Aqua Finance Privacy Policy - Your Data Safety

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 3 May 2024
Last Updated: 3 May 2024

1. Introduction and Scope

Aqua Finance, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (referred to as “Aqua,” “us,” “we,” or “our”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Aqua Finance, Inc.’s NMLS identifier is #1082164 which may be verified at NMLS Consumer Access.

This Privacy Policy is designed to tell you about our practices with respect to the collection, use, and disclosure of information about you that we receive through (a) our website located at www.aquafinance.com; (b) any other of our websites, applications, and network-connected products and services or recruiting or employment website or service that link or provide a link to this Privacy Policy; (c) business relationships with Aqua, such as vendors or service providers, including through your use of our Dealer Portal and/or your use of the billing and payment portal (collectively, the “Sites”); and (d) e-mail, text, and other communications directly between you and us on or through the Sites (the Sites, together with clause (d), collectively the “Services”).

Except as expressly provided in this Privacy Policy or as required by applicable law, this Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected through any applications or websites other than those included in the Services, including websites you may access through or that may be linked to by the Services. This Privacy Policy also does not apply to information which you provide to, or which is collected by any third party not acting on our behalf.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your Personal Information (as defined below) and how we will treat it. By accessing or using the Services or by clicking to accept or agree to this Privacy Policy when this option is made available to you, you agree to be bound and abide by all laws and regulations applicable to your use of the Services and this Privacy Policy. If you do not want to agree to this Privacy Policy, your choice is to not access or use the Services and not communicate with us regarding the Services.

If you have a financial product or service with us, your Personal Information and privacy rights will also be subject to the terms of the Aqua U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice. If applicable, please read the Aqua U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice carefully.  By obtaining any Aqua financial product or service, you confirm that you have read and understood the Aqua U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice in its entirety and acknowledge that Aqua reserves the right to change or amend this notice at any time.  If there are any conflicts between the terms of this Privacy Policy and the terms of our U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice, the terms of the U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice will control.

For customers obtaining a loan through Aqua’s partnership with WebBank, your Personal Information and privacy rights will also be subject to the terms of the WebBank U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice. If applicable, please read the WebBank U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice carefully. By obtaining a loan through Aqua’s partnership with WebBank, you confirm that you have read and understood the WebBank U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice in its entirety and acknowledge that WebBank reserves the right to change or amend this notice at any time.

For residents of California, additional disclosures about the information we collect is available in our supplemental disclosure below.

For residents of New York City, New York:

Aqua Finance, Inc. provides servicing options that allow for verbal communication in Spanish. Aqua Finance, Inc. provides servicing and collection letters in Spanish. A translation of commonly used terms is available on the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection website at nyc.gov/dca.

For Residents of New Mexico:

Click here to access the New Mexico Informational Brochure for Consumers including important information about terms and definitions in credit transactions as required by New Mexico law.

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into Aqua’s Terms and Conditions for the Site by reference, as if set forth fully therein. By using the Site, you expressly consent and agree to the Terms and Conditions.

2. What is Personal Information?

Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” is information by which you may be personally identified, or that relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you, such as name, email address, or identification number. “Personal Information” does not include information which is generally not considered “personal information,” “personal data,” or similar terms under applicable law, including information: (i) which is lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records, (ii) that a business has a reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the general public by you or from widely distributed media, and (iii) that is made available by a person to whom you have disclosed, if you have not restricted the information to a specific audience.

3. Personal Information We Collect

The categories of personal information we collect depend on how you interact with us, our Services, and the requirements of applicable law. We collect information that you provide to us, information we obtain automatically when you use our Services, and information from other sources such as third-party services and organizations, as described below.

  1. A. Personal Information You Provide to Us Directly
    We may collect personal information that you provide to us. This may include:

    • Information that you provide by filling in forms or making other submissions through the Services. This may include, but is not limited to, information provided at the time you complete the form to become a new dealer, information provided at the time of registering to use the Services or creating an account, and information you provide when you send us a message on the Site. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with the Services.
    • Records and copies of your communications (including contact information involved in such communications such as phone numbers and email addresses), if you contact us.
    • Details of transactions you carry out through the Services and of the fulfillment of your payments or other transactions.

    Examples of information we collect may include:

    • Identification information, including name, title, date of birth and social security number;
    • Contact information, including postal address, telephone number and e-mail address;
    • Credit, debit, and bank account information, including card type, primary account number, cardholder name, billing address, account balance and expiration date;
    • Biller information, including payment records, payment due dates, payment amounts, and late fees;
    • Transaction information and payment history information; or
    • Credit history and investment experience.
  2. B. Personal Information Collected Automatically
    We may collect personal information automatically when you use our Services.

