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Privacy Policy

 

 
VMSI’s commitment to privacy

The protection of customer privacy and the confidentiality of customer personal information is an important aspect of Valour Mortgage Services Inc. (“VMSI”) business. As a provider of mortgage investment services, the collection, use and authorized disclosure of customers’ personal information is fundamental to our day-to-day business operations. We are committed to treating your personal information fairly, with respect and in compliance with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and similar provincial privacy legislation that apply to us. This Privacy Policy describes our privacy practices for our website located at  https://vmsi.ca/ (“Website”) and other interactions with consumers

 

In this Privacy Policy, the use of the terms “we”, “our” and “us” refers to VMSI.

 

What is personal information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Personal information that we collect may include name, age, gender, home address, home telephone number, unique identification numbers such as government issued identification numbers and financial records.

 

Accountability to customer

At VMSI, we take our commitment to safeguarding your personal information very seriously and are accountable for all personal information that is in our possession or under our control. VMSI employees are informed about the importance of handling personal information safely and securely and maintaining the confidentiality of customer personal information. This is communicated to our employees through employment contracts, policies and procedures and through on-going privacy training.

 

Why we collect information and how we use your personal information

Whenever we collect personal information, we will explain how we intend to use the information. We limit the information we collect to what we need for those purposes and we use it for the purposes described.

 

We collect your personal information to establish a relationship with you and to serve your financial needs, including qualifying your mortgage investment, determining your eligibility for the mortgage investment, and other related mortgage services.

 

We obtain most of our information about you directly from you or through your interactions with a mortgage broker Verico ProFunds . Personal information is collected and used by us for several primary business purposes, some of them are as follows:

 

  • to verify your identity when you contact us with questions and requests; and to check your name against our documentation.
  • to provide you with electronic updates and other information about your mortgage investment.
  • to comply with legal and regulatory requirements and as otherwise required or permitted by applicable laws.
 
Consent

We will obtain your consent to collect, use and disclose your personal information, except as set out under applicable privacy legislation. Consent may be obtained in different ways depending on the situation or interaction with us.  Your consent will be obtained prior to using personal information for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected and as set out in this Privacy Policy.

 

Withdrawing Consent

You may withdraw your consent at any time upon reasonable notice, subject to legal, regulatory or contractual requirements.

 

If you elect to withdraw your consent, it may affect our ability to continue to provide you with the mortgage investment updates that you have got in the past or would like to continue to receive, and which may be of value to you.

 

To withdraw your consent, contact our Investor Relations Specialist: at the contact information listed at the end of this Policy. Please note that you may continue to electronically receive transactional and account related communications from us.

 

Limiting collection of personal information

The personal information about you which we collect will be limited to what is necessary for the purposes identified to you by us. Personal information will be collected by us using fair and lawful means.

 

How personal information may be shared by us

We will not disclose your personal information without your consent, except as otherwise set out herein and as required or permitted by PIPEDA and other applicable provincial privacy laws.

 

We may also engage third party service providers (including affiliates) to perform services on our behalf, such as hosting our website or online portals, delivery of mail services and assisting with processing and sending electronic communications (also known collectively as, “service providers”). The service providers we retain are given only the personal information needed to perform those services we direct, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose personal information for any other purpose. As well, service providers are subject to their own legal compliance requirements and the laws of their jurisdiction.

 

Other Disclosures

Under certain circumstances, federal and provincial privacy laws permit or require the use or sharing of personal information without a customer’s knowledge or consent. We or our service providers may release information about you without your consent in certain circumstances, including the following:

 

  • an investigation by law enforcement and regulatory authorities or self-regulatory organizations
  • if a warrant, court order or other instrument compels VMSI to disclose personal information, which may include lawful access by Canadian, U.S. or other foreign governmental authorities, courts or law enforcement agencies
  • responding to production order requests (e.g. from Canada Customs and Canada Revenue Agency)
  • the protection of VMSI assets (e.g. mortgage enforcement proceedings in connection with a delinquent loan) or where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
  • to other organizations in the case of investigating a breach of an agreement or contravention of law
  • for the detection, prevention and suppression of fraud and other criminal activity (e.g. money-laundering) and other matters in the public interest
  • the protection of VMSI’s employees, customers and others
  • in situations otherwise permitted or required by applicable Canadian, U.S. or other law

We may also share aggregated, non-identifiable information with third parties.

