PRIVACY POLICY
Our Privacy Commitment
At Credit Guru Inc., CreditGuru.com (hereafter referred to as CGi) we know how important it is to protect your personal information. Whether you are shopping (which mainly involves registration for our seminars) with us online or in person, we want to make every customer experience safe and secure. In keeping with that goal, we have developed this Privacy Policy to explain our practices for the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information.
This Policy applies to our offering of training, seminars, educational products, our web sites, and all other channels in which CGi collects and uses your personal information.
What Information does CGi Collect?
How is Your Personal Information Used?
Your Consent
Information CGi Collects Directly from Your Purchases
Returns Substitutions and Guarantees
Post Seminar or Post Purchase Follow-Up and Surveys
Our Web Sites
Customer Reviews
Sign-Up for Newsletters or Updates
Participate in a Contest or Promotion
Subscription Services and Activations
Call Centres
Information CGi Collects Automatically Our Web Sites
In-Hotel video Surveillance
Data Media or Personal Items
Supplementing information
Does CGi Share Your Information? Service Providers
Information Shared Amongst CGi, its Corporate Parents, Affiliates, Subsidiaries and Divisions
Product Safety Recalls
Sale or Transfer of all or part of CGi
Legal Disclosure
How does CGi Protect Your Information? SSL Technology
Choosing a Password
How Can You Verify Your Information?
When is Your Information Removed?
Contacting CGi
Unsubscribe
Who is CGi?
Will this Privacy Policy Change?
What Information does CGi Collect?
At CGi, we collect two types of information: personal information and non-personal information. The types of information we collect depend on the nature of your transaction with us.
Personal information
Personal information is information that can identify an individual or information about an identifiable individual. We may collect personal information such as your:
contact information – e.g., name, postal address, telephone number, employer's name, employer's address, and email address;
personal preferences – e.g., product wish lists, language preferences, seminar evaluations, testimonials and marketing consent; and
transaction information – e.g., products purchased, method of payment, amount paid, and credit or debit card number.
Non-personal information
Non-personal information does not identify you as an individual. For example:
we may ask you for your postal code to assist us with planning our marketing campaign;
we may collect certain non-personal data when you visit our Web Sites, such as the type of browser you are using or the referring URL; IP address or
we may collect and summarize customer information in a non-personal, aggregate format for statistical and research purposes.
All references to “Web Sites” in this Privacy Policy mean www.creditguru.ca, www.creditguru.com, www.creditgurublog.com, or other CGi provided Web sites.
You may choose not to provide us with your personal information. However, if you make this choice we may not be able to provide you with the product, service, or information that you requested.
How is Your Personal Information Used?
CGi may use your personal information for a number of different business purposes, for example to; fulfill your specific requests for products, services or information; provide customer support to assist you with your questions or complaints; conduct surveys in order to improve our services; measure and improve the effectiveness of our Web Sites or our marketing endeavours; detect and protect against fraud and error; track and analyze your purchases and preferences to better understand your product and service needs and eligibility; tailor our online content or product/service offerings based on your preferences; if you ask us, to offer and promote additional products and services we offer; and for other purposes as described in this Privacy Policy.
Your Consent
CGi will collect, use, or disclose your personal information only with your knowledge and consent, except where required or permitted by law. When you choose to provide us with your personal information you consent to the use of your personal information as identified in this Privacy Policy and as may be further identified at the time of collection.
Express Consent Sometimes you will be asked to give your express consent, such as by checking a box to indicate your consent to receive marketing communications, or by providing your signature to indicate your acceptance of the use and disclosure terms presented on an application form, registration form or feedback form.
Implied Consent Other times, we may obtain your consent implicitly when we can reasonably conclude that you’ve given consent by some action you have taken or an action you have decided not to take. Generally, this occurs where the purpose for use of your personal information would be reasonably apparent to you.
Withdrawing Your Consent You may notify us at any time that you wish to withdraw or change your consent to our use and disclosure or your information. We will accommodate your request subject to legal and contractual restrictions related to your transactions.
If you have "opted in" or subscribed to one of our newsletters or mailing lists, we will always provide you the opportunity to "opt out" or unsubscribe. For example, each e-newsletter we send to you will include a link or other method to unsubscribe or decline further e-newsletters.
Information CGi Collects Directly from You
Listed here are some further examples of the ways that we collect personal information directly from you and how we use it.
Purchases
When you purchase a CGi product or service (example register for a course) , you may need to provide us with contact and payment information (such as credit card information) so that we can process your request or complete your transaction. Examples where we need contact information include attending of a seminar, applying for self study programs or other CGi products and services that incluse credit collection consulting. If we also wish to use this information to send you promotional information we will ask for your express consent.
Returns Substitution and Guarantees
Our goal is to ensure that you are completely satisfied with your purchase and to this end, CGi offers a satisfaction guarantee Policy. For CGi to continue to offer our this Policy, we ask for personal information such as your name, address, and telephone number, company name, company address for the purposes of detecting and preventing fraud. You may also be asked to produce photo ID for verification purposes only.
