Privacy Statement

How Youth Business America  (“YBA”) manages and uses information it collects about you, and what actions you can take:

This policy covers information you provide us or that we collect about you, your identity, your personal financial information or information about your business.

1. Making the security of information a priority

Keeping your personal and business information secure is one of our most important responsibilities. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect information you provide to us against unauthorized use.

2. Collecting information about you

We collect and use various types of information about you to better respond to your needs, assist us in keeping information up to date, and manage our business and risks. Customer Information is categorized in the following 5 ways:

A. Identification Information – information that identifies you, such as name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and Social Security number.

B. Application Information – information you provide to us on applications and through other means that will help us determine if you are eligible for our programs in general and for your loan request. Examples include assets, income and debt.

C. Credit Report Information – information from consumer or business principal credit reporting agencies not affiliated with us. Examples include credit score, credit history.

D. Information from Outside Sources – information from outside sources other than consumer report information, regarding employment, credit and other relationships that will help us verify that you are eligible for our programs and the loan you request. Examples include employment history, loan balances, credit card balances, property insurance coverage and other verifications.

E. Other General Information – Information that we collect from the internet such as tracking cookies, and from outside sources, such as data from public records, that is not assembled or used for the purpose of determining eligibility.

As required by the USA PATRIOT Act, we also collect information and take actions necessary to verify your identification.

We obtain your consent prior to collecting and using your personal information from you though electronic, written or oral means.

3. Managing information about you

Managing information within the Youth Business America Network. Becoming a YBA entrepreneur is about more than a loan and a mentor to work with.  Many of the benefits of being a member start with sharing your success stories with others on our Website, through our Print Advertising, and through various other types of media (video clips on the internet, TV advertising campaigns, Documentary films, etc.).  Some of these opportunities will directly benefit you and your business; others may benefit you indirectly but are intended to promote the success of our program in helping young entrepreneurs.

If you choose to apply for any of the benefits that result in sharing information about your business over the internet, you are agreeing to allow us to use your story in our promotion of Youth Business America through our various media.

We will work with you to make every attempt to protect your confidential non-public information and proprietary information and trade secrets from exposure through our advertising.

• Non-public information means information that the public is not able to see or acquire from your advertising, visiting your business or which has been published by you consciously or inadvertently on another website, publication or other source available to members of the general public.
• You may choose to have only your business identified by name, but to keep your name anonymous and we will publish images identifying you only with your permission.

Disclosing information in other situations: We also may disclose any of the categories of Customer Information to the following third parties, including third parties located outside the United States:

• To government agencies, self-regulatory organizations, and regulatory law enforcement authorities as necessary or required; and
• As part of the sale, merger, reorganization or similar change of control over Youth Business America Inc’s business; and
• To other nonaffiliated third parties as requested by you or your authorized representative, or when required or permitted by law.

For example, we may disclose information in the context of an investigation of terrorism, money laundering, fraud prevention or investigation, risk management and security.

Where you have a contractual relationship with a third party in connection with a product or service (such as through an insurance provider or another financing source when you are eligible for credit from a bank or investor), we may share information in accordance with such arrangement and the handling of information by that party will be subject to your agreement(s) with it.

We retain your personal information as long as required to manage your relationship or as required by State and Federal regulations.

4. Honoring your choices.
You have choices when it comes to how Youth Business America shares and uses information.

Direct marketing: You may choose not to receive direct marketing offers – sent by postal mail, telephone and/or e-mail – from Youth Business America. Direct marketing offers from us may include information about products and services we believe may be of interest to you. Your choices apply to all marketing offers from us and from companies working for us. To minimize the amount of telephone solicitation our customers receive, we do not share your telephone number with direct marketers other than those working for us to solicit donations.

If you elect not to receive direct marketing offers by postal mail, telephone and/or e-mail, please note that we may continue to contact you as necessary to manage your relationship with Youth Business America and for other non-marketing purposes.

Each member may opt out of each direct marketing option individually. Since marketing programs may already be in progress, it may take up to 12 weeks for your postal mail opt-out to be fully effective. When you opt out of direct marketing by postal mail or telephone, your opt-out will last for three (3) years after which point we may begin sending you communications and you will need to contact us to renew your option .

5. Actions you can take. You can tell us your choice by:

• Use the contact us form at youthbusinessamerica.org, and specify “opt-out of marketing email” in the message section of the form
• Call us at 510 444-5511
• In writing to Youth Business America Inc., PO Box 71807, Oakland, CA 94612

You can make sure information is accurate by: telling us if it is incorrect or has changed and update it  by calling or writing to us at the telephone number or appropriate address

6. Steps you can take to protect information about you

Youth Business America recommends that you take the following precautions to guard against the disclosure and unauthorized use of your personal and business information:

• Review your Youth Business America profile regularly and report any suspicious changes to us immediately.
• Do not respond to e-mails requesting account numbers, passwords or PINs for Youth Business America website or database access or access to your online loan account. Call the institution to verify the legitimacy of the e-mail.
• Memorize PINs and refrain from writing PINs, Social Security numbers, debit or credit card numbers where they could be found.
• Shred documents containing any sensitive information before discarding, such as bank statements.
• Confirm that an Internet site is secure by checking that the URL (Web address) begins with “https”.
• Review your credit report at least once every year to make sure all information is up to date. For a free copy of your credit bureau report, contact annualcreditreport.com or call 1.877.322.8228.
• If you think you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, you may contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report any incidents and to receive additional guidance on steps you can take to protect yourself. Contact the FTC at ftc.gov/idtheft or 1.877.438.4338.
• For additional information on protecting your information, please visit youthbusinessamerica.org/privacy.

Keeping up to date with our Privacy Policy. We may make changes to this policy at any time and will inform you of changes, as required by law. To receive the most up-to-date Privacy Policy, you can visit our Web site at: youthbusinessamerica.org/privacy.

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