Privacy Policy

Effective Date: July 22, 2023

Welcome to the Privacy Policy of Red Ventures.

Here, you can navigate through specific topics using the links provided below:

  • Scope of this Policy
  • Summary of Data Collection, Usage, and Sharing
  • Detailed Data Collection Information
  • Usage of Your Data
  • Cookie Policy
  • Data Sharing Practices
  • Social Features
  • Legal Basis for Data Usage
  • Data Retention Period
  • Data Security Measures
  • Your Data Control Options
  • Complaints Handling
  • Contact Information
  • Policy Amendments

Scope of this Policy

Red Ventures LLC, along with its subsidiaries and brands, such as Cableconnect , Bankrate, CNET, MYMove, Best Colleges, Lonely Planet, and The Points Guy, provides various services through websites, apps, and other platforms (“Services”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data (also known as personal information). It also outlines your rights and options regarding your data.

We aim to make this Policy easy to understand. Detailed information is available in specific sections, accessible via clickable links. All parts of this Policy are relevant to all our activities, and additional notices may apply to specific services or regions, which should be read in conjunction with this Policy.

Please note that our Services may include links to third-party sites, which we do not control. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these sites.

Our Services are not intended for individuals under the age of 16.

Summary of Data Collection, Usage, and Sharing

This section serves as our notice at collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Over the past 12 months, we have disclosed personal data for business or commercial purposes.

Types of Personal Information We Collect

  • Personal Identifiers: This includes details like your name, alias, postal address, email address, and telephone number.
  • Online Identifiers: This category covers information such as online usernames, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and account names.
  • Professional Information: We collect details about your education and employment history.
  • Financial Information: This includes your credit or debit card number and other financial details.
  • Sensitive Information: This refers to highly confidential data, such as your social security number, account login credentials, and information found on government-issued identification cards.
  • Protected Classification Characteristics: This includes sensitive personal information such as age, race, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, and gender.
  • Commercial Information: Details about the products or services you have purchased, considered, or shown interest in, as well as your purchasing patterns or tendencies.
  • Internet or Network Activity Information: Data related to your online activities, including browsing history, search history, and interactions with websites, applications, or advertisements.
  • Geolocation Information: Data obtained from your device that uses satellite or cell tower signals to determine your location within a specific geographic area. This includes precise geolocation data, which is considered sensitive if it identifies a location within a circle with a radius of 1,850 feet or less.
  • Audio or Visual Information: Includes audio recordings or screen captures, provided with your consent.
  • Inferences: These are conclusions drawn from the aforementioned data that can create a profile of your preferences, characteristics, tendencies, behaviors, abilities, and aptitudes.

 

Purpose for Collecting Personal Information

Depending on the nature of your interactions with us, we may use your data for the following purposes:

Providing Our Services and Fulfilling Your Requests

  1. Account Management: To register and secure your account.
  2. Communication: To receive and respond to your calls and messages.
  3. Identity Verification: To verify your identity and determine your eligibility for our services.
  4. Personalization and Offers: To offer you the best prices and products, and to direct you to our partners’ websites.
  5. Transaction Processing: To facilitate transactions between you, us, or our partners.
  6. Service Personalization: To tailor the services to your preferences.
  7. Data Maintenance: To keep your data accurate and up to date.
  8. Customer Support: To provide assistance and support services.
  9. Data Rights Requests: To fulfill requests you make regarding your data rights.
  10. Social Sharing: To enable the use of social sharing tools.
  11. Tracking and Compensation: To track sales and ensure compensation from our partners.
  12. Device Continuity: To allow seamless use of our services across multiple devices.

Improving and Promoting Our Services

  1. Research and Analysis: To conduct analysis and market research.
  2. Presentation Optimization: To present our services in the clearest and most effective way.
  3. Engagement Activities: To run sweepstakes and surveys.
  4. Product Development: To help us and our partners develop better products for you.
  5. Rewards Processing: To handle any rewards offered to you.
  6. Service Updates: To send updates and messages about your products and services.
  7. Promotional Communication: To inform you about our services and promotions via email, social media, and push notifications (with your consent).
  8. Cross-Brand Marketing: To inform you about services offered by other brands under our group.
  9. Model Building: To build, train, and enhance models that help us understand your interests.
  10. Targeted Advertising: To serve you targeted ads based on collected or created data.
  11. Location-Based Offers: To provide location-specific offers (with your consent).
  12. Marketing Effectiveness: To evaluate the effectiveness of our and our partners’ marketing efforts.

