BY VISITING OR ACCESSING THE WOMEN IN CONSUMER FINANCE (WCF) WEBSITE, YOU ACCEPT THE PRACTICES IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. PLEASE READ THIS POLICY AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY.

1. INTRODUCTION
2. CHILDREN AND PRIVACY
3. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL DATA
4. USE OF PERSONAL DATA
5. SHARING INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES
6. STORING PERSONAL DATA
7. COMMUNICATIONS, NOTICES, & CONSENT
8. DO NOT TRACK
9. NOTICE OF CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
10. CONDITIONS OF USE AND REVISIONS TO THIS POLICY

1. INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy sets out how WCF processes any personal data that we collect about you, or which you provide to us, when you access and use WCF, mobile and device applications, or associated websites (“Services”). Our policy is to process your personal data at all times in accordance with applicable data protection laws and regulations. By “personal data” we mean any information which enables us to uniquely identify a single person.

If you have questions, comments or requests about this Privacy Policy please contact us by sending an email to wcf@womeninconsumerfinance.com.

2. CHILDREN AND PRIVACY

The Services and their content are not directed at children under the age of 18. WCF does not knowingly collect or solicit any personal data from anyone under the age of 18 or knowingly allow such persons to register for the Services. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal data from a child under age 18 without parental consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any personal data from or about a child under 18, please notify us immediately by sending an email to wcf@womeninconsumerfinance.com.

If you are a California resident under the age of 18 and you wish to remove publicly-available content or information posted by you on the Services, please contact us at wcf@womeninconsumerfinance.com.

3. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

We collect the following types of information relating to you, including personal data, for the following purposes:

a) Information you provide us directly. When you register as a user for the Services and/or use the Services you provide us with certain information that we store. This may include: username and password information provided for the Services; your name, contact and other user profile information you may provide (e.g., address, phone number, email), such as when registering for the Services or responding to surveys; payment information provided to use the Services; User Content (comments, and other materials) that you submit for posting on the Services; metadata associated with User Content, which may include content creation date, formatting information, and location information about where the User Content was recorded (i.e., geotags); and communications between you and WCF.

b) Analytics information. When you use the Services, we collect and process information generated by your use of the Services, such as content subscribed to, event registrations, or activity on the WCF website, time of log-in, what version of the Services you use.

c) Log file information. This information may be automatically reported by your browser or device each time you make a request to visit, access or use the Services. When you visit, access or use the Services, our servers may automatically record certain log file information, including the time of log-in, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, referring / exit pages and URLs, number of clicks and how you interact with links on the Services, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed, and other such information. We may also log the Device ID or other unique information for devices used to access the Services. We may also collect similar information from emails we send to you, which then help us track which emails are opened and which links are clicked by recipients. The information allows for more accurate reporting and improvement of the Services.

e) Cookies and similar technologies. A cookie is a small file that is placed on your device that allows WCF to recognize your device when you return to the Services. We use cookies and local storage to offer log-in functionality, to remember user preferences and to understand how our Services are used. In the event that advertisers or other partners are allowed to serve ads on the Services, such advertisers or other partners may also use cookies or similar technologies to track and collect similar information. We may use both temporary (“session”) and persistent cookies. The Help feature on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies. This may, however, impact the functionality of the Services.

We may also use cookies and similar technologies in conjunction with third parties as follows:

Google Analytics: In addition to our own cookies, other cookies may be placed on your device by Google Analytics from Google Inc. to create anonymous usage statistics. If you have concerns relating to the usage of Google Analytics, it is possible to block Google Analytics by installing a plug-in to your browser. A plug-in for the most common browsers can be found here: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Twitter: If you use the function “share” you can post to your Facebook account directly from WCF. Such posting might involve sharing personal data.

LinkedIn: If you use the function “share” you can post to your LinkedIn account directly from WCF. Such posting might involve sharing personal data.

