Privacy Policy

Any questions relating to matters of privacy should be referred to the RateStreet Financial Privacy Officer at the following:

Attention: Privacy Office
RateStreet Financial
1066 W. Hastings Street
20th Floor
Vancouver BC  V6E 3X2
Email: Privacy@RateStreet.ca
Telephone number:  1-888-728-3787

RateStreet Financial External Privacy Policy

At RateStreet Financial we are committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes the personal information that RateStreet Financial collects from or about you, how we use and to whom we may disclose that information.

Privacy Policy effective for Canada
This Privacy Policy covers only those activities that are subject to the provisions of Canada’s federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable.

What is Personal Information?
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, other than the person’s business title or business contact information when used or disclosed for the purpose of business communications. 

What Personal Information do we collect?
We collect and maintain different types of personal information in respect of the individuals with whom we interact.

This includes:

• contact and identification information, such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address;
• product and service related information concerning the products and services that we provide to, or receive from you; credit and financial information such as your employment history, income sources, assets, liabilities, credit history and payment preferences (where you have sought credit from us, we may ask for your social insurance number, to enable us to obtain and verify your credit related information; where you have an interest-bearing deposit product with us, we are required by legislation to obtain your social insurance number); and
• business relationship information, including information related to your agreements, preferences, advisors and decision-makers, feedback and information requested by or provided to you.

In addition, we may collect your personal information in connection with our mortgage financing or other financial services and as more fully described in a mortgage commitment letter or a credit application provided to you during the credit application and review process.

We may also collect market-related information, which may include personal information, concerning market trends and activities impacting our business. This information may include contract terms, financial information and other information for the purpose of market analysis and strategic planning. We may also collect information related to our media, investor and public relations activities and information related to our interactions with financial and other analysts and advisors.

As a general rule, RateStreet Financial collects personal information directly from you. In most circumstances where the personal information that we collect about you is held by a third party, we will obtain your permission before we seek out this information from such sources (such permission may be given directly by you, or implied from your actions).

From time to time, we may utilize the services of third parties in our business and may also receive personal information collected by those third parties in the course of the performance of their services for us or otherwise. Where this is the case, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such third parties have represented to us that they have the right to disclose your personal information to us.

Where permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements, we may collect information about you without your knowledge or consent.

Internet E-mail

E-mail communication over the Internet is not secure or confidential and is subject to possible interception, alteration, or loss. RateStreet Financial cannot assume any responsibility or liability for anyone else for any damages in connection with any e-mail sent by you to RateStreet Financial or any e-mail sent by RateStreet Financial to you at your request. 

By providing your email address, you authorize us to send you email confirmations related to payments on your account, contact you about your account or for general account servicing and/or collection purposes, and to send you information about products and services you might find useful. Please note that providing your email address is entirely voluntary.

Why do we collect Personal Information?
RateStreet Financial collects personal information to enable us to manage, maintain, and develop our business and operations, including:

• to establish, maintain and manage our relationship with you so that we may provide you with, or receive from you, the products and services that have been requested;
• where you have requested credit (directly or as a guarantor), (i) to determine your financial situation; (ii) to determine your initial and ongoing eligibility for mortgage and other credit products; (iii) to manage our level of risk and to assess your eligibility for credit products; (iii) to administer or service your mortgage or other credit product; (iv) to arrange for and in connection with the financing of our mortgage business; and (v) as otherwise necessary for the provision of mortgage services and protection of our security interest in our mortgage; to be able to review the products and services that we provide to you so that we may understand your requirements for our products and services and so that we may work to improve our products and services;
• to be able to review the products and services that we obtain from you so that we may work with you and so that you may understand our requirements for such products and services; to be able to comply with your requests (for example, if you prefer to be contacted at a business or residential telephone number and advise us of your preference, we will use this information to contact you at that number);
• to protect us against error, fraud, theft and damage to our goods and property, including verifying your identity;
• to enable us to comply with applicable law or regulatory process; and
• any other reasonable purpose to which you consent.

How do we use and disclose your Personal Information?
We may use or disclose your personal information:

• for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy; or
• for any additional purposes for which we have obtained your consent to the use or disclosure of your personal information.

We may use or disclose your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements to do so. 

When do we disclose your Personal Information?
We may share your personal information with our employees, contractors, consultants and other parties who require such information to assist us with managing our relationship with you, including: third parties that assist RateStreet Financial in the provision of services to you and third parties whose services we use to conduct our business.  As such, we, or our business partners, may send you product information that we believe may be of benefit to you.  You may opt out of receiving this information at any time by contacting Service@RateStreet.ca.

Where you have requested credit (directly, or as a guarantor), we may share your personal information with: (i) credit bureaus, credit reporting agencies, mortgage insurers and financial institutions to confirm your financial situation and your initial and ongoing eligibility for mortgage services; (ii) persons retained to administer or service your mortgage for the purpose of such administration or servicing; (iii) persons (or their permitted assignees) involved in the financing or securitizing, or facilitation of the financing and securitizing, of our mortgage business for the purpose of their providing or facilitating such financing or securitizing (which may include the administration or servicing of your mortgage by them or their agents); and (iv)  other persons as necessary for the provision of mortgage and credit services to you and the protection of our security interest in our mortgage.

