Privacy policy

Last modified: February 22, 2021

Introduction

Thank you for visiting the Rental Assistance Program website of the Hamilton County Trustees Association (“HCTA,”"Company," or "We"). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.

This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website <www.hctaindiana.com/era> (our "Website") and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

Special rules apply because we work with the government to provide benefits to you. All information collected on the Website may become part of a public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by the public unless an exemption in law exists. Public information includes correspondence with the county such as emails, website comments, and feedback.

Hamilton County is subject to state and federal laws assuring the public's right to access public records and information. Public information involves information about activity that is regulated. For example, the purchase of legal documents provides public information and is regulated by state and county laws and code. If such a purchase was by credit card, the credit card information is not public information and would only be shared to those trusted entities required for processing (for example third party credit card verification services).

In addition, funding for this program is from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program. Therefore, this policy may be amended if additional guidance is received by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

This policy applies to information we collect:

· On this Website.

· In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website.

· Through mobile and desktop applications you may download from this Website, which provide dedicated non-browser-based interaction between you and this Website.

It does not apply to information collected by:

· Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party; or 

· Any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Website.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates. 

Children Under the Age of 18

Our Website is not intended for children under 18 years of age. No one under age 18 may provide any personal information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you are under 18, do not use or provide any information on this Website or through any of its features. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us at info@hctaindiana.com.

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Website, including information:

· By which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, social security number, or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline, and other information in your rental assistance application ("personal information");

· That is about you but individually does not identify you; and/or

· About your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details.

We collect this information:

· Directly from you when you provide it to us.

· Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.

· From third parties, for example, our business partners.

Information You Provide to Us  

The information we collect on or through our Website may include:

· Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website.

· Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.

· Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.

· Your search queries on the Website.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies  

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

· Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.

· Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

The information we collect automatically is only statistical data and does not include personal information, but we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

· Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.

· Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website according to your individual interests.

· Speed up your searches.

· Recognize you when you return to our Website.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

· Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website. 

· Usage Tracking Data. We may track and log the usage of this website. These logs provide data necessary for maintenance and enhancement of the site. It also may be used to identify and block attacks against the system.  

· Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies. For information about managing your privacy and security settings for Flash cookies, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

· Web Beacons. Pages of the Website and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity). 

We do not collect personal information automatically, but we may tie this information to personal information about you that we collect from other sources or you provide to us.

Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content. 

We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. 

How We Use Your Information

We may use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

· To present our Website and its contents to you.

· To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.

· To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.

· To provide you with notices about your newsletter subscriptions, including expiration and renewal notices.

· To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.

· To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.

· To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website.

· In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.

· For any other purpose with your consent.

Note, if you provide us with information covered by the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), we will only use and disclose such information to facilitate the provision of benefits to you under the rental assistance program.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction. 

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

· To the relevant local, state, and federal government authorities as needed to provide you with rental assistance and as such government authorities may require.

· To our affiliates.

· To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.

· To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information we hold about our Website users is among the assets transferred.

· To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you give us an email address to use the "email a friend" feature of our Website, we will transmit the contents of that email and your email address to the recipients.

· For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.

· With your consent.

We may also disclose your personal information:

· To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory requirement or request.

· To enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.

· If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of HCTA, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

You can review and change your personal information by sending us an email at info@hctaindiana.com. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. 

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users' personal information, we will notify you by email to the primary email address specified in your account. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at: 

info@hctaindiana.com

Hamilton County Trustees Association
1549 E Greyhound Pass
Carmel, Indiana 46032
(317) 574-9490