Privacy Policy

 Home Opportunities Made Easy, Incorporated (HOME, Inc) is committed to assuring the privacy of individuals and/or families who have contacted us for assistance. We realize that the concerns you bring to us are highly personal in nature. We assure you that all personal information shared orally and/or in writing will be managed within ethical and legal considerations. Additionally, we want you to understand how we use the personal information we collect about you. Please carefully review this notice as it describes our policy regarding the collection and disclosure of your nonpublic, personal information. 

What is nonpublic, personal information?

  • Information that identifies an individual personally and is not otherwise publicly available information, such as your Social Security Number or demographic data such as your race and ethnicity
  • Includes personal financial information such as credit history, income, employment history, financial assets, bank account information and financial debts

 

What personal information does HOME, Inc collect about you?

We collect personal information about you from the following sources:

  • Information that you provide on applications, forms, email, or verbally
  • Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others
  • Information we receive from your creditors or employment references
  • Credit Reports

 

What categories of information do we disclose and to whom?

We may disclose the following personal information to financial service providers (such as companies providing home mortgages), Federal, State, and nonprofit partners for program review, monitoring, auditing, research, and/or oversight purposes, and/or any other pre-authorized individual and/or organization. The types of information we disclose are as follows:

  • Information you provide on applications/forms or other forms of communication. This information may include your name, address, Social Security Number, employer, occupation, account numbers, assets, expenses, and income.
  • Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others; such as your account balance, monthly payment, payment history, and method of payment.
  • Information we receive from a consumer credit reporting agency; such as your credit bureau reports, your credit and payment history, your credit scores, and/or your creditworthiness.
  • We do not sell or rent your personal information to any outside entity.
  • We may share anonymous, aggregated case file information; but this information may not be disclosed in a manner that would personally identify you in any way. This is done in order to evaluate our program, gather valuable research information, and/or design future programs.
  • We may also disclose personal information about you to third parties as permitted by law. 

 

How is your personal information secured?

We restrict access to your nonpublic personal information to HOME, Inc employees who need to know that information in order to perform their housing counseling duties. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information; and we train our staff to safeguard client information and prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, or use. 

 

Opting Out of Certain Disclosures

You may direct HOME, Inc to not disclose your nonpublic personal information to third parties (other than disclosures made to project partners and those permitted by law). However, if you choose to opt out, we will not be able to answer any questions from your creditors, which may limit HOME, Inc’s ability to provide services such as foreclosure prevention counseling. If you choose to opt-out, please sign below under the “Opt-Out” clause. If you choose to release your information as stipulated in this Privacy Policy, sign under the “Release” clause. You may change your decision any time by contacting our agency.

OPT-OUT: I request that HOME, Inc make no disclosures of my nonpublic personal information to third parties other than project partners and those permitted by law. By choosing this option, I understand that HOME, Inc will NOT be able to answer any questions from my creditors. I understand that I may change my decision any time by contacting HOME, Inc.

RELEASE: I hereby authorize HOME, Inc to release nonpublic personal information it obtains about me to my creditors and any third parties necessary to provide me with the services I requested. I acknowledge that I have read and understand the above privacy practices and disclosures.