Credit Information Systems
accurate Financial Services
Appraisal Firewall

Privacy Policy

Star Appraisal Management Company Privacy Notice – Last modified: 10/14/2021

1. Introduction

This Privacy Notice describes how we collect and use Personal Data about you through the use of our Services and through email, text, and other electronic communications between you and us.

Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs, Inc. D/B/A Credit Information Systems, Star Appraisal Management Company, and Accurate Financial Services (“COMPANY” or “we” or “us”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy. We provide credit reports to our clients, the recipients of credit reports who have certified that they have a valid reason to obtain a credit report about consumers. If you are a consumer, COMPANY collects, uses, maintains, and discloses your Personal Data to conduct a credit check as part of a financial or other transaction you applied for, subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you are a lender or other client, we collect, use, maintain, and disclose your Personal Data for the purposes of providing you access to our Services.

This Privacy Notice (our “Privacy Notice”) describes the types of Personal Data (defined below) we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the websites www.creditinfosystems.com, www.starappraisalmc.com, and www.accuratefs.com (each, a “Website”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. It also applies to Personal Data that we may collect as part of our credit reporting, appraisal management, tax return verification, and social security verification services (whether as a client or as a consumer), as well as information that we collect when you request a change or update to information in your credit report as a consumer (collectively with the Websites, our “Services”).

This policy applies to information we collect:

  • when you use our Services as a consumer;
  • when you use our Services as a client;
  • in email, text, and other electronic messages between you and our Services;
  • in phone calls when you call us for support, including (if you are a consumer) to receive a copy of your credit report or to request a correction of inaccurate information; and
  • from our clients’ use of our credit reporting, appraisal management, tax return verification, and social security verification services.

It does not apply to information collected by:

  • us through any other means, including on any other website operated by us or any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries or other credit reporting agencies); or
  • any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries, our clients, or other credit reporting agencies), including through any application or content that may link to or be accessible from or on the Services.

Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to this Privacy Notice. By accessing and using the Websites, you agree to this Privacy Notice for any information we collect on the Websites, including through automatic data collection technologies. This Privacy Notice may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Notice). Your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check this Privacy Notice periodically for updates.

2. Children Under the Age of 18

Our Services are not intended for children under the age of 18 and children under the age of 18 are not permitted to use our Services. We will remove any information about a child under the age of 18 if we become aware of it.

Our Services are not intended for children under 18 years of age. No one under age 18 may provide any information to or on the Services. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data directly from children under 18. If you are under 18, do not use or provide any information on our Services or on or through any of its features, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, social security number, or any username you may use. If we learn we have collected or received Personal Data directly from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information directly from a child under 18, please contact us through the contact information listed below.

3. Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We collect different types of information about you, including information that may directly identify you, information that is about you but individually does not personally identify you, and information that we combine with our other users. This includes information that we collect directly from you or through automated collection technologies.

Throughout this Privacy Notice, the term “Personal Data” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual or device. However, Personal Data does not include any deidentified or aggregated information.

Generally

We collect several types of Personal Data from and about users of our Services, including information that: (a) directly identifies you; (b) that is about you but, by itself, does not directly identify you (however, we may associate this information with other information that directly identifies you); and (c) other information about your internet connection and the equipment you use to access our Services.

We collect this information: (a) directly from you when you provide it to us; (b) automatically as you navigate through the Services, including through cookies, web beacons, and other similar technologies; and (c) from third parties, such as creditors, employers, government agencies, and other credit reporting agencies.

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect on or through our Services are:

  • information that you provide us over the phone or otherwise contact us when requesting support, such as name, postal address, email address, telephone number, social security number, bank account number, credit card number, and signature. If you are a non-consumer client, we may collect other types of information related to your employer or your account, such as your name, user id, email address, title, contact information, and authorization to receive and use credit reports.
  • records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us through the Websites, regular postal mail, or other parts of the Services.

