Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation Privacy Policy and Procedures

At Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation (CHMIC) we believe in building relationships with our customers. These relationships are built on trust and respect. Part of the process of establishing trust and respect is to inform you of our information handling practices, the reasons for these practices, security steps in place to protect your information and your role in controlling your own personal information. We acknowledge that your personal information is a valued asset and we want you to know we will treat it that way.

Collecting Personal Information

CHMIC accepts personal information from individuals, partnerships, proprietorships and companies who may wish to borrow money from our Company or a related party. In order to provide you with our services, we may collect the following information about you:

contact and mailing information such as your name, address, telephone numbers, fax number and email addresses;
your date of birth;
your Social Insurance Number;
employment information, credit information, asset information and personal references;
information about the nature and financial situation of any company where you are a significant shareholder;
insurance information;
municipal and legal descriptions of your properties;
Any other relevant information which is necessary to provide you with our services.

In the case that we receive your information from a mortgage broker or other similar professionals our Privacy Policy and Procedures will apply the same as if we collected the information ourselves. Furthermore, your knowledge and consent is required for the collection, use or disclosure of your information, except where required or permitted by law. Upon written request, you will be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of your information, and be given access to it. You may verify the accuracy and completeness of your information, and have it amended at any time, if appropriate.

Purposes of Collection

We will only collect the personal information we require to fulfill the following purposes:

To secure a mortgage on the clients behalf;
To prepare security documents;
To verify identity;
To cross reference residential and business addresses;
To establish credit worthiness and ability to repay;
To assess clients present and future needs;
To establish character regarding history of completing contracts;
To protect our security interests;
To negotiate or sell our security interests; and,
Any other purpose that may be required or permitted by law.

Information Disclosure to Third Parties

Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation (CHMIC) may disclose your information to third parties that may include but are not limited to:

Accountants, Auditors, Lawyers, Employees and company Directors;
Banks, Lenders and Creditors;
Credit representative agencies;
Home Insurance and Mortgage Insurance and Title Insurance Corporations;

Obtaining Consent

We believe that part of establishing trust and integrity comes from allowing you to decide whether you wish to provide your personal information to us at the time we ask for it. Accordingly, we will advise you of the personal information we require, and the purposes for which that information is being collected. When we are dealing with each other over the telephone, we will obtain your verbal consent. CHMIC will use a number of methods to obtain permission for the collection of personal information:

Client signs and dates a credit application with privacy policy disclosure.
Client signs the commitment letter authorizing collection, use and disclosure.
In the case that a client authorizes an intermediary, mortgage broker to release information to CHMIC on their behalf.
In the case that information is given over the telephone the individual will be advised and a note on the file will state consent given and the date of that consent.
In the case that information is given online through our application form, client understands that information will be used in accordance with our privacy policy disclosure.

Safeguarding your Personal Information

Like you, we at Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation (CHMIC) value your personal information. Part of valuing your personal information is ensuring it is protected and kept confidential. The following procedures are enforced to ensure your information is secure:

filing cabinets and areas where files are stored are in a safe and secure environment;
only employees who need access to the storage areas or filing cabinets have access to them;
contracting the shredding of papers containing personal information rather than placing them in a garbage can or recycling bin;
training our employees so they know our privacy policies for protecting personal information and the consequences of not following them;
having employees that understand trust and confidentiality;
using screensavers so visitors to our office cannot see information on our computers;
using firewalls and anti-virus programs on our computers;
using passwords to make sure that only certain employees have access to information on computers and changing the passwords often;
erasing computer hard-drives before we sell or otherwise dispose of them;
continuous review and update of files;
a specialized encrypting system is used to protect your online information from being hacked or exposed to outside sources without your prior consent.

Updating and Retention of your Personal Information

Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation (CHMIC) will do its best to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete and kept current.

We will accomplish this by:

An agent will contact you to verify your personal information before any decisions are made or action is taken.
Public databases, credit bureaus and reporting agencies are utilized to confirm the information is accurate.
Due diligence on the part of the client to inform us of the change or error in any personal information.

Retention of Information

Retain information as long as is necessary to continue to meet your needs and any legal requirements we may have. However, once your personal information is no longer needed and there is not legal or other issues that prevent a file from being destroyed we will destroy the information based on the suggested timetable:

For clients who borrow funds the personal information will be retained for a minimum of 7 years from payout but not longer than 8 years from payout subject to any laws which may require a longer retention period.
For clients who have been declined or have withdrawn their applications, their personal information will be destroyed between a minimum 1 year and maximum 2 years from date of decline or withdrawal subject to any laws which may require a longer retention period.

Destruction of Information

To ensure that information is properly destroyed the following procedures are in place:

Files will be date stamped at decline or when paid in full;
The name, address of mortgaged property and date of decline or payout will be entered into a database.
Once per year a diary note will initiate an employee task to destroy files or parts of files that enter the category of evaluation. (see pretention of information for more detail.)
Once per year a diary note will initiate an employee to manage our online files that have been paid in full or declined, and have them permanently removed from our system. (see retention of information for more detail.)

Access, Complaints and Inquiries

Should you wish to access your personal information or have any complaints or questions about Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation’s Privacy Policy please contact our Privacy Officer.

Phone: 1.403.278.0249
Toll Free: 1.888.75.CHMIC (24642)
Fax: 1.403.225.0549
Email: admin@chmic.ca

All issues will be referred to the President and the Privacy Officer of Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation. The Privacy Officer shall make an initial response to all inquiries and complaints within 48 hours. If the request cannot be handled immediately a reasonable time estimate will be made for the response. In compliance with S28 of the PIPA the Privacy Officer will reasonably try to respond to an Applicant within 45 calendar days of the request but this time limit can be extended by an additional 30 days if required. Please note that a nominal fee may be charged based on the volume of the information required.