Privacy Policy
Charter Software Inc. (“Charter”) believes that privacy is important to the success and use of the Internet. This statement sets forth Charter’s Privacy Statement for chartersoftware.com and describes the practices that Charter will follow with respect to the privacy of users of this Site.
Like most industries today, the financial and business services industries are rapidly being shaped by technology, literally changing the way we do business. To be successful in this environment, we must continue to ensure that our customers are confident we will manage their financial affairs expertly and confidentially.
What is personally identifiable information?
“Customer identifiable information” is information which can be associated with a specific individual or entity, such as name, address, e-mail address, user ID, credit card number, social security number, and so on.
Recognition of a Customer’s Expectation of Privacy
At Charter, we believe the confidentiality and protection of customer information is one of our fundamental responsibilities. And while information is critical to providing quality service, we recognize one of our most important assets is our customers’ trust. Thus, the safekeeping of customer information is a priority for Charter.
We do not collect personal information (including your e-mail address) unless we first ask you for it. On some of our sites, we may request that you voluntarily supply us with information, including your e-mail address, street address, telephone number or other information so we may enhance your site visit or follow up with you after your visit. Whether you provide any information is entirely up to you.
If you have voluntarily provided information, you consented to the collection and use of your personally identifiable information as described in this Privacy Statement. We do not sell or rent personal information collected through this site to anyone. However, Charter may provide aggregate statistics about visitors to our Sites, such as volume, traffic patterns, and related site information to reputable third-party vendors, but these statistics will include no personally identifiable information. Charter may also disclose information in special cases when we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process; (b) protect and defend our rights or property; (c) enforce the Web site Terms and Conditions of Use; or (d) act to protect the interests of our users or others.
Use, Collection and Retention of Customer Information
Charter limits the use, collection and retention of customer information to what we believe is necessary or useful to conduct our business, provide quality service, and offer products, services and other opportunities that may be of interest to our customers. Charter will collect and use customer identifiable information for billing purposes, to provide service to you, to anticipate and resolve problems with your service, or to create and inform you of products and services that better meet your needs.
Charter does share company names, addresses and contact information with our third-party vendors, WorkflowOne, Strategic Feedback Inc., and ChargeItPro.
Charter servers automatically gather information about which pages are visited within the Charter Web Site. We do not use that information except in the aggregate.
Maintenance of Accurate Information
Charter recognizes that it must maintain accurate customer records. Therefore, Charter has established procedures to maintain the accuracy of customer information and to keep such information current and complete. These procedures include responding to requests to correct inaccurate information in a timely manner.
Protection of Information via Established Security Procedures
Charter recognizes that a fundamental element of maintaining effective customer privacy procedures is to provide reasonable protection against the unauthorized access to customer information. Therefore, Charter has established appropriate security standards and procedures to guard access to customer information.
Disclosure of Privacy Principles to Customers
Charter recognizes and respects the privacy expectations of our customers. We want our customers to understand our commitment to privacy in our use of customer information. As a result of our commitment, we have developed these Privacy Principles which are made readily available to our customers.
Customers who have questions about these Privacy Principles or have a question about the privacy of their customer information should call Charter.
What are cookies and how are they used?
Some Charter Sites, like many other commercial web sites, may utilize a standard technology called “cookies” to collect information about how our site is used. Cookies were designed to help a web site operator determine that a particular user had visited the site previously and thus save and remember any preferences that may have been set while the user was browsing the site. Cookies are small strings of text that web sites can send to your browser. Cookies cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive or obtain your e-mail address. If you are simply browsing an Charter informational site, a cookie may be used to identify your browser as one that has visited the site before.
We may also make use of memory-based cookies in support of authenticating the user of certain Charter web applications. Similarly, if you are a registered user of a site providing service to Charter clients (and have a user ID and password), we may use cookies so that we can provide personalized information based on preferences you have indicated while using the site. Although you have the ability to modify your browser to either accept all cookies, notify you when a cookie is sent, or reject all cookies, it may not be possible to utilize Charter services which require registration if you reject cookies.
Children’s Privacy (Age 12 and Under)
Charter takes children’s privacy seriously.
Charter does not seek to collect personal information about children through its web site.
Charter does not condition a child’s participation in an activity on the disclosure of more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in the activity.
If we become aware that a person submitting personal information to us through any part of our web site is a child, we delete the information as soon as we discover it and do not use it for any purpose, nor do we disclose it to third parties.
Since we do not seek to collect any personal information about children, and we delete any information collected inadvertently as soon as we discover that a child has submitted it, we typically retain no information about children that could be reviewed or deleted. If a parent requests review or deletion of information about their child before we have discovered and deleted the information, then we will of course honor that request.
What are your choices regarding collection, use, and distribution of your information?
If you have voluntarily provided information, you consented to the collection and use of your personally identifiable information as described in this Privacy Statement. If, in connection with your use of a particular service, we ask to use your data in a way not described in this Privacy Statement and you do not wish to permit that use, you can choose not to use the particular service.
If you have voluntarily provided personally identifiable information, we may, from time to time, send you mail or e-mail regarding products and services. If you do not want to receive such offers and mailings, you can easily indicate that by checking the appropriate box on the submission form.
How do we protect your information?
We exercise great care to protect your personally identifiable information. This includes, among other things, using industry standard techniques such as firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection and site monitoring. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personally identifiable information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from us. This is especially true for information you transmit to us via e-mail. We have no way of protecting that information until it reaches us. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our servers.
Internally, we will restrict access to your personally identifiable information to employees who need access to the information in order to do their jobs. These employees are limited in number and are committed to our privacy policies.
We will review our security arrangements from time to time as we deem appropriate.
How can you help protect your information?
If you are using a Charter web site for which you registered, we recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. We will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited e-mail. Also remember to sign out of the registered site and close your browser window when you have finished your work. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if others have access to your computer.
Other sites
Charter Sites may contain links to other sites, including those of our business partners. While we seek to link only to sites that share our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by other sites.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should Email Charter Software.
These Privacy Principles apply to individuals, and we reserve the right to change these Privacy Principles, and any of the policies or procedures described above, at any time without prior notice. These Privacy Principles are for general guidance and do not constitute a contract or create legal rights and do not modify or amend any agreements we have with our customers.