Privacy Policy
Last Updated: May 11, 2011
Affluent Ads, a New Jersey limited liability company (“Affluent Ads”, “we” or “our”), is the owner and operator of this website www.debthurts.com. Affluent Ads respects the privacy of our consumer users ("you" or "your") and has developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate its commitment to protecting your privacy. If you are an individual who is a user of this website, who accesses or responds to advertisements or offers e-mailed or displayed to you relating to this website or auto insurance, or who is otherwise as a user of the services provided by Affluent Ads relating to auto insurance, this Privacy Policy is intended to describe for you, among other things:
We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully when using our website or services, responding to our advertisements and offers, or transacting business with us. By using our website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please refer to the end of this Privacy Policy for information on how to contact us.
Affluent Ads has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal signifying that this privacy policy and practices have been reviewed by TRUSTe for compliance with TRUSTe's program requirements including transparency, accountability and choice regarding the collection and use of your personal information. TRUSTe's mission, as an independent third party, is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy trustmark and innovative trust solutions. If you have questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact us at privacy@Affluent Ads.com. If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact TRUSTe here.
THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
In General. We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name and e-mail address, as well as other information that does not identify you such as your zip code. When you provide personal information through our website, the information may be sent to Affluent Ads servers located in the United States and other countries around the world.
Information You Provide. As mentioned above, we may collect information you submit on our website, such as your name, e-mail address and zip code. We may also track your interaction with email advertisements sent to you by Affluent Ads or our e-mail service providers on our behalf (for example, when you register, purchase, or browse in response to such emails).
List Information from Vendors. We may obtain information about you after you provide information to a third party and you permit that party (the "Seller") to share the information, which Affluent Ads subsequently purchases, licenses or otherwise lawfully acquires. Such information may include, but is not limited to, your name, street address, zip code, telephone numbers, birth date, gender, salary range, education, marital status, occupation, industry of employment, personal and/or online interests, and/or other information which you provided to the Seller (together, "Vendor List Information"). When acquiring Vendor List Information, Affluent Ads requires assurances from the Seller that the Seller has a right to transfer the Vendor List Information to Affluent Ads and that Affluent Ads may lawfully use the Vendor List Information to transmit offers to you. You may opt out of receiving these offers by using one of the methods specified in the section below entitled “Your Choices About Collection and Use of Your Information”.
Information from Other Sources. We may also periodically obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from business partners, contractors and other third parties, as well as information from public databases. Examples of information that we may receive include information about your home and additional demographic information.
Use of Cookies and Other Technologies to Automatically Collect Information. We and our authorized service providers, advertising companies, and ad networks may use various activity tracking technologies, such as cookies, pixels and web beacons, to collect information from your computer and about your activities on our website or interaction with our advertisements (see "Information Collected by Third Parties" below). We and these companies may automatically collect information from your browser when you visit our website. This information may include your IP address, your browser type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that your browser previously accepted from us or them (see "Cookies" below) and the referring website address.
Cookies. When you visit our website, we may assign your computer one or more cookies, to facilitate access to our website, to personalize your online experience, and to record information about your visit to our website. A cookie is a small amount of data stored on the hard drive of your computer that allows your computer's browser to store your preferences and allows Affluent Ads, our authorized service providers, advertising companies and ad networks to identify you by a unique identifier and associate this with corresponding information in our or their database. Through the use of a cookie, we and these companies may store your non-personally identifiable registration information and user preferences and may also automatically collect information about your online activity on websites, such as the web pages you visit, the links or advertisements you click, or the other actions you conduct while on websites. In addition, Affluent Ads may set a cookie on your computer when you view our advertisements delivered on or in connection with a third-party website you are visiting. After a cookie is set, Affluent Ads may track how you interact with the advertisement (for example, registering, purchasing, browsing, etc.). Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, please note that you may not be able to use some of the interactive features offered on our website. We do not tie tracking cookies used for behavioral or targeted advertising purposes to any personal information you submit while on our website; however, cookies may be tied to your personal information for purposes of matching you with auto insurance companies and managing our relationships with these companies and other websites from which you may have been referred to us. They do NOT, however, collect personal information. Although we may place or allow third parties to place their cookies when you visit our website (as described more fully in the subsection below entitled “Targeted or Behavioral Advertising”), we do not have access or control over third party cookies, nor does our Privacy Policy cover the use of cookies by third parties.
Other Technologies. We may use other standard Internet activity tracking technologies, such as web beacons and similar technologies, to track your use on our website or your interaction with our advertisements. A web beacon is a programming code used to display an image on a web page and can also transfer an individual's user identification to a database and associate the individual with previously acquired information about the individual. Such information may be used in targeted or behavioral advertising, as well as for the other uses described in this paragraph. We may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters or online advertisements to determine whether messages have been opened or acted upon. We may use the information we obtain in this manner to customize the services and offers we provide our website’s visitors, to deliver targeted advertisements, and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, content, programming or other activities. We do not tie web beacons to any personal information you submit while on our website.
Information Collected by Third Parties.
