Last updated January 1, 2023
Your privacy is important to ERC. Our Privacy Policy covers how ERC collects, uses, maintains and discloses your personal information. This Privacy Policy is part of our Terms of Use. When we update this Privacy Policy any changes are effective immediately.
We encourage you to frequently check this page for any updates. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to maintain a valid email as a registered user, review this Site and this Privacy Policy periodically, and to be aware of any changes made to this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Site after such modifications will constitute Your acknowledgment and acceptance of the modified policy and agreement to abide and be bound by the modified policy.
Personal identification information is data that can be used to identify or contact you.
For Consumers in Collection
In order to provide and improve our services, we collect personal information. Most of the information we have is provided to us by the creditor and/or collected directly through the use of our services, emails, consumer account pages/payment portal reached through a link in an email or text message (our “Web Applications”), and phone calls.
Here are some examples of the types of personal information we may collect about consumers in collection:
For Business Contacts
If you sign up for our newsletter, webinars, or any of our client-directed resources, we collect the information you provide on the forms or during the sign-up process. If we enter into a contract with your organization we collect the information you or your organization provides as one of the contacts for the business. Here are some examples of the types of personal information we may collect about our business contacts:
We use personal information depending on the category of consumer to provide our services.
For Consumers in Collection
We use consumer personal information to properly identify the specific consumers for whom we provide our services, to provide and improve our services, to analyze trends, administer our Web Applications, learn about user behavior on our emails and Web Applications, to comply with state, federal and local laws and to demonstrate compliance with those laws.
Here are some examples of how ERC uses consumer personal information:
In all of our consumer emails we use pixel tags. Depending on your email provider, pixel tags can enable us to tell us whether the email has been opened. If you prefer not to be tracked in this way, you should not open our emails. In most of our email messages, we use a “click-through URL” linked to our Web Applications and some linked to web pages on third party sites (see Third Party Websites below). We track this click-through data to help us determine interest in particular topics, measure the effectiveness of our customer communications, and send you emails related to your activity on our website. If you prefer not to be tracked in this way, you should not click text or graphic links in the email messages.
ERC’s Web Applications may also use cookies to gather information so that we can improve the effectiveness of our services. You may choose to set your web browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent but some parts of the website may not function properly without accepting cookies.
ERC Web Applications do not recognize or act on “do not track” requests from a browser. The information we receive through tracking is treated as non-personal information unless local law requires we treat it as personal information. Additionally, if this information is combined with personal information, we treat the combined information as personal information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy.
For Applicants, Current, and Former Employees
We use potential employee information to evaluate candidates for employment, including but not limited to, verifying references, scheduling interviews, conducting a background check and other employment needs.
The Company uses employee information for employment purposes, including, but not limited to, administering payroll and benefits plans, conducting background checks, professional licensing, executing on garnishment orders, and other employment needs.
For Business Contacts
We use business contact information to sell our services, buy your services, discuss the services we are receiving from your business, discuss the services we are providing to current clients and maintain our client and vendor relationships. Here are some examples of how ERC uses business personal information:
If you are a consumer in debt collection, we received your personal information from the party placing your account with ERC for services, such as the creditor, current creditor or servicer. We also receive information from you directly either through a phone call, email correspondence and/or through visits to our Web Applications. We also sometimes receive information from vendors who help us confirm the validity of our information as it relates to address, phone number, bankruptcy, and deceased information.
If you are a potential candidate, employee, or former employee, we may have received your personal information from you, or from a recruiter or external website.
If you are a potential client and have expressed interest in our services or we think you have a legitimate business need for our services, we may have received your information from a lead-generation service or external website such as Zoominfo or LinkedIn.
If you are a potential, current or former vendor or client, we received your personal information from you or your company directly either through a phone call, email correspondence and/or the underlying contract between our organizations.
We only disclose personal information with a limited number of service providers and contractors (collectively “Vendors”) who help us provide our services, including, but not limited to, payment processing, mailing, information verification, managing and enhancing customer data, and improving our product and services. For employees, we disclose information with Vendors who help us with employee related services such as, but not limited to, payroll, benefits, and annual background checks requirements.
When we disclose information, we require those Vendors to handle it in accordance with relevant laws. If you so authorize, we also may disclose your email or other information you permit with our affiliates to provide information about other products and services.
When disclosing we only provide the minimum amount of information necessary for the particular vendor to assist us in providing our services. Here are some examples of how ERC discloses personal information:
We may also be required by law to provide your information to a local, state or federal government authority or court. We will only disclose information in these instances when there is a lawful basis or if disclosure is reasonably necessary to demonstrate compliance with the law.
In the event of a reorganization, merger or sale we may transfer any and all personal information we collect to the relevant third party.
We may disclose generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personally identifiable information with our clients, potential clients, and federal, state and local regulators regarding visitors and users, and their interaction with our products and services.
We do not sell personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not allow our vendors to sell this information or to share this information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
ERC will retain your personal information for the period required to fulfill our services, meet our contractual obligations, and as required by law. When assessing these periods, we retain it for the shortest possible period unless a longer retention period is required by law.
You can help ensure that your contact information and preferences are accurate, complete, and up to date.
If you are a consumer, you can view your account information through any of the links in an ERC email. For requests to know what information we have, correct inaccurate information, or delete information please email [email protected] or call 800-507-0052.
If you are a business-to-business contact, you can email requests to know what information we have, correct inaccurate information, or delete information to creditor.
ERC is serious about data security. We recognize the importance of maintaining the security of our customers’ personal information and use reasonable security measures, including physical, administrative, and technical safeguards. These measures may include physical and technical security access controls or other safeguards, information security technologies and policies, procedures to help ensure the appropriate disposal of information, and training programs. For example, ERC protects your personal information during transit using encryption such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) and at rest using encryption such as AES 256. When your personal data is stored by ERC, we use computer systems with limited access housed in facilities using physical security measures.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure. While we strive to protect your information, you acknowledge that by continued use of our site there are certain security and privacy limitations beyond our control, and that the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information exchanged between ERC and our customers over the internet cannot be fully guaranteed from being viewed or tampered with in transit by a determined third party.
You may find links to third party websites on the ERC Web Applications. We do not control the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our site. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website is subject to that website’s own terms and policies.
We are obligated to maintain personal information for a variety of legal obligations.
If you are a consumer, we are required to keep your data due to the underlying contractual relationship between you and the creditor. We are also required to keep the personal information for legal reasons for as long as the statute of limitations period lasts for the type of account in collections and for other statutory obligations which sometimes are longer (such as a state licensing statute requiring us to maintain records for a certain period of time or the statute of limitations for a consumer financial law).
Once our legal obligation to keep your personal information has expired, we delete the information from our systems in accordance with our data retention policies and procedures.
If you are a consumer, Information concerning how you can exercise your rights directly with the creditor or current creditor of your account can be found here.