With appropriate notice and consent, when necessary, we may also collect a recording of your conversation with us via phone. We use this information for improving our products and services, to maintain a record of your consents provided over the phone, and to detect and deter fraud. We dispose of this information promptly when we no longer have a need to maintain it.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you use our Services, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns:

  • details of your visits to our Websites. We collect traffic data, location data, logs, referring/exit pages, date, and time of your visit to our Websites or use of our Services, error information, clickstream data, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use when using our Services;
  • details of your calls and other correspondence with us. We collect phone numbers, time and date of calls, duration of calls, identification of our personnel that you connect to, and other similar information about your communication with us;
  • Information about your computer and internet connection, i.e., your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

The information we collect automatically may include Personal Data or we may maintain it or associate it with Personal Data we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. Some of it helps us to improve our Services and to deliver a better and more personalized service by enabling us to:

  • estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
  • store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Services according to your individual interests;
  • detect and deter fraud and verify your (and possibly a consumer’s) identity when you contact us via phone;
  • speed up your searches; and
  • recognize you when you return to our Services.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

  • Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. Our Services may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Services. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Websites. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, if you do not consent to our use of cookies or select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Services. You can find more information about cookies at http://www.allaboutcookies.org and http://youronlinechoices.eu.
  • Session Cookies. Our use of cookies also includes “session cookies.” Each time you access the Website, a session cookie containing an encrypted, unique identifier is placed on your browser. These session cookies allow us to uniquely identify you when you use the Website and track which pages of the Website you access. Session cookies are required to use the Website.
  • Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permits us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

 

Third Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Some content or applications on the Website are served by third parties, including content providers and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Websites. The information they collect may be associated with your Personal Data or they may collect information, including Personal Data, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about any targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.

Information We Collect From Third Parties

We may also collect certain Personal Data from third parties, such as current and potential lenders, creditors, employers, government agencies, and other credit reporting agencies. This information may include:

  • Personal Data and other information about you provided by our clients in their use of our credit reporting, appraisal management, tax return verification, and social security verification services. This could include information such as your name, postal address, email address, telephone number, social security number, bank account number, credit card number, and signature (including electronic signature); and
  • Personal Data and other information about you supplied by SharperLending as part of our clients’ use of our credit reporting, appraisal management, tax return verification, and social security verification services.

The information provided to us by these third parties is subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

When you access our Services as a client, we may also collect Personal Data and other information about you provided by our clients to allow you to access and use our Services on their behalf. This may include your email address, title, employer, and authorization to access and use credit report information.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your Personal Data for various purposes described below, including to:

  • provide our services to our clients;
  • provide our Services to you;
  • provide you with information you request from us;
  • enforce our rights arising from contracts;
  • notify you about changes; and
  • provide you with notices about your requests.

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Data:

  • to provide credit reporting, appraisal management, tax return verification, and social security verification services to our clients;
  • to provide our Services to you, as a consumer;
  • to provide you with information or services that you request from us, including correction of Personal Data in a credit report;
  • to provide you with notices about your requests and inquiries;
  • to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
  • to notify you about changes to our Services;
  • in any other way we may describe when you provide the information;
  • to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it; and
  • for any other purpose with your consent.

5. Disclosure of Your Information

We do not share, sell, or otherwise disclose your Personal Data for purposes other than those outlined in this Privacy Notice. We disclose your Personal Data to a few third parties, including:

  • our clients;
  • third parties who provide or receive information in credit reports (subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act);
  • our subsidiaries and our affiliates;
  • our third-party service providers that we use to support our business;
  • to a company we merge, acquire, or that buys us, or in the event of change in structure of our company of any form;
  • to comply with our legal obligations;
  • to enforce our rights; and
  • with your consent.

We do not share, sell, or otherwise disclose your Personal Data for purposes other than those outlined in this Privacy Notice. However, we may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose Personal Data that we collect, or you provide, as described in this Privacy Notice:

  • to our clients;
  • Subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to other third parties, including other credit reporting agencies, creditors, and others who provide information or receive information from us regarding credit reporting, appraisal management, tax return verification, and social security verification services;
  • to our subsidiaries and affiliates;
  • to contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business, such as mail, courier, and telephone services;
  • to a potential or actual buyer or other successor in the event of a planned or actual merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Star Appraisals’ assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Star Appraisals about the users of our Services is among the assets transferred;
  • to fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you provide us with corrected information, we may verify that information with the appropriate third parties and/or disclose that information to other credit reporting agencies or the original source of that information.
  • for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information; and
  • with your consent.