 

Over time, VMSI may sell all or parts of its business or assets, acquire new businesses, undergo a change in corporate control or enter into other types of corporate transactions with third parties.  As part of a prospective or completed corporate transaction, your personal information may or may not be required to be transferred or disclosed to the other party or parties. 

 

Where it is necessary for us to disclose or transfer your personal information to either a purchaser or another party to a transaction and their professional advisors, we will ensure that the personal information continues to be subject to strict confidentiality and security obligations and that the information is only used for the purposes for which you have provided your consent unless otherwise permitted by law.

 

Retention of information

We will retain your personal information for the time it is required to meet the purposes set out above and for a reasonable length of time thereafter or to otherwise meet legal or regulatory requirements (e.g. for tax purposes), even if you cease to be a customer. Once your personal information is no longer required for such purposes, it will be destroyed or made anonymous.

 

Accuracy of information

We make all reasonable efforts to keep your information up-to-date and we endeavor to base our decisions on accurate and timely information when we make a determination that may impact you. We rely on you to disclose all material information to us and to inform us of out-of-date or incomplete information (for example, a name change or change in telephone number). If you discover any inaccurate information, you can update it by contacting us by phone or email, and we will make the corrections. We want to ensure that our service to you is not affected by incomplete or inaccurate information.

 

Safeguarding your information

VMSI secures and protects personal information in our custody and control, whether in electronic or paper-based format, with safeguards and security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information, to protect against the theft, loss and unauthorized access, disclosure, copying or use of personal information. These safeguards include physical security controls (locked filing cabinets and restricted access to offices through security pass cards), technological security controls (passwords to computer terminals, personal identification numbers, encryption and password protection, audit trails and alerts, access levels) and organization controls (such as policies and procedures).

 

Openness

VMSI has prepared this Privacy Policy to keep you informed. It is made available to the public in paper format by submitting a request at the address set out at the end of this Privacy Policy, and in electronic format available on our Website.

 

Website information

In general, you can visit our Website without telling us who you are or submitting any personal information. However, we may collect the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of visitors to our Website and other information about your visit, such as page requests, browser type, operating system and average time spent on our Website.  We use this information to help us understand our Website activity, and to monitor and improve our Website.

 

A note about the use of Web tools such as Cookies

Cookies are small files that a website or its service provider transfers to a computer’s hard drive through your browser, enabling the site or service provider’s system to recognize your browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari) and capture and remember certain information, such as your browser type and address of the website from which you arrived from.

 

Social Media

We may offer you the opportunity to engage with us or our content on or through third-party websites (such as LinkedIn or Instagram etc). When you engage with us or our content on or through these websites, you may allow us to have access to certain information associated with your account in accordance with your settings on the third-party site (e.g., name, username, email address, profile picture) and we may have access to information about your interactions with our content.

 

Third Party Links

Our Website may contain links to other sites that we do not own or operate.  Also, links to our Website may be featured on third party websites on which we advertise. We provide links to third party websites as a convenience to the user.  These links are not intended as an endorsement of or referral to the linked websites.  The linked websites and social media platforms have separate and independent privacy statements, notices and terms of use, pixels and cookies, which we recommend you read carefully.  We do not have any control over such sites, and therefore we have no responsibility or liability because the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use or disclose, secure and otherwise treat your personal information.

 

Access to your information

You have the right to access, update, and correct inaccuracies in your personal information in our custody and control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. You may request access to your personal information and update and correct inaccuracies in the personal information we have in our custody or control by sending a written request to us at the contact information set out at the end of this Privacy Policy. You may also update your personal information directly contacting our Investor Relations Specialist: Patricia (Trish) Pereira. We may request certain personal information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their personal information records.

 

Challenging compliance – how VMSI respects and responds to your privacy concerns

You may contact us with any questions or concerns you might have about your privacy or about this Privacy Policy. You should direct these questions to VMSI’s Investor Relations Specialist: Patricia (Trish) Pereira at the telephone, e-mail address or mailing address listed below.

 

Please be sure to include your name, address, preferred method of communication, the nature of your question or complaint and relevant details, including past communications with us, if any. If you have a complaint and it is justified, we will take the steps necessary to resolve the issue.

 

Address:
Telephone No:
E-mail:

 

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time to take into account any changes in applicable privacy laws or other regulatory issues that are relevant. If we make any changes to our Privacy Policy, we will post the updated version on our Website, same is available upon written request.

 

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy whenever you communicate with us to stay informed about our information handling practices.

 

 

Last update:  February 2021