    • Automatic Collection of Personal Information. We may collect certain information automatically when you use our Services, such as your Internet protocol (“IP”) address, user settings, MAC address, cookie identifiers, mobile carrier, mobile advertising and other unique identifiers, browser or device information, location information (including approximate location derived from IP address), and Internet service provider. We may also automatically collect information regarding your use of our Services, such as pages that you visit before, during, and after using our Services, information about the links you click, the types of content you interact with, the frequency and duration of your activities, and other information about how you use our Services.
    • Cookie Policy (and Other Technologies).We, as well as third parties that provide content, advertising, or other functionality on our Services, may use cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies (“Technologies”) to automatically collect information through your use of our Services.
      • Cookies. Cookies are small text files placed in device browsers that store preferences and facilitate and enhance your experience.
      • Pixel Tags/Web Beacons. A pixel tag (also known as a web beacon) is a piece of code embedded in our Services that collects information about engagement on our Services. The use of a pixel tag allows us to record, for example, that a user has visited a particular web page or clicked on a particular advertisement. We may also include web beacons in e-mails to understand whether messages have been opened, acted on, or forwarded.

    Our uses of these Technologies fall into the following general categories:

    • Operationally Necessary. This includes Technologies that allow you access to our Services, applications, and tools that are required to identify irregular website behavior, prevent fraudulent activity, improve security, or allow you to make use of our functionality;
    • Analytics and Statistics-Related. We may use Technologies to assess the performance of our Services, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how individuals use our Services (see Analytics below);
    • Preferences and Functionality-Related. We may use Technologies that allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using our Services. This may include identifying you when you sign into our Services or keeping track of your preferences.
    • Advertising or Targeting-Related. We may use first party or third-party Technologies, to deliver content, including ads relevant to your interests, on our Services or on third-party digital properties.

      Some of the advertising Technologies we may use include:

      • Facebook Connect. For more information about Facebook’s use of your personal information, please visit Facebook’s Data Policy. To learn more about how to opt-out of Facebook’s use of your information, please click here while logged in to your Facebook account.
    • Analytics. We may use Technologies and other third-party tools to process analytics information on our Services. These Technologies allow us to better understand how our digital Services are used and to continually improve and personalize our Services. Our analytics partners include:
      • Google Analytics.For more information about how Google uses your personal information (including for its own purposes, e.g., for profiling or linking it to other data), please visit Google Analytics’ Privacy Policy. To learn more about how to opt-out of Google Analytics’ use of your information, please click here.
      • LinkedIn Analytics. For more information about how LinkedIn uses your personal information, please visit LinkedIn Analytics’ Privacy Policy. To learn more about how to opt-out of LinkedIn’s use of your information, please click here.
    • Social Media Platforms. Our Services may containsocial media buttons, such as LinkedIn, which might include widgets such as the “share this” button or other interactive mini programs. These features may collect personal information such as your IP address and which page you are visiting on our Services and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Your interactions with these platforms are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.
  3. C. Personal Information Collected from Other Sources

    Third-Party Services and Sources. We may obtain personal information about you from other sources, including through third-party services and organizations.  For example, if you access our Services through a third-party application, such as an app store, a third-party login service, or a social networking site, we may collect personal information about you from that third-party application that you have made available via your privacy settings. We may also obtain demographic information about you, such as household income, from third-party data providers.

4. Use of Personal Information Collected

We use the Personal Information we collect to provide the Site and our Services to you, to evaluate and improve the Site and our Services, and to provide you with user support. In addition, we use Personal Information:

  • to present the Services and their contents to you;
  • to respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests;
  • to send you important information regarding our relationship with you or regarding the Site, such as changes to our products, services, terms, conditions, and policies and/or other administrative information;
  • to create and manage any account for which you register;
  • to determine your eligibility for products and services to be offered to you;
  • to send you promotional communications about our products and services, or the products and services of our affiliates or other third parties, that we believe may be of interest to you, to the extent permitted by applicable law;
  • to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection;
  • for our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new services, enhancing the Site, improving our services, identifying Site usage trends, and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns;
  • as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain; or
  • for any other purpose specified at the point of collection or with your consent.

5. Disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties

We may disclose Personal Information that we collect, or you provide, as follows:

  • with our applicable banking partner(s), including, but not limited to, WebBank.
  • to our third party and affiliated service providers and other third parties we use to support our business, including, without limitation, third parties who assist us with Site hosting, payment processing, data analysis, IT services, customer service, marketing, email and direct mail delivery services, and auditing.
  • with our subsidiaries and affiliates.
  • to fulfill the purposes for which you provide it.
  • to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
  • as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
  • for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
  • otherwise, with your consent.

