PRIVACY POLICY

 

ARF Financial, LLC (ARF) is strongly committed to protecting the privacy of users of our products and services. We want to contribute to a safe and secure Internet environment for everyone.

The purpose of this ARF Financial website privacy policy is to inform you, as a welcome visitor to our website, what kinds of information we may gather about you when you visit our site, how we may use that information, and whether we disclose it to anyone. Please note that this policy applies only to the ARF Financial website and not to other companies or organizations websites to which we may link, if any. This policy applies to ARF's website and its sub-websites including its merchant portal, referral partner portal and customer mobile app.'

Information About All ARF Financial Visitors

In general, our website automatically gathers certain usage information like the numbers and frequency of visitors to our website and its areas, very much like television ratings that tell the networks how many people tuned in to a program. We only use such data in the aggregate. This aggregate data helps us determine to what extent our visitors or customers use parts of the site, so we can improve our site to assure that it is as appealing as we can make it for as many of you as possible.

ARF Financial also collects general information on its website visitors for statistical, security, or other purposes. Such information may include:

• The Internet address (referral site) which brought you to our website;
• The date and time you access our site;
• The name and version of your web browser;
• The Internet service provider you used when you accessed our site;
• Your Internet Protocol (IP) address; and
• The pages visited in our website.

ARF Financial uses a cookie to collect this general information on all website visitors. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record keeping purposes. We use cookies for user authentication and analytics. Users can control the use of cookies at the individual web browser level. If you reject cookies, you may still be able to access our website, but your ability to use some features or areas of our website may be limited.' If you would like to learn more about cookies or how to configure your browser, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org. We may use this information in an aggregated, non-personally identifiable, format to assist us in offering the services and features that are of particular interest to visitors and customers. We may also use this information to monitor the security and performance of our site.

We may use standard Internet technology, such as web beacons and other similar technologies, to track your use of our site. We also may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. The information we obtain in this manner enables us to customize the services we offer our website visitors to deliver targeted advertisements and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising, content, programming, or other activities. Web beacons (also known as clear gifs, pixel tags or web bugs) are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of web users or to access cookies. Unlike cookies, which are stored on the user's computer hard drive, web beacons are embedded invisibly on the web pages (or in email) and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Web beacons may be used to deliver or communicate with cookies, to count users who have visited certain pages and to understand usage patterns. We also may receive an anonymous identification number if you come to our site from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website.

Personal Information We Collect

You may elect to provide us with more specific or personal information, such as when you give us feedback or send us an email requesting additional information. If you provide personal information to us, it is only used internally and in furtherance of the purpose for which it was provided, however, your information may be shared with one or more banks or a funder partner or affiliates of ARF or trusted third party service providers for purposes of considering a loan or advance on your behalf.

We collect the following information about our customers: (i) contact information such as name business name, business size, email address, mailing address, industry type and phone number; (ii) financial information such as bank statements, credit card statements, average bank balances, personal and business credit history, payment behavior, bank account information, and tax id number; (iii) social security number; (iv) unique identifiers such as user name and password, and IP address; and (v) beneficial ownership information.' You will be asked to provide banking credentials through a secure third-party software provider to assist us in collecting and maintaining banking information on our customers in connection with considering a loan or advance or monitoring your compliance with the terms of you agreements with our bank partners. We are required to collect and maintain certain information relating to beneficial ownership in order to comply with U.S. laws relating to financial crimes.

In addition to collecting customer information via our website, merchant portal and mobile app, we may also conduct a site visit to collect information and obtain information and external data used by our lenders to process applications and to complete and manage transactions such as credit reporting agencies, site inspection agencies and other vendors.' We may collect additional information from you or obtain information for additional loans, advances, or transactions and to monitor compliance with your agreements with us and/or our bank partners.

We may use personal information we collect on participants in our referral partner membership program to conduct due diligence, validate and accept participants in our referral partner network program and to transact business with participants such as disbursement and payment of fees due as a referral partner participant.' This information includes: (i) contact information such as name business name, email address, mailing address, industry type and phone number; (ii) background and business reputation information, (iii) bank account information, and tax id number; (iv) social security number; and (v) unique identifiers such as username and password.

ARF Financial reserves the right to monitor and make records of transactions and interchanges made over its networks. You will not necessarily be told (unless the notification is required by law) that a transaction or interchange in which you are participating is being monitored or recorded. Monitoring and recording transactions or interchanges may be initiated, for example, if we suspect a possible breach in security or some other problem that would make it appropriate to monitor or maintain these records. We do not use this information for any improper purposes or distribute it to third parties, except as required or permitted by law.

