Privacy Policy

How we collect, use, share and protect your information.

This Privacy Notice for 1st Advantage Mortgage Broker LLC (doing business as 1st Advantage Mortgage) (“we,” “us,” or “our”) describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (“process”) your information when you use our services (“Services”), such as when you:

Questions or concerns? Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@firstadvantagemortgage.com. Important: Nonpublic personal information that you provide in connection with a mortgage loan application is also governed by our separate GLBA Privacy Notice (see “Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Financial Privacy” below), which controls to the extent it conflicts with this notice.

Summary of Key Points

This summary provides key points from our privacy notice. You can find more details using the table of contents below.

What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, or apply for a loan, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with us, the choices you make, and the products and features you use.
Do we process sensitive personal information? Yes. In connection with a mortgage application we process sensitive information such as financial data and government identifiers, as necessary to provide the Services, with your consent, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.
Do we receive information from third parties? Other than in connection with processing a mortgage loan application — where we may receive information from consumer reporting agencies, lenders, employers, financial institutions, and verification services — we do not receive personal information about you from third parties.
How do we process your information? To provide, improve, and administer our Services, originate and process loans, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so.
With whom do we share personal information? We may share information in specific situations and with specific third parties, such as lenders and service providers, as described below.
How do we keep your information safe? We maintain a written information security program with organizational and technical safeguards. However, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
What are your rights? Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information.

1. What Information Do We Collect?

In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us, and — in connection with a loan application — information necessary to originate and process your loan. We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you express interest in our products and Services, apply for a loan, participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise contact us. The personal information we collect may include:

Sensitive Information

When necessary to provide the Services, with your consent, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, we process the following categories of sensitive information:

Payment Data

We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make payments, such as your payment instrument number and associated security code. Payment data is stored by our payment processor, whose privacy policy you should review.

Social Media Login Data

We may provide you the option to register using an existing social media account. If you choose to do so, we collect the information described in “How Do We Handle Your Social Logins” below. All personal information you provide must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to it.

2. How Do We Process Your Information?

In Short: We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, originate and process loans, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, including to:

Originate, process, and facilitate your mortgage loan application and related Services.
Facilitate account creation and authentication and manage user accounts.
Deliver and facilitate delivery of Services to you and respond to your inquiries and provide support.
Send administrative information, such as changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
Fulfill and manage payments and transactions made through the Services.
Request feedback and contact you about your use of our Services.
Send marketing and promotional communications, consistent with your preferences (you may opt out at any time).
Deliver targeted advertising and personalized content.
Protect our Services, including fraud monitoring and prevention.
Comply with legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations, including those applicable to mortgage lenders and brokers.
Respond to legal requests, subpoenas, and to prevent harm, and to enforce our terms and policies.

3. When and With Whom Do We Share Your Personal Information?

We may share information in the following situations and/or with the following parties:

Lenders, Investors, and Settlement Providers: In connection with originating and processing your loan, we share information with wholesale/creditor lenders, and settlement-service providers as necessary to obtain and close your loan.
Service Providers: We share information with vendors and service providers who perform services for us (such as loan origination systems, e-signature, credit, background, communication, and payroll providers), who are contractually required to protect it.
Business Transfers: We may share or transfer your information in connection with a merger, sale of assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business.
Google Analytics: We may share information with Google Analytics to track and analyze use of the Services, as described below.
Legal and Regulatory: We may share information to comply with applicable law, regulation, or legal process, or in response to lawful requests by public authorities.

4. Do We Use Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies?

In Short: We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect and store your information. We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to gather information when you interact with our Services. Some help us maintain security, prevent crashes, fix bugs, save preferences, and support basic functions. We also permit third parties and service providers to use tracking technologies for analytics and advertising. To the extent these technologies are deemed a “sale”/“sharing” (including targeted advertising) under applicable US state laws, you can opt out as described under “Do United States Residents Have Specific Privacy Rights?” To opt out of Google Analytics across the Services, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

5. How Do We Handle Your Social Logins?

In Short: If you register or log in using a social media account, we may have access to certain information about you. Where you register or log in using a third-party social media account, we receive certain profile information (which may include your name, email address, and profile picture). We use it only for the purposes described in this notice. We do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your information by your social media provider; review their privacy notice for details.

6. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary for the purposes in this notice and to satisfy legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory retention obligations — which, for mortgage loan records, generally require retention for several years. As a mortgage broker, we are required to retain loan files and related records for periods set by federal and state law (for example, records associated with a loan are generally retained for a minimum of five (5) years, and longer where required). We keep other personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. When we have no ongoing legitimate business or legal need to process your personal information, we will delete or anonymize it, or securely store and isolate it from further processing until deletion is possible.

7. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?

In Short: We maintain a written information security program with organizational and technical safeguards designed to protect your personal information. We maintain a written information security program consistent with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the FTC Safeguards Rule, including access controls, multi-factor authentication, encryption of sensitive information in transit and at rest, employee training, vendor oversight, and incident response. However, despite our safeguards, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we cannot promise or guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not defeat our security. Transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk; you should access the Services only within a secure environment.

8. Do We Collect Information From Minors?

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect, solicit data from, or market to children under 18, nor do we knowingly sell such personal information. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18, or that you are the parent or guardian of a minor and consent to their use of the Services. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a user under 18, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data. Contact us at info@firstadvantagemortgage.com if you believe we may have collected such information.

9. What Are Your Privacy Rights?

In Short: You may review, change, or terminate your account and exercise certain rights, depending on your state of residence.

Withdrawing your consent

If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw it at any time by contacting us. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal, nor processing conducted in reliance on lawful grounds other than consent (including our legal obligations as a mortgage broker).

Opting out of marketing communications

You can unsubscribe from marketing at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in our emails, replying “STOP” or “UNSUBSCRIBE” to our text messages, or contacting us. You will be removed from marketing lists; however, we may still send non-marketing, service-related messages necessary to administer your account or loan, or to respond to your requests.

Account information and cookies

To review, change, or terminate your account, contact us using the information provided. Upon your request to terminate, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases; however, we may retain some information to prevent fraud, troubleshoot, assist investigations, enforce our legal terms, and/or comply with applicable legal and regulatory retention requirements. Most browsers accept cookies by default; you can set your browser to remove or reject cookies, which may affect certain features of our Services.

10. Controls for Do-Not-Track Features

Most browsers and some mobile operating systems and applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature. As no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals. Where required by applicable state law, we honor recognized opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC).

11. Do United States Residents Have Specific Privacy Rights?

In Short: Depending on your state of residence, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of your personal information, and to opt out of certain processing. These rights may be limited by applicable law, including exemptions for information governed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Important exemption: Many US state privacy laws exempt personal information collected, processed, or disclosed pursuant to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Much of the information we collect in connection with a mortgage loan is subject to these exemptions.

Categories of Personal Information We Collect

We have collected the following categories of personal information within the past twelve (12) months:

Category	Examples	Collected
A. Identifiers	Real name, alias, postal address, phone, unique/online identifier, IP address, email, account name	YES
B. Protected classification characteristics	Gender, age, date of birth, race and ethnicity, national origin, marital status, demographic data	YES
C. Commercial information	Transaction information, purchase history, financial details, and payment information	YES
D. Biometric information	Fingerprints and voiceprints	NO
E. Internet or network activity	Browsing history, search history, online behavior, interactions with our and other websites and ads	NO
F. Geolocation data	Device location	NO
G. Audio, electronic, visual, or similar	Images and audio, video, or call recordings created in connection with our business	NO
H. Professional or employment information	Business contact details, job title, work history, professional qualifications (e.g., if you apply for a job)	YES
I. Education information	Student records and directory information	NO
J. Inferences	Profiles or summaries about an individual’s preferences and characteristics	YES

Text Messaging (SMS/MMS)

If you opt in to receive text messages from 1st Advantage Mortgage (1st Advantage Mortgage Broker LLC), we may send messages related to loan status and account notifications, appointment reminders, rate and refinance information, marketing/nurture outreach you requested, and customer care. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can cancel anytime by replying STOP. For help, reply HELP or call 704-343-8681 or email info@firstadvantagemortgage.com.