While Aqua may undertake efforts to see that any third party to which Aqua discloses Personal Information is under an obligation to use the Personal Information solely for the purposes for which the information was disclosed, such third parties are independent third parties over which Aqua exercises no control. Aqua is not responsible for, and will not be liable for, the conduct, actions, omissions, or information handling or dissemination practices of third parties.

For purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), Aqua does not “sell” or “share” personal information, nor do we have actual knowledge of any “sale” or “sharing” of personal information of minors under 16 years of age, as the terms “sell” or “share” are commonly understood. That said, we may share information with third-party advertising partners for the purpose of promoting our Services as described above, such as for cross-context behavioral advertising. To the extent that such sharing is considered a “sharing” or “sale” under California law, you may limit such sharing by following the instructions found in the following Section 6 titled, Your Privacy Choices and Rights or by contacting us as set forth in “Contact Us” below. Note that we may use and share information that does not identify you, such as aggregate statistics and demographic information, without restriction, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

6. Your Privacy Choices and Rights

Your Privacy Choices. The privacy choices you may have about your personal information are determined by applicable law and are described below.

  • Email Communications. If you receive an unwanted email from us, you can use the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of the email to opt out of receiving future emails. Note that you will continue to receive transaction-related emails regarding products or Services you have requested. We may also send you certain non-promotional communications regarding us and our Services, and you will not be able to opt out of those communications (e.g., communications regarding our Services or updates to this Privacy Policy).
  • “Do Not Track.” Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. Please note that we do not respond to or honor DNT signals transmitted by web browsers.
  • Cookies. You may stop or restrict the placement of Technologies on your device or remove them by adjusting your preferences as your browser or device permits. However, if you adjust your preferences, some features of our Services may not be available.

7. Transfer of Personal Information

Aqua is based in the United States and the Site is designed for users from the United States. Any information collected through the Site or electronic communications as described in this Policy may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which we, our affiliates, or our service providers maintain facilities. The United States is not recognized as having adequate safeguards. If you are located outside of the United States, please note that we may transfer information, including personal information, to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction, and you consent to the transfer of information to the United States.

8. Security Measures

We take reasonable steps to protect information about you in our possession and control from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of the Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that no Internet transmission is ever completely secure or error-free. In particular, e-mail sent between you and us may not be secure. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Services.

9. California Residents Supplemental Notice at Collection and Privacy Policy

This Supplemental Notice is for residents of California in accordance with the CCPA. Please note that some exemptions may apply to your rights regarding Personal Information collected, processed, sold, or disclosed subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) (Public Law 106-102) and its implementing regulations, the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“CalFIPA”) (Division 1.4 (commencing with Section 4050) of the California Financial Code), or other applicable exemptions under California law. Please see Aqua U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice for more information about our privacy practices with respect to your financial data and the rights that may be available to you under the GLBA and CalFIPA.

The following table describes the categories of personal information Aqua has collected and whether we have disclosed that regarding Personal Information for a business purpose (e.g., to a service provider).

Category of Personal Information Collected by Aqua Category of Third Parties With Whom Personal Information is Disclosed for a Business Purpose
Identifiers.

For example, your name email address, mailing address, etc.
  • Service providers
  • Business partners
  • Affiliates
  • Data analytics providers
  • Government entities

 
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))

For example, your state identification card number, credit or debit card number, etc.
  • Service providers
  • Business partners
  • Affiliates
Commercial information

For example, this may include the purchase history, transaction history, and information from documents related to such purchases.
  • Service providers
  • Business partners
  • Affiliates
Internet or other electronic network activity

For example, this may include your IP address or device number.
  • Advertising Providers
Professional or employment-related information

Current or past job history or performance evaluations.
  • Service providers
  • Business partners
Sensitive personal information

For example, this includes social security, driver’s license/ state identification card, etc.
  • Affiliates

The categories of sources from which we collect personal information are set forth in “Personal Information We Collect.”  The business purposes for which we collect Personal Information are described in detail in the section titled, “Use of Personal Information Collected” above and include:

  • To provide our Services to you;
  • For our administrative purposes;
  • To advertise and market our products and services to you;
  • With your consent; and
  • To comply with applicable law.

Your Data Subject Rights. This section describes your rights under the CCPA. For information on how you may contact Aqua to exercise these rights, please see the subsection below entitled, “How to Submit a Request.”  If we determine that we cannot provide you with the requested regarding Personal Information, we will inform you and tell you why we are not doing so.

  • Right to Know: You have the right to request that a business disclose what personal information it collects, uses, discloses, or sells. Specifically, you may request that a business that collects personal information about you disclose to you the following:
    • (1) The categories of personal information it has collected about you in the preceding 12 months.
    • (2) The categories of sources from which the regarding Personal Informationis collected.
    • (3) The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information.
    • (4) The categories of third parties with whom the business shares personal information.
    • (5) The specific pieces of personal information it has collected about you in the preceding 12 months.