Please note that we do not engage in profiling that could have legal or similar effects.

Operating Our Business

  1. Business Operations: To perform necessary tasks for running our services and business.
  2. Security and Fraud Prevention: To protect our business and prevent fraudulent activities.
  3. Reporting: To create internal or external reports.
  4. Legal Compliance: To comply with legitimate legal requests.
  5. Auditing: To conduct audits of our business and processes.
  6. Business Interests Protection: To protect our business interests and those of our partners.
  7. Consent-Based and Legal Uses: For other purposes not described in this policy, based on your consent or as permitted by law.

Other Disclosures: We may share your personal data either with your consent or as required by laws or legal processes.

Sale of Personal Data: We do not sell, rent, or loan your personal data to third parties for financial gain. However, in compliance with your privacy preferences, we may share certain data (Identifiers, Internet or Network Activity Data, and Geo-location Information) with social media platforms, analytics providers, and advertising companies. In some jurisdictions, this sharing may be considered a “sale.” Please refer to the “How Can You Control Your Data” section of this policy for more information on managing your privacy preferences.

Data Retention: We retain your data as long as necessary to provide our services and to fulfill our business and legal obligations. The duration for which we keep data depends on factors such as the nature of the data, its volume, the potential risks associated with unintended use or disclosure, and whether we can achieve our objectives with less data. Once your data is no longer needed for these purposes, we securely delete it.

Collection of Data from Children: We prioritize the privacy and safety of children. Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from children under 16 years of age, or minors as defined by local laws, without verifiable parental consent. If we discover that a child under 16 has provided us with personal data, we will take steps to remove that data from our records.

What Data We Collect

When you interact with our Services, we gather and use various types of data. This data collection occurs in four primary ways:

  1. Direct Input: You provide us with information, such as your name or email address, when using our Services.
  2. Automatic Collection: Data, like your IP address, is automatically collected as you navigate our Services.
  3. Third-Party Sources: We receive data from external sources to help manage and enhance our Services.
  4. Data Analysis and Inference: We analyze and combine the data to make inferences, such as identifying your potential interests.

We gather this information for legitimate business purposes. Please see below for further details.

To deliver our Services, we require certain data, including personal information that can be used to identify individuals. This data may be collected directly from you, other sources, or generated by us.

Certain types of personal data are considered sensitive. This includes information on race, political opinions, religious beliefs, health, and Social Security Numbers (SSN). While we generally do not collect sensitive data, there may be instances where it is necessary for the use of specific Services. In such cases, providing this information is voluntary, and you can choose whether to share it and use the Services.

Data You Provide to Us: To access some of our Services, you may need to provide specific information. The required data varies based on the Service but may include:

  • Name or username
  • Email address
  • Postal address
  • Billing address
  • Phone number
  • Payment card details
  • Car make and model
  • Educational background

Sometimes, the data we need to offer our Services is sensitive, such as:

  • Military service
  • National identifier, such as SSN
  • Credit history
  • Income and account balances

Voluntary Data Sharing: You can choose to share additional information with us, such as your status updates, images, comments, interests, preferences, and responses to surveys. When you provide feedback or request assistance, you may supply us with the information you believe is necessary for us to assist you effectively.

If applicable, and with the necessary permissions, you might also share information about others with us (for instance, if you refer a friend to our email newsletters).

Automatically Collected Data: When you interact with our Services, we and our business partners may automatically gather certain types of information. The specifics of this data collection can vary depending on the Service, but may include:

  • Internet Service Provider (ISP)
  • Referral source (how you arrived at our site)
  • Clicks, page views, and other interactions
  • Duration of visits
  • Cookies and other identifiers
  • IP address
  • Device and browser details
  • Session replays
  • Emails you have opened

With your consent, we might also collect more detailed location information.

