Privacy Policy Canada

Last updated: 08/05/24

Introduction

Liberis, Inc. (“Liberis” or the “Company”) recognizes, respects and protects the personal privacy rights of all our customers and works diligently to safeguard your privacy. We are committed to providing security and privacy regarding the collection and use of our customers’ personal information, as well as the personal information of all consumers who visit our institution.

Together with our Cookie Policy and Website Terms and Conditions, this Privacy Policy provides you with important information regarding your rights and obligations, and explains how, why and when we collect and process your personal data.

Liberis takes your privacy seriously. This Online Privacy Policy explains how the Company gathers and processes your personal information in compliance with the relevant data protection regulations, laws and guidance. Together with our Cookie Policy, Website Terms and Conditions, this policy provides you with important information regarding your rights and obligations, and explains how, why and when we collect and process your personal data. Please read this Online Privacy Policy carefully before using our website or registering to use our products or services.

References in this Online Privacy Policy and on our website to “we,” “our” or “us” are references to Liberis. References to “you” and “your” mean each natural or legal person who uses our website or the associated products or services and also includes the owners, executive officers, senior managers and general partners of any business that requests or receives products or services from Liberis, and any other individuals who perform similar functions (the “Principals”). References to the “business” mean the individual, corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, estate, trust, or any other entity that applies for or obtains products and services from Liberis.

1. What is Personal Information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual.  This includes information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you. It can also include other pieces of information which can be used to identify you, either directly or indirectly, such as a cookie or an IP address. Consent for the collection, use or communication of your personal information may sometimes be required. Personal information also includes publicly available personal information, although your consent is not required to collect, use or disclose publicly available personal information in certain circumstances.

2. What Information Do We Collect?

2.1       Liberis collects your personal information to meet our legal, statutory, and contractual obligations, and to verify your identity, to respect your indicated preferences, to assess your eligibility for our products and services that you have requested, to provide you with such products and services as applicable, and to send you marketing messages that you have consented to receive.

We will never intentionally collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information other than as specified in this Online Privacy Policy or in our Cookie Policy. At all times, we will provide you the relevant information and we will request your consent, as needed.

2,2       The types of personal information that we collect depends on the products and services you request and use.

This information may include, for each Principal who is an individual:

• Identifiers – name, aliases, physical characteristics or description, date of birth, passport information, driver’s license number, social insurance number, or other similar government-issued identification information;
• Profile and Background Information – insurance policy numbers, education history, medical information, health insurance information, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number and any other financial information;
• Professional or Employment Information – job title, company name, address, telephone number, employment history, type of entity, business identification number, date business started, percentage ownership, financial information including account and routing numbers and management and/or audited accounts;
• Contact Information –  email address, street address, telephone number, and other contact information;
• Demographic Information – nationality, race, gender;
• Commercial Records – contractual/contact information (i.e., our ‘history’ together – services provided or discussed, payment information (e.g., bank account or wiring instructions);
• Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity – internet protocol address, browsing history, search history, information regarding your interaction with our website, cookies;
• Geolocation Data;
• Audio, Electronic, Visual and Similar Information – call and video recordings; and
• Inferences Drawn From Other Personal Information – data, assumptions, or conclusions derived from facts, evidence, or another source of information or data reflecting your preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, or aptitudes.

We may also require written authorization from each Principal to obtain consumer credit reports about them to verify financing eligibility.

2.3       We may also require the business to provide its name, postal and email addresses, and telephone numbers; type of entity such as corporation, LLC, partnership, or sole proprietorship; business number (assigned by Canada Revenue Agency); the date the business was started; its bank and routing number and account number; its bank statements and its management and/or audited accounts.

We may require the business to provide its acquirer Merchant ID(s), the purpose for which it is requesting funding, its current and historical card takings, and chargeback and refund data, as well as its Merchant Category Code(s) and/or industry type.

We may require other reports such as credit, fraud and Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (“FINTRAC”) reports on each Principal.

We may require confirmation that the business is continuing to take payments through the card terminal(s) provided to us.

3. How we collect information

3.1       We may collect any personal information that you provide to us voluntarily, for example by completing a form on any of our websites or in hard copy, by taking part in survey, a phone or social media conversation, or by emailing us, or by permitting us to obtain information about you from a third party.

Our systems may record information about your website usage, such as your browser type (e.g. Internet Explorer), operating system (e.g. Microsoft Windows), IP address (a way of identifying your internet connection) and basic information about your internet service provider. This information is used to improve our services and enhance your user experience For more information, please refer to our Cookie Policy.For security and audit control, and to help us understand your preferences, we may also keep a record of when you access the site, which pages you visit and the actions you take on each page. For more information, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

We may also collect data contained through credit reports obtained from a consumer reporting agency (“CRA”) or from other information databases such as fraud and FINTRAC reporting sources.

Specifically, we collect information from and about you in the following ways:

• You (or your representative)
• Data analytics providers
• Marketing partners
• Our website and mobile applications
• Third-party websites
• Service providers
• Credit reporting agencies
• Government agencies
• Third parties (such as your card processor, brokers or our partners) who refer you to us for our products and services.
• Publicly accessible databases

If we need to use your personal information for another purpose, we will tell you about it, explain the legal basis which allows us to do so, and obtain your explicit consent, as needed.