Marketing system: Cookies placed on your device by our marketing system allow us to collect usage statistics as well as identify users by their email address if visiting the Services through links contained in emails sent to users through the marketing system.

We are not responsible for the practices employed by any websites or services linked to or from the Services—such as, but not limited to, Facebook, Linkedin and X (fka Twitter)—including the information or content contained within them. When you use a link to go from our Services to another website or service, our Privacy Policy does not apply to those third-party websites or services. Your browsing and interaction on any third-party website or service, including those that have a link on our Services, are subject to that third party’s own rules and policies. In addition, you understand and agree that we are not responsible and do not have control over any third parties that you authorize to access your personal data (including User Content). If you are using a third-party website or service and you allow them to access your personal data you do so at your own risk.

4. USE OF PERSONAL DATA

In addition to some of the specific uses of personal data we describe in this Policy, we may use information that we receive to:

Process payments for use of the Services;

Help you efficiently access your information and features of the Services;

Remember information so you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the Services;

Provide personalized content and information to you and others, which could include online ads or other forms of marketing;

Provide, improve, test, and monitor the effectiveness of our Services;

Develop and test new products and features;

Monitor metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns;

Diagnose or fix technology problems; or

Detect, investigate and take all steps necessary to address misuse of the Services.

5. SHARING INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

We may share your personal data with our affiliates on whom we rely to provide the Services and for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. We may also share information and personal data with third parties other than our affiliates in the following situations:

Service Providers: We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, metadata and usage data) with third party organizations that help us provide the Services to you. Our Service Providers will be given access to your information as is reasonably necessary to provide the Services under reasonable confidentiality terms.

Marketing and Advertising: We may share certain information such as cookie data, with third party advertising partners in order to allow us to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you in third party ad networks such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (fka Twitter). We may remove parts of data that can identify you and share anonymized data with other parties. We may also combine your information with other information in a way that it is no longer associated with you and share that aggregated information, which, in its aggregated form, may include demographic data such as how many users constitute a particular age group, general locations of where groups of users reside for purposes of, e.g., determining who may be interested in attending a WCF event and similar anonymized data. We do not share your personally identifiable data with any third party except in the instance that you provide this information in order to download or register for a sponsored piece of content such as a whitepaper, webinar or conference. In this case, the sponsor will receive access to the information provided therein to send you marketing materials relevant to the content you’ve requested.

Your Financial Institution: In the event you contest or dispute charges, we may share information collected in accordance with this policy, as reasonable, to assist your credit card company or financial institution to investigate and resolve your claim.

Acquisition: If we sell or buy any business or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets. If WCF or substantially all its assets are acquired by or sold to a third party, your personal data may be among the transferred assets. The buyer or transferee will have to honor the commitments we have made in this Policy.

Any information (e.g., name) or User Content (e.g., picture) that you voluntarily share or disclose for posting to the Services may become available to the public. This can also include parties to whom you have given us consent to share such personal data, for example Facebook, as further described above.

We may access, preserve and share your personal data in response to a legal request (such as a search warrant, court order or subpoena) if we have a good faith belief that the law requires us to do so. This may include responding to legal requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law in that jurisdiction, affects users in that jurisdiction, and is consistent with internationally recognized standards. We may also access, preserve and share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to: detect, prevent and address fraud and other illegal activity; to protect WCF, you and others, including as part of investigations; and to prevent death or imminent bodily harm. Information we receive about you may be accessed, processed and retained for an extended period of time when it is the subject of a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations concerning possible violations of our terms or policies, or otherwise to prevent harm. By allowing for sharing and use of personal data for these purposes, WCF is not assuming any affirmative duty to undertake such actions.

