Privacy Policy

Introduction

BetterAdvance, LLC (“Chat Advance,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy applies to data collected online (website, app, forms) and through offline interactions (phone, brokers, third-party partners). It explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you access our website (the “Site”) or use our products and services (collectively, the “Services”).

This Privacy Policy applies to customers, applicants, and visitors to our Site. It does not apply to employees, job applicants, contractors, or information collected for human resources purposes, which are subject to separate notices.

By using our Site or Services, you consent to this Privacy Policy and agree to our collection, use, and sharing of your information as described here. If you do not agree, you should not use our Site or Services. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with the “Last Updated” date revised accordingly.

Information We Collect

We collect different types of information when you interact with our Site or Services, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and related business or financial data.

Information You Provide

• Personal Information: name, email address, phone number, physical address, date of birth, government-issued identification (e.g., Social Security number, passport), and tax identification number.
• Account Credentials: username and password for secure logins.
• Business Information: company name, industry, registration details, ownership structure, and beneficial ownership information.
• Financial Information: bank account details, bank statements, credit card statements, average account balances, tax returns, payment behavior, and personal and business credit history.
• Transaction Documentation: contracts, invoices, shipping documents, purchase orders, or other records supporting a financing request.
• Additional Information: information collected during the application process or while you maintain an account with us, to verify identity, assess creditworthiness, comply with regulations, or process financing.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage Data: pages visited, frequency of access, links clicked, and interactions on the Site.
• Device Data: IP address, device ID, hardware model, operating system, app/browser version.
• Mobile Data: device type, carrier, and whether access is via mobile.
• Location Data: approximate location (city/region).

Information From Third Parties

We may also obtain PII from third parties, including:

• Credit reporting agencies
• Identity verification and fraud detection providers
• Government entities
• Brokers, referral partners, and lead generation firms

Underwriting & Credit Evaluation Data

In connection with financing applications, we may collect and generate additional categories of information specifically for underwriting and risk assessment, including:

• Credit Scores and Reports obtained from credit bureaus and reporting agencies.
• Transaction History (e.g., account activity, payment history, defaults, delinquencies).
• Repayment Capability Data, including income verification, cash flow, debt obligations, and related financial ratios.
• Internal Risk Scoring and Profiling, including fraud flags, compliance indicators, and automated decisioning outputs.
• Other Underwriting Evidence, such as employment or business verification data, references, or supporting documentation provided by you or third parties.

We use this information to assess creditworthiness, verify eligibility for financing, detect fraud, and comply with regulatory requirements.

How We Use Your Information

We use your information to provide, operate, and improve our Services, as well as to meet legal and business obligations. Specifically, we may use PII to:

• Register your account and authenticate your identity.
• Review and process your financing application.
• Service your account, including processing payments.
• Operate and enhance our Services, including offering our own products and referrals to third-party lenders.
• Communicate with you about your account, provide updates, respond to inquiries, and send marketing materials.
• Maintain Site security and prevent fraud or illegal activity.
• Comply with applicable laws, regulations, and contractual obligations.
• Conduct internal research, analytics, and testing to improve our Services.
• Generate aggregated, de-identified reports for business insights (which do not identify you).
• Fulfill the purposes disclosed when information was provided, or other necessary business purposes.

Automated Underwriting and Decision-Making

• We may use automated tools and models to assist in underwriting and credit decisions. These processes evaluate information such as credit history, repayment capability, transaction behavior, and internal risk scores to help determine eligibility for financing.
• Automated decision-making allows us to process applications more quickly and consistently. However, it may also affect whether you qualify for certain products or the terms we offer.
• You may contact us at [insert email] or [insert toll-free number] to request additional information about how these automated processes work, subject to applicable law.

How We Share Your Information

We may share your information in the following circumstances:

• Legal and Regulatory Requirements: when required by law, regulation, or legal process.
• Legal Protection: to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights, or to prevent fraud and security risks.
• Business Transactions: in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, equity transfer, bankruptcy, or similar event.
• Service Providers: with vendors who provide services on our behalf (e.g., hosting, maintenance, analytics, advertising).
• Business Partners: with lenders, brokers, or referral partners involved in financing.
• With Your Consent: when you authorize or request a disclosure.
• Health & Safety: when necessary to protect the safety of individuals.

We do not share text messaging opt-in data or consent with third parties.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Like many companies, we use cookies, pixels, and web beacons (“Cookies”) to improve your experience. Cookies help us:

• Measure site traffic and usage trends.
• Save preferences for future visits.
• Deliver tailored content and advertising.
• Track ad effectiveness.
• Improve site functionality and resolve issues.

We may set Cookies directly or use third parties (e.g., Google, Facebook, LinkedIn).

Managing Cookies

• Browser Settings: You can block or delete Cookies through your browser.
• Opt-Out Tools: Visit AboutCookies.org or allaboutcookies.org for more information.
• Platform Controls: Adjust settings directly with Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
• Industry Tools: Use Network Advertising Initiative or Digital Advertising Alliance to manage ad-related Cookies.

Other tracking may collect behavioral data (e.g., clicks, page visits, mouse movements) to improve user experience.

Opt-Out Preference Signals

• We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals sent by supported browsers/extensions.
• We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” (DNT) browser signals due to lack of industry standards.

Your Choices

• Access/Update: You can view or update your PII by logging into your account or contacting us.
• Marketing Opt-Out: You may unsubscribe from marketing emails via the “unsubscribe” link or by contacting us.

Security

We use commercially reasonable safeguards to protect your information. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We do not store your banking login credentials and only access bank information on a read-only basis.

Third-Party Links

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.

