Legal
Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Smart Loan Relief (“Smart Loan Relief,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit smartloanrelief.com (the “Site”), apply for a debt review, create an account, use our client portal, talk with Nova (our AI assistant), or otherwise communicate with us.
Smart Loan Relief is a debt settlement company. Because we help consumers with financial products, some of the information we hold is “nonpublic personal information” protected by the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”). We handle it as described below.
1. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Contact details: first and last name, email address, mobile phone number and state of residence.
- Debt information: the approximate amount you owe, the types of debt, the names of your lenders or creditors, current balances, the last four digits of an account number, whether you are current or behind on payments, monthly payment amounts, the original creditor of a collection account, and any notes you add.
- Documents: statements, collection letters or other files you upload to your client portal.
- Account information: the email address you use to sign in. We use one-time codes sent by email, so we do not ask you to create or store a password with us.
- Communications: messages, emails, phone calls and conversations with Nova, including what you say or type.
- Your authorizations: when you confirm that you authorize us to review a debt and contact a creditor, we record the date, time and IP address of that confirmation.
We will never ask for your online banking password, your full account numbers, or your Social Security number through the Site. If anyone claiming to be us asks for these, contact us at help@smartloanrelief.com.
Information collected automatically
- Device and usage data: IP address, browser type, device type, pages viewed, referring page, and the date and time of your visit.
- Cookies and similar technologies: essential cookies keep you signed in and protect forms from abuse. Analytics tools, such as Google Analytics through Google Site Kit when enabled, help us understand how the Site is used. See Section 7.
Information from others
With your authorization, we may receive information about your accounts from your creditors, collection agencies or their representatives while we work on a settlement.
2. How we use information
- To review your debts, tell you which ones may qualify, and prepare estimates.
- To provide our services under your written client agreement, including negotiating with and paying creditors.
- To create and secure your account, send sign-in codes, and operate the client portal.
- To contact you about your request and your accounts by email, phone or text message (see Section 6).
- To answer questions through Nova and our team.
- To keep records required by law, including the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule, and to respond to legal requests.
- To detect, prevent and investigate fraud, spam, security incidents and misuse of the Site.
- To improve the Site and our services.
3. How we share information
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it with other companies for their own marketing. We share it only as follows:
- Your creditors and debt collectors, when you authorize us to work on a debt, so that we can identify the account and negotiate a settlement.
- Service providers that work for us under contract and may use the information only to provide services to us, such as:
- website hosting (Hostinger)
- email delivery
- database hosting (Supabase)
- site analytics (Google)
- the AI voice and chat technology behind Nova (ElevenLabs)
- Twilio (phone-call routing and webhook processing)
- Legal and safety reasons: to comply with law, regulation, subpoena or court order; to enforce our agreements; or to protect the rights, property or safety of you, us or others.
- Business transfers: as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, subject to this Policy.
- With your consent or at your direction.
Under the GLBA, we do not disclose nonpublic personal information about you to nonaffiliated third parties except as permitted by law, such as to process your transactions, to service providers, or as required by law. Because we do not share for those other purposes, there is nothing you need to opt out of under the GLBA.
4. How long we keep information
We keep personal information for as long as needed to provide our services and for as long as the law requires, including the recordkeeping periods of the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule and applicable state law. When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it. Documents you remove from your portal before we begin reviewing a debt are deleted from our storage.
5. How we protect information
We protect information in several ways:
- The Site uses encrypted connections (HTTPS).
- Uploaded documents are kept in protected storage that cannot be opened from the public internet.
- Access is limited to you and the staff who need it.
- Sign-in uses expiring one-time codes with attempt limits.
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we learn of a security breach affecting your information, we will notify you as required by law.
6. Calls, texts and emails
When you submit a form or create an account, you ask us to contact you about your request. We may email you sign-in codes, estimates, account updates and service messages.
We will call or text the number you give us only:
- about your request or your accounts, or
- with your express consent where the law requires it.
When you call our Twilio number, Twilio routes the call. You are not connected to the AI assistant unless you choose to press 1. If you press 1, your live speech is processed by Twilio and Nova, our AI voice service provided by ElevenLabs, to generate responses. We do not record calls. Temporary call context is kept for up to 20 minutes and then expires.
Consent to marketing calls or texts is never a condition of using our services. You can reply STOP to any text, ask us not to call, or use the unsubscribe link in marketing emails. Service messages about an active account may continue while you are a client. Message and data rates may apply.
7. Cookies, analytics and your choices
Essential cookies are needed for sign-in and security. Analytics cookies help us measure Site traffic. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but some features, such as signing in, may stop working.
We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as a request to opt out of any sale or sharing of personal information. Google’s use of analytics data is described at policies.google.com/privacy.
8. Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Know and access the personal information we hold about you and how we use and disclose it.
- Correct inaccurate information.
- Delete personal information, subject to legal exceptions. For example, we must keep certain records of client agreements and payments.
- Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
- Limit the use of sensitive personal information. We use it only to provide the services you request.
- Not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
California residents: the categories of information described in Section 1 correspond to these categories under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA:
- identifiers
- customer records
- financial information
- internet or network activity
- audio information (Nova conversations)
- inferences about debt eligibility
We collect it for the purposes in Section 2 and disclose it only as described in Section 3. Information that is covered by the GLBA may be exempt from some CCPA rights.
How to make a request: email help@smartloanrelief.com with the subject “Privacy request,” or write to us at the address below. We will verify your identity by confirming information we already have, such as the email linked to your account, and respond within the time the law requires. You may use an authorized agent with your written permission.
9. Children
The Site and our services are intended for adults 18 and older who live in the United States. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.
10. Links to other sites
The Site may link to websites we do not control, such as social media pages. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies.
11. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date. If changes are material, we will notify clients by email or through the portal.
12. Contact us
Smart Loan Relief
350 Camino de la Reina, Suite 100
San Diego, California 92108
Email: help@smartloanrelief.com