Targeted or Behavioral Advertising
Targeted advertising (also known as behavioral advertising) uses information collected on an individual's web browsing behavior such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made. This information is then used to select which Affluent Ads advertisement should be displayed to a particular individual on websites other than a Affluent Ads site. For example, if you have shown a preference for auto insurance while visiting a Affluent Ads site, you may be served an advertisement from or about the Affluent Ads site for auto insurance when you visit a site other than the Affluent Ads site. The information collected is only linked to an anonymous cookie ID (alphanumeric number); it does not include any information that could be linked back to a particular person, such as their name, address or credit card number. The information used for targeted advertising either comes from the Affluent Ads site you are visiting or through third party website publishers. If you would like to opt out of targeted advertising from debthurts.com that occurs when visiting our third party advertising publishers, please click here. Please note that this will opt you out of targeted ads from debthurts.com and any other participating advertisers. If you opt out, you will continue to receive online advertising from Affluent Ads; however, these ads may not be as relevant to you.
In addition, we may place (or allow third parties to place) cookies and pixels on our website which enable our authorized service providers, advertising companies and advertising networks to collect information about our users who view or interact with their or our advertisements on our website or complete certain actions on our site, such as submitting a form. However, we do not tie these cookies and pixels to personal information that you submit on our website. The information collected by the cookies and pixels allows us and the companies mentioned above to deliver, and gauge the effectiveness of, targeted advertisements, both on our website and when you are browsing other websites. Some of these third-party advertising companies may be advertising networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (www.networkadvertising.org), which offers a single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies.
Storage of Information We Collect
We may store the personal information described above as necessary to accomplish the business purposes for which it was collected, as well as to comply with our legal and audit obligations, resolve reported and potential disputes, and enforce our agreements. We also maintain an information security program that limits storage of personal information to what is needed to fulfill our reasonable business, legal and audit requirements.
HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
In general. We may use information that we collect about you to:
deliver the products and services that you have requested (for example, to provide you with auto insurance quotes and/or match you with insurance companies);
send you offers that you have opted in to receive;
manage your relationship with us and provide you with customer support;
perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in, our products, services or content, or products, services or content offered by others;
communicate with you by e-mail, postal mail, telephone and/or mobile devices about products or services that may be of interest to you either from us or third parties;
develop and display content and advertising (such as targeted ads) tailored to your interests on our websites and other websites;
enforce our terms and conditions;
protect Affluent Ads, our websites, our customers and/or our other users from fraud, hacking or other harm;
cooperate with legal, criminal or regulatory investigations or proceedings;
manage our business; and
perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of information collection.
WITH WHOM WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
We do not share, sell, rent or trade your personal information with third parties other than as disclosed within this Privacy Policy.
We want you to understand when and with whom we may share personal or other information we have collected about you or your activities on our website, while using our services or in your other interactions (such as responding to e-mails) with us.
We may share your personal information with the following third parties:
Authorized Service Providers. We may share your personal information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services on our behalf. For example, we may engage other companies to provide data storage, to assist in marketing Affluent Ads products or services, to conduct audits, to provide web analytics, and to provide hosting, design, development and other operations which make our website work. Other third-party service providers may help us communicate with you through e-mail. Our policy is to permit these third-party service providers to obtain only the personal information they need to provide the services, and to require them to protect personal information to the same extent as Affluent Ads, including not using it for any improper purpose.
Business Partners. When you express interest in products, services or promotions offered through our website or our services, we may share your expression of interest with the businesses with which we partner to offer you those products, services and promotions, and, as applicable, their affiliates and third-party finder or marketing companies. When you elect to engage in a particular offer or program, you authorize us to provide your e-mail address and other information to those businesses.
Insurance Companies. If you provide your zip code, we will find insurance companies in your area whom we think may be of interest to you. Once you submit your zip code and select the insurance company you wish to obtain a quote from, you will then be redirected to that third party site and provide information to them directly. Because the insurance companies and other partners on the Affluent Ads network with whom you are matched may retain or use your personal information whether or not you qualify for, or obtain, auto insurance or another product from them, you should contact these persons directly concerning their privacy and information sharing practices.
Affiliates. We may share information we collect, including personal information, with other companies affiliated with Affluent Ads (some of which are nonfinancial companies). Sharing information with such companies enables us to provide you with information about a variety of products and services that might interest you. These companies will comply with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy and security laws and, at a minimum, in any commercial e-mail they send to you, will give you the opportunity to choose not to receive such e-mail messages from that company in the future by providing an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each communication.
Special Notice to California Residents. Affluent Ads will not share any personal information about you with other affiliated companies to the extent prohibited by applicable California law or to the extent your prior consent to share is required by applicable California law.
Special Notice to Vermont Residents. Affluent Ads will not share any personal information about you with other affiliated companies to the extent prohibited by applicable Vermont law or to the extent your prior consent to share is required by applicable Vermont law.
Other Situations. We also may disclose your information:
(1) In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a court order or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law.
(2) When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, or to prevent or take other action regarding, illegal activity, suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, our employees or others; or to enforce our website’s terms and conditions or other agreements or policies.
(3) In the event Affluent Ads goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, or in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy, your personally identifiable information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via email or prominent notice on our website for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.
