Privacy Rules & Policy
We respect your privacy and adhere to the Federal Privacy Laws of Canada which includes Provincial Laws where you reside.
Thank you for reviewing our privacy rules and policies. We are proud to recognize your individual right to the privacy of any personal information you give to us; or we obtain information about you from Equifax (credit report) and on any appraisal we receive concerning your personal property.
We, at Home N Work Mortgages Inc, believe that through safeguards we can minimize the amount of information we obtain from you; to the amount of information that we only need to obtain in order to procure a mortgage placement on your behalf with various lenders or insurers.
We safeguard collection and disclosure of personal information about you; and limit such information to the sole task that you engage us – in writing – to perform. By limiting ‘who’ may review your personal information in a mortgage submission when we secure your financing, we do so, with the most minimal dissemination of information possible to third parties (lenders/insurers).
Our company has a set of rules and procedures that we follow closely. The task of securing your financing begins with safeguards with your personal information; from password protected data, to locked files and offices; to electronically stored data to limit paper use; from your mortgage broker to the office administrator being alert to protecting your personal data.
All transmission of data to and from our digital file storage systems, allows us to move data to lenders, with security that is encrypted using 256-bit AES. This is key, as that data rests on the servers that are encrypted as well.
We have 10 Privacy Law principles to secure your personal information. These are:
Accountability
You will give your mortgage broker information about you. That broker is licensed and registered to act for you; and governed by strict laws of ethics and accountability. Above your own mortgage broker is a compliance officer that oversees your mortgage broker’s actions. And above the local compliance officer is ‘head office’ where you will be given a toll-free number that you are welcome to call – anytime – for any question you may have about your information gathered and mortgage obtained. Each mortgage broker uses an advanced mortgage submission software program; and can only be accessed by a unique password and our company’s code. All actions from your broker are ‘tracked’. Our administration will know when any credit report was ordered and when any lender submission occurred. Any acceptance or decline in the system is all ‘real time’ dated for accuracy. Your information on Filogix is secure by the most advanced encryption software possible in today’s marketplace. We only collect the amount of information mandated by lenders; answering the basic questions of ‘who you are’, ‘what you owe’, ‘what you own’ and ‘how much’ financing you need.
Identifying Purpose
Your mortgage broker will explain the ‘what’ information we will need and the ‘why’ we need it to obtain a mortgage lender’s approval of your loan request. We will ask you to ‘engage’ us to a specific task (i.e., obtain a 1st mortgage for the purchase of …. for the sum of $395,000) and it will disclose to you our role in the lending process and your promise to give us accurate information. Before any application is taken, we will explain what is needed and why.
Consent
In our engagement we will ask you to sign your consent for us to obtain personal information from you. In fact, we require your consent before we ‘pull’ your credit report and even before we submit your application to a lender to review. We explain our need for information to you beforehand – then we gather information from you. Our forms, application, and engagement clearly – and in straightforward language – request your consent before we start your file and act on your behalf for the financing task at hand.
Limiting Collection
We only obtain personal information that we absolutely need to obtain your financing from lenders and insurers. Such information is only kept as needed. All original documents are returned to you; and only those documents that we need to keep a copy of are kept.
Limiting Use, disclosure, and retention
We only use personal information collected for the sole and specific purpose of the task that we were engaged to perform. Further, to reduce paper copies we ‘shred’ once we store your documents electronically. We shred any and all ‘unnecessary’ information collected after the loan process as set by Provincial law. We only collect the information mandated or requested by the lender; that may include paystubs or employment letters; copy of any contract of purchase and sale agreement; MLS listing or tax information. Once that information is given to the lender, we will limit our retention of your personal information. All original documents will be returned to you.
Accuracy
Information gathered from you is reviewed for accuracy. You actually promise in writing to be truthful to us about ‘who you are’ and we rely on this information when we speak to lenders on your behalf. Your information is ‘cross checked’ with your credit report and property appraisal to match your application and other data that you may have given us. Your information is only used for the specific purpose of our engagement with you. Our practice and policy are to protect your information and not disclose it to third parties without your prior written consent.
Safeguards
Our mortgage submission software – is password and account protected – only your personal mortgage broker (and system administrator) may access your information. Everything is ‘tracked’ by the software in ‘real time’. This includes when your credit report was ‘pulled’ and ‘who pulled it’. All this is done with checks of consent before proceeding. Physical files are locked; so are offices. Computers have passwords and firewalls. Your information on our software is secure. All unnecessary information is shredded; any information required to be kept is made paperless wherever possible.
Openness
You may check our privacy principles as we post them on our website. We are proud of our privacy procedures. We stress privacy compliance to our mortgage brokers – and only obtain data that is ‘reasonable’ for performing the financing task at hand. You may call toll free 1866 658-0492 x 100 and ask about any privacy question you may have.
Individual Access
Any information in your file can be obtained by you with minimal or no cost. If you wish any copy of your file; that we have stored electronically we will ‘PDF’ your file and email to you – at no charge to you. Sometimes it is important to request such information; to explain accuracy and to address issues that may pop up unexpectedly (such as an overdue bill on a credit report). We would be happy to provide your information to you. You will be given copies within 30 days of your written request.
Challenging Compliance (providing recourse)
If you are ever concerned about your privacy or have a complaint about your information use, then please call 1 866 658-0492; we will promptly handle any concern that you may have and keep you ‘in the loop’ to any investigation we make on your behalf. You will be promptly advised of any outcome we find.