Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

Top5Lenders is a United States-based comparison website. We publish information about home equity borrowing options and link to provider websites. We do not accept loan applications, open lender accounts or make credit decisions.

This policy covers information handled through our website and support correspondence. It does not govern a lender’s website, application process or services. A lender’s own privacy notice applies when you visit its website or give it information.

“Personal information” means information that identifies, describes, relates to or can reasonably be linked with a person or household. Privacy laws may exclude publicly available, properly deidentified or aggregated information. Specific rights, definitions and exceptions depend on the law that applies.

2. Information we collect

This table covers personal-information categories during the preceding 12 months, which for this newly launched website means the period since launch. It includes information you may choose to provide to support. Information a lender collects after you leave our site is governed by that lender’s policy.

“If provided” means the information is received only when you choose to include it in an email. “Not requested” means we do not ask for that category or create it through the website. Unsolicited messages or attachments can contain additional information; please send only what is needed for your inquiry.

Information collected automatically

Our hosting system records access and error logs as pages and files are requested. These may contain an IP address, request time, requested URL, browser information and referring address. A URL can include search or campaign parameters, so avoid putting private information in a website address. Logs help operate the website, investigate problems and detect misuse.

Information you provide directly

If you email support@top5lenders.com, we receive your address, message and any name, contact information or attachments you provide. We use that correspondence to answer the inquiry or handle a request. Browsing does not require an account, an application form, a Social Security number or financial information.

Information from other sources

The current website does not buy consumer lists, import credit reports, receive loan applications from lenders or use a third-party data-enrichment service. Service-generated technical records and support correspondence are the sources described above.

3. How we use and disclose information

We use the limited information described in this policy to deliver website content, diagnose errors, maintain security, respond to support messages, correct reported problems and handle privacy requests. Information may also be needed to satisfy applicable legal requirements, respond to valid legal process or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Disclosures for a business purpose

Hosting providers process identifiers and internet/network activity to deliver and protect the site. Email service providers process contact identifiers and the contents of messages to deliver, store and manage correspondence. These are the service-provider categories involved in the current website’s operation during the preceding 12 months. Contact details and any other information you put in a message are available to the email service that handles that message.

We do not send a loan application or lead profile to a lender from this website. If information must be disclosed to an authority, adviser or another recipient to address a legal obligation or security incident, that disclosure is limited to the relevant purpose.

Sale, sharing and targeted advertising

During the preceding 12 months, Top5Lenders has not sold personal information or shared it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not currently use personal information for targeted advertising. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16, and we do not offer financial incentives for providing personal information.

Compensation from a featured provider, if applicable, is described in our Advertiser Disclosure. A commercial placement does not mean that a loan application is collected by this website.

4. Cookies, browser signals and external links

This website currently has no Google Analytics, Google Ads tracking, Meta Pixel, advertising cookies or browser-storage advertising profiles. Fonts and site images are served with the website. Your browser may keep ordinary cached copies of files; that is different from creating a tracking profile.

Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a browser signal used to communicate a request to opt out of sale or sharing. Our current website does not carry out either activity, so there is no sale or advertising-sharing process to disable when that signal is present. You do not need to turn off a privacy signal to use the site. A signal in this browser does not itself submit an access or deletion request about an earlier support email.

Older “Do Not Track” settings differ from GPC. The site’s current no-advertising-tracking practices apply whether or not those settings are enabled. To ask about information associated with you, use the request instructions below.

Provider websites may use their own cookies, analytics, advertising and application forms. We do not control them. Review the provider’s policies and exercise any privacy choices directly with it.

5. Retention and security

We retain personal information only for the purposes described here, subject to applicable legal and security needs. Retention depends on the type of record, the reason it exists, whether an inquiry is unresolved and any requirement to preserve it.

• Hosting logs: kept on a rotating schedule for operation, troubleshooting and security. Records relevant to an incident or legal requirement may need to be retained longer.
• Support messages: kept as needed to respond, follow up and maintain an appropriate record of the matter. You may request deletion, subject to applicable exceptions.
• Privacy-request records: kept as needed to document and honor your request. Where CCPA recordkeeping applies, the request and response record must be retained for at least 24 months; it is not used for unrelated marketing.

The website uses HTTPS for information in transit. Security measures cannot guarantee that every transmission or stored message is completely secure. Do not email passwords, government identification numbers, bank-account details, medical records or loan documents to our support address.

6. Privacy Notice for California Residents

This notice supplements the policy for California residents. It explains rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA/CPRA”). Those statutory rights apply when the relevant information and business activity fall within the law; exemptions and business-coverage requirements can affect applicability. If an applicable California requirement conflicts with the general policy, that requirement controls.