Please note that information may also be collected by third parties such as advertising companies and advertising networks via third-party cookies and pixels on our site (please see the subsection above entitled “Targeted or Behavioral Advertising” for details).
Any third parties to whom we may disclose or who may collect personal information may have their own privacy policies that describe how they use and disclose personal information. Except for companies affiliated with Affluent Ads and authorized service providers, who agree to comply with this Privacy Policy with respect to personal information we share with them, the third parties' privacy policies will govern use, handling and disclosure of your personal information once we have shared it with those third parties as described in this Privacy Policy. If you want to learn more about their privacy practices, we encourage you to visit the websites of those third parties. These entities or their servers may be located either inside or outside the United States.
Aggregated and Non-Personal Information. We may share aggregated information (i.e., information about you and other customers collectively, but not specifically identifiable to you) and other non-personal information we collect under any of the above circumstances. We may also share it with third parties and affiliated companies to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our websites and on websites of third parties. We may combine non-personal information we collect with additional non-personal information collected from other sources. We also may share aggregated information with third parties, including advisors, advertisers and investors, for the purpose of conducting general business analysis. For example, we may tell our advertisers the number of visitors to our website and the most popular features or services accessed. This information does not contain any personal information and may be used to develop website content and services that we hope you and other users will find of interest and to target content and advertising.
Third-Party Websites. There are a number of places on our websites where you may click on a link to access other websites that do not operate under this Privacy Policy. For example, if you click on an advertisement, an insurance quote or a search result on our websites, you may be taken to a website that we do not control. These third-party websites may independently solicit and collect information, including personal information, from you and, in some instances, provide us with information about your activities on those websites. We recommend that you consult the privacy statements of all third-party websites you visit by clicking on the "privacy" link typically located at the bottom of the webpage you are visiting.
HOW YOU CAN ACCESS YOUR INFORMATION
If your personal information changes, or if you would no longer like us to contact you, you may correct, update, or request deletion by emailing us at privacy@Affluent Ads.com.
We will retain your information for as long as needed to provide you services. We may also retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal and audit obligations, resolve reported and potential disputes, and enforce our agreements. If you wish to request that we no longer use your information to provide you services, please contact us at privacy@Affluent Ads.com. We ask individual users to identify themselves and the information requested to be accessed, corrected or removed before processing all such requests, and we may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests concerning information residing on backups), or for which access is not otherwise required. All requests are also subject to the next section below (“Your Choices About Collection and Use of Your Information”).
We also maintain an information security program that limits storage of personal information to what is needed to fulfill our reasonable business, legal and audit requirements.
YOUR CHOICES ABOUT COLLECTION AND USE OF YOUR INFORMATION
You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but that may result in you being unable to use certain features of our website because such information may be required in order for you to apply for or obtain products or services.
If you would like to delete the personal information that we have collected from you, please send your request via e-mail to privacy@Affluent Ads.com. We will process your request, where possible and subject to the terms and conditions contained in this Privacy Policy, within a reasonable period of time after receipt. However, federal and state regulations and/or the need to administer our relationships with our ad networks and other third parties may require that we store certain information for various periods of time. In order to comply with these requirements, we may be unable to delete your information from our database until the expiration of the applicable period. However, we will use reasonable commercial efforts to delete your personal information no later than three (3) months after receiving your request, unless a longer retention period is required by law.
If you receive e-mail messages or newsletters from us, you will be given the opportunity, in any commercial e-mail that we send to you, to opt out of receiving such messages in the future. It may take up to 10 business days for us to fully process an opt-out request. We may send you other types of transactional and relationship e-mail communications, such as requests for additional information, confirmations, service updates or announcements, administrative notices and surveys, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. Please note that opting out of receipt of commercial e-mail communications will only affect future activities or communications from us. If we have already provided your information to a third party before you have changed your preferences or updated your information, you may have to change your preferences directly with that third party.
HOW WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic, and procedural measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure. For example, only authorized employees and authorized third party service providers are permitted to access personal information, and they may do so only for permitted business functions. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES
California Residents. If you are a resident of California, in addition to the rights set forth in this Privacy Policy, you have the right to request information from us regarding the manner in which we share certain categories of personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. California law gives you the right to send us a request at a designated address to receive the following information:
1. the categories of information we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year;
2. the names and addresses of the third parties that received that information; and
3. if the nature of the third party's business cannot be determined from their name, examples of the products or services marketed.
We may provide this information in a standardized format that is not specific to you. The designated e-mail address for these requests is privacy@Affluent Ads.com.
CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
Our website is for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18.
VISITING OUR WEBSITES FROM OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES
This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on our website from residents of the United States. If you are visiting our website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. Please be assured that we seek to take reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy is protected. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy.
NO RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personal information relating to users of our website.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may update this privacy statement to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes we will notify you by e-mail (sent to the e-mail address specified in the “Contact Us” form) or by means of a notice on this website prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information-handling practices, or if you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact us at privacy@Affluent Ads.com.
You may also contact us at:
340 S. Lemon Ave #6823
Walnut, CA 91789