Privacy Policy

1Who we are and the scope of this policy

Funding.com takes your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy explains how Funding.com Inc, a stock corporation incorporated in the State of Delaware, United States (Delaware File Number 10683327), trading as Funding.com (“Funding.com”, “we”, “us” or “our”), collects, uses, stores and shares personal information in connection with our website, applications, financing services, lender introductions and related support.

This policy applies to people dealing with Funding.com worldwide, including website visitors, applicants, borrowers, guarantors, beneficial owners, business representatives and people referred to us. It is not limited to any one country. Our services and their availability may vary by location.

“Personal information” includes personal data and other information about an identified or identifiable individual. Information about a business is covered where it also identifies an individual, such as a sole trader, director or guarantor. Information in documents, communications, transaction descriptions and technical records may also be personal information.

The Funding.com entity responsible for your information is identified above and, where another Funding.com entity provides your service, in the relevant application, agreement or collection notice. Where applicable, that entity is the controller of your personal information.

Local privacy laws may provide additional protections or require additional notices. Those protections continue to apply. Where necessary, we provide a supplementary notice for a particular service or jurisdiction; mandatory local requirements prevail over any inconsistent provision of this policy.

2Information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us and the service you request. It may include:

• Identity and verification information: your name, date of birth, identification documents, identity verification results, address verification and, where required, tax or other government identifiers.
• Contact and account information: email address, telephone number, postal address, account identifiers, authentication information and communication preferences.
• Business information: your role, business ownership, beneficial ownership, directorships, business activities and information about authorised representatives or guarantors.
• Financial and application information: funding requirements, income, assets, liabilities, financial statements, bank statements, payment account details, source of funds, repayment capacity and supporting documents.
• Credit information: credit reports, credit history and related assessments, where we are authorised by applicable law and have obtained any required consent. Additional credit-reporting notices apply where required.
• Asset and transaction information: domain names or other relevant assets, ownership and valuation information, proposed acquisitions, contracts, escrow transaction details, payment and settlement records, and financing or repayment history.
• Communications: enquiries, applications, correspondence, complaints and support records. If a call is recorded, we provide any required notice and obtain any required consent.
• Technical and usage information: IP address, device and browser information, approximate location inferred from your IP address, pages visited, interactions, referral sources, cookies and similar identifiers.
• Assessment information: information derived from the above, such as eligibility, affordability, credit risk and fraud risk assessments.

We collect sensitive information, including biometric information if used for identity verification, only where necessary and permitted by law, with any required separate notice and consent. Please do not send sensitive information that we have not requested.

3How we collect information

We collect information directly from you when you visit our website, open an account, submit an enquiry or application, provide documents, enter into an agreement or contact us.

We may also collect information, where permitted, from:

• Escrow.com under the data-sharing arrangement described in section 6;
• partner lenders, brokers and other referral partners;
• identity verification, fraud prevention, sanctions screening and credit-reporting providers;
• banks, payment providers and financial-data providers, subject to any required authorisation;
• transaction counterparties, authorised representatives and guarantors; and
• public records and other lawful sources, including business registers and domain ownership information.

If you provide another person’s information, you must have authority to do so, provide them with appropriate privacy information and obtain any consent required by law. We remain responsible for meeting our own notice and other legal obligations.

Information we receive unexpectedly or through third-party platforms is still handled under applicable privacy law and this policy. We assess whether we should retain it and securely delete or de-identify it where appropriate.

4How we use information

We use personal information as necessary to:

• respond to enquiries and establish and administer your account;
• assess funding requests, verify information and evaluate eligibility, affordability, credit risk and relevant assets;
• prepare, enter into and administer financing and related agreements;
• make introductions to partner lenders with your consent;
• coordinate escrow, asset custody, payments, settlement and related transaction administration;
• service financing, manage repayments and arrears, and exercise contractual rights;
• verify identity, prevent fraud and financial crime, and meet applicable legal and regulatory obligations;
• provide support, resolve complaints and manage disputes;
• operate, secure, test and improve our services;
• analyse service performance using aggregated or de-identified information where practicable; and
• send service communications and, where permitted, marketing communications subject to your choices.

We do not treat your use of our website or acceptance of this policy as consent to optional lender referrals, optional marketing or other processing that requires specific consent.

5Our grounds for processing

Where applicable law requires a lawful basis, we process personal information on one or more of the following grounds:

• Contract or requested pre-contractual steps: to assess a request you make, enter into an agreement with you or provide agreed services.
• Legal obligations: to meet applicable verification, financial crime prevention, recordkeeping, reporting and other legal requirements.
• Legitimate interests, where recognised by law: to protect our services, prevent fraud, administer business relationships, resolve disputes and improve our operations, after considering your rights and interests.
• Consent: for partner-lender referrals and any other activities for which consent is required, including certain marketing, cookies, sensitive information or financial-data access.

We identify any additional legal condition required for sensitive information. We do not rely on a ground that is unavailable under the law applying to the relevant processing.

