Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the DirectConnect Reverse Mortgage Counseling Services online management system ("DirectConnect") and reviewing our privacy policy.

Importance of Your Privacy.

All of us at DirectConnect understand that your privacy is of great importance. We understand that you entrust us with your personal, private information only so that we may help the HUD approved credit counseling agency (an "Agency") and reverse mortgage lender (an "Lender") provide a reverse mortgage counseling course to seniors and other tools described at our web site - www.directconnectcounseling.com (the "Website"). You have our commitment to treat your information with respect and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Be assured that we protect your privacy. Under no circumstances will DirectConnect sell or share any personal information about you to or with any person or organization except (i) as authorized by you, (ii) with HUD and/or AARP, (ii) with NFCC, (iv) as may be required by law or court order, or (v) as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy below describes the standards we adhere to in handling information about you and any personal information you submit through the Web site.

PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING OR AUTHORIZING THE USE OF DIRECTCONNECT. BY USING (OR AUTHORIZING THE USE OF) ANY SUCH SERVICES YOU ARE ACKNOWLEDGING THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS POLICY AND THAT YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS.

Important Categories of Information for you to know:

1. Who we are.
2. Information we may collect at the Website.
3. How your information is used.
4. Altering the information you submit through the Website.

1. Who We Are.

DirectConnect provides support services in connection with the reverse mortgage counseling session process. Based on the information you supply to your Lender and loan officer (a "Submission") and based on the reverse mortgage loan you have selected, DirectConnect will make your data available to a HUD approved Agency which will contact you to facilitate your required reverse mortgage counseling session.

2. Information We Collect.

Because of the nature of the reverse mortgage counseling session process, you may be asked to provide both personal and non-personal information. We DO NOT sell or share any personal information about you to or with any person or organization except (i) as authorized by you, (ii) to participating Agencies, (iii) as set forth herein, or (iv) as may be required by law or court order.

(a) Information we receive from you via Submissions. To use DirectConnect's services, when you or your lender come to the Website you may need to provide personal information such as your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, information regarding your property and other person's you have chosen to participate in your reverse mortgage counseling session.

(b) Technical information we collect. In order for DirectConnect to ensure that we are providing the best possible reverse mortgage counseling service, we collect and track certain user information. When you or your Lender visit the Website, our Web server sends a cookie to your computer. This cookie stores a limited amount of information about your site visit. The cookie tracks aggregate information on how our site is being used, including session counts, navigation patterns, pages visited, etc. These cookies, however, do not store any personally identifiable information such as your name, email address or phone number as you browse the site.

We store your cookie identification in our system. This cookie allows our site to recognize you or your Lender when you return. DirectConnect also utilizes Web Logs to track aggregate information about how our site is being used. Web Logs track anonymous user information, including the number of visitors to the Website, operating systems, Internet Provider addresses (if publicly available), and browser type. Unlike cookies, Web Logs are maintained only on DirectConnect servers and do not store or place anything on the user's computer.

If you come to the Website from an online banner ad, an anonymous identification number may be passed to the Website. This information cannot be used to gather any personally identifiable information about you. It will only allow us to track the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, marketing and banner advertisement campaigns.

3. How your information is used.

We use the information you provide to (i) allow a Lender with which we work to match you with an Agency, and (ii) provide reverse mortgage counseling services to you as described throughout the Website. DirectConnect may also share certain aggregated data with our Agencies and other third parties such as HUD, AARP and NFCC for general marketing and demographic purposes; however, this data does not include any of your personal identifying information. As our Agencies may keep and use your information whether or not you work with them on a transaction, we recommend that you contact them directly for more information about their specific privacy policies. Some of our services may be offered in conjunction with partner companies, affiliates or other companies or websites with which we work. In order for us to provide these services to you, it may be necessary for us to share your personal information with one of such entities. In addition, personal information entered by you in various sections of the Website may be shared with software partners to assist licensees of such software programs, to the extent such licensees are also working with you, to complete forms in a more expeditious manner. These parties are not allowed to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services. If you do not want your data to be shared, you can choose not to allow the transfer by not using that particular service.

In addition, DirectConnect may disclose account or other personal information when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with DirectConnect's rights or property, other Website users or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities.

4. Altering Information You Submit Through a DirectConnect Website.

Your Lender or Agency may be able to review and change personal information in an active Submission that your Lender submitted through DirectConnect at the Website. If the Lender or Agency is unable to complete this online, they may contact our customer care department at www.directconnectcounseling.com.

(a) Deleting your information. Federal and state regulations may require that we store completed Submissions for various periods of time. In order to comply with these regulations, we may be unable to delete information from our databases.

(b) Security. DirectConnect uses extensive and sophisticated technology to protect your data and transmissions between you, DirectConnect and Agencies participating in the Website. Transmission between browsers and our web server is implemented using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. This technology requires an SSL-capable browser. Our database is physically separated from our web server and is protected by a physical firewall. Although DirectConnect has taken these reasonable and appropriate measures to ensure that your personal information is delivered and disclosed only in accordance with your instructions, DirectConnect cannot and does not guarantee that the personal information you provide will not be intercepted by others and decrypted.

Changes to Privacy Policy

If we make a change to our Privacy Policy in the future that will affect how we treat your information, we will notify you by e-mail of the change to the extent such change is material. Otherwise, we will post such change at the Website, and such change will be deemed to be effective 10 days from the date of such posting. In that case, your ability to opt out of the new policy will be determined by applicable laws.