4. How We Use Your personal information

4.1       Liberis will disclose and use your personal information only as described in this Online Privacy Policy, in our Cookie Policy, or in a separate message at the time of data collection. You are free to opt-out of receiving email offers at any time at any time by emailing dataprotection@liberis.com or by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email you receive from us. This will not unsubscribe you from critical emails required for the provision of products and services to which you have subscribed. This includes but is not limited to emails regarding payments due, payments received and payments missed. You may opt-out of future text solicitations by responding to any text with the word “STOP” and may opt-out of telephone solicitations to your residential or mobile phone by asking the caller to be placed on our do-not-call list.

4.2       Reasons we can use your personal information:

• To provide you with our products and associated services: We use personal information to assess your eligibility for our funding products, offer and provide our funding products and associated services, including: (1) establishing, maintaining, supporting, and servicing your product; (2) providing services, products, or information you may have requested from us; and (3) performing services such as maintaining or servicing your MyLiberis accounts, providing customer service, verifying customer information, providing financing, searching CRA or other database records, providing analytic services, or providing similar services on our own behalf or on the service provider’s behalf.
• Security and Fraud Detection: We use personal information for our security and fraud detection services including: detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; and prosecuting those responsible for that activity.
• Debugging: We use personal information to engage in debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
• Improvement of Products and Services: We use personal information to verify, maintain, and improve our products and services.
• Internal Research: We use personal information for our internal research related to technological development and demonstration.
• Advertising and Marketing Services: We use personal information to provide advertising or marketing services on our own behalf, where you have consented to this.
• Audits: We use personal information to audit current interactions with you and related transactions (e.g., counting and verifying ad impressions, auditing compliance).
• Merger/Acquisition/Bankruptcy, etc.: We may use your personal information as part of a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other transaction where a third party assumes control of us, or where such information is requested by our lenders.
• Commercial/Economic Interests: We use personal information to advance our commercial or economic interest.
• Legal Obligations: We use personal information to comply with legal obligations, including enforcing our Terms and Conditions, as well as your rights of access and rectification in relation to your personal information.
• Aggregated information:  We may use your personal information to generate non-personal statistical data, for example relating to the size of our customer base and the levels of site usage. This will only be group data, such as the age range of site users, and will not include any information that could personally identify you. This may then be shared with third parties.

5. How we may share and disclose your personal information

5.1       Liberis shares your personal information with third parties as permitted by you and by law, including in the following ways:

• If your details were provided to us by a third party or one of our partners (such as a financial broker, your card provider or via a referral website) then we may provide updates regarding the status of your application back to them, and updates on the status of any product we provide you with, as well as your transaction data and details of any complaints you may make.
• Third party service providers. We may work with third party service providers, including affiliates, to support our business functions, such as facilitating electronic fund transfers and offering customer service. For example, we will work with companies that we partner with to provide services to you, and companies that we work with to collect information about your card transactions. Liberis may share your personal information, including credit reports, with such companies, but all service providers acting on our behalf will only process your data in accordance with instructions from us and will comply fully with relevant data protection laws and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. We may share your identity information and any audio, electronic and visual information that we collect about you with third party firms that provide background checks for due diligence and anti-money laundering purposes and with external legal counsel, and consultants (including regulatory and tax).

• Credit reporting agencies. Liberis may share personal information about you with CRAs or other data-collection organizations to meet our reporting obligations.
• Other affiliates and third parties. We may also share your personal information, other than credit reports, for any legitimate purpose permitted by applicable law with affiliates and third parties that are not affiliated with us.

5.2       Some third parties (including our service providers) with whom we may share your personal information may be located in jurisdictions outside of Canada where the laws may provide for a different level of protection for personal information than exists in Canada and yourpersonal information may be accessible to law enforcement and national security authorities within those jurisdictions. By providing your personal information to us, you consent to our disclosure of your personal information outside the jurisdiction in which you reside or are located. If you would like to receive more information about our sharing of personal information outside of Canada or our practices and procedures related to our use of service providers located outside of Canada, please contact our Data Protection Officer, as indicated below.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

6.1       Our website may use cookies to store information about your site usage. A cookie is a small text file that is sent to your browser from a web server and then stored on your hard drive. Cookies enable us to recognize your computer and record information from your visits to the site, such as your preferred settings. This saves you having to re-enter the same data each time you use the site and allows us to provide you with a more customized experience.

6.2       We may also use cookies and analytical software to collect anonymous data for internal research purposes, including without limitation:

• To monitor site usage.
• To keep an audit trail.
• To understand visitors’ browsing habits.
• To analyze trends and demographic statistics.
• To compile statistical reports.

6.3       Most internet browsers accept cookies by default; however, you can usually change your browser settings to reject cookies if you would prefer not to receive them. If you choose not to receive our cookies you will not be able to receive any personalized features and you may not be able to benefit from all our services.

6.4       Currently our website does not respond differently or limit practices under the terms of this Online Privacy Policy when you access our online services with a browser that uses a do not track signal or similar mechanism.