Key definitions

• Sale: generally, transferring or making personal information available to another business or third party in exchange for money or other valuable consideration, subject to statutory exceptions.
• Sharing: generally, disclosing personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, whether or not money changes hands.
• Cross-context behavioral advertising: advertising that uses personal information from activity across different businesses or distinctly branded websites, apps or services.
• Sensitive personal information: protected categories such as government identifiers, account credentials, precise location, certain health, genetic or identifying biometric information, and specified personal characteristics. Ordinary support emails addressed to us are not sensitive merely because they are emails, but their contents may include sensitive information.

The category table describes collection within the preceding 12 months. The use and disclosure section identifies purposes and service-provider categories. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you.

Your California rights

• Know and access: request the categories and specific pieces of personal information held about you, its sources, the purposes for processing and the categories of recipients, including any sale, sharing or business-purpose disclosure where relevant.
• Delete: request deletion of personal information, subject to legal exceptions such as security, completing a requested service or legal obligations.
• Correct: request correction of inaccurate personal information, taking account of its nature and how it is used.
• Receive a portable copy: obtain information in a reasonably usable format where required and technically feasible.
• Opt out of sale or sharing: direct a covered business to stop selling or sharing your information. The current Top5Lenders site does neither. You can still submit a request through Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information.
• Limit sensitive-information use: where applicable, restrict uses or disclosures of sensitive personal information beyond the purposes permitted by law. We do not request such information for browsing or use it to infer personal characteristics.
• Non-discrimination: exercise applicable privacy rights without unlawful retaliation, discriminatory prices or denial of service. A deletion request may prevent us from continuing an inquiry if the needed correspondence is removed.

How to exercise these rights

Email support@top5lenders.com with “California privacy request” in the subject, or use Your Privacy Choices. Identify the right you want to exercise and provide enough context to locate your information. You do not need to create an account or pay a fee to submit a request.

For access, correction and deletion, we may need to verify your identity using information reasonably related to the record. We do not ask for more information than needed for that purpose. If we cannot verify a request, we will explain why we cannot complete it. A sale/sharing opt-out is not subject to the same verified-identity requirement, although enough information to apply it may be needed.

Authorized agents

You may authorize someone to act for you. An agent should identify the request as an authorized-agent request and provide evidence of permission where the law allows us to require it. For access, correction or deletion, we may ask you to verify your identity or confirm the authorization directly. Different rules may apply to a valid power of attorney.

Response times and exceptions

Where CCPA applies, receipt of a request to know, correct or delete must be confirmed within 10 business days, and a response is generally due within 45 calendar days from receipt. A permitted extension can add up to 45 calendar days; the reason and extension must be communicated within the initial period. Applicable sale/sharing and sensitive-information limitation requests must be handled as soon as feasible, no later than 15 business days.

These timelines describe applicable requirements; they do not mean an email link submits a request automatically. Requests may be limited by verification requirements or statutory exceptions. We will explain a denial and any available next steps. A fee or refusal for an excessive or manifestly unfounded request is permitted only where the law allows it.

Other California privacy information

California’s “Shine the Light” law addresses certain disclosures for another business’s direct marketing. Top5Lenders does not currently disclose personal information for that purpose. You may contact us with questions about such disclosures.

For official information or to raise a concern, visit the California Attorney General’s CCPA page or the California Privacy Protection Agency’s complaint page.

7. Privacy Notice for Covered Residents

This notice supplements our Privacy Policy for residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia (the “Covered States”). A resident protected by an applicable law is a “Covered Resident” for this notice. California residents have a separate California notice.

Each state's law has its own definitions, coverage requirements and exemptions. The rights below apply when the relevant law covers the information and activity involved. An applicable state-specific protection controls over a conflicting general description in this policy. Nothing here limits rights available under another applicable law.

Personal data and sensitive data

“Personal data” generally means information linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable person. State laws may exclude publicly available or properly deidentified information. “Processing” includes collecting, using, storing, analyzing, disclosing, correcting or deleting data.

“Sensitive data” receives additional protection. Depending on the state, this includes information revealing racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health conditions, sex life or sexual orientation, citizenship or immigration status; genetic or biometric data used to identify someone; precise geolocation; and personal data about a known child. Some states protect additional categories. We do not request sensitive data to use this comparison website.

What sale, targeted advertising and profiling mean

A “sale” generally involves exchanging personal data with a third party for money or, in states that use a broader definition, other valuable consideration. Statutory exclusions may include:

• A disclosure to a processor acting on the business's behalf.
• A disclosure needed to provide a product or service the consumer requested, or directed by the consumer.
• A transfer to an affiliate, as that state's law defines it.
• A transfer as part of an actual or proposed merger, acquisition, bankruptcy or similar transaction.
• A disclosure of information the consumer intentionally made public without restricting its audience.

These are descriptions of legal exceptions, not a statement that Top5Lenders undertakes those activities. Whether a specific disclosure is excluded depends on the applicable law.