Data from Third Parties: Depending on the Service you use, we might obtain data from external sources. This data can include:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Physical address
  • Phone number
  • Professional details (business, role)
  • Demographic information (age, gender, family size)
  • Educational background
  • Likely interests
  • Purchase history
  • Actions taken off-site (e.g., clicked ads)
  • Publicly available information (e.g., online posts)
  • Credit reports

We may request your consent to acquire additional information from third-party sources, such as financial service providers.

Data Creation: We might use or combine the data we collect to generate new insights. This could include:

  • Approximate location
  • Inferences about your interests and preferences
  • Groups of interests
  • Connected devices

Please note that we do not use collected data to infer sensitive personal information about you.

Aggregated Data: We may aggregate your data with information from others (e.g., total website visitors per day). This aggregated data cannot identify you personally and is not used to attempt to re-identify you.

Data Usage: We utilize your data to:

  • Provide and fulfill your service requests.
  • Enhance and market our own and third-party services.
  • Manage and secure our business operations.

Providing Our Services and Fulfilling Your Requests: To deliver our services effectively, we may utilize your data for the following purposes:

  • Account Management: To create and secure your account.
  • Communication: To respond to your calls and messages.
  • Verification: To verify your identity and eligibility for our services.
  • Personalization: To offer you the best pricing and products.
  • Navigation: To guide you to partner websites.
  • Transaction Processing: To handle transactions between you, us, or our partners.
  • Customization: To tailor the service experience according to your preferences.
  • Data Maintenance: To keep your data up-to-date.
  • Support: To provide customer service and support.
  • Data Rights: To address and fulfill your data rights requests.
  • Social Tools: To enable social sharing features.
  • Sales Tracking: To monitor sales and ensure proper compensation to our partners.

Enhancing and Promoting Our Services: We may use your data to improve and promote our services and those of our partners in the following ways:

  • Research: To conduct analysis and market research.
  • Presentation: To showcase our services clearly and effectively.
  • Engagement: To run contests, surveys, and promotions.
  • Product Development: To aid in creating better products for you.
  • Rewards Processing: To handle any rewards or benefits offered.
  • Updates: To send updates and service messages about our products and services.
  • Promotions: To inform you about our services and promotions via email, social media, and push notifications (with your consent).
  • Cross-Brand Information: To let you know about other Red Ventures brands.
  • Model Building: To develop models that help us understand your interests and those of other users.
  • Advertising: To target ads based on collected or inferred data and evaluate marketing effectiveness.

Business Operations: In managing our business, we may use your data for:

  • Service Operations: To perform essential business functions and provide our services.
  • Security: To safeguard our business and prevent fraud.
  • Reporting: To generate reports for internal or external purposes.
  • Compliance: To adhere to legal requests and obligations.
  • Auditing: To review and audit our business practices.
  • Interest Protection: To protect our and our partners’ interests.
  • Additional Purposes: For other purposes you consent to or as permitted by law.

Cookie Usage: Cookies are small files placed on your device when you visit websites. We use cookies and similar technologies to recognize returning visitors, store information for future use, and tailor our advertising.

You can adjust your browser settings to block cookies, but this may affect the functionality of our services. For details on our use of cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

Data Sharing: To provide and operate our services, we may share data with third parties:

  • Service Providers: To collaborate with partners whose products you have chosen.
  • Business Operations: To third parties who assist in running our business, such as hosting services.
  • Legal Compliance: To meet legal obligations and protect our and our partners’ interests, including sharing with legal and advisory professionals.

Data Sharing within Red Ventures: We may share the data we collect within the Red Ventures group to ensure efficient and secure storage. This shared data helps our other brands provide requested services, suggest additional services, and deliver advertisements tailored to your interests based on the collected data.

