BestCashAdvance® Privacy Policy
At BestCashAdvance®, your privacy is our priority. Our policy is simple:
- We do not sell your personal information to anyone.
- You are already opted out from sharing personal information with third parties, as we explain in #2 below.
- We protect the security and confidentiality of your personal information.
The only exception to this is that we will reveal information about non-payment to several credit reporting agencies, but only if you do not pay according to the loan terms to which you and we have agreed.
Details of our approach to privacy and how your personal information is collected and used are set forth in the BestCashAdvance® Privacy Policy that follows.
Throughout the policy, we refer to information that personally identifies you or your accounts as "personal information."
1. We do not sell your personal information to anyone. This policy does not prevent us, however, from selling the corporation and/or all its assets including its database of customer information. We have been in business since 2002 providing secure, private transactions to our clients.
2. The law allows you to "opt out" of only certain kinds of information sharing with third parties. BestCashAdvance® does not share personal information about you with any third parties. This means YOU ARE ALREADY OPTED OUT. BestCashAdvance® only shares personal information with third parties in the following limited circumstances:
- We disclose personal information to companies that help us process your transactions for your account, for example, transferring funds between your account and ours.
- If you do not pay according to the Loan terms to which you and we have agreed, we will report your personal information and the default to a collection agency and to one or more credit reporting agencies that may include: SCAN; Teletrack; Telecheck; Equifax; Trandhrian; Experian and others.
- Sometimes we enter into contracts with third parties so that they can assist us in servicing your account. The contracts prohibit them from using any of your personal information for their own purposes, and the third parties are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information we have provided to them.
- We may also enter into what is called a "joint marketing relationship" with another financial institution, if we believe that you might be interested in hearing about its products or services. If we do, we have contracts in place to ensure that the other financial institution will protect the confidentiality of the limited information we would share with it (e.g., name and address), and that it will use your information only for the joint marketing arrangement.
- We may disclose or report personal information in limited circumstances where we believe in good faith that disclosure is required or permitted under law. For example, we may be required to disclose personal information to cooperate with regulators or law enforcement authorities, resolve consumer disputes, perform credit/authentication checks, or for institutional risk control.
3. We collect personal information in the normal course of business in order to administer your account and serve you better.
- Application and registration information. We collect information that you provide to us when you open an account or request a loan or service. The information we collect may include name, address, phone number, email address, social security number, and information about your employment, and checking account(s). We also may collect information from consumer reporting agencies to verify your identity in the account opening process.
- Web site usage. We collect some information on our Web sites through the use of "cookies." For example, we may identify the pages on our Web sites that your browser requests or visits. This information is only personally identifiable if you have chosen to identify yourself; for example, by opening an account.
- Transaction information. Once you have an account with us, to administer your account and better serve you, we collect and maintain personal information about your transactions, including balances, payments, and history.
- As part of our efforts to reach and serve new and existing clients we sometimes collect and use information from outside mailing lists.
4. We use your personal information to help us deliver the best possible service to you.
- We use your personal, demographic and profile data to enhance your experience at our site and to enable us to present content we think you might be interested in.
5. We protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information.
- Companies we hire to provide support services are not allowed to use your personal information for their own purposes and are contractually obligated to maintain strict confidentiality. We limit their use of your personal information to the performance of the specific service we have requested.
- We restrict access to personal information to our employees and agents for business purposes only. All employees are trained and required to safeguard such information.
- We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard your personal information.
6. We continue to evaluate our efforts to protect personal information and make every effort to keep your personal information accurate and up to date.
- If you identify any inaccuracy in your personal information, or you need to make a change to that information, please contact us so that we may promptly update our records.
- If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us by e-mail at help@bestcashadvance.com
Additional Information About Privacy and Security at BestCashAdvance®
Just click on a topic below to get more information about privacy and security at BestCashAdvance®.