“Targeted advertising” generally means selecting an advertisement using information about a person's activity over time across unaffiliated websites or apps. Contextual advertising based on the page currently being viewed is generally treated differently. “Profiling” is automated processing used to evaluate or predict personal characteristics. Certain opt-out rights concern profiling used for decisions with legal or similarly significant effects, such as lending, housing, employment or insurance decisions.

Information, purposes and recipients covered by this notice

Our information-category table applies to Covered Residents as well as California residents. It covers the preceding 12 months, which for this new website means the period since launch. The current sources are hosting-generated technical records and information you voluntarily send to support.

We use identifiers and website request information for delivery, troubleshooting and security. We use contact details and message contents to answer inquiries and privacy requests. Hosting and email providers process the relevant records for those services; other limited disclosures may be required for a legal obligation or security incident. See purposes and recipient categories and retention and security for the full explanation.

Top5Lenders has not sold personal data during the preceding 12 months and does not currently process personal data for targeted advertising or qualifying profiling. The website has no loan-application or lead-collection form. A lender independently handles an application on its own website. The statutory sale exclusions above do not change these statements about our current practices.

Your privacy rights

• Confirm and access: ask whether your data is processed and request access to eligible information.
• Correct: request that inaccurate data be corrected where that state provides the right.
• Delete: request deletion of eligible personal data, subject to lawful retention and other exceptions.
• Portability: request an eligible copy in a usable format; the data covered and permitted response format vary.
• Opt out: object to sale, targeted advertising or qualifying profiling where applicable.
• Sensitive data and consent: withdraw required consent or exercise the notice/opt-out protections provided by your state's law.
• Recipients and decisions: obtain additional recipient information or question profiling decisions where the state provides those rights.
• Fair treatment: exercise applicable privacy rights without unlawful discrimination.

State-specific rights

Choose a state for its own summary and an official source. These summaries identify differences within the notice above. Unless a different period is stated, the laws below generally require a response to an applicable rights request within 45 days, with a further 45 days when legally permitted and explained within the initial period. Requests are handled without undue delay; a deadline is not a reason to wait.

Submit a request or use an authorized agent

Email support@top5lenders.com with “State privacy request” in the subject, your state of residence and the right you want to exercise. Include enough context to locate your support correspondence or relevant website interaction. You do not need an account. Please do not include passwords, Social Security numbers or identity documents in the initial message.

We may request reasonably necessary information to authenticate an access, correction, deletion or portability request. Opt-out authentication rules differ by state; we apply the relevant rule rather than automatically requiring the same identity checks for every request. If we cannot reasonably locate or authenticate a record, we will explain the issue and any information needed to proceed.

Where permitted, an authorized agent, parent, legal guardian or conservator may act for you. The person making the request should identify that role. We may ask for evidence of authority or direct confirmation as the applicable law allows. An opt-out signal or agent request must be handled under the state's own requirements.

You may use Global Privacy Control or another legally recognized opt-out signal while browsing this site. Because our current site does not sell personal data or use it for targeted advertising, there is no such processing to disable. A browser signal does not itself submit an access or deletion request concerning an earlier email. You can also visit Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information.

Decisions, appeals and complaints

If a request is refused, we will explain the reason and any available appeal. Statutory exceptions may permit retention for security, legal obligations or claims, or limit access that would expose someone else's data or protected information. Requests are generally free within the frequency allowed by law; a fee or refusal is used only where legally permitted and explained.

To appeal, email support@top5lenders.com with “Privacy appeal” in the subject. Identify your state, the original request, the decision received and why you want it reviewed. The same support address accepts both requests and appeals. We will provide a written outcome within the applicable state deadline, including notice of any permitted extension. Where an internal appeal is not a statutory right, you may still ask us to review our response.

If an applicable appeal is denied, we will provide the required information for contacting your state attorney general or privacy regulator. You may also consult the official state resources linked above to raise a concern. A request to Top5Lenders concerns our records; a lender's separate records and decisions must be addressed with that lender.

Email buttons open an editable draft in your email application. They do not send a message, submit a request or change a stored preference until you send the email and the request is handled.

8. Submit a privacy request

Write to support@top5lenders.com or visit Your Privacy Choices. Include your state of residence, the right or concern involved, and enough detail to locate the relevant message or website interaction. If possible, contact us from the email address involved in the original correspondence. Do not include sensitive documents with your initial request.

The link opens an editable draft in your email application. The request reaches our inbox only after you send it. Requests about a lender’s records must be directed to that lender separately.

9. Children, policy updates and contact

The service is intended for adults comparing borrowing options, not children under 13. We do not knowingly seek personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us information, contact us so it can be reviewed and addressed. We do not knowingly sell or share information about people under 16.

We may update this policy when the website or its information practices change, and the date at the top identifies the current version. Applicable law may require additional notice or consent for a material change; a policy update does not replace such a requirement. For questions about this policy, alternative access to its contents or a privacy concern, email support@top5lenders.com.