Brinkman Financial Company Privacy Policy

6/15/2016

Overview

Brinkman Financial Company, L.P. (BFC) is intent on safeguarding user information on our web sites.  Privacy on our web sites and maintaining our Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance rating is of the utmost importance to us.  Any information gathered from customers is used solely to make our web site’s content and services easier and more convenient for users.  BFC does not sell, trade, or rent any information from users to third parties for marketing purposes.  This is the privacy policy for all Brinkman Financial web sites; however, parts of our web sites may make less use of the data we have outlined in this policy.

Web Site Security

Our web sites have security measures in place to help protect again the loss, misuse and alteration of the Data within our control.  These include firewall walls, anti-virus products, physical security and other industry-standard practices that are reviewed at least annually. 

Information collected online

Brinkman Financial collects nonpublic personal information about you only to the extent required to complete transactions requested by you and protect you against fraudulent uses of this data. The types of information we collect include your name, address, telephone number, email address, bank account or credit card data, and potentially signatures.  None of this information is collected without you voluntarily providing it to us.

We may also collect IP address, GPS coordinates and other potential location data for transactional purposes automatically. This data may be stored and retrieved by the user/customer at a later time for transactional review.

We collect, retain and use information about you only for specific business purposes and where we reasonably believe that it will help administer our business or provide products and services to you. The information is used to protect and administer your records, account, and funds; to comply with certain laws and regulations; and to help us design and enhance our products and services offerings so that we may provide you with quality products, services, and superior customer support.

We do not license, sell, rent or trade any collected business information, including contact information or specific information about your accounts or other personally identifiable information unless: (1) you request or authorize it; (2) information is provided to help complete a transaction initiated by you; (3) information is provided to a reputable credit bureau or similar information reporting agency; or (4) the disclosure otherwise is lawfully permitted or requested.

Cookies

When you visit the BFC web site, our web server may send a cookie to your computer for the duration of an application session.  Cookies are small temporary files placed on a computer’s hard drive which are used by web browsers to maintain location and are used to tell the web server if you have visited the web site previously.  Cookies do not identify you personally.  Third parties that provide products or services through our site may also assign their own cookies to your browser, a process that we don’t control.

IP Addresses

Our web servers automatically collect limited information about your computer configuration when you visit our site, including the type of browser software you use, the operating system you’re running, the resolution of your computer monitor, the website that referred you, and your IP (Internet Protocol) address.  Every computer accessing our web sites has a unique IP address.  The IP address is a numerical address that is used by computers connected to the Internet to identify your computer so that data (such as the web pages you want to view) can be transmitted to you. Your IP address does not tell us who you are.  The IP address and session cookie are utilized in some applications to secure your web session with the web applications.  We also use these IP addresses to track users’ activities via web logs and/or application-specific logs.  In the unlikely event of a security breach, this log data can be submitted to law enforcement if requested.

How we protect your credit card information

Brinkman Financial has implemented a number of security measures to protect your information. Your information is protected on secured networks and is accessible by a limited number of employees who have special access rights to such systems. When you access merchant information, we offer the use of a secure server. Industry-standard encryption technologies are used when transferring or receiving sensitive information supplied by users. Brinkman Financial updates and tests its technology to improve the protection of our information about you and to ensure the integrity of our information on a regular basis.

The security of your credit card information is of the utmost importance to us.  Credit card information is encrypted which means the data is scrambled multiple times in order to deflect possible hackers.  BFC maintains the data in its encrypted state for up to 3 years, thereby easing the ordering process of return customers so the credit card information need  not be entered every time.  Credit card validation numbers, also called CVV2 and displayed as the “Credit Card Security Code,” which typically appear on the rear of the credit card near the signature block or on the front of the card just above the account number, are never stored.

Any Track Data is temporarily stored in encrypted form until the completion of the transaction (or a time-out occurs). For EMV TLV Data, sensitive data is saved in encrypted form and will be purged according to the 3-year time limit.

Additional Automatic Information

Examples of additional information we collect and store include user login, email address, hash-version of the password, computer and connection information such as browser type, version and time zone settings, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and the default language and culture of the user.

Information Sharing

The information we collect is only used to process the transactions that you either initiate or approve.  Email addresses and other personal information is collected in order to communicate receipts or other pertinent information to you. None of the information gathered is ever sold, and is only shared with third parties in order to complete transactions.

Third Party Sites

The BFC web site may contain links to other web sites.  BFC is not responsible for the privacy practices or the contents of these other web sites. 

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Brinkman Financial reserves the right to make changes to this privacy policy along with any related provisions at any time.

Enforcement

All Brinkman Financial employees are responsible for ensuring that the policy laid down in this document is adhered to. Staff should be aware that failure to carry out the duties and responsibilities discussed in this policy will be subject to disciplinary action and could result in dismissal.

Consent

Use of the BFC web site indicates your acceptance of the BFC Privacy Policy.  BFC reserves the right to add, remove or modify all or portions of this policy at its discretion at any time.  You should check our web site frequently for any recent changes.  For questions about the BFC Privacy Policy contact us at Brinkman Financial Company, LP, PO Box 111757 Carrollton, Texas 75011 or call 972-242-8090.