California Consumer Privacy Policy

California Consumer Privacy Act Policy and Notice of Collection of Personal Information

Information We Collect

We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device (“personal information”). In particular, we have collected the following categories of personal information from consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

Element Home Loans may collect the following categories of personal information (“PI”) about you:

Category of PI Collected	Source of PI Collected	Business or Commercial Purpose for which the PI is collected	Categories of Third Parties with whom the PI is shared*
A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, passport number or other similar identifiers.	Directly from the consumer, Lead generation vendors, Realtors and other loan referral partners, Advertisements on social media including, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, etc.	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan. To market Element Home Loans products, and solicit consumers for mortgage loan products.	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred. Name, address, and contact information may be shared with third party vendor marketing systems for Element Home Loans business marketing purposes only.
Personal Information: A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description , address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number , credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information. Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.	Consumer; IRS; Credit Reporting Agency; Automated Underwriting System Findings, etc.	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan and to obtain mortgage insurance on your loan, if required for your mortgage loan transaction.	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred. Mortgage Insurance Companies
Protected Classification characteristics under federal or California law: Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information).	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
Commercial Information: Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
Internet or other similar network activity: Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.	Element Home Loans’ website, mobile app, marketing tools and analytics services, and third-party cookies and similar tools.	To use by Element Home Loans to marketing mortgage products to you.	Third party vendor marketing systems for Element Home Loans business purposes. Data aggregators, Google Analytics and Facebook, for example.
Geolocation Data: Physical location or movements	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
Sensory Data: Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
Professional or employment-related information.: Current or past job history or performance evaluations.	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)).	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
Inferences are drawn from other personal information.: Profile reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.	Consumer	To facilitate your application for a mortgage loan	Lender, if loan is brokered. Servicer or new lender if loan is sold or servicing transferred.
*Please note that ALL of this information will be disclosed upon request to investors and state and federal mortgage banking regulatory agencies in connection with an examination or audit of Element Home Loans, in response to a subpoena or as required to comply with legal obligations; to the lender who purchases your mortgage loan from Element Home Loans, and to the servicers who will be servicing your loan.

CA Residents’ Rights under California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Personal information does not include

Publicly available information from government records.
De-identified or aggregated consumer information.
Information excluded from the CCPA’s scope, like:

health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;
personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:

Directly from our clients or their agents. For example, from documents that our clients provide to us related to the services for which they engage us.
Indirectly from our clients or their agents. For example, through information, we collect from our clients in the course of providing services to them.
Directly and indirectly from the activity on our website (www.elementhl.com). For example, from submissions through our website portal or website usage details collected automatically.
From third parties that interact with us in connection with the services we perform. For example, from government agencies such as FHA and VA.

Use of Personal Information

We may use or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more of the following business purposes:

To fulfill or meet the reason for which the information is provided. For example, if you provide us with personal information for us to prepare a loan application, we will use that information to prepare the application and submit it to applicable government agencies like FHA and VA.
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To provide you with email alerts, event registrations, and other notices concerning our products or services, or events or news, that may be of interest to you.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collections.
To improve our website and present its contents to you.
For testing, research, analysis, and product development.
As necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our clients, or others.
To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
As described to you when collecting your personal information or as otherwise outlined in the CCPA.
To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us is among the assets transferred.

We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

Sharing Personal Information

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information.

In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:

Category A: Identifiers.
Category B: California Customer Records personal information categories.
Category C: Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.
Category I: Professional or employment-related information

We disclose your personal information for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:

Our affiliates.
Service providers.
Third parties to whom you or your agents authorize us to disclose your personal information in connection with products or services we provide to you.

In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have not sold any personal information.

Your Rights and Choices

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:

The categories of personal information we collected about you.
The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling that personal information.
The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:

In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have not sold any personal information.
disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from your records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service providers to:

Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
Exercise free speech ensures the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights or exercise another right provided for by law.
Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 seq.).
Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement if you previously provided informed consent.
Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
Comply with a legal obligation.
Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:

Calling us at 888-233-0092.
Visiting https://elementhl.com/CCPA/ Only you or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize 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.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within 12 months. The verifiable consumer request must:

Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within 45 days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12 months preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily usable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

Deny your goods or services.
Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

How to Exercise Your Consumer Rights under the CCPA

California residents can exercise their rights by calling 1-888-233-0092 or by filling out CCPA Opt Out using this link

So that we can verify your identity in connection with your request, please be prepared to supply the following information when you create your request:

Name
Address
Loan Number or last 4 digits of the Social Security Number (if you are a borrower or have applied for a loan)
Email address
Telephone number

Element Home Loans will acknowledge the receipt of your request within 10 days, and provide a response within 45 days, unless we let you know more time is needed.

For more information please contact:

Phone: 1-888-233-0092 and indicate you are calling to opt-out pursuant to CCPA
Email: CCPAoptout@elementhl.com; or
Mail to: Element Home Loans Attn: Compliance Dept. 1190 Winterson Road, Linthicum Maryland 21090.