Sharing with Third Parties:

  • Asset Transactions: If we sell our company or any assets, or acquire assets from others, we may share your data with potential buyers or sellers. We will ensure your data is protected during these transactions.
  • Client Data: When we gather data on behalf of our clients, we will share that data with them.
  • Service Providers: We may share your data with third-party vendors that support our business operations. These vendors are restricted from using your data for their own purposes.
  • Partner Promotions: In partnership with third parties, we might organize contests, sweepstakes, or other events. If you participate, your data will be shared with the partner, who will have their own data use policies.
  • Audience Insights: We may share your data with companies that assist us in understanding the use of our services and user demographics.
  • Video Viewing Data: With your consent, we might share information about your video viewing with other companies, such as advertisers or social media platforms, within legal limits.
  • Ads and Marketing: With your permission, we might share data with ad platforms like Google, Facebook, and others to tailor ads to your interests and assist in advertising efforts.
  • Legal Compliance: We may disclose your data if required by law, government requests, or to protect our rights and those of our clients, including sharing with legal and expert advisors.
  • Emergency Situations: We may disclose data if we believe it’s necessary to protect someone in imminent danger.
  • Marketing Messages: If you agree, some services may share your data with companies that want to send you marketing messages via email, phone, or other methods. These companies have their own privacy policies.
  • Anonymous Data: We may create and share aggregated, anonymized data about our users that cannot identify you personally.

Data Transfer:

Red Ventures operates in various countries, so your data may be transferred, stored, and used internationally. We apply legal safeguards to ensure your data is handled according to the relevant regulations. However, local laws may also apply, which could allow local authorities access to your data.

Social Features:

Some of our services offer Social Features provided by third parties, such as the ability to ‘like’ or ‘share’ content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter. Using these features may require an account with the provider, and you should review their privacy practices.

If you use Social Features or access our services through them, both we and the provider may have access to data about your interactions. Providers may connect this data with other personal information they hold about you, which could be used for targeted advertising. We may also request permission to access and collect data from your accounts or post content on your behalf.

When linking a Social Feature provider with our services, you grant us access to certain data as per the provider’s privacy policy and your choices.

Why We Use Your Data:

We need a valid reason to collect and use your data. These reasons typically include:

  • Your consent to use the data.
  • Necessity for fulfilling a contract with you or preparing for one.
  • Legal obligations requiring data usage.
  • Legitimate interests that justify data use.

Why We Collect and Use Your Data:

We collect and use your data for several key reasons:

  • Contractual Obligations: We use your data to fulfill our agreements with you or to take necessary steps before entering into an agreement.
  • Consent: We rely on your consent to use your data in specific ways. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
  • Legal Requirements: We may need to use your data to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
  • Legitimate Interests: We use your data for purposes that are essential to delivering our services, improving our offerings, or maintaining our business operations. Examples include:
    • Partner Collaborations: Sharing data with our partners to provide our services.
    • Reward and Benefit Programs: Sharing data with partners involved in offering rewards and benefits.
    • Service Notifications: Sending you emails with results related to your use of our services.
    • Service Updates: Contacting you about changes or updates to our services.
    • Research and Improvement: Conducting research to understand user preferences and improve our services.
    • Process Enhancement: Reviewing and refining our processes to ensure they are effective.
    • Security: Ensuring the safety and availability of our services online.
    • Fraud Prevention: Preventing fraud to protect both you and others.
    • Protection of Individuals: Using data to safeguard individuals, including you and other consumers, when necessary.

Data Retention:

We retain your data for as long as needed to provide you with our services. Factors influencing data retention include:

  • Data Volume: The amount of data collected.
  • Data Type: The nature of the data.
  • Risk Assessment: Evaluating potential risks associated with unintended use or disclosure.
  • Data Minimization: Considering if less data could achieve the same purpose.

Additionally, we may retain data for legal, contractual, dispute resolution, fraud prevention, and security purposes.

Data Retention: We retain your data only as long as necessary to provide our services and for other legitimate business purposes, including:

  • Financial Records: To maintain accurate financial records.
  • Legal Compliance: To meet legal and regulatory requirements.
  • Service Security: To ensure the security and functionality of our services.

When determining how long to keep your data, we consider factors such as the amount and type of data, potential risks of misuse or disclosure, and legal obligations. This means some data may be retained longer than others. You also have the right to request the deletion or correction of your data.

We may choose to anonymize your data at any time, making it untraceable to you.

When data is no longer needed or upon receiving a valid deletion request, we initiate a process to securely remove it from our systems.

Data Security: We are committed to safeguarding your data with the highest standards of protection. While we implement best practices to secure your data, please be aware that no method of data transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely risk-free. As such, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and you should consider sharing data at your own risk.