We may also disclose your Personal Data:

  • to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request;
  • as may be required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act;
  • to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; and
  • if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Accurate Financial Services, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

We do not control the collection and use of your information collected by third parties, including those that receive Personal Data from us. These organizations are under contractual or legal obligations to use the data that we provide them only for appropriate purposes, including for providing the services to us, and to maintain this information strictly confidential. Subject to applicable law, these third parties may, however, aggregate the information they collect with information from their other customers for their own purposes.

6. Accessing and Correcting Your Information

You may access and update your Personal Data found in your credit reports by contacting us. For Personal Data provided by third parties, we will forward your request or direct you to contact the applicable third party directly.

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, correct, or delete Personal Data that we have collected about you and found in your credit report by contacting us via phone. If you are a client, you may also request access to, correct, or delete certain Personal Data related to your account (such as changing your password) by logging into the Websites. We do not control the information we receive from third parties and will either forward your request when possible or otherwise direct you to contact the applicable third party to have your information corrected, changed, or deleted. We cannot comply with your request if we believe that compliance would violate any law or legal requirement or cause your information to become incorrect.

7. Do Not Track Signals

We may use automated data collection technologies to track you across websites. We currently do not honor do-not-track signals that may be sent by some browsers.

Our Websites may use automated data collection technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). Some web browsers permit you to broadcast a signal to websites and online services indicating a preference that they “do not track” your online activities. At this time, we do not honor such signals and we do not modify what information we collect or how we use that information based upon whether such a signal is broadcast or received by us.

8. Data Security

Information transmitted over the Internet is not completely secure, but we do our best to protect your Personal Data. You can help protect your Personal Data and other information by keeping your password to our Services confidential.

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Data from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Data transmitted to our Services. Any transmission of Personal Data is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures deployed on the Services.

9. Changes to Our Privacy Notice

We will post any changes to our Privacy Notice on our Websites. If we make material changes to our Privacy Notice, we may notify you of such changes through your contact information and invite you to review (and accept, if necessary) the changes.

We may change this Privacy Notice at any time. It is our policy to post any changes we make to our Privacy Notice on this page with a notice that the Privacy Notice has been updated on the Services’ home page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ Personal Data, we will attempt to notify you by email in addition to the posting on our Websites. The date this Privacy Notice was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Services and this Privacy Notice to check for any changes.

10. Contact Information

If you wish to contact us, you may do so through the contact information below or through the “Contact Us” page on our Website.

If you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or suggestions regarding our Privacy Notice, have any requests related to your Personal Data pursuant to applicable laws, or otherwise need to contact us, you may do so at the contact information below or through the “Contact” page on our Services.

Star Appraisal Management Company
225 S Main St
Council Bluffs, IA 51503

support@starappraisalmc.com

or via our toll-free number:

800-875-7402

Star Appraisal Management

225 S Main St
Council Bluffs, IA 51503

Email: support@starappraisalmc.com
Phone: 800-875-7402
Contact Us

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Amy Blubaugh, Marketing Director

402-320-2398
amy@creditinfosystems.com

Over the last thirty years, Amy Blubaugh has been honing her marketing skills while gathering experience and learning from each of her diverse career opportunities and co-workers.

As a college student studying communications and public relations in the early 1990s, Amy worked as a research phone representative at a radio station. It was with this job, and through several other tasks assigned at the station, Amy noticed she was drawn to events and messages generating a response.

Upon college graduation from the University of Nebraska Omaha in 1993, Amy accepted a Sales Assistant position for KEZO-FM (later, Journal Broadcast Group). Eager to support the sales team with communication to clients and office management, she was also excited to help with station events and programming needs. Her dedication and the talents she observed from her co-workers helped her learn to listen to the customer’s needs and create turnkey marketing programs.

In early 1995, Amy