2.1 Privacy officer
Any questions relating to this Policy and the Company’s procedures relating to the protection of personal information may be addressed to the privacy officer of the Company, using the following contact information:
2.2 Collecting personal information
For the purposes hereof, “personal information” means any information relating to the personal or material circumstances of an identified or identifiable individual. An identifiable person is a person who may be directly or indirectly identified by reference to one or more factors specific to that person’s physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, such “personal information” includes your name, sex, address (civic or email), telephone, cell or fax numbers, employer, revenue, social insurance number and bank account numbers as well as any personal information provided to the Company for the purpose of obtaining a loan.
Furthermore, the Company may collect personal information for the following purposes:
- when you visit any of the Company’s websites or make any transaction thereon;
- when you apply for a loan (such as by completing the interactive online form for such purpose or by answering the Company’s customer service agents’ questions);
- when you request information regarding any of the Company’s services;
- when you communicate with the Company’s customer services team or with any other employee or agent of the Company;
- when you make any comments or suggestions regarding the Site or services.
Be advised that such personal information will also be collected through the form that you will be asked to complete and submit. We require such information in order to offer client support, administer client accounts and/or to offer our services to you. The Company might use such information for commercial and marketing purposes.
We do not share any personal information regarding our clients with third parties, except for internal and external service providers we use for the purposes of simplifying or subcontracting any aspect(s) of our operations relating to the business, products or services that we offer, unless otherwise authorized by you. Such service providers are subject to confidentiality agreements with us as well as other legal restrictions that prohibit them from using the information that we provide them for purposes other than to facilitate the specific operation that we have subcontracted to them, unless you have otherwise expressly agreed thereto or that you gave them your prior authorization to use your information for other purposes.
2.3 Use of personal information
The Company may use the personal information for the following purposes:
- identifying clients, employees and suppliers in order to establish and maintain relations with the latter;
- providing ongoing services to clients in order to ensure that services offered are properly provided so as to better direct clients using the services;
- improving services;
- providing the Company’s clients with information regarding other services it offers that might interest them;
- preventing errors and fraud;
- complying with legal and auditing requirements.
The Company may also use the personal information for the following specific purposes:
- answering any loan applications you submit;
- assessing your financial situation and offering you financial products adapted to your needs;
- opening a file from which certain information will be transmitted to a lending institution;
- advising you regarding financial products that may interest you;
- managing any loan that you applied for or that you have been granted;
- adapting your browsing experience on our sites to your personal needs;
- simplifying the process for renewing a loan or applying for a new loan;
- verifying your identity and employment information;
- detecting and preventing possible fraud;
- locating or contacting you, if necessary; or
- for any other reason that may be required under any agreement or contract with the Company.
Lastly, the Company may also use the personal information for statistical purposes regarding the Company. However, such statistics will not contain any information that can personally identify any clients, employees or suppliers.
2.4 Other uses of personal information
In the event that the Company contemplates or carries out i) the sale of all or part of its assets, ii) a change in control, iii) a refinancing or iv) an amalgamation with another corporation, the personal information in its possession may be communicated to any persons responsible for reviewing or carrying out such contemplated transactions. However, the personal information must be used in strict compliance with the Policy.
2.5 Communicating personal information
The Company will not share, rent or sell your personal information to a third party, other than as provided in the Policy, without first notifying you or obtaining your consent.
However, notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company reserves the right to disclose the personal information to a third party in certain specific circumstances, such as i) to your employers, when verifying the accuracy of the information submitted to the Company, ii) to law firms or collection agencies responsible for recovering any outstanding debts if, for any reason whatsoever, you fail to fulfill your undertakings to the Company, and iii) to any person in order to comply with any applicable law or regulation or any order from a competent court.
2.6 Transferring information to third parties and/or agents
Some services offered by the Company may be provided by third parties in collaboration with the Company. In order to provide the services that you require, the Company may transfer information about you to such third parties, including lending institutions pre-approved by the Company.
When the Company must transfer personal information to third parties who provide services on its behalf, the Company will sign an agreement providing the appropriate provisions to ensure the protection of the personal information before it is transferred to such third parties. Such provisions must stipulate that the third party may only use the personal information for its own purposes, that it must protect the confidentiality of the information and that it will only use the information as directed by the Company.
2.7 Access and changes to your personal information
Your requests to access your personal information in the possession of the Company must be addressed to the officer via the contact information appearing in Section 2.1, in particular, for any questions relating to your credit report or recommendations regarding your solvency.
You may update or correct any of your personal information that the Company possesses by submitting a written request to the officer.
Furthermore, you may contact the officer for any complaint regarding the Company’s compliance with the Law or its Policy.
2.8 Consent
You may withdraw your consent given to the Company to use or communicate your personal information by submitting a request to that effect to the officer via the contact information appearing in Section 2.1. You may be asked to provide suitable identification or to otherwise identify yourself.
In some cases, the withdrawal of your consent to use or communicate personal information may result in the Company not being able to provide you certain services, such as granting or approving any requested loan or service, or may result in any loan granted becoming due and payable.
2.9 Retention of personal information
You consent to the Company retaining your personal information after the contemplated transaction has been completed. As such, your personal information will be retained following the expiry of term of the agreement binding you to the Company.
All personal information collected by the Company is protected by security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. All personal information stored in electronic format, including all information collected through the Company’s websites, is kept in confidential and secure data banks. The Company regularly evaluates its equipment and security procedures and modifies them if necessary.
2.10 Use of cookies
In addition to personal information, the Company uses tools such as cookies to collect information from certain pages on its Site to analyze navigation on the Site as well as the effectiveness of its promotional campaigns. A cookie is information that a website transfers to your hard drive when you visit a web page, thereby allowing the site to remember important information about you to make your visit to the site more useful. The Company also uses cookies to improve your subsequent visits to the Site. If you decide not to accept cookies or wish to configure your navigator to notify you every time a cookie is sent or to disable all cookies, change the preferences of your browser by following the applicable instructions. Note that by disabling cookies it is possible that you will not be able to use certain functions available on the Site.
The Conditions and Policy are governed and interpreted in accordance with the applicable laws of the Province of Quebec and Canada, without giving effect to principles of conflicts of law. Any legal action, remedy, claim or other proceeding of any kind arising from or related to the Site will only be heard before the courts in the judicial district of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, to the exclusion of any other judicial district that may have jurisdiction.