7. Information Security

7.1       The security of your personal information is very important to Liberis. We use physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards that are designed to protect your personal information from loss, misuse and/or unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

We have several layers of security measures in place to protect your information, including:

• An up-to-date anti-virus software to protect against viruses damaging data and infrastructure,
• Periodic review of our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems,
• Housekeeping measures by regular backups, encryption, and network domain policy.

In addition, Liberis uses standard security protocols and mechanisms to exchange the transmission of sensitive data such as credit card details and bank account numbers. When you enter sensitive personal information such as your bank account number on our site, we encrypt it using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

7.2       Liberis is also committed to reducing risks of human error, theft, fraud, and misuse of its facilities. The Company’s efforts include training employees on security policies and procedures as well as implementation of such policies and procedures. Liberis employees are required to maintain the confidentiality of data. Employees’ obligations include written confidentiality agreements, regular training on information protection, and compliance with company policies concerning protection of confidential information.

7.3       We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary or as appropriate to fulfil our business or commercial purposes or to comply with applicable law, audit requirements, regulatory requests, or orders from competent authorities.

8. Protecting Children’s Privacy Online

Liberis’ website is not directed to individuals under the age of eighteen (18). We request that individuals under the age of eighteen do not provide personal information through our website. In the unlikely event that we learn that information from such individuals has been collected, we will immediately remove that information from our databases. The Company does not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from or to children without obtaining written, verifiable consent from a parent or legal guardian.

9. Using other websites

9.1       Our websites may contain links to web sites which are owned or controlled by parties other than Liberis Inc. These links are provided for your convenience and do not imply that we have reviewed or condone the third-party sites, their content, or their privacy policies.

9.2       When using other websites, you must be aware that any personal information you supply will be handled according to their privacy policies. We recommend that you read and consider these website’s privacy policies and terms and conditions before providing any of your personal information. Liberis is not responsible for privacy practices or content on third-party websites.

9.3       Our websites may also automatically transfer you to a third party site in order to fulfil the services we provide to you. In such cases, we will carry out due diligence to ensure third parties have the appropriate data protection requirements in place.

9.4       When you access the linked third party websites you do so at your own risk. These sites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, or collect data or solicit personal information from you. Liberis is not liable for any misuse of your information or other misconduct by the third party.

10. Your rights

10.1     Under Quebec  and Canadian law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

• You have the right to know of the existence, use and disclosure of the personal information we have collected about you, including an accounting of its uses and disclosures.
• You have the right to access the personal information that we hold about you.
• You have the right to correct or supplement any personal information that we hold about you that you can demonstrate is incorrect or incomplete.
• You have the right to obtain a copy of a credit report or recommendation concerning you and communicated to us by a credit assessment agency in the context of your financing application.
• You have the right to withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal and contractual restrictions

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer through one of the methods of contact listed below. To exercise rectification rights regarding your credit record, you must contact the credit assessment agency specified in your financing application form.

. If you choose to withdraw your consent completely, we will not be able to continue to provide you with our products and services. In such case, we will provide you with the necessary explanations regarding the impact of your decision on your ability to benefit from our products and services.

10.2     Before we provide you with access to your personal information, we must first verify your identity:

• Password-Protected Accounts: If you have a password-protected account with us, we may verify your identity through our existing authentication practices for your account. We will also require you to re-authenticate yourself before we disclose your personal information. If we suspect fraudulent or malicious activity on or from your account, we will need to perform further verification to determine whether your request is authentic, and you are the person about whom we have collected the personal information.
• Non-Account Holders:  If you do not hold a password-protected account with us, we will ask you for at least two pieces of information, which we will match with at least two data points in our system to verify your identity.

If we are unable to verify your identity, we will let you know and explain why we were unable to verify your identity.

If you would like to use an authorized agent to submit a verifiable request, you must provide the authorized agent with written permission to do so and verify your own identity directly with us or directly confirm that you provided the authorized agent with permission to submit the request.  We may deny a request from an agent that does not submit proof that they are authorized to act on your behalf.

Once we receive your request, we will send you an acknowledgment email within 10 days and provide you with next steps for processing your request, including verifying your identity.  We will respond to your request within 30 days of receipt unless we need more time.  We will provide you with additional information if that is the case.

Our response will set out reasons in case of refusal. Additionally, you may request the assistance of our Data Protection Officer to help you better understand our decision.

Access to your personal information is free of charge. However, fees may apply if you request the transcription, reproduction, or transmission of such information. In such cases, a cost estimate will be provided to you in advance.

11. Changes to this Online Privacy Policy

11.1     We may amend or update this Online Privacy Policy periodically to reflect the changes in our business and practices. The revised policy and a notice to this effect will be posted on our website. Any changes will become effective as of the date indicated on the Privacy Policy. If your consent is required, we will also ensure to renew it.

11.2     For questions or to access your personal information, you may contact our Data Protection Officer in the following ways:

Email: dataprotection@liberis.com

Mail: Data Protection Officer, Liberis Ltd., Scale Space Building, 58 Wood Lane, London, W12 7RZ