6. STORING PERSONAL DATA

a) By registering for, accessing, visiting or otherwise using the Services, you consent to the transfer of your personal data to anywhere where WCF or its Service Providers maintain facilities, including facilities in another country.

b) We use commercially reasonable safeguards to help keep your personal data secure and to protect against accidental loss, destruction or damage. Only a limited number of personnel with a legitimate business or legal need are given access to users’ personal data. However, we cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit to WCF or guarantee that information on the Services may not be accessed, used, disclosed, altered, or destroyed.

c) You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any non-public information that you provide WCF, accessing the Services and making payments from a secure computer or device, and for controlling access to emails between you and WCF, at all times. Any social media services that you use to connect to the Services (e.g., Facebook) may also affect your information; we are not responsible for the functionality, privacy, or security measures of any other organization.

d) User Content that you provide to the Services may be retained and made publicly available on the Services indefinitely, consistent with the Terms and Conditions of Use.

7. COMMUNICATIONS, NOTICES, & CONSENT

We may send you emails regarding matters relevant to the Services and consistent with your preferences, this Privacy Policy and applicable law. Such information includes receipts for payment; information about and changes to the Services, any WCF newsletter, WCF events and certain revisions to the Terms and Conditions of Use and/or this Policy. We may also deliver promotional offers and communications on behalf of third party advertisers concerning their products or services and/or events sponsored or hosted by such advertisers. We do not sell or give your email address to other companies for their own marketing purposes without your permission.

You may opt-out of some or all of these types of communications in your account settings. You may also unsubscribe from certain email communications by clicking on the “unsubscribe link” provided in such communications. You may not opt out of certain important email communications (e.g., account verification, payment receipts, technical and security notices) and by signing up for or using the Services, you thereby agree to receive such important email communications.

By providing us with a telephone number for a mobile device, including a number that you later convert to a mobile device number, you expressly consent to receiving communications text / SMS messages from WCF at that number, about the Services. This express consent applies to each such telephone number that you provide to us now or in the future.

1. Messages may incur access fees from your mobile service provider. 
2. You understand that you need not provide this consent as a condition of purchase. 
3. You may revoke your consent at any time by texting STOP to any text message we send you. An opt-out confirmation message will be sent back to you. 
4. To request support, text HELP to any text message we send you or email us at wcf@womeninconsumerfinance.com.
5. If your handset does not support MMS, any MMS messages sent may be delivered as SMS messages.
6. Wireless carriers are not liable for undelivered or delayed messages. 
   
   

If you have questions regarding your data stored with us, its rectification or deletion, or would like to revoke any consent provided to us, object against certain uses, please contact us by email at wcf@womeninconsumerfinance.com.

8. DO NOT TRACK

WCF does not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals and handles all personal data consistent with its Terms and Conditions of Use and this Policy.

9. NOTICE OF CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

If you are a California resident and have provided personal information as defined in California Civil Code section 1798.80(e) to WCF, you may request certain information regarding any disclosure of personal information that may have been made by WCF to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, contact us at: WCF – Customer Support 350 C Fortune Terr. PMB 183, Potomac, MD 20854, or by email at wcf@womeninconsumerfinance.com. The request should specify that you seek your “California Customer Choice Privacy Notice.” Please allow thirty (30) days for a response. WCF is required to respond to only one request per customer each year, and is not required to respond to requests made by means other than through the above address.

10. CONDITIONS OF USE AND REVISIONS TO THIS POLICY

If you choose to visit, access, or use the Services, your visit, access and/or use and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Policy and WCF’s Terms and Conditions of Use.

If we suspect misuse of the Services, we may combine the personal data we have collected in accordance with this Privacy Policy with other information in order to investigate the extent of the misuse and who is responsible.

The Services are subject to constant improvement and future changes may influence how we collect, use, share, and store your personal data. This Policy will be updated to reflect such changes, changes in legal framework or improvements in how we handle personal data.

Unless stated otherwise, WCF’s most recent Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you. We may email periodic reminders of the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions of Use, but you should check the WCF website to see recent changes. Your continued visitation, access and/or use of the Services after any revisions or modification to this Policy will constitute acceptance of such changes.