Post Seminar or Post Purchase Follow-Up and Surveys
Following a seminar or purchase of a product we may ask for feedback or send you a follow-up letter to thank you for your business, or we may contact you to ensure that you are completely satisfied. We may use this collected information as testimonials for future promotions in print, emails, calls or on our website.
We may use contact information collected , online, or via our call centres to conduct occasional surveys and other customer research. These surveys are entirely optional.
Our Web Sites
Our Web Sites can be browsed anonymously. However, to engage in certain special features or functions of our Web Sites, or to order products and services from our Web Sites, you may be asked to provide certain personal information, such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, or credit card information. We use this information to create your account, contact and correspond with you about your order, respond to your inquiries, and monitor functions of our Web Sites that you choose to use, such as Customer Reviews.
Customer Reviews
The Customer Review functionality is provided as a rating system that offers you the chance to share your thoughts on a product, service or a topic for survey. These reviews are accessible to all Web Site visitors so please use discretion when posting information to them and do not post personal information.
top of page
Sign-Up for Newsletters or Updates
CGi also offers a variety of newsletters and promotional communications. Should you choose to enrol we will collect your contact information, such as name and email address. This information will only be used to send you the newsletter and promotional announcements. You may “unsubscribe” at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in the footer of the newsletter or by using the unsubscribe link included below under the heading “Unsubscribe”. Our subscriber list is never sold or rented to other parties.
Participate in a Contest or Promotion
From time to time, we may run contests or promotions. If you participate, you may be asked for contact information as well as additional optional survey information (for example, product preferences, semianr preferences, tipics to be covered). Personal information from contest entries will be used only to administer the contest and contact you if you win. For research and analysis purposes, we may also summarize contest survey information in a manner that no longer identifies individual participants. All contests and promotions are subject to this Privacy Policy and the rules that will be available with each particular campaign. Some contests are conducted by third parties and will be subject to the third party’s policies.
Subscription Services and Activations
CGi may offer activation of certain products and services like Credit Guru Alumni, Credit Industry Forums. These activations may require that certain contact and financial information be collected and provided to the respective service providers as part of the activation process.
Call Centre
CGi operates customer support call centre to accept and address your questions, concerns, or complaints. When you contact our call centres, we may ask for personal information to help us respond to your inquiry or to verify your identity. For example if you have a question about the status of a recent online order, we will ask for personal information to verify that you are the account holder. We may also monitor or record your telephone discussions with our customer support representatives for training purposes and to ensure service quality.
Information CGi Collects Automatically
In some cases, we automatically collect certain information.
Our Web Sites
When using our Web Sites, we may collect Browser information, the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer, the IP address of your Internet Service Provider, the date and time you access our Web Sites, the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our Web Site, the operating system you are using, the sections of the Web Site you visit, the Web Site pages read and images viewed, and the content you download from the Web Site. This information is used for Web Site and system administration purposes and to improve the Web Sites.
Cookies
The Web Site uses "cookies", a technology that installs a small amount of information on a Web Site user's computer to permit the Web Site to recognize future visits using that computer. Cookies enhance the convenience and use of the Web Site. For example, the information provided through cookies is used to recognize you as a previous user of the Web Site (so you do not have to enter your language preference every time), to offer personalized Web page content and information for your use, to track your activity at the Web Site, to respond to your needs, and to otherwise facilitate your Web Site experience. You may choose to decline cookies if your browser permits, but doing so may affect your use of the Web Site and your ability to access certain features of the Web Site or engage in transactions through the Web Site. [Read more...]
Web Site Tracking Information
We may use web beacons or pixel tags to compile tracking information reports regarding Web Site user demographics, Web Site traffic patterns, and Web Site purchases. We may then provide these reports to advertisers and others. None of the tracking information in these reports can be connected to the identities or other personal information of individual users. For our own research purposes we may link tracking information with personal information voluntarily provided by Web Site users. Once such a link is made, all of the linked information is treated as personal information and will be used and disclosed only in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Links to Other Web Sites
Our Web Site may contain links to other Web sites or Internet resources which are provided solely for your convenience and information. When you click on one of those links you are contacting another Web site or Internet resource. CGi has no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other Web sites or Internet resources or their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of those other Web sites to learn how they collect and use your personal information.
In-Hotel Video Surveillance
CGi uses third parties, hotels and other conference facilities to deliver our programs. These properties may be are under video surveillance for safety and loss prevention purposes.
Data, Media or Personal Items left behind in Classrooms
CGi is not responsible for any personal item containing personal data or media left behind in any of our class rooms or training facilities.
Supplementing information
From time to time we may supplement information you give us with information from other sources, such as information validating your address or other available information you have provided us. This is to help us maintain the accuracy of the information we collect and to help us provide better service.
Does CGi Share Your Information?
CGi does not sell or rent our customers’ personal information to any other party. However, in the normal course of business we may share some of your personal information within our corporate family and with third parties acting on our behalf or as permitted or required by law.
Some of these operations may result in personal information collected by CGi being stored or processed outside of Canada and, as a result, your personal information may be accessible to law enforcement and regulatory authorities in accordance with the law of these foreign jurisdictions.