The BestCashAdvance® Customer Center
The Customer Center is the area of our Web Site available only to current or former customers. The Customer Center provides a private and secure Web environment to make loan requests, enter payment arrangements, and access account information. Logging-in to the Customer Center requires an account number (your Social Security number) and a PIN number that you select at the time you first apply. The Customer Center uses leading encryption technology so that the data we transmit to you and the data you transmit to us across the Internet is safe. Secure data includes account information and loan information.
Browsers and Internet Security
Any time you enter a transaction or provide personal information in our Customer Center (such as an account number or PIN #), we encrypt it using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. SSL protects information as it crosses the Internet. To support this technology, you need an SSL-capable browser. BestCashAdvance® recommends using a strong encryption, 128-bit browser like Netscape Navigator 4.06 or higher or Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher. These browsers will activate SSL automatically whenever you sign on to your BestCashAdvance® account. You can tell if you are visiting a secure area within a Web site by looking at the symbol on the bottom of your browser screen. If you are using Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, you will see either a lock or a key. When the symbol appears unbroken or the padlock is in the locked position, your session connection is taking place via a secure server. If you need a strong encryption browser, you can go to the Netscape Web site or the Microsoft Web site to download the latest Navigator or Internet Explorer browser. We do not recommend the use of beta browser versions.
Your Password and Other Security Issues
Your BestCashAdvance® PIN # is your private entry key into your account. You should never share it with anyone. If you need to change it, use the email in our "Contact Us" menu and ask us to give you a call. We will change it after speaking with you and verifying your identity
Our password requirements, which facilitate online account security, are as follows:
Your password must be 4-20 characters long. It also must
- Include either letters and/or numbers (we strongly encourage that you mix both).
- Contain no spaces.
- Contain no symbols (!, %, #, etc.)
Examples of valid passwords:
mym0ney; beentheredonethat1; mydog22 Examples of invalid passwords: mybuck$; we*left; big daddy; abc
If you forget your PIN # it can be emailed to you by making a request on the log-on screen in our on-line Customer Center.
Logging Off
After you've finished accessing your BestCashAdvance® account, don't forget to log off. This prevents someone else from accessing your account if you leave your computer and your session hasn't "timed out," or automatically shut down.
Security Risk of Using Non-Approved Automated Software Applications
For security reasons and to guard the safety of your data, access to this site is limited to SSL-capable browsers like Netscape Navigator 4.06 or higher or Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher. Under no circumstances should you use any software, program, application, or any other device to access or log-in to the BestCashAdvance® Web site, or to automate the process of obtaining, downloading, transferring, or transmitting any content to or from BestCashAdvance®'s computer systems, Web site, or proprietary software.
Cookies, GIFs and Other Web Tools
When you interact with BestCashAdvance® online, such as our Web site or through email, we strive to make that experience easy and meaningful. To do so, we use several tools. When you come to our Web site, our Web server sends a cookie to your computer. A cookie is simply an electronically transmitted file that holds small pieces of information. When you navigate through our Web site, your browser "requests" pages for you to view, and that request will include the information stored in the cookie we previously sent to your computer. This process is like an electronic "handshake" between BestCashAdvance®'s system and your computer; the information exchanged allows us to recognize your browser. For example, if you go to our site we ask you to read and accept the Master Loan Agreement. Once you click and confirm that you've read and accept it, we reflect that fact in a cookie, so if you visit us again with the same browser we won't ask you to read it again unless it has changed. BestCashAdvance® also may use other technology, such as "Graphics Interchange Format" files (GIFs) to recognize users and collect and transmit information online, as described below.
Cookies and Personal Identification. Standing alone, cookies, GIFs and other Web tools, as well as data derived from them, do not identify you personally. They merely recognize your browser. Unless you choose to identify yourself to BestCashAdvance®, either by applying for a loan or making a payment arrangement, you remain anonymous to BestCashAdvance®.
