MassHousing's Website Privacy Policy

This website ("Website") is provided by The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency ("MassHousing"). By using this Website, and in doing so accepting the Terms and Conditions under which you may use this Website, you consent to the use of your Personally Identifiable Information (as defined below) and as described in this Website Privacy Policy ("Policy").

Consumer Privacy Policy

This Website Privacy Policy supplements but does not replace MassHousing's Consumer Privacy Policy, which governs our relationship with our residential mortgage borrowers.

Collection and Use of Personally Identifiable Information

Your privacy is important to MassHousing. MassHousing at times collects, retains and utilizes Personally Identifiable Information about you to operate its business and to make its products, services and other opportunities available. MassHousing recognizes and respects your privacy concerns about this information.

MassHousing obtains information in a variety of ways (for example, directly from you in applications, from your transactions or experiences with MassHousing or its affiliates, and from credit bureaus and other third parties).

Also, when you visit the website, MassHousing collects information to measure the use of its site and to improve the content of its site, as described below.

Personally Identifiable Information

We use the term "Personally Identifiable Information" (PII) to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used to identify you, as determined by applicable law. Personal Identifiable Information (PII) also includes Personal Information, (PI) Personal Data (PD), and Nonpublic Personal Information (NPI). PII is considered "protected information", and protected consistent with MassHousing's Information Security Program.

Information Automatically Collected and Stored by MassHousing

MassHousing employs the use of "Persistent Cookies." The purpose of these Persistent Cookies is to collect and aggregate data regarding masshousing.com's visitor activity in order to continuously evaluate and improve its website services. You may elect to disable the Persistent Cookies. Please be advised that disabling the Persistent Cookies may affect your ability to view or interact with masshousing.com.

MassHousing.com does collect and store your Internet Protocol address ("IP address") (which does not identify you as an individual) indefinitely, as well as information about the date and time of your visit, whether a file you have requested exists, and how many "bytes" of information were transmitted to you over the web from masshousing.com. We use your IP address to assess the frequency of visits to masshousing.com and the popularity of its various pages and functions. We will not attempt to match any Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation. The one exception is that when you fill out information in a form on masshousing.com, we do receive your IP address along with this submission. We do not use this form-related IP address information unless it may be relevant and material to a criminal investigation.

Disclosure and Sharing of Information

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) may occasionally be transferred to third parties who act on behalf of MassHousing for further processing in accordance with the purposes for which the data was originally collected or for purposes to which you have subsequently consented. For example, sometimes a third party may have access to your Personally Identifiable Information in order to support our information technology or to handle mailings on our behalf.

MassHousing does not share any Personally Identifiable Information about its customers or former customers, except as noted above or as required by law (for example, we may disclose your information as necessary to effect a transaction requested by you, or to comply with an authorized civil, criminal or regulatory investigation).

Links to Other Sites

This Website contains links to other websites that are not owned or controlled by MassHousing. Please be aware that MassHousing is not responsible for the privacy practices or other content of such websites. This Policy applies only to information collected by this Website. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions of our Website.

Maintenance of Accurate Information

MassHousing has established procedures to correct inaccurate information in a timely manner. If you have any reason to believe that your Personally Identifiable Information is incorrect, MassHousing should be contacted in writing as follows: MassHousing, One Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 02108, or by email at webinfo@masshousing.com. MassHousing will investigate the situation and, when appropriate, update its records accordingly.

Protection of Information

MassHousing strives to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of your Personally Identifiable Information in its databases and to protect the privacy and security of its databases. MassHousing maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect the confidentiality of your Personally Identifiable Information (for example, its computer systems require employees to enter passwords to gain entry and employees receive training and understand the importance of confidentiality and customer privacy). The security measures in place on the Website and computer systems aim to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of the information you provide to us. MassHousing keeps your Personally Identifiable Information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the security of your information, please email us at webinfo@masshousing.com.

Your Responsibility

You are responsible for keeping your online password, account numbers, personal identification information and other account data confidential. For example, MassHousing is not responsible for customer errors or negligent use of the online service and will not be liable for any loss or damage due to negligent handling or sharing of passwords leading to unauthorized access to accounts; leaving a computer unattended during an online session; failure to report known incidents of unauthorized account access within two business days; or input errors or misuse of the online service.

Unsubscribe

If you do not wish to receive email communications from MassHousing including marketing and promotional information, please send an email indicating this to webinfo@masshousing.com or a letter indicating this to MassHousing, One Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 02108 and MassHousing will not send to you any more marketing or promotional emails.

Business Transitions

In the event MassHousing goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another entity, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your Personally Identifiable Information might be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via this Website of any such change in ownership or control of your Personally Identifiable Information.

Changes in MassHousing Privacy Statements

If MassHousing decides to change this Policy it will post the changes on this Website and at other places it deems appropriate so that you are aware of what information it collects, how it uses it, and under what circumstances, if any, it discloses it. MassHousing reserves the right to modify this Policy at any time, so please review it frequently.

Complying with this Policy

MassHousing ensures compliance with this Policy through an audit and enforcement plan. This audit and enforcement plan ensures that the policies set forth in here are consistently and accurately implemented. Additionally, we undertake periodic review of this Policy to determine whether provisions should be updated.

Effective Date

This Policy is effective as of January 2021. Date of last review: January 2021.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this Policy or the Terms and Conditions of the Website, please contact MassHousing in writing as follows: MassHousing, One Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 02108, or by email at webinfo@masshousing.com.