Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Introduction 

The Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (“AFCPE,” “the Company,” or “We”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this privacy policy.

This Privacy Policy (“the Policy”) describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.afcpe.org (“our Website”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

This Policy does not apply to websites or other domains that are maintained or operated by third parties or our affiliates.  Our Website may link to third party websites and services, but these links are not endorsements of these sites and this Policy does not extend to them.  Because this Policy is not enforced on these third party websites, we encourage you to read any posted privacy policy on those third party websites before using the service or site and providing information.  

This privacy policy applies to information we collect:

• On this Website.
• In e-mail, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website.
• When you interact with our advertising and applications on third-party websites and services, if those applications or advertising include links to this privacy policy.

It does not apply to information collected by:

• us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party; or
• any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Website.

Please read the Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it.  If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website.  By accessing or using this Website, you agree to the Policy.  The Policy may change from time to time.  Your continued use of our Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Policy periodically for updates.

Children Under the Age of 13 

Our Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age.  We do not target the Website to children, and would not expect them to be engaging with our Website or services.  We encourage parents and guardians to provide adequate protection measures to prevent children from providing information unwillingly on the internet.  If we are aware of any Personal Information that we have collected from children, we will immediately endeavor to delete it. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at support@afcpe.org

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It 

We may obtain information about you when you choose to provide it to us and when we collect it from third parties.  We may also collect certain information about your device or usage by automated means, including through technologies such as cookies, web server logs, and web beacons.

Information That You or Others Provide to Us. The information we collect on or through our Website may include:

• Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website.  This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our Website, subscribing to our service, posting material or requesting further services.  We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website.  Examples of data elements may include: name, address, city, state, ZIP code, email address, telephone number, other contact information, birth date, and household information.
• Financial and payment information (such as payment card number, expiration date, account number, and billing address).
• Content you submit or post (such as photographs, videos, reviews, articles, comments, or any other information you provide to us or post).
• Employment information.
• Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.

You also may provide information to be published or displayed on public areas of our Website, or transmitted to other users of our Website or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk.  Please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.  Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Website with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions.  Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:

• Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
• Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type. 

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

• Cookies. A cookie is a small data file transmitted from a website to your computer’s hard drive.  Cookies are usually defined in one of two days, and AFCPE may use both of them: (1) session cookies, which do not stay on your computer after you close your browser, and (2) persistent cookies, which remain on your computer until you delete them or they expire.  AFCPE may use cookies on our Website to monitor your interaction with our Website.  These cookies may be delivered by a trusted third party, but will provide us with information when you visit our Website.  One such trusted third party partner is Google Analytics.  The Website sends aggregated, non-personal information to Google Analytics for the purpose of providing AFCPE with the ability to conduct technical and statistical analyses on our Website’s performance.  For more information on how Google Analytics supports our Website and uses information sent from the Website, please review Google’s privacy policy. Note that you may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser.  However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website.  Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
• Web Beacons. Pages of our the Website and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs. pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an e-mail and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
• Web server logs: In conjunction with obtaining information through cookies, our web servers may log details regarding your device, operating system, or information about your Website usage. 

Other than as disclosed in this Policy, we do not track customers over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising, and therefore do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals.  The information we collect automatically is statistical data and does not include Personal Information.  

Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies 

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers and application providers.  These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website.  The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services.  They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used.  If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.

How We Use Your Information 

The information we gather and you provide is collected and used to improve our service to you and your experience when engaging with our Websites and our services.  For example, we may use your information to:

• offering you products and services, deciding if you qualify for our products and services, and servicing your account;
• establishing and verifying the identity and eligibility of users; 
• opening, maintaining, administering, managing, and servicing users profiles, accounts or memberships; 
• processing, servicing or enforcing transactions (including credit or debit card transactions); 
• providing products, content, content suggestions, services, and support;
• conducting special events, sweepstakes, surveys, programs, contests, and other offers (and communicating with you about such events);  
• analyzing and improving our products, services, or Website (including developing new products and services; improving safety; managing our communications; analyzing our products; performing market research; performing data analytics; and performing accounting, auditing and other internal functions); 
• providing users with product, service, or company updates; 
• marketing and advertising our products or services as well as products and services of third parties (such as affiliates, subsidiaries, and business partners); 
• responding to your inquiries or comments, or contacting you as necessary; and
• maintaining the security and integrity of our systems, including maintaining internal records.