Use and Sharing of Information

We use the information we collect to: (i) compile, save, use and analyze your personal information in both personally identifiable form and as part of aggregated data for analytical purposes, (ii) to operate, maintain, improve and provide to you the services we provide and to conduct our business activities, including our own credit products and referring you to third party small business lenders; (iii) to verify your identity and conduct appropriate diligence; (iv) register you as a user and identify you when you sign into your account; (v) process your loan application and determine whether or not your business qualifies for our financial products; (vi) service your loan account, or making payments to referral partners, including funding of loans and deducting of automatic payments which you have authorized; (v) communicate with you regarding your account, respond to customer service requests, send marketing communications, and sending account update notifications; (vi) post and review your comments on our blog; (vii) conduct test, research and analysis to better understand our customers and partners; and (viii) produce data analytics and reports containing de-identified summaries of personal information and other information that is not personal information that we share with business partners.' This information has been aggregated and will not identify you.'

We may share your personal information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services on our behalf. These services may include processing credit, providing customer service and marketing assistance, performing business and sales analysis, supporting our website functionality, and supporting other features offered through our website. These service providers may have access to personal information needed to perform their functions but are not permitted to share or use such information for any other purposes. We may share your information to referral partners who have referred you to us, our bank partners, service providers and subsidiaries and affiliates to extend credit and/or to provide services to help us with our business activities, such as offering customer service, processing application and credit checks or secure data storage for new and existing products, and other similar services. These companies are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these types of services to us.

We may share your basic information (name, company name, phone number, email address and requested credit amount) with one of our business partners or as you may otherwise authorize, to market their services to you, provided, however, if you do not want us to share your personal information to these business partners, please contact us to opt out by email at Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or as set forth below.' You may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails, telephone solicitations or other forms of contact from ARF by following unsubscribe instructions included in these emails, accessing the email preferences in your account settings page or by contacting us by email at Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or as set forth below.' You may correct, update, amend, delete, or remove personal information from a public forum or testimonial on our website or deactivate it by emailing Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or by regular mail at ARF Financial LLC, 1300 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, Suite 120, Sunrise, FL 33323, Attention: Chief Marketing Officer.' We will respond to your request within 30 days.

We also may disclose your information: 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. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us. When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, 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; to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement; or to enforce our website terms and conditions or other agreements or policies. In connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as the sale of our business, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale.' We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as required by law.' We will retain your information as necessary to comply with your legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Security

ARF takes the security of your information very seriously. Your information is securely sent to ARF with 128 bit-encryption over the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. This creates an encrypted connection between your browser and our servers. When you enter personal information (such as social security number) on our application forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information. If you have any questions about the security of your personal information, you can contact us at Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or by regular mail at ARF Financial LLC, 1300 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, Suite 120, Sunrise, FL 33323, Attention: Chief Technology Officer.

Children

This Site is a general audience site, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

Links to Other Websites

Our website includes links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from ARF's, including the websites of our bank partners.' If you submit personal information to any of those entities, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

Blogs and Community Forums

Our website offers publicly accessible blogs or community forums. You should be aware that any information that you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them. To request removal of our personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us by email at Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or at postal mail at the address provided below.' We display personal testimonials of satisfied customers on our website in addition to other endorsements. With your consent, we may post your testimonial along with your name.' If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us by email at Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or by postal mail at the address provided below. Our website includes social media features, such as the Facebook' 'Like' button.' These features may collect your IP address, which pages you are visiting on our website, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly.' Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our website.' Your interaction with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) Compliance

ARF Financial does not conduct business with individuals or entities outside of the United States. Using a third-party service, we examine the IP addresses of all prospective website visitors, denying access to those deemed to be originating from outside of the U.S.

CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018) Compliance

The CCPA provides various rights to consumers who reside in California with regard to personal information.' However, ARF does not currently meet the financial, sharing or sale of personal information thresholds which would make the CCPA applicable to ARF. ARF will comply with the CCPA at such time as it is legally required to comply.

No Rights of Third Parties

This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties. Notification of claimed copyright infringement is: Robert Whited, telephone: (888)366-3335 email: rwhited@arffinancial.com.

CONTACTING US

If you have questions regarding this Policy or the practices of ARF, please contact us by e-mail at Portal_Support@arffinancial.com or by regular mail at ARF Financial LLC, 1300 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, Suite 120, Sunrise, FL 33323, Attention: Chief Technology Officer.