance.com or by contacting us by phone at (917)444-3959 or by contacting us by postal mail at the contact information listed below.  We will respond to your request within 30 days.  

We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as long as reasonably useful for commercial purposes. We will only retain and use your information as necessary to comply with any accounting or legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

9. Opt-Out Policy

TMFC and our business partners may contact you to offer you products and services that we feel you may be interested in. With respect for your privacy, you may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails, telephone solicitations, SMS text messages or other forms of contact from TMFC and our trusted business partners by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails or messages or by contacting us by email at contact@themutualfinance.com  or by postal mail at the contact information listed below.

10. California Privacy Rights 

In addition to the rights provided for above, if you are a California resident, you have the right to request information from us regarding whether we share certain categories of your personal information with third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. To the extent we share your personal information in this way, you may receive the following information:

• (a) the categories of information we disclosed to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year; and
• (b) the names and addresses of third parties that received such information, or if the nature of their business cannot be determined from the name, then examples of the products or services marketed.

Effective January 1, 2020, pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), California residents have certain rights in relation to their personal information, subject to limited exceptions. Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this California Privacy Rights section.

• For personal information collected by us during the preceding 12 months that is not otherwise subject to an exception, California residents have the right to access and delete their personal information. TMFC will not discriminate against those who exercise their rights. Specifically, if you exercise your rights, we will not deny you services, charge you different prices for services or provide you a different level or quality of services.
• To the extent we send your personal information to third parties, you also have the right to request that we disclose to you: (i) the categories of your personal information that we send, and (ii) the categories of third parties to whom your personal information was sent. You have the right to direct us not to send your personal information. Please note that the only time personal information is sent is when you decide to apply for, and fund, business loans through TMFC. 

If you are a California resident, only you or a person registered with the California Secretary of State or other state agency that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a request for access or a request to delete related to your personal information.  You can only make a request for access or data twice within a 12-month period, in which you must:

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.  
• If using an authorized agent to make the request on your behalf, they must submit proof that they are registered with the California Secretary of State to be able to act on your behalf, or submit evidence you have provided them with power of attorney pursuant to California Probate Code section 4000 to 4465. We may deny requests from authorized agents who do not submit proof that they have been authorized by 
• you to act on their behalf, or are unable to verify their identity.
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate and respond to it.

If we are unable to verify your identity or authorized agent to make the request and confirm the personal information that relates to you, we can’t respond to your request or provide personal information. This is for your security and fraud purposes.  Making a Request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a Request to verify your identity or authority to make the request.

To exercise your rights of access, data and deletion described above, please submit a verifiable request to contact@themutualfinance.com, or by contacting customer service at (646) 837-5522.

11. Security

Here at TMFC, we take the security of your information very seriously.   We have extensive security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information stored in our database. These measures include the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, which creates an encrypted connection between your browser and our servers.  When you fill out an application or you enter sensitive personal information on our contact forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information.  

We will exercise reasonable care in providing secure transmission of information between your computer and our servers, but given that no information transmitted over the Internet can be guaranteed 100% secure, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted to us over the Internet and accept no liability for any unintentional disclosure. 

If you allow TMFC to see your banking information online, rather than paper or PDF statements, it is on a read-only basis.  We do not have access to change, edit, or modify bank account information in any way.  

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may modify this Privacy Policy on occasion to reflect change to our information and privacy practices. If we make any changes, we will notify you by email (sent to the email address specified in your account), by means of a notice on our Website prior to the change becoming effective, or as otherwise required by law.  Please review this Privacy Policy periodically for the latest information on our privacy practices.