      You may also request that a business that sells or shares your Personal Information, or that discloses it for a business purpose, disclose to you:

    • The categories of personal information that the business collected about you in the preceding 12 months.
    • The categories of personal information that the business sold or shared about you and the categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or shared in the preceding 12 months, by category or categories of personal information for each third party to whom the personal information was sold or shared.
    • The categories of personal information that the business disclosed about you for a business purpose in the preceding 12 months.
  • Right to Correct Inaccurate Personal Information: You have the right to request that a business correct any inaccurate Personal Information about you which the business has collected from you.  If we determine that we cannot comply with your request, we will inform you and tell you why we are not correcting it.
  • Right to Delete: You have the right to request that a business delete any Personal Information about you which the business has collected from you. If it is necessary for Aqua to maintain the Personal Information for certain purposes, Aqua is not required to comply with your deletion request. If we determine that we will not delete your personal information, we will inform you and tell you why we are not deleting it.
  • Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Information: You have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information.  However, Aqua does not and will not sell your personal information.  Aqua has no actual knowledge that it sells the Personal Information of anyone under 16 years of age.
  • Right to Opt-Out of Sharing of Personal Information: You have the right to opt-out of the sharing of your personal information. However, Aqua does not share your Personal Information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
  • Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information: You have the right to limit the use and disclosure of your sensitive Personal Information for certain purposes. This right only applies when sensitive Personal Information is processed for purposes of inferring characteristics about a data subject. Aqua currently does not engage in such processing.
  • No Discrimination or Retaliation: You have the right not to be discriminated or retaliated against because you exercised any of your rights under the CCPA.

How to Submit a Request. To exercise the rights described above, you must submit a verifiable request to us by calling 1-800-234-3663 ext. 6091 or submitting a request online by visiting https://www.aquafinance.com/contact/. You may submit a request as frequently as you would like, but we are not required to respond to requests more than twice in any 12-month period.

The CCPA rights described above concerning your personal information may be subject to certain exceptions under the law.  These exceptions include information subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).  In addition to these statutory exceptions under the CCPA, the CCPA does not consider information to be personal information if it cannot be reasonably linked to any consumer or household.   The personal information that we collect, use, and share may be exempt from the CCPA, because it is subject to the GLBA, subject to the FCRA, or it is not considered personal information.

Retention of Personal Information. As noted in the “Retention” section below, we will retain the Personal Information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, comply with applicable law, and in accordance with our routine information storage policies and practices.

Authorized Agent. Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. To authorize an agent, provide written authorization signed by you and your designated agent and contact us as set forth in “Contact Us” section below for additional instructions.

Verification. To protect your privacy, we will take steps to reasonably verify your identity before fulfilling your request. These steps may involve asking you to provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative, or to answer questions regarding your account and use of our Services.  If we cannot verify your identity or authority to make a request, we may not be able to fulfill your request.

California Shine the Light. The California “Shine the Light” law permits users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties to whom we have disclosed their Personal Information (if any) for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the types of Personal Information disclosed to those third parties.

10. Policy Changes

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time at our sole discretion. If there are any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you as required by applicable law. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use our Services after the revised Privacy Policy takes effect. The date this Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of this page. Unless otherwise noted, the revised Privacy Policy takes effect on the “Last Updated” date above.

11. Privacy of Children

The Services are not directed to children under 13 years (or other age as required by local law), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has uploaded Personal Information to our Services without your consent, you may contact us as described in “Contact Us” section below. If we become aware that a child has provided us with Personal Information in violation of applicable law, we will delete any Personal Information we have collected, unless we have a legal obligation to keep it.

12. Third-Party Websites and Applications

The Services may contain links to other websites/applications and other websites/applications may reference or link to our Services. These third-party services are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen, or approve, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. Providing Personal Information to third-party websites or applications is at your own risk.

13. Retention

We will retain the Personal Information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, comply with applicable law, and in accordance with our routine information storage policies and practices.

14. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

Unless otherwise required by applicable law, this Privacy Policy, and Aqua’s collection and use of Personal Information, shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the United States and the state of Wisconsin. Unless prohibited by applicable law, any disputes arising out of this this Privacy Policy or our collection and use of Personal Information shall be adjudicated in the federal or state courts with jurisdiction over Marathon County, Wisconsin.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy or to exercise your rights as detailed in this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

By Email at: [email protected]
By phone at: 1-800-251-4330
By mail at: One Corporate Drive, Suite 300, PO Box 844, Wausau, WI 54402-0844

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