"Persistent Cookies." Cookies come in two flavors: persistent and session-based. Only persistent cookies remain on your computer after you've closed your browser or turned off your computer. They include such information as a unique identifier for your browser that only BestCashAdvance® can read and use, and the fact that you are a BestCashAdvance® customer or prior BestCashAdvance® Web site visitor (whatever the case may be). We are especially careful about the security and confidentiality of the information we send through persistent cookies. For example, we do not store account numbers or passwords in persistent cookies.
"Session Cookies." Session cookies exist only during an online session with BestCashAdvance®. They disappear from your computer when you close your browser software or turn off your computer. Session cookies allow you to conduct transactions or request your own personal or account information on our Web site. They contain encrypted or encoded information about your account(s), and/or identifying information that you have previously provided to us. This information allows BestCashAdvance® to process your online transactions and requests. Examples include a request to see your account balance or to request a new loan. Without the session cookie information, we would not be able to complete your Web transactions securely. Session cookies help us make sure you are who you say you are after you've logged in.
"Graphics Interchange Format." On our Web sites, including BestCashAdvance® pages hosted by our agents, and in emails we sometimes include a GIF. On the Web, they allow us to keep your session active while you may be performing another task. In this way, you will not have to log in again when you return to the Customer Center. In an email message, we may embed a GIF in the message that allows us, for example, to determine if your email reader is HTML capable or how fast your connection to the Internet is. This allows us to deliver content in a format most appropriate to your computer's capabilities.
"Other Web Tools." Sometimes we include links to Web pages in an email or in banner advertisements which include a code that allows us to know if you clicked on that link. We do this so that we can personalize your experience, such as recognizing you when you reach the Web page you clicked to, or by displaying information and content we believe will be relevant to you. We also do this to measure the effectiveness and usefulness of our advertisements and the messages we send, and we use this information to continually improve the way we communicate.
Other Ways BestCashAdvance® Uses Information Obtained From Cookies and GIFs. Cookies enable us to understand better how you and others use BestCashAdvance®'s online services. They allow us to collect information about where your browser goes on our Web sites. This assists us in understanding your preferences and improving our Web site. For example, the information we obtain from cookies or GIFs helps us understand whether our customers use certain Web features and how to improve navigation. We also may use information gathered as the result of GIFs or cookies to target emails or Web messages to groups of customers based on the parts of our Web site they visit the most. Knowing where your browser has been on our Web site helps us present useful information and offers to you. We do not sell this or any other information about you to other Web sites, merchants or financial institutions. Unless you have affirmatively consented, we do not provide any personally identifiable information about you to anyone else for their marketing purposes.
E-mail Communications and Opting Out
E-mail is an important communication channel between BestCashAdvance® and its customers. BestCashAdvance® also uses e-mail to communicate with prospective customers.
Our reminder and information services are delivered to our customers via e-mail from outside our Customer Center. You will receive these via unencrypted e-mail. As stated in your account agreement, we reserve the right to contact you with important information relating to your account.
We may also use your e-mail address to send you information about services and products we believe may be of interest to you. If you are a customer and do not want to receive e-mail related to services and products other than your account with us, simply log into the BestCashAdvance® web site and send us an e-mail with your request.
If you are a customer or a prospective customer and receive an e-mail from BestCashAdvance® about a product or service, you may unsubscribe to future e-mails about that product or service by following the instructions in the e-mail message.
Account Registration Data
Potential customers applying online at BestCashAdvance® for a BestCashAdvance® account have the ability to opt out of the application process before completing it. However, we may use the information gathered on the application form during this process to send you further information about BestCashAdvance® services and products we believe may be of interest to you.
Correcting and Updating Your Information
The accuracy of your personal information is important to us. If you are a customer and have a concern about your personal
or account information maintained at BestCashAdvance®, or want to correct, update, or confirm your information,
please login to the Customer Center and send us an e-mail from the "Contact Us" section of our web site.
Customers and others may also send an e-mail to help@bestcashadvance.com
We will be happy to review and update our records.