Online Privacy Policy

Great American Finance has many procedures and policies in place to safeguard our users' privacy. The follow sections explain how we accomplish this.

Information We Collect

Non-personal information is automatically collected from all visitors to our web site. This data regards Internet browser type and version, IP address, referring website, and basic browser settings. This information helps us determine what content our visitors are looking for, and for ways that we can improve upon their online experience

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law. IT IS PERMISSIBLE FOR US TO REPORT YOUR CREDITWORTHINESS AND CREDIT HISTORY ESTABLISHED ON YOUR ACCOUNT TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES.

We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide our services to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

Information Our Users Give Us

During registration, users will be required to provide us with a valid e-mail address. This is used solely to communicate with that user in regards to online transactions or account maintenance requests. At no time is this address shared with third parties. A user will receive an e-mail notification when requesting a lost password, changing a password, or upon making a payment on their account.

Information such as zip code is used along with account number and name to help determine a users’ identity during the registration process. This is compared to the information we have on file for such account. This information was provided to us when the contract was initially entered into our system or updated upon request via mail or telephone by the account holder or an authorized representative.

Sensitive payment information presented to us is stored only momentarily for verification and approval by the user. After submitted, it is offloaded to a secure server which is inaccessible from the Internet. This is explained in the Security section of this document.

Date and time information is stored to record account login history. This information is used by us in the event of an unauthorized login to an account.

Cookies

A small amount of impersonal information is stored as a browser “cookie” when logged in to our site. This allows us to differentiate between simultaneous users of our website. No personal information is stored in this cookie, and under normal circumstances it will disappear when closing the web browser.

Security

We maintain numerous physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect personal information.

All personal information communications between a web browser and our server utilize industry-standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. This ensures that the information we present to our customer can be trusted that it came directly from us, as well as was encrypted during communication.

A user should ensure that their username and password are kept safe and confidential. To protect against “brute force” attacks, we have procedures in place that will disable an account login if a number of unsuccessful login attempts occur. Once this happens, a user will need to contact our customer service department before being allowed to login again.

Payment information is submitted to us utilizing SSL encryption technology. After this information is submitted to us it is immediately offloaded to a proprietary server which is inaccessible from the Internet. This data cannot be seen or modified from the Internet after this time.

Important Notice: Federal Fair Credit Billing Act Statement of Rights In Case of Errors or Inquiries About Your Bill

The Federal Truth in Lending Act requires prompt correction of billing mistakes.

If you want to preserve your rights under the Act, here's what to do if you think your bill is wrong or if you need more information about an item on your bill:
1. Write on the bill or on a separate sheet of paper the following:
  1. Your name and account number.
  2. Describe the error and why you believe it is an error. If you need only more information, explain the item you are not sure about, and if you wish, ask for evidence of the charge such as a copy of the charge slip. Do not send in your copy of a sales slip or other document unless you have a duplicate copy for your records.
  3. The dollar amount of the suspected error.
  4. Any other information (such as your address) which you think will help the creditor to identify you or the reason for your complaint or inquiry.
2. Send your billing error notice to the address on your bill. Mail it as soon as you can, but in any case early enough to reach the creditor within 60 days after the bill was mailed to you.
The creditor must acknowledge all letters pointing out possible errors within 30 days of receipt, unless the creditor is able to correct your bill during that 30 days. Within 90 days after receiving your letter, the creditor must either correct the error or show why the creditor believes the bill was correct. Once the creditor has explained the bill, the creditor has no further obligation to you even though you still believe there is an error, except as provided in paragraph 5 below.
After the creditor has been notified, neither the creditor nor an attorney nor a collection agency may send you letters or take other collection action with respect to the amount in dispute; but periodic statements may be sent to you, and the disputed amount can be applied against your credit limit. You cannot be threatened with damage to your credit rating or sued for the amount in question, nor can the disputed amount be reported to a credit bureau or to other creditors as delinquent until the creditor has answered your inquiry. However, you remain obligated to pay the parts of your bill not in dispute.
If it is determined that the creditor has made a mistake on your bill, you will not have to pay any finance charges on any disputed amount. If it turns out that the creditor has not made an error, you may have to pay finance charges on the amount in dispute, and you will have to make up any missed minimum or required payments on the disputed amount. Unless you have agreed that your bill was correct, the creditor must send you a written notification of what you owe; and if it is determined that the creditor did make a mistake in billing the disputed amount, you must be given the time to pay which you normally are given to pay undisputed amounts before any more finance charges or late payment charges on the disputed amount can be charged to you.
If the creditor's explanation does not satisfy you and you notify the creditor within 10 days after you receive their explanation that you still refuse to pay the disputed amount, the creditor may report you to credit bureaus and other creditors and may pursue regular collection procedures. But the creditor must also report that you think you do not owe the money, and the creditor must let you know to whom such reports were made. Once the matter has been settled between you and the creditor, the creditor must notify those to whom the creditor reported you as delinquent of the subsequent resolution.
If the creditor does not follow these rules, the creditor is not allowed to collect the first $50 of the disputed amount and finance charges, even if the bill turns out to be correct

General Terms Amendments / Addendum

Telephone Communications: If you provide us with a cell phone number as a point of contact for your Account, you agree and expressly authorize that we may call that number with autodialing equipment or prerecorded service messages, notwithstanding any state or federal law or regulation that could otherwise prevent us from doing so.

Returned Remittance Fees: If any remittance is not honored upon presentation we may charge your account an amount not exceeding the maximum amount authorized to be charged by law with respect to dishonored checks or automated clearing hours (ACH) payments.

This document is in addendum to the privacy policy set forth and provided when an account was established. An additional copy can be obtained by writing to us at:

200 S Michigan Ave Ste 450
Chicago IL 60604