PRIVACY POLICY

As a provider of payment processing and customer data management solutions to businesses around the world, privacy and data protection are of the utmost importance to HiTech Merchant Services Inc. (“HiTech”) and its affiliates. This Privacy Statement for HiTech (“Privacy Statement”) details the company’s policies with respect to the handling of personally identifiable information (“Information”) submitted by the reader of this Privacy Policy (“You”) or otherwise collected by HiTech via the company’s website or in the course of providing services to its users and customers. HiTech will use and disclose Information only in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Statement.

A. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The type of Information submitted to or collected by HiTech varies depending upon the nature of the activity and relationship with HiTech

Browsing the Website: When You browse the company’s website, HiTech may collect information regarding the domain and host from which You access the Internet, the Internet Protocol address of the computer or Internet Service Provider You are using, and anonymous site statistical data. Information collected while You’re browsing our website may be used to analyze trends, administer the website, improve site performance, gather broad demographic information, and for security purposes.
Inquiries: The website contains various forms, links to company e-mail addresses, and fax numbers that You may use to solicit information about the website and the company in general. When You complete and submit a form, send us an e-mail, send us a fax, or contact us by telephone, HiTech may store the inquiries and their contents, including any personally identifiable information You may have provided. Any personally identifiable information You submit via an inquiry is collected only with Your knowledge and active participation.
Use of HiTech Products and Services: When You register to use HiTech products and/or services (“Products”), You will be required to provide personally identifiable information and possibly to enter into a written agreement with HiTech. If You order any products or services from third party sources that work and/or partner with HiTech, You will be required to submit personally identifiable information (“Order Information”). The Order Information is transmitted to HiTech for the purpose of processing Orders. Order Information is maintained in servers located within Canada and the U.S.A. HiTech may maintain Order Information for a certain period of time to comply with audits or for disaster recovery purposes.
Applying for Merchant Services: When You submit an application to obtain a merchant account, You will be required to provide personally identifiable information. HiTech may be required to obtain a certain amount of this personal customer information and may submit some of this information to its service provider(s) to the extent that it may be necessary to facilitate the servicing of Your account. Furthermore, HiTech may also obtain information about You from third party sources, including, without limitation, consumer reporting agencies.

B. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Usage and disclosure of Your information varies based on Your relationship with HiTech. HiTech never sells any personally identifiable information and, except as expressly set forth below, never discloses personally identifiable information to any third parties.

Browsing the Website: Information collected while You are browsing our website may be used to analyze trends, administer the website, improve site performance, gather broad demographic information, and for security purposes. Such Information may be disclosed to third parties to provide any of the aforementioned activities on behalf of Coastal Software.
Inquiries: Information collected during the course of You submitting an inquiry via online form, e-mail, fax, or telephone call may be used by HiTech to respond to Your inquiries or to contact You to inform You of services of HiTech that may be of use to You. Information collected during the course of an inquiry will not be disclosed to any third party unless such third party has been contracted by HiTech, with obligations of confidentiality, to contact You on our behalf.
Use of HiTech Products and Services: If You are a HiTech customer, HiTech will use Your information during the course of providing You with products and services. During the course of providing such services, HiTech may disclose Your information to third parties that have contracted with HiTech to perform certain functions of the products and services on our behalf (“Subcontractors”). HiTech may also use Your information to contact You about other HiTech offerings and to inform You about general company news and industry trends, directly or through the use of third party vendors. HiTech may also use Your information for internal business analyses. If You are a customer of a HiTech product or service, HiTech will use order information during the course of providing processing services to such HiTech customer. HiTech may also use order information at an aggregate level for internal business analyses and fraud prevention. During the course of providing products and services to HiTech customers, HiTech may disclose order information to banks, processors, card associations, and other financial institutions that are involved in the course of processing or screening the transaction applicable to the order information
Applying for a Merchant Services: When You apply for a merchant account regarding a HiTech product or service, HiTech may use and disclose the information to evaluate Your eligibility for a HiTech product or service, including disclosure to consumer reporting agencies, relevant financial institutions, and other entities involved in providing products and services connected to Your merchant account services. HiTech may also use and disclose Your information during the course of providing or procuring products or services connected Your merchant account services on Your behalf. HiTech may also use Your information to contact You, directly or through a third party reseller or agent, about other HiTech offerings and to inform You about general company news and industry trends. HiTech may also use Your information for internal business analyses.
Surveys and Questionnaires: If You submitted an inquiry to HiTech or if You are a HiTech customer, periodically, HiTech may use Your information to contact You, directly or through a third party reseller or agent, to complete a survey or questionnaire. Responses to any such survey or questionnaire may be used for internal business analyses and may be disclosed in aggregate form without disclosing any personally identifiable information.
Use of Cookies: Forms on our website may use cookies. Cookies are small files of data that reside on Your computer and allow HiTech to recognize You as a HiTech customer or a previous visitor of our website. HiTech may use cookies to populate frequently used forms or to provide You with other customized viewing options for Your convenience. HiTech uses cookies solely to maintain personalized services throughout the website.
Confidentiality Obligations: All contracts entered into between HiTech and HiTech customers, HiTech and Subcontractors, and HiTech and other third party service providers, resellers and agents contain express provisions governing the confidential treatment of any and all personally identifiable information.
Investigations and Proceedings: HiTech may use information to conduct internal investigations. HiTech may disclose information to cooperate with an investigation by law enforcement agencies or other governmental authorities and may also disclose Information in response to a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other comparable legal processes.

C. INFORMATION SECURITY

HiTech is committed to handling Your information with high standards of information security. We use computer safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption, we enforce physical access controls to our buildings and files, and we authorize access to personal information only to employees who need to know that information in order to fulfill their job responsibilities.

The security of Your HiTech account (through Converge or Merchant Connect) also relies on Your protection of Your password. You may not share Your account password with anyone. If You believe someone else has obtained access to Your password, please change it immediately by logging into Your account, changing Your account settings, and also contacting us right away to inform us of the breach. HiTech will never ask You to send Your password or other sensitive information to us in an e-mail.

D. CORRECTION AND DELETION OF INFORMATION

If You want HiTech to correct or delete Your information that is stored on HiTech systems, please submit Your request in writing to: support@hitechmerchants.ca

Subject to our ability to verify Your request and provided that HiTech is not required to maintain the Information by applicable laws, regulations, or contractual obligations, HiTech will correct or delete the Information within thirty (30) days of receipt of Your request.