Data Security and Protection: We are committed to safeguarding your data and employ various tools and methods to monitor and secure the information we collect about you. We have established strict protocols to ensure that only those with legitimate business needs, such as providing our services, can access your data.

Despite our rigorous efforts to protect your data, no online transmission or storage method is completely foolproof. Occasionally, unforeseen issues may arise. If there is ever a problem with your data, we will notify you promptly through messages, letters, or phone calls.

When you create an account on our websites, you will need to set a password. It’s crucial to keep this password confidential and not share it with anyone. You are responsible for ensuring that others do not gain access to your account through your password or device. If you suspect any unauthorized use of your account, please contact us immediately so we can assist you.

Managing Your Data Preferences: You have control over how we collect, use, store, and share your data.

Some choices are available to all users of our services (e.g., opting out of newsletters), while others may be specific to certain privacy laws or regulations.

We handle all data requests in compliance with legal requirements, which may sometimes limit our ability to fulfill all requests.

Please be aware that we might require verification of your identity before processing any request.

To make changes to your data preferences, please use the provided links to submit your request forms.

Your Data Choices:

You have several options regarding your data and how we communicate with you. Use our online form [here] to manage your preferences.

  • Accessing Your Data: You can request to view the data we hold about you, and we will accommodate valid requests.
  • Updating Your Data: To ensure your information remains accurate and current, inform us if you need to make updates. We might retain some data for legal reasons, but we’ll make necessary adjustments.
  • Deleting Your Data: You can request the deletion of your data. However, certain data may need to be retained for legal compliance or problem resolution. We will remove what we can.
  • Objecting to Data Uses: If you disagree with how we use your data, please let us know. We will review your concerns and strive to make adjustments. For example, you can opt out of targeted advertising via our cookie settings, or in California, you can choose “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information.”
  • Withdrawing Consent: If you wish to retract any previously granted consent, you may do so. Note that this may impact the availability of some services.

Submitting a request might limit your ability to use certain services (e.g., if we have deleted the data needed for those services), but we will not change how we provide services to you otherwise.

To verify your identity and protect your data, we often request additional information. After submitting a request, we will email you a link for identity verification.

For those preferring not to use our online form, you can contact us via email or mail:

  • Email: privacy@redventures.com
  • Mail: Red Ventures, LLC, 1101 Red Ventures Drive, Fort Mill, SC 29707 (Attn: Privacy Officer)

We also honor Global Privacy Control preferences to support your privacy choices.

Authorized Agents: If someone else, like a parent or guardian for individuals aged 16 to 18, needs to manage these choices, they can do so by following the same procedures.

If we cannot fulfill your request, we will explain why and provide an appeal form if you are dissatisfied with our response.

Communication Preferences:

You can manage how we contact you:

  • Promotional Emails: To opt out of promotional emails, follow the unsubscribe instructions in the email. Important service messages will still be sent.
  • Promotional Mailings: To stop receiving physical mail, email us with “NO SNAIL MAIL” in the subject line, including your name, address, and zip code. Note that some mailings already in progress may still arrive.
  • Text Messages and Push Notifications: To opt out of promotional texts, reply with “STOP” or “UNSUBSCRIBE.” You can also manage push notifications through your device settings.

Please be aware that essential transactional or service communications may still be necessary.

Complaints:

We encourage you to give us a chance to resolve any issues. Submit complaints using the details below, and you may also contact your local regulator if needed.

Contact Information:

For questions about this policy or to file a complaint, use the following contact details:

  • Email: privacy@redventures.com
  • Mail: Red Ventures, LLC, 1101 Red Ventures Drive, Fort Mill, SC 29707, USA (Attn: Privacy Officer)

Changes to This Policy:

We may update our data collection, usage, and protection practices. We will notify you of changes by updating this policy. Significant changes will be highlighted on our website.

Changes will apply only to data collected after the new policy is published. Data collected before the update will still be governed by the previous policy.

We will also indicate the date of the last update.

Red Ventures is committed to creating inclusive digital experiences. For accessibility inquiries or requests for accommodations, contact us.

Last Updated: 22/6/2023