This privacy policy has been developed to assist those who are concerned about their 'Personally identifiable information' (PII) and how it is being used online. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website. We respect your privacy and the security of your information and for this reason, we do not capture personal information about you without your permission. If you choose to provide this information, it will be used for the express purpose for which it was intended, such as responding to your request for information or applying for financing.
This website (the “Site”) is hosted by Hall Internet Marketing and is the property of the Southern Maine Finance Agency, d/b/a Southern Maine Finance Agency (“SMFA”). Only authorized SMFA personnel are provided access to personally identifiable information, and these employees are required to treat this information as confidential. Despite these precautions, however, SMFA cannot guarantee that unauthorized persons will not obtain access to your PII.
"Personally identifiable information" is information about a person that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. It includes, for example, an individual's name, street address, e-mail address, or phone number. PII will not be collected unless you voluntarily send an email message or fill out and return an online form. When registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, date of birth, social security number and other details to help us process your request.
In addition to providing the foregoing information, if you choose to correspond further with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail. Your choice not to participate in these activities will not impair your ability to browse. However, it may impair your ability to access certain information or obtain a service online.
When you visit this site, you are not required to provide any personal information unless you choose to do so. Our web server will recognize the domain name/Internet Protocol (IP) address from which you are accessing this site and certain other technical facts (such as date and time of access, the operating system and web browser that you are using), but not your e-mail address or other personally identifying information. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual. We never track or record information about individuals and their visits and we do not share this data with anyone outside the SMFA unless necessary for law enforcement purposes.
By using this site, you consent to the recognition of your domain name/IP address.
Unless specifically protected by Maine law, any information provided may be disclosed in a legal proceeding.
We collect information from you when you fill out a form or enter information on our site that will allow SMFA to provide you with our services. The types of information we may collect include your name, company name, email address, postal address, phone number, information about a particular borrower or project, prior loan history, financial information (which may include tax returns, financial statements and banking information), demographic and employment information and any other information you choose to provide. We gather personal information from the following sources:
All submitted information is used only for the express purposes for which it is provided, and is not made available to any third party.
We do not share or sell any personal information on our current or former borrowers, lenders and funders to anyone outside the SMFA except as follows or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:
To protect your privacy, we only disclose to third parties that agree to maintain strong confidentiality safeguards and not use this information for other purposes. We may also share aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot reasonably be used to identify you.
If you do not renew your loan to or investment with the SMFA, if you have a loan from the SMFA and pay off the loan, or if you are no longer an active customer, we will retain your records for as long as required by law. We will continue to treat your personal information as described in this notice and as amended from time to time.
We may disclose PII if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) comply with a request for information if we believe disclosure is in accordance with any applicable law, regulation or legal process, or as otherwise required by any applicable law, rule or regulation served upon us or our agents, representatives and affiliates; (2) protect and defend the rights, property or safety of SMFA or others if your actions are inconsistent with applicable agreements or policies; (3) protect the personal safety of SMFA or the public; (4) respond to inquiries by bona fide owners of intellectual property rights in connection with allegations of copyright or other proprietary or intellectual property rights infringement(s) arising from data or other information posted by users on the Site or otherwise provided to SMFA; or (5) negotiate, any merger or sale of company assets, or financing or acquisition of all or a portion of SMFA to another company.
We take reasonable measures to help protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information. Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all information is encrypted at rest and in transit to safeguard the confidentiality of all sensitive personal/credit information you supply.
Email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information through an unsecured email.
We restrict access to personal information to those employees who need that information in order to provide products or services. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in accordance with federal regulations to guard such information.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, despite our efforts to protect your personal information, SMFA cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to or from our online products or services. You transmit all such information at your own risk. However, once we receive your transmission, we will protect your information with reasonable electronic and procedural safeguards.
Our Web site provides links to other Web sites. These other sites are not subject to our privacy policy. We strongly recommend that you review each Web site’s privacy policy when visiting it.
Cookies are information files that our Site may place on your computer to provide extended functionality and to personalize your Site experience. We may use cookies for a number of purposes. For example, we may use cookies to track usage patterns on the Site or to record registration and personalization information. We do not store any PII in cookies, but we may link the cookie to any information we collect. You can disable cookies on your computer by indicating this in the preferences or options menus in your browser. However, it is possible that some parts of the Site will not operate correctly if you disable cookies. You should consult with your browser’s provider/manufacturer if you have any questions regarding disabling cookies.
The SMFA uses some social media tools and websites to interact with its customers and resource partners. Social media websites are used to publicize SMFA programs and services and engage with members of the public. The SMFA does not use third party websites to solicit and collect personal information from individuals. Any personal information collected by a third party website will not be transmitted to SMFA unless required for law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law. SMFA’s privacy and other web policies do not apply to these third party sites and we encourage you to read the policies of the third party site when deciding whether to use it.
The SMFA website contains links to websites of other public and private organizations. When you follow a link to another site, you leave the SMFA site and your website interactions are no longer protected by our privacy policy. SMFA is not responsible for, and does not endorse the privacy or security practices and content of sites to which SMFA links.
COPPA and its accompanying regulations protect the privacy of children using the Internet. When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.
Because we care about the safety and privacy of children online, we comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). We do not specifically market to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect any information from children under 13 years of age. If you are under 13 years of age, do not submit any information about yourself to this Site. If we discover that a child under the age of 13 has provided the Site with PII, we will delete that child’s PII from all SMFA systems.
It is possible that by fraud or deception we may receive information pertaining to children under 13. If we are notified of this, as soon as we verify the information, we will immediately delete the information from our servers. If you want to notify us of our receipt of information by children under 13, please do so by sending an e-mail to the SMFA
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
WE COLLECT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN ORDER TO:
TO BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH CANSPAM WE AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:
IF AT ANY TIME YOU WOULD LIKE TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM RECEIVING FUTURE EMAILS:
We will promptly remove you from ALL promotional correspondence. If you opt out, we may still send you non-promotional communications, such as those about your account.
Email messages, sent to any SMFA address, will be treated the same as any other written communication. They may be subject to legal disclosure and may be saved for a period of time before they are destroyed. The email will be used to respond appropriately. The email message and address may be forwarded to other agencies or partners providing services for appropriate action. E-mail or other information requests sent to this website may be maintained in order to respond to the request, forward that request to the appropriate individual, or to provide the web designer with valuable customer feedback to assist in improving the site. E-mail addresses obtained through the website will not be sold or given to private companies for marketing purposes.
Neither the SMFA, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the SMFA warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published on the SMFA website, nor endorses any products or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Portions of the information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this system does so at his or her own risk.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL SMFA OR ANY OF ITS PREDECESSORS, SUCCESSORS, PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, PARTNERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS OR REPRESENTATIVES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES THAT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RESULT FROM SMFA’S NON-NEGLIGENT RELEASE OR DISCLOSURE OF PII OR OTHER USER INFORMATION AS SET FORTH IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY, OR FOR USERS SHARING, MODIFYING, DISCLOSING OR OTHERWISE TRANSMITTING OTHER USERS’ PII OR OTHER USER INFORMATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL SMFA’S OR ANY OF ITS PREDECESSORS’, SUCCESSORS’, PARENTS’, SUBSIDIARIES’, AFFILIATES’, OFFICERS’, DIRECTORS’, PARTNERS’, INVESTORS’, EMPLOYEES’, AGENTS’ OR REPRESENTATIVES’ TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMED DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION WITH RESPECT TO PII USAGE OR DISCLOSURE WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE EXCEED $1.
Information presented on the SMFA site is done on the behalf of the corporation. If you find something that is out of date or wrong please contact the corporation or SMFA webmaster. Do not include any sensitive data, such as your personal information, when you contact us to correct data inaccuracies. The secure transfer of this type of information will be arranged later if necessary.
You may request that we update, correct or delete information about you at any time emailing us at info@smfamaine.org, but note that we may retain certain information as required by law or for legitimate business purposes. We may also retain cached or archived copies of information about you for a certain period of time.
If you believe any of your personal information maintained at the SMFA is incorrect, or if you have a privacy-related concern, please call SMFA at (207) 282-1748, or email SMFA at: (link sends e-mail).
We welcome any questions or comments you have about SMFA, including this privacy policy; please direct them to info@smfamaine.org. Please check our privacy policy periodically, as any changes we may make in the future will be posted here.
From time to time, we may update or amend this policy and will notify you of those changes as required by law. If we do so, we will post a revised privacy policy to this website. Your continued use of our website constitutes acceptance of any changes made to this privacy policy.
If there are any questions or comments regarding the SMFA’s website, information presented in this website Privacy Statement, or to review or request correction of your personal information, please contact us at info@smfamaine.org or 1-207-282-1748.
This privacy policy became effective on December 8, 2015.
* These terms may change without prior notice
The Southern Maine Finance Agency d/b/a Southern Maine Finance Agency (SMFA) is an Equal Opportunity Lender and Employer.
SMFA does not discriminate in the administration of any of its programs or in its employment practices on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, gender, religion, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, marital or family status or sexual orientation. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information should contact SMFA at (207) 282-1748.
Complaints of discrimination should be addressed to: President, SMFA, 20 Pomerlea Street, Biddeford, ME 04005 or mailed to P.O. Box 536, Saco, ME 04072.