Your phone number will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy. No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Your Rights and How to Exercise Them

Subject to applicable law and exemptions, you may have the right to: confirm whether we process your personal data; access it; correct inaccuracies; request deletion; obtain a copy of data you previously shared; opt out of targeted advertising, sale, or certain profiling; and not be discriminated against for exercising your rights. To exercise these rights, contact us at info@firstadvantagemortgage.com or https://firstadvantagemortgage.com/contact-us/. We will honor valid Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signals. We will verify your identity before acting on your request and will respond as required by applicable law.

12. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Financial Privacy

In Short: As a licensed mortgage broker, we are a “financial institution” under the GLBA. Nonpublic personal information you provide in connection with a mortgage loan is governed primarily by our GLBA Privacy Notice. When you apply for or obtain a mortgage loan through us, we collect nonpublic personal information (NPI) about you, such as information from your application, your transactions, and consumer reporting agencies. We do not disclose NPI about our customers or former customers to nonaffiliated third parties except as permitted by law — for example, to process, underwrite, or close your loan, to service providers acting on our behalf, or as otherwise required or permitted under the GLBA and its implementing regulations. We restrict access to NPI to those who need it to provide products or services to you, and we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect it. Our separate GLBA Privacy Notice governs the treatment of NPI and controls over this notice to the extent of any conflict.

13. SMS / Text Messaging and Telephone Communications

In Short: By providing your phone number, you consent to receive calls and text messages from us; consent is not a condition of any purchase, and you may opt out at any time. By providing a telephone number and interacting with us, you agree that we and our service providers may contact you at that number by phone call and by SMS/text message, including through an automated system, for account, servicing, transactional, and — where you have consented — marketing purposes. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to receive marketing messages is not a condition of obtaining any product or service. You may opt out of text messages at any time by replying “STOP,” and reply “HELP” for help. You may opt out of marketing calls by informing us. We handle telephone and text communications consistent with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and applicable law. Standard carrier disclaimer: carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

14. Third-Party Websites and Links

Our Services may contain links to third-party websites, products, or services that are not operated by us. This notice does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, the content, security, or privacy practices of any third party. We encourage you to review the privacy notices of any third-party sites you visit.

15. Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, and Assumption of Risk

The Services and all information on them are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, to the fullest extent permitted by law. We do not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, 1st Advantage Mortgage Broker LLC and its members, managers, officers, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, arising out of or relating to your use of the Services or this notice, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. You acknowledge and accept that transmission of information over the Internet carries inherent risk and that you provide information at your own risk. Nothing in this section limits any liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

16. Governing Law; No Contractual Rights

This Privacy Notice and any dispute relating to it are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, except where preempted by applicable federal law. This Privacy Notice is a statement of our information practices and does not create, and is not intended to create, any contractual or other legal rights in or on behalf of any party, and does not modify the terms of any loan agreement or disclosure. The Services are intended for users located in the United States.

17. Do We Make Updates to This Notice?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws. We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Last updated” date at the top of this notice. If we make material changes, we may notify you by prominently posting a notice of the changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this notice frequently.

18. How Can You Contact Us About This Notice?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may contact our Privacy Officer by email at info@firstadvantagemortgage.com, by phone at 704-343-8681, or by post at: 1st Advantage Mortgage Broker LLC Attn: Privacy Officer 128 S Tryon St, Suite 1933 Charlotte, NC 28202 United States

19. How Can You Review, Update, or Delete the Data We Collect From You?

You have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, details about how we have processed it, to correct inaccuracies, or to delete your personal information, subject to applicable law and exemptions (including for information governed by the GLBA and FCRA). To make a request, please visit https://firstadvantagemortgage.com/contact-us/ or email info@firstadvantagemortgage.com.