Minor’s Privacy

Our Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 18 (“minors”). We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such information, we will take immediate steps to delete it.

Nevada Privacy Notice

Nevada residents may opt out of the sale of personal information. While we do not currently sell such information, you may still submit an opt-out request, and we will record your preference.

California Privacy Notice (CCPA/CPRA)

This section applies only to California residents and supplements the rest of this Privacy Policy. It describes our collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information, and your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CCPA”).

Categories of Personal Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of Personal Information:

• Identifiers (e.g., name, postal address, email, phone number, IP address, account name, SSN, driver’s license or passport number).
• Financial Information (e.g., bank account number, credit card details, income, payment history, repayment capability).
• Commercial Information (e.g., records of products/services obtained, business account history).
• Internet or Other Electronic Activity (e.g., browsing history, search history, interactions with our Site).
• Geolocation Data (e.g., city/region).
• Professional or Employment Information (e.g., job title, employer, employment history).
• Sensitive Personal Information (e.g., government ID numbers, financial account information with credentials, precise geolocation, racial/ethnic data if collected).
• Inferences drawn from the above to create a profile (e.g., risk scoring, repayment capability).

We collect this information directly from you, from your devices, from our business partners, from brokers/referral partners, and from credit reporting agencies.

Purposes for Collection and Use

We use the categories of Personal Information above for the business purposes described in How We Use Your Information, including:

• Account setup and servicing;
• Fraud prevention and security;
• Compliance with legal obligations;
• Underwriting and credit decisioning;
• Marketing and advertising (except cross-context behavioral advertising, unless you have opted in);
• Research, analytics, and improving our Services;
• Business operations (auditing, accounting, compliance).

Disclosure of Personal Information

We may disclose the categories of Personal Information above to:

• Service providers and contractors (e.g., hosting, analytics, customer support, marketing).
• Business partners (e.g., lenders, brokers, referral partners).
• Government and regulatory agencies.
• Professional advisors (e.g., auditors, legal counsel).
• Third parties in connection with a corporate transaction (e.g., merger, acquisition, sale).

We do not knowingly sell or share Personal Information of consumers under 16 years of age.

Your Rights as a California Resident

You have the right to:

• Know the categories of Personal Information we collect, the categories of sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• Access the specific pieces of Personal Information we maintain about you.
• Delete Personal Information, subject to legal and regulatory exceptions.
• Correct inaccurate Personal Information.
• Opt Out of the sale or sharing of Personal Information.
• Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information (if used beyond permitted purposes).
• Not Be Discriminated Against for exercising your rights.

How to Exercise Your Rights

You may submit a request to know, delete, or correct Personal Information by:

• Emailing us at privacy@chatadvance.com

If you use an authorized agent, we will require proof of authorization and may still request you to verify your identity directly. We verify requests by matching information you provide with information already in our records.

Sale/Sharing of Personal Information

While we do not sell Personal Information for monetary consideration, our use of certain cookies, analytics, and advertising tools may constitute a “sale” or “sharing” of Personal Information under California law.

California residents may opt out of the sale or sharing of their Personal Information by:

• Emailing us at privacy@chatadvance.com with the subject line “California Opt-Out Request”; or
• Sending a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal through your browser, which we recognize as a valid opt-out request.

We will process your request as required by law.

Retention of Personal Information

We retain Personal Information for as long as necessary to provide Services, comply with our legal obligations (including recordkeeping under financial regulations), resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Where applicable, we apply retention criteria based on account status, regulatory requirements, and limitation periods. For example:

• Customer and underwriting records (e.g., identity verification documents, credit reports, risk assessments) are typically retained for at least 5 years in order to comply with anti-money laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and other financial regulations.
• Tax and accounting records (e.g., invoices, payment records, tax filings) are generally retained for 7 years to meet tax and audit requirements.
• Marketing and communication preferences are retained until you unsubscribe, opt out, or otherwise request deletion.
• Technical and cookie data (e.g., log files, device information, analytics) are retained for shorter periods, usually in accordance with browser/device settings or as needed for analytics and security purposes.
• Contracts and legal agreements are retained for the duration of the relationship and as required by applicable limitation or statute-of-repose periods, to allow us to defend or bring legal claims.

When retention periods expire or Personal Information is no longer needed for business or legal purposes, we will securely delete, anonymize, or de-identify the information.

California Notice at Collection of Personal Information

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Carve-Out

Please note that certain information we collect and process in connection with providing financial products or services is subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and its implementing regulations. Personal information covered by the GLBA is exempt from the CCPA/CPRA requirements, including some of the rights described above.

This means that while you still have important privacy rights under federal financial privacy laws, not all of your information is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act. For example, information we collect and use to process financing applications, perform underwriting, or service your account may fall under the GLBA and therefore is not subject to certain CCPA/CPRA rights such as access, deletion, or opt-out.

Other US States

Residents of certain U.S. states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Oregon, and Texas, may have rights with respect to their personal information that are similar to those described for California residents. These rights may include:

• The right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose.
• The right to access and obtain a copy of your personal information.
• The right to delete personal information, subject to applicable exceptions.
• The right to correct inaccuracies in your personal information.
• The right to opt out of the processing of personal information for targeted advertising, the sale of personal information, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

To exercise these rights, you may contact us at:

We will respond to your request as required by applicable law and may take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling the request.

If we decline your request, you may appeal our decision by contacting privacy@chatadvance.com. We will respond within 45 days as required by law.

Accessibility

We are committed to providing this Privacy Policy in accessible formats upon request.

Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. If we make material changes, we will notify you as required by law, for example by posting a notice on our Site or contacting you directly.

Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at: