Who we are

Our website address is: https://vahousingassistance.com.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact forms

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

We also work with vendors and partners in operating and improving the Site. These vendors and other partners include advertising and web analytics companies. These partners and vendors use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information about your online activity (e.g., the sites and pages you have visited at the Site and at times other third party sites) in order to help manage ad campaigns, understand user interests and trends and deliver personalized content and advertising to you while you are on the Site or on other sites.

Our privacy policy does not cover any use of information that a third-party vendor may collect from you. These companies have their own policies regarding record keeping and data retention. If you would like more information, or would like to know your choices about not having this information used by advertising companies, please visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/.

We use Google Analytics on the Site; information on how this collects and processes data can be found at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. In addition, we have enabled certain Google Analytics advertising features that utilize cookies. These features enable us to obtain certain demographic and interests data for visitors to the Site. You can opt out of these features by visiting https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads.

We may use Google AdWords remarketing to trigger advertisements across the Internet. AdWords remarketing will display relevant ads tailored to you based on what parts of the Site you have viewed by placing a cookie on your machine. The cookie is used to say “This person visited this page, so show them ads relating to that page.” Google AdWords remarketing allows us to tailor our marketing to better suit your needs and only display ads that are relevant to you. If you do not wish to participate in our Google AdWords remarketing, you can opt out by visiting https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/.

Our Site may include social media features, such as Facebook or Twitter buttons. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. These features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR THE ACTS AND/OR OMISSIONS OF THIRD PARTY VENDORS.

Who we share your data with

If you use our site to request a quote or information, we will connect you with companies in our Approved Partner Network (“Partners”) in order to process and fulfill your request. To do so, we will use the Provided Attributes you elected to share with us to determine which companies can help you and we will share your Provided Attributes with those companies. This is the primary use of data on our Site.

By submitting your request, you understand that our Partners may contact you by telephone, automated calling, mobile device, email, or regular mail based on the information you provided to us in order to process and fulfill your request, even if you have opted into the National Do Not Call List administered by the Federal Trade Commission, any state equivalent Do Not Call List, or the Do Not Call List of an internal company. If a Partner contacts you and you wish not to be contacted again by that Partner with respect to your inquiry, then you should specifically make a request to that Partner not to contact you again. Please note that our Partners may maintain the information you provided whether you elect to use their services.

We may use the data we collect from and about you to (i) respond to your requests (e.g., receive white papers, email, phone calls or texts); (ii) to keep you informed of our products and services (and those of our Partners); (iii) to improve our Sites and business; (iv) to fulfill any purchase you make; and (vi) to use your data in an aggregated, non-specific format for analytic and demographic purposes.

We use Technical Data to monitor this Site’s performance, analyze traffic patterns and usage, ensure that this Site and any transactions function properly, and gather demographic information about our user base as a whole.

How long we retain your data

In general, we will retain your data for as long as is needed to connect you with Partners who can provide you with information about the products and services you are seeking, which is typically 90-180 days. We will typically retain an archived copy of your data for seven years as required or permitted by law for legal and compliance purposes.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Your contact information

 You can generally visit the Site without revealing any personally identifiable information about yourself. However, in certain sections of the Site and when you use our Services, we may enable you to request quotes or information, complete a registration form, or perform other similar activities. Due to the nature of some of these activities, we may collect personally identifiable information that you choose to submit such as your name, contact data (address, email address, phone number), financial information and other similar information. We may also collect additional personally identifiable information that you voluntarily include in your interactions with the Site or transmit with your communications to us. We refer to the information that you elect to provide as “Provided Attributes”.

Additional information

Categories of Data we Collect

We collect the following CCPA categories of data:

  1. identifiers, such as a name, email address, telephone number, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, and IP address.
  2. protected classification characteristics under California law, such as veteran or military status;
  3. commercial information, such as products or services obtained, or considered
  4. internet activity, such as browsing history and search history
  5. geolocation data;
  6. inferences drawn from some of the information above (e.g., email open rates and time).

We generally collect the above data as Technical Data or Provided Attributes. For example, we do not create user profiles to determine the gender, marital status or employment status of consumers.

Data Sources

Us: We collect Technical Data and Provided Attributes from consumers who land on or engage with our Sites, or other properties we own (e.g., in response to emails from or on our behalf).

Service Providers: We engage service providers to perform a variety of functions (e.g., verifying consumer consent, validating email addresses or phone numbers).

Authorization: We require all parties from whom we receive data, whether they are Partners, Service Providers or other third parties, to represent and warrant to us that they have appropriately obtained the data provided to us and have the authority to share the data with us.

Purpose for Data Collection. As described above in “How Do we Use the Information We Collect,” we primarily use the data we collect to connect consumers with Partners who can provide information about the products and services those consumers are seeking.

Categories of Third Parties with Whom we Disclose Personal Data. In addition to the sharing for the primary use described in “Data Sharing,” we may share your data with other businesses we own, service providers, and third party websites.

Categories of Data Sold. As described above in “How Do we Use the Information We Collect” and “Data Sharing,” we may transfer Technical Data and Provided Attributes to Advertising Partners who can provide the consumer with information about the products and services they are seeking. We may receive a fee for the transfer of that data or when the consumer purchases a product or service.

CCPA Rights

The CCPA affords certain rights and protections to California residents including:

  1. the right to request that we delete any “personal information” that we have collected from you (“Right to Delete”);
  2. the right to request that we disclose the categories and/or specific pieces of personal information collected and sold (“Right to Know”); and
  3. the right to direct us not to sell their “personal information” (“Right to Opt-Out”).

Personal information” is defined under the CCPA as “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.”

California residents who would like to submit a Request to Know, Delete, or Opt-Out should contact us. Upon submission, you will be asked to verify your email address. If we are able to verify your Request to Know or Delete, (e.g., that you are a California resident and that we have or have sold, as the case may be, your “personal information”), we will respond within 45 days of your submission (or such additional time period as the law allows us).

How we protect your data

The security of your personal information is very important to us. We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. We may employ procedural and technological security measures that are reasonably designed to help protect your personally identifiable information from loss, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however.  Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.