WESTLAKE FINANCIAL PRIVACY POLICY

Effective October 2020

Westlake Services, LLC dba Westlake Financial and its affiliates (companies we own or control, or with which we are under common control, collectively, “Westlake,” “we,” or “us”) are committed to respecting the individual rights of consumers. This Privacy Policy describes our privacy and security practices regarding information we receive from and about you during your visit(s) to Westlake websites. This information depends on how you use Westlake websites. Please review this page to understand how your personal information is used and how we protect that information.

If you are a Westlake customer or otherwise provide personal information to us in connection with our financial services, please also review our Privacy Notice.

General Website Usage

You can visit our website to read product, investment, and company information or use our online tools without revealing any personal information. The only information we collect and store during general website usage is your Internet service provider, the website you last visited, the pages you requested and the date and time of those requests, and the number of visits you made to our website.

We use this information to measure website activity and improve the customer experience on our website. For example, we may use information such as your Internet Protocol address, browser type, and display/screen settings to aggregate the data to help improve your future experience with our website. In accordance with our Privacy Notice, this information may be shared with third parties to provide related services or to analyze, store, or aggregate the information. It may also be shared with other third parties working with us to improve our services and/or website. During general website usage, we do not collect or store personally identifiable information such as your name, mailing address, email address, phone number, or Social Security number.

Our website may link to third-party websites not controlled by us. We recommend that you review the privacy policy of any website before providing personally identifiable information.

Information We Obtain from You About You

In addition to information gathered through your general website usage, we may also collect the following information from you that you submit or provide to us through online services, such as MyAccount, indirect auto purchase prequalification credit decisions from third-party websites (e.g., CarGurus.com or Autotrader.com), or in faxes, telephone calls, emails, or other correspondence sent to us by you. We may also collect information that you provide when you apply for a loan, or from social media handles, content, or other data provided through third-party features or posted on social media pages. The types of personal information we may obtain directly from you include:

  • Identifiers, such as 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, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information;
  • Commercial Information, such as records of personal property, products, or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies;
  • Professional Information, such as current or past job history and income;
  • Demographics, such as age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information);
  • Records of your interactions, such as phone calls, text messages, emails, or other communications with our Customer Service and call center representatives, or any employee of Westlake;
  • Internet or other electronic activities, as discussed in greater detail above under “General Website Usage”;
  • Preferences, such as communication preferences (e.g., electronic communication versus receiving hard copies of documents).

Information We Obtain from Third-Party Sources About You

At times, given the relationship between you and Westlake, it may be necessary to obtain information about you from third-party sources, such as credit reporting agencies (e.g., Equifax, TransUnion, Experian), vehicle history services, state motor vehicle departments, and insurance companies. The categories of information we obtain from such third-party sources include identifiers, financial or insurance information, demographics, commercial information, online activities, geolocation data, professional and education information, and preferences.

How the Collected Information Is Used

We may use information collected from you or third-party sources to:

  • Personalize and optimize your website browsing experiences by examining which parts of our website you visit;
  • Operate our websites, including debugging and product improvement;
  • Process and respond to your requests and inquiries in connection with our products and services;
  • Enter into and finalize our transactions with you for products and services;
  • Provide customer service and/or technical support;
  • Allow us to create, manage, and administer your MyAccount service; and
  • Protect against, identify, and prevent criminal activities such as fraud.

Cookies

Cookies are text data stored by your browser when you visit a cookie-enabled website. As you browse the Web, websites may send cookies to your browser. Your browser settings probably control whether it accepts or rejects cookies and notifies you when a cookie is sent to you.

If your browser is set to reject cookies, cookie-enabled websites will not recognize you when you return. This provides you with anonymity, but makes it more difficult to offer you customized services. It may also be less secure than using cookies, because your data must be sent to the website each time you view a page. Accepting cookies means your private data remains on the website’s server, and the only information transmitted over the Internet is your identifying cookie.

If your browser is set to accept cookies, those sent to your browser are stored in your computer. There are different types of cookies. A “session” cookie is stored only in your computer’s working memory and only lasts for your browsing session. When you close all of your browser windows or shut down your computer, the session cookie disappears forever. A “permanent” cookie is stored on your computer’s hard drive until a specified date, which could be tomorrow, next week, or 10 years from now. Permanent cookies stay on your computer until they expire, are overwritten with newer cookies, or are manually removed.

We use permanent cookies to supply visitors to our website with a customized experience. These cookies do not involve personally identifiable information. We also use session cookies to customize your experience during a session, to aid your navigation and use of the website, to develop generic website metrics, and other similar uses.

Our Internet Services

To use our Internet services, such as MyAccount or Electronic Funds Transfer or Enrollment, we require certain personally identifying information (e.g., name, Social Security number, account number, and other applicable information) to verify that you are a Westlake customer. We use this information to identify and access data in our existing relationship and provide you with the requested services. We commonly request email addresses as an alternate means of contacting you. Providing your email address is optional unless you request an Internet-delivered service, where it is necessary to have your email address to honor your request. We may also use this information to know you better and improve our services.

Emails Containing Personal Information

Internet users may send us personally identifying information via email containing information about your Westlake account. We will use this information to identify the user as a Westlake customer, determine how to respond, better understand you and your customer needs, and improve our services.

Sharing Your Information

We may share information obtained about you with both affiliated and non-affiliated companies. This includes:

  • Sharing your payment and transaction history with non-affiliated third parties like credit reporting agencies;
  • Sharing information with any successor to all or part of our business, including the right to transfer information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets;
  • Sharing information with non-affiliated third parties to complete a transaction you requested (for example, to complete a payment you are requesting to be made);
  • Sharing information with third parties that perform services on our behalf (for example, sending text or email messages to customers for us);
  • Sharing information with various government agencies (such as state motor vehicle departments and insurance or finance companies); and
  • Sharing information that may be required by government agency, law, or court order.

The types of information we may share with affiliated and non-affiliated third parties include identifiers, commercial information, online activities, professional information, records of your interaction, internet or other electronic activities, demographics, and preferences.

Questions?

Our privacy practices are designed to provide a high level of protection for your personal information. If you have any questions or comments about our privacy practices, contact us via email at [email protected] or phone at (888) 739-9192.

Changes

We reserve the right to change, modify, or adjust our Privacy Policy. A revised policy only applies to data collected after its effective date. Any revisions will be posted at least ten (10) days prior to its effective date.

California Residents

For California residents, we provide additional information in compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and other California privacy laws. Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used herein. Please review our Privacy Statement for California Residents by clicking here.
Subject to certain exceptions, the CCPA provides California consumers with the rights to know what personal information businesses collect about them and why, to request deletion of that personal information, and to prohibit a business from selling that information. To restrict the sharing of personal and financial information with our affiliates and outside companies with which we do business, please click here for our Privacy Notice and follow the instructions therein.

Alternatively, to exercise your rights under the CCPA, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by:

Only you or your authorized agent may make a request related to your personal information. An authorized agent may be a person or a business entity registered with the California Secretary of State to act on your behalf. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to act on another’s behalf. Making a request does not require you to create an account with us, and we will only use personal information provided in such a request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

Personal information under the CCPA does not include any information covered by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”). If you are a current or former customer, the data collected relating to your account is covered by the GLBA. Our GLBA privacy notice discusses what we do with your information and for information on opting out of information sharing.