If you do not provide information required by law or necessary to assess or provide a requested service, we may be unable to proceed with that service. We provide any required information about mandatory collection and its consequences.

6Our relationship and data sharing with Escrow.com

Funding.com and Escrow.com are related businesses within the Freelancer group. Escrow.com provides escrow and related transaction services. We work with Escrow.com to support relevant financing transactions, including verification, transaction coordination, settlement and asset custody where applicable.

Funding.com and Escrow.com have a data-sharing agreement governing the exchange and handling of personal information. Sharing must have a lawful basis and comply with applicable privacy requirements. The agreement does not itself replace any notice, consent or other legal requirement.

Depending on the service and transaction, information shared in either direction may include identity and contact information, relevant verification results or documents, asset and domain details, transaction and payment information, settlement status, and information reasonably necessary for fraud prevention or legal compliance. We limit sharing to information relevant and necessary for the stated purpose; the arrangement does not give either business unrestricted access to the other’s customer records.

We obtain consent and provide additional notices where required by applicable law. Information obtained from Escrow.com is not automatically passed to partner lenders: referrals remain subject to section 7 and any applicable restrictions on further disclosure.

Funding.com and Escrow.com make their respective decisions independently. Funding.com is responsible for its own financing assessments and business decisions. Escrow.com is responsible for its own escrow, compliance and transaction decisions. Sharing information does not mean that Escrow.com approves, endorses or guarantees a financing decision, or that Funding.com can override Escrow.com’s requirements. Any partner lender makes its own lending decision.

Each business is responsible for its own processing under applicable law. Where each determines its own purposes and means of processing, each acts as a separate controller. Escrow.com’s handling of information is also governed by its own privacy policy, available through Escrow.com.

7Partner lenders, your consent and referral fees

With your consent, we may share your personal information with partner lenders to introduce you, obtain indicative terms or help progress a financing application.

We obtain your consent before sharing information for a partner-lender referral. The consent request describes the proposed sharing and includes the information required by applicable law. Sharing is limited to the scope of your consent; we obtain further consent where necessary for additional sharing. Consent to a referral does not itself constitute consent to unrelated marketing.

Depending on the referral, information may include your contact details, funding requirements, business and financial information, relevant asset or transaction details, and supporting application documents. We share only information reasonably necessary for the agreed referral and permitted by law. Particularly sensitive documents are shared only where needed and with any additional safeguards or authorisations required.

Funding.com may receive a referral fee, commission or other remuneration from a partner lender for an introduction or resulting financing. We provide further information about referral remuneration, including its amount or calculation basis, where required by applicable law. Referral remuneration creates a commercial interest in the introduction and may influence which lenders we present. We do not represent that a referral covers the whole lending market or necessarily provides the lowest-cost or most suitable financing available.

A referral fee does not authorise unrestricted use of your information. A lender’s use of referral information for unrelated marketing requires any additional consent or other legal basis required by applicable law.

Partner lenders are responsible for their own assessments, approval decisions, pricing, terms and privacy practices. A referral is not a guarantee of approval. Where authorised, we may receive application progress, outcome and settlement information to assist you and administer the referral, including calculating any referral fee.

You may decline a referral or withdraw consent to future referral sharing by contacting us. This may affect our ability to make or continue the introduction or provide a service dependent on it. Withdrawal does not undo disclosures lawfully made before withdrawal. A lender that already received your information may retain or use it where independently permitted or required by law; you may also exercise your rights directly with that lender.

Where a disclosure constitutes a “sale”, “sharing” or another regulated disclosure under applicable privacy law, we apply the required notices, consent or opt-out rights and restrictions. Referral consent does not waive those rights.

8Other disclosures

We may disclose relevant personal information to:

• Service providers: hosting, communications, customer support, security, identity verification, data processing and other operational providers, subject to appropriate confidentiality, security and use restrictions.
• Financial and transaction participants: banks, payment providers, custodians, servicers and counterparties where necessary to carry out your requested transaction. We limit information given to counterparties to what they reasonably need.
• Related companies: where necessary for authorised support, administration, security or compliance purposes, subject to appropriate safeguards. Optional lender referrals remain governed by section 7.
• Professional advisers and authorities: auditors, lawyers, insurers, regulators, courts and law enforcement where necessary and lawfully authorised, including to comply with legal obligations or protect legal rights.
• Financing successors: assignees, purchasers or prospective purchasers of an existing financing arrangement, and their advisers, where permitted and necessary to assess or administer that arrangement, with appropriate confidentiality safeguards and any required notice or consent.
• Business successors: parties to a proposed or completed merger, acquisition or restructuring, subject to appropriate safeguards and any required notices or choices.

These disclosures do not allow us to bypass the consent requirements for optional partner-lender introductions. Some recipients, including banks and regulated verification providers, may act independently under their own legal obligations and privacy notices.

9International handling of information

Funding.com operates internationally. Your information may be stored, accessed or processed outside the country where you live, including where Funding.com, Escrow.com, a partner lender or a service provider operates. We provide information about overseas recipients and destination countries where required by applicable law.