How We Share Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users (including you), and information that does not identify any individual (including you specifically), without restriction.

We do not share your personal information outside of AFCPE, unless it is under one of the following circumstances:

• Comply with any law, regulation, subpoena, or court order;
• Investigate and help prevent security threats, fraud, or other malicious activity;
• Enforce/protect the rights and properties of AFCPE; 
• Protect the rights or personal safety of AFCPE employees;
• To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them;
• To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it;
• For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information; or
• With your consent.

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information 

Email newsletters will not be sent to you unless you consent to receive such a newsletter.  After you request to receive these emails, you may opt out of receiving them by selecting the “Unsubscribe” link, or by following the opt-out instructions included in each email communication.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information 

AFCPE strives to maintain and process your information accurately.  We have processes in place to maintain all of our information in accordance with relevant frameworks and take steps to monitor its accuracy.  To view and change the Personal Information that you directly provided, you can contact us directly for assistance.  

For Website Visitors in the European Union (“EU”)

Under the GDPR, our visitors in the EU enjoy additional rights with respect to their personal information, or “personal data,” as defined under the GDPR.  For the purposes of this Policy and any personal data processed for Website visitors or individuals in the EU, AFCPE operates as a data controller.  We are a U.S. company.  Any personal data we collect from you is processed in the United States and under the terms of this Policy.  You may always withdraw your consent to our use of your personal data, as described below.  We will retain your personal data only for the time necessary to provide you the information and services to which you have consented, and in accordance with your rights below and in this Policy.

You can exercise any of the following rights by notifying us as described below:

• Access:  You may email us at support@afcpe.org to request a copy of the personal data our Website currently contains.

• Correction or Ratification:  You can correct what personal data our Website currently contains by logging into your account at my.afcpe.org and updating your information. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

• Restrict Processing:  When applicable, you may restrict the processing of your personal data by submitting a request via email to support@afcpe.org.  In your email, please explain how you wish AFCPE to restrict processing of your personal data.  When such restrictions are not possible, AFCPE will advise you accordingly.  You can then choose to exercise any other rights under this Policy, including withdrawing your consent to the processing of your personal data.

• Object to Processing:  When applicable, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data by submitting a request via email to support@afcpe.org.  When such objections are not possible, AFCPE will advise you accordingly.  You can then choose to exercise any other rights under this Policy, including withdrawing your consent to the processing of your personal data.

• Portability:  Upon request, and when possible, AFCPE can provide you with copies of your personal data.  You may submit a request via email to support@afcpe.org.  When such a request cannot be honored, AFCPE will advise you accordingly.  You can then choose to exercise any other rights under this policy, including withdrawing your consent to continue providing your personal data.

• Withdraw Consent:  At any time, you may withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal data through our Website by notifying us via email at support@afcpe.org. Using the same email address you have provided to AFCPE, simply type the words “WITHDRAW CONSENT” in the subject line of your email.  Upon receipt of such a withdrawal of consent, AFCPE will confirm receipt and proceed to stop processing your personal data. 

• Erasure:  If you wish to cease use of our Website and have your personal data deleted from our Website, then you may submit a request by emailing us at support@afcpe.org.  Upon receipt of such a request for erasure, AFCPE will confirm receipt and will confirm once your personal data has been erased.

Data Security 

Your privacy and the security of your information is important to us.  We have implemented measures that are reasonably designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.  Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure.  Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website.  Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk.  We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy 

If we make any changes to this Policy, they will be posted on this page with a “Last Revised” date below.  You can get to this page from any of our Websites by clicking on the “Privacy Policy” link (usually at the bottom of the screen).  

Contact Information 

We value your opinions and welcome your feedback.  To contact us about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact us at:

AFCPE

ATTN: Privacy Policy

E-Mail: support@afcpe.org

In your correspondence, please ensure that you write “PRIVACY” in your subject line so that it is routed in a timely and efficient manner.

Last Revised: July 2018