In addition, personal information may be disclosed or transferred to another party during the course of, or completion of, a change in ownership of or the grant of a security interest in, all or a part of RateStreet Financial or its affiliates through, for example, an asset or share sale, or some other form of business combination, merger or joint venture, provided that such party is bound by appropriate agreements or obligations and required to use or disclose your personal information in a manner consistent with the use and disclosure provisions of this Privacy Policy, unless you consent otherwise.

Further, your personal information may be disclosed: as permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements;

• to comply with valid legal processes such as search warrants, subpoenas or court orders;
• in order to administer or service your mortgage or other credit product;
• to protect the rights and property of RateStreet Financial;
• during emergency situations or where necessary to protect the safety of a person or group;
• where the personal information is publicly available; or
• with your consent.

Your consent is important to us
It is important to us that we collect, use or disclose your personal information where we have your consent to do so.  Depending on the sensitivity of the personal information, your consent may be implied, deemed (using an opt-out mechanism) or express.  Express consent can be given orally, electronically or in writing.  Implied consent is consent that can reasonably be inferred from your action or inaction.  For example, when you enter into an agreement with us, we will assume your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for purposes related to the performance of that agreement and for any other purposes identified to you at the relevant time.

Typically, we will seek your consent at the time that we collect your personal information.  In certain circumstances, your consent may be obtained after collection but prior to our use or disclosure of your personal information.  If we plan to use or disclose your personal information for a purpose not previously identified (either in this Privacy Policy or separately), we will endeavor to advise you of that purpose before such use or disclosure.

As we have described above, we may collect, use or disclose your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required to do so by applicable law or regulatory requirements. 

Choice/Opt-Out
You may change or withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations and reasonable notice, by contacting our Privacy Officer using the contact information set out below.  All communications with respect to such withdrawal or variation of consent should be in writing and addressed to our Privacy Officer. In certain circumstances, the withdrawal of consent may render us unable to continue to provide products or services where the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information is necessary to provide the product or service.

We assume that, unless you advise us otherwise, you have consented to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as explained in this Privacy Policy. 

How is your Personal Information protected?
RateStreet Financial endeavors to maintain physical, technical and procedural safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in question.  These safeguards are designed to prevent your personal information from loss and unauthorized access, copying, use, modification or disclosure.

Updating your Personal Information
It is important that the information contained in our records is both accurate and current.  If your personal information happens to change during the course of our relationship, please inform our Customer Service department of this change at 1-888-728-3787. If our Customer Service department is unable to help you, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below.

In some circumstances we may not agree with your request to change your personal information and will instead append an alternative text to the record in question. 

Access to your Personal Information
You can ask to see your personal information.  If you want to review, verify or correct your personal information, please contact our Customer Service department, and if our Customer Service department is unable to help you, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below.  Please note that any such communication must be in writing.  

When requesting access to your personal information, please note that we may request specific information from you to enable us to confirm your identity and right to access, as well as to search for and provide you with the personal information that we hold about you.  We may charge you a fee to access your personal information; however, we will advise you of any fee in advance.  If you require assistance in preparing your request, please contact our Customer Service department.  If our Customer Service department is unable to help you, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below

Your right to access the personal information that we hold about you is not absolute.  There are instances where applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse to provide some or all of the personal information that we hold about you.  In addition, the personal information may have been destroyed, erased or made anonymous in accordance with our record retention obligations and practices.

In the event that we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will endeavor to inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

Inquiries or Concerns? 
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or concerns about how we manage your personal information, please contact our Customer Service department by telephone, in writing or by e-mail.  We will endeavor to answer your questions and advise you of any steps taken to address the issues raised by you.  If our Customer Service department is unable to help you, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information above. If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you are entitled to make a written submission to the Privacy Commissioner in your jurisdiction.

Revisions to this Privacy Policy
RateStreet Financial from time to time, may make changes to this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in its legal or regulatory obligations or in the manner in which we deal with your personal information.  We will post any revised version of this Privacy Policy on our website www.RateStreet.ca and we encourage you to refer back to it on a regular basis.  This Privacy Policy was last updated on March 16, 2015.

Interpretation of this Privacy Policy
Any interpretation associated with this Privacy Policy will be made by our Privacy Officer.  This Privacy Policy includes examples but is not intended to be restricted in its application to such examples, therefore where the word ‘including’ is used, it shall mean ‘including without limitation’.

This Privacy Policy does not create or confer upon any individual any rights, or impose upon RateStreet Financial any obligations outside of, or in addition to, any obligations imposed by Canada’s federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable.

Should there be, in a specific case, any inconsistency between this Privacy Policy and Canada’s federal and provincial privacy laws, as applicable, this Privacy Policy shall be interpreted, in respect of that case, to give effect to, and comply with, such privacy laws.