Privacy laws in those countries may differ from those in your country. We use the protections required by applicable law for international transfers. Depending on the transfer, these may include adequacy decisions, approved contractual clauses, the UK international data transfer agreement or addendum, transfer risk assessments and supplementary security measures. Where local law requires consent or another specific authorisation for a transfer, we obtain it.

Where applicable law entitles you to information about transfer safeguards or a copy of them, you can request this using the contact details below, subject to lawful redactions. Using our services does not itself constitute consent to an otherwise unlawful international transfer.

10Cookies and marketing

We use cookies and similar technologies for essential site functions and, where enabled and permitted, analytics and marketing. We provide information and obtain consent for these technologies where required by applicable law. Where processing relies on your consent, you may withdraw it using any available cookie controls or by contacting us.

You can opt out of marketing using the unsubscribe mechanism in a message or by contacting us. We may still send necessary application, account, transaction, security and legal communications. Consent to a lender introduction is not consent to receive unrelated marketing from Funding.com or that lender.

11Security and retention

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information and the risks involved. These include access restrictions and safeguards for storage and transmission. No system can guarantee absolute security. We respond to security incidents and notify affected people and authorities where required by law.

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including administering applications and agreements, meeting applicable recordkeeping obligations, preventing fraud and resolving disputes.

Retention depends on the information, the status and duration of your relationship with us, applicable statutory periods, limitation periods and any legal hold. Unsuccessful applications, completed financing records and marketing preferences may have different retention periods. We provide further retention information where required by applicable law. When information is no longer needed, we securely delete it or irreversibly de-identify it, subject to lawful backup retention arrangements.

12Automated assessments

We may use automated tools to assist with verification, fraud detection and application assessment. Where a decision based solely on automated processing produces legal or similarly significant effects, we use it only where permitted by law and provide any required information about its logic, significance and likely consequences.

Where applicable, you may request human intervention, express your views and challenge the decision. A partner lender’s use of automated decision-making is explained in its own privacy information.

13Your rights and choices

Depending on your location and the law that applies, you may have rights to:

• know how your information is collected, used and disclosed;
• access your information and obtain a copy;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• request deletion or restriction of processing;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• object to particular processing, including direct marketing;
• withdraw consent for future consent-based processing;
• opt out of sales, regulated sharing, targeted advertising or certain profiling;
• limit particular uses of sensitive information;
• request review of certain automated decisions; and
• appeal a refusal of a privacy request or complain to a competent regulator.

To exercise your rights, use the contact details in section 16. We may reasonably verify your identity and an authorised agent’s authority. We respond within applicable legal time limits and generally without charge, except where a lawful exception permits a fee. We provide reasons for refusals and information about review or complaint options where required by applicable law. We do not unlawfully discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Rights may be subject to specific legal exceptions, such as required financial records or another person’s privacy. We assess requests individually; we do not treat all financial information as automatically exempt from deletion or other rights. Withdrawing consent does not affect earlier lawful processing or processing that may continue on another valid legal basis.

14Additional local protections

European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland: Where the relevant data protection law applies, you have the applicable rights described above, including the right to complain to your local supervisory authority. You may request information about international transfer safeguards and, where applicable, our local representative or data protection officer. Required representative details will be provided in the relevant local notice.

United States: Applicable federal and state laws may provide additional notices and choices concerning financial information, consumer reports, affiliate sharing, sales, targeted advertising, sensitive information and appeals. We provide required financial privacy and state-specific notices where applicable. Exemptions depend on the relevant law and information; this policy does not assume that all Funding.com activities or data are exempt.

Australia and other jurisdictions: Applicable local rights and requirements continue to apply, including access, correction, complaints and any additional rules for credit information, sensitive information and overseas disclosures. We provide additional notices where necessary.

Any required local notice supplements this global policy and is made available at the relevant collection point or through our privacy information. Nothing in this policy limits a mandatory right available to you.

15Children, external websites and policy changes

Our financing services are intended for adults with legal capacity to enter into the relevant agreements. We do not knowingly collect children’s information for those services. Contact us if you believe a child has provided information so we can take appropriate action.

Our website may link to Escrow.com, lenders and other external services. Their own privacy policies apply to their processing. We remain responsible for the lawfulness of our own disclosures to them.

We may update this policy as our services or legal obligations change. We publish the revised version and update its date, provide additional notice of material changes where required, and obtain fresh consent where necessary. A policy update does not retrospectively authorise a new use of information that requires consent.

16Contact and complaints

For privacy questions, requests, consent withdrawals or complaints, contact:

Please describe your request and provide enough information for us to identify the relevant account or interaction. Avoid sending identification or financial documents unless we request them through an appropriate channel.

We handle privacy complaints in accordance with applicable law, including any required response periods. You may also complain to the privacy or data protection regulator with jurisdiction over your information, including your local supervisory authority where applicable. You do not have to complete our internal process first where the law allows you to approach the regulator directly.