Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy – totalmerchantservices.com

Total Merchant Services Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 07/10/2015

Total Merchant Services, Inc. (“TMS”, “we”, “us” or “our”), a registered ISO/MSP for Wells Fargo Bank, is committed to the safety of your personal, company, and financial information. We value our relationship and your trust.

The following privacy policy (as may be amended as stated below, the “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect and manage your personal, company and financial information when you sign up for, use, access or otherwise interact with any TMS products, Services (as defined below) or websites, as well as how we care for your privacy and protect such information. This Privacy Policy applies to merchants (“Merchants”) that use card processing services and programs, and other services and programs, including, but not limited to gift, loyalty, offers engine, marketing and customer relationship management services and programs; portal and front end technology platforms; compliance and tax reporting services and programs; and business accounting, cash register and inventory services and programs (collectively, the “Services”) through TMS (or through third parties, as powered by TMS), as well as their customers (“Customers”) that benefit from any of the Services. This Privacy Policy also applies to sales or referral partners, agents and representatives (“Sales Partners”, and collectively with Merchants and Customers, “you” or “your”) who provide personal, company, and financial information to us in any way and for any reason. A more detailed explanation of the Services can be found at http://www.totalmerchantservices.com and http://www.Groovv.com.

You may also have been directed to this Privacy Policy by a third-party, such as a Sales Partner, providing one or more products or Services powered by TMS. The Privacy Policy explains how we collect and manage your personal, company and financial information, as well as how we care for your privacy and protect your information, in each case as it relates to such products and/or Services powered by TMS that are provided to you by such third-party.

TMS reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it on a regular basis. Any changes made to this Privacy Policy will be posted here. The date stamp at the top of the page represents the last day this Privacy Policy was updated. If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at compliance@merchantserviceshq.com. By signing up for, using, accessing or otherwise interacting with any TMS products, Services or websites, you will be deemed to have agreed to and accepted this Privacy Policy.

Information Collection

Types of Information

The following types of information about you are collected by us:

  • Information about a Merchant’s or Sales Partner’s business, including its taxpayer identification number and certain other identifiable information (such as its financial history, when applicable);
  • Certain personally identifiable information of the owner of a Merchant or Sales Partner, including the owner’s name, address, social security number, and email address. This information may be necessary to process applications and other paperwork, and to contact the owner;
  • Your name, including user name or screen name and password;
  • Postal and/or e-mail address;
  • Mobile, home, fax and/or business telephone (including toll-free) number, service provider name, and the date, time and content of your message;
  • IP Address, and other technical information collected by the servers utilized by us or our vendors;
  • Credit/debit card and other billing information, including cardholder transaction data, card numbers, and expiration dates;
  • Information regarding the use of the Services, including but not limited to the redemption of gift and loyalty offers; and
  • Other information provided by you to us in any way.

The Services are not intended for anyone under the age of 18, nor do we knowingly collect or retain information in connection with the Services from children under the age of 13.

How Information is Collected

We may collect information in the following ways:

  • Through registration, or electronic forms filled out, by you on TMS’ website or a TMS-hosted website, and/or a website hosted by a third party;
  • Through paper forms filled out by you;
  • Through SMS (Short Message Service) messages sent via your cell phone by you;
  • Through telephone calls made by you to us, or vice versa;
  • Through emails sent by you to us, or vice versa;
  • Through any other communications between you and us;
  • Through surveys and prize promotion entries;
  • Through referring websites or third parties, such as by Merchants regarding Customers, or Sales Partners regarding Merchants;
  • Through third parties, such as third-party verification services, credit bureaus, mailing list providers, and other publicly available sources;
  • Through card or other transactions between Merchants and Customers;
  • Through the maintenance and analysis of Web server logs; and
  • Via “cookies” (small text files placed on a computer), single pixel GIF image files (also called “Web beacons”), Web server log analysis and other similar technological means.

We require both the personal social security number of the owner of a Merchant or Sales Partner and the Merchant’s or Sales Partner’s federal taxpayer ID to provide the Merchant with a merchant account or to consummate a relationship with the Sales Partner. When the Merchant or Sales Partner enters its owner’s social security number and its federal taxpayer ID on our registration application form, we encrypt it using secure socket layer technology (SSL). We may use the Merchant’s or Sales Partner’s and/or its respective owner’s name and social security number to request a credit report and to obtain a background report on the Merchant or Sales Partner and its business, and on its owner. We take a number of security measures, such as encryption, to protect the privacy of information about the Merchant or Sales Partner and its owner.

Information Use and Sharing

Except as specifically provided in this Privacy Policy, we will never share, sell, or rent any information we collect from you, but may sell or share aggregate, non-personal information with third parties for any legally permissible purpose. We will share information with each Merchant regarding that Merchant’s Customers. We will share information with each Sales Partner regarding any Merchants boarded by that Sales Partner. We will, in some cases, have third parties assist us in providing the Services or provide products and/or Services powered by TMS, and those third parties will have access to certain of the personally identifiable information provided by you (for example, financial institutions, credit card associations, member banks, network organizations, and vendors). We may also use information collected, including personal information, and may share such information with, or sell such information to, third parties in the following ways:

  • To market, operate, monitor and deliver the Services, such as processing transactions and requests, providing and sending instructions and messages, measuring interest in the Services, customizing content, and contacting you;
  • To market, operate, monitor and deliver any products and/or Services powered by TMS that are provided to you by third parties;
  • To enable you to enter promotions and receive prizes from us and/or third parties;
  • To improve or tailor the user experience with regard to the Services;
  • To provide information and offers regarding the Services, as well as other products and services offered by or through us or selected third parties;
  • To prevent fraud or for legal compliance or public purpose, and/or to release information to the relevant authority in the event of a breach by you of any of our terms of use, or if we are under a legal obligation to disclose such information;
  • To provide, sell, or transfer information to a company that acquires, is acquired by or is merged with us; and
  • To identify you.