Service Providers
CGi may use third parties to manage one of more aspects of our business operations, including the processing or handing of personal information. When we do use an outside company, we use contractual or other appropriate means to ensure that your personal information is used in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
For example, we may share personal information with third parties to perform services on our behalf such as: fulfilling online orders, processing non-cash payments, sending marketing communications, servicing products, conducting research surveys, verifying and validating information that you have provided to us, delivering products, and providing customer support services.
CGi has taken precautions to prevent the fraudulent use of your information on our Web Sites. CGi has adopted industry standard authentication procedures to ensure your protection while shopping with us online. This includes, but is not limited to, contacting financial institutions or credit reporting agencies to ensure the authenticity of your credit card and to validate your credit card billing information.
Information Shared Amongst CGi, its Corporate Parents, Affiliates, Subsidiaries and Divisions
CGi may share personal information gathered on our Web Sites with CGi operations (and vice versa) and amongst our corporate parents, subsidiaries, affiliates or divisions for internal business purposes in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If CGi shares your information within its corporate family, we will ensure that your information continues to be used only in accordance with this Privacy Policy and your expressed choices.
Sale or Transfer of all or part of CGi
Any information we have about you may be transferred or disclosed to a purchaser or prospective purchaser in the event of a sale, assignment, or other transfer of all or a portion of our business or assets. Should such a transfer occur, we will use reasonable efforts to try to ensure that the transferee uses your information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Legal Disclosure
CGi may disclose your information as permitted or required by law. For example, we may be compelled to release information by a court of law or other person or entity with jurisdiction to compel production of such information. If we have reasonable grounds to believe information could be useful in the investigation of improper or unlawful activity, we may disclose information to law enforcement agencies or other appropriate investigative bodies.
How does CGi Protect Your Information?
The security of your personal information is a high priority for CGi. We maintain appropriate safeguards and current security standards to protect your personal information, whether recorded on paper or captured electronically, against unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse. For example, electronic records are stored in secure, limited-access servers; we employ technological tools like firewalls and passwords; and we ensure our employees are trained on the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of personal information.
SSL TechnologyOur Web Sites use encryption technology, such as Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”), to protect your personal information during data transport. SSL encrypts ordering information such as your credit card number.
Choosing a Password
When you create an online account on our Web Sites, you need to select a personal password. To maximize your level of protection, you should choose at least 6 characters including a combination of both letters and numbers. You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your password and any account information. CGi will never send an unsolicited communication asking you for your password or requesting that you update your account credentials. For your own safety please learn more about phishing and email fraud.
Although we cannot take responsibility for any theft, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, loss, alteration or destruction of data by a third party, we take reasonable precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.
How Can You Verify Your Information?
You may check your information to verify, update, or correct it, and to have any obsolete information removed. If you created an account on one of our Web Sites, you can access and change your online account profile yourself. You can also ask to review any of the information that we have retained, how we have used it, and to whom we have disclosed it at any time by contacting us as indicated below under the heading “Contacting CGi”. Subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law, and provided we can authenticate your identity, you will be given reasonable access to your personal information, and will be entitled to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and to have it amended as appropriate. You may also ask us to change your preferences regarding how we use or disclose your information, or let us know that you do not wish to receive any further communication from us.
When is Your Information Removed?
We keep your information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and to meet any legal requirements. We have retention standards that meet these parameters. We destroy your information when it is no longer needed, or we remove your personally identifiable information to render it anonymous.
Contacting CGi
CGi is responsible for all personal information under its control. Our management is accountable for CGi's compliance with the principles described here. If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about the privacy practices of our organization please click here to contact us.
We will respond to your request or investigate your concern as quickly as we can, but no later than 30 days from the date of receipt of your query.
Important Reminder about email communications:
Please remember that email sent over the public Internet is not secure. If you send an email directly to us from your own email account the contents will not be encrypted. We strongly recommend that you do not send sensitive information (like a credit card number) to us via unencrypted email. CGi is not responsible for any transmission by you of any personal information over the public Internet.
Unsubscribe
If you no longer wish to be contacted regarding promotions, new product and entertainment releases and how to make the most of the latest technology please contact us. Our promotional email correspondence has an unsubscribe link to remove your email from further product solicitations and/or invites.
Who is CGi?
CGi, Creditguru.com, creditgurublog.com are all a wholly-owned subsidiary of Credit Guru Inc.
Will this Privacy Policy change? Last Update: January 31, 2017
To accommodate changes in our services, changes in technology, and legal developments, this Privacy Policy may change over time without notice to you. We may add, change, or remove portions of the Privacy Policy when we feel it is appropriate to do so. We encourage you to review our Privacy Policy periodically. Each time you submit personal information or use our services you agree to be bound by the then current terms of the Privacy Policy. Whenever we update the Privacy Policy we will change the date to indicate when the changes were made.
Change History:
November 29, 2008 : Format, structure and general revisions to improve readability and user-friendliness of content.
January 31, 2017: Revision of Policy