We may advertise the Services using a third party, and these third parties may utilize cookies or other technological means within the advertising to collect and utilize non-personal information. We are not responsible for information collected by any such third parties, nor for the collection or use of information by other websites to which the Services are linked.

This Privacy Policy does not, however, describe the practices of Sales Partners, Merchants or any other third parties that may collect information from you when you interact with them, including Merchants or third parties that use TMS-powered products and/or Services. Such Sales Partners, Merchants and other third parties maintain their own independent privacy policies that may or may not be consistent with this Privacy Policy. You are encouraged to review the privacy policies of such Sales Partners, Merchants and other third parties.

Communications

Based upon the personally identifiable information that you provide us, we may send you a welcoming email. We will also communicate with you in response to your inquiries, to provide the Services you request, and to manage your account.

We store information that we collect through cookies, log files, and clear gifs to create a “profile” of your preferences. We do not share your profile with other third parties, except that we may share your profile with (i) third parties from whom you receive products or Services powered by TMS, (ii) Sales Partners that board you as a Merchant, and (iii) Merchants for whom you are a Customer.

Choice/Opt-Out

Choices Regarding Your Information

If you have provided personally identifiable information to us, we may, from time to time, send you mail or e-mail regarding the Services. We provide you the opportunity to unsubscribe from having your information used for certain purposes, provided that such opportunity may require you to discontinue your use of the Services and any products related thereto. If you no longer wish to receive promotional communications or our newsletter, or if you wish to unsubscribe from having your information used for certain purposes, you may do so by following the instructions included in each communication or by notifying us by email to compliance@merchantserviceshq.com or by written correspondence sent to:

Total Merchant Services
21650 Oxnard Ave., Ste 1200
Woodland Hills CA 91367

(888) 848-6825

Your California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of such residents’ personal information to third parties for such third parties’ direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please e-mail us at: compliance@merchantserviceshq.com.

Security

We take every reasonable precaution to protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information by using industry recognized security safeguards such as site monitoring, secured networks and servers, firewalls, and encryption. When we ask for sensitive information, we protect it through the use of encryption during transmission, such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer). We regularly test and update our technology to enhance security. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information within industry standards, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Our employees are trained and required to safeguard your information. Our strict internal controls limit access to information based on job functionality.

Protection of Cardholder and Customer Data

We are subject to the rules and regulations of credit and debit card associations and networks, such as VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Accel, NYCE, and Interlink. We are also compliant in regards to the security and safeguarding of cardholder information with “PCI DSS” (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards), and “CISP” (Cardholder Information Security Program). We comply with all related rules and regulations at all times. We undergo periodic third-party assessments and network scans to ensure that we have installed and maintained a firewall configuration to protect data; encrypt transmission of cardholder data and sensitive information across networks; restrict access of data to those that need to know; track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data; regularly test security systems and processes; assign a unique ID to each person with computer access; restrict physical access to cardholder data; and maintain a policy that addresses information security. Additional information regarding these requirements can be found at: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/pci_fs_data_storage.pdf

Use of Web Technologies

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies on this site. We may link the information we store in cookies to personally identifiable information you submit while on our site. We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. A session ID cookie expires when a browser is closed. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. Persistent cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site. You can remove the persistent cookies by following the directions provided in your internet browser’s “help” file. If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some areas of our site will be limited.

Clear Gifs

We employ a software technology called clear gifs (aka web beacons/web bugs), that helps us better manage the content on our site by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of a sentence. We do not tie the information gathered by clear gifs to your personally identifiable information.

We use clear gifts in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. If you would like to opt-out of these emails, please see “Choice/Opt-Out”.

Log Files

As is true of most websites, we gather information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.

We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole.

Do Not Track

When you use one or more of our websites, we may receive “do not track” requests from you, whether via signals from Web browsers or other mechanisms. At this time, we do not respond to such “do not track” requests, although we may choose to do so in the future.

Manage Accurate Information

If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer choose to use our Services, you can visit our merchant forms site at http://merchantforms.com/ to download the corrective action form that is appropriate. You can also contact customer service by email, support@merchantserviceshq.com, telephone or postal mail at the contact information listed below to assist you with changes to your account.

To the extent your account(s) close or become inactive, we will continue to protect your information as described in this privacy policy.

Business Transitions

In the event that we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition, or sales, your personal information will likely be among the assets transferred. You may not be notified of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information, although we will require that the acquirer agree to honor this Privacy Policy, as modified.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us as follows:

By mail:
Total Merchant Services
21650 Oxnard Ave., Ste 1200
Woodland Hills CA 91367

By telephone:
(888) 848-6825

By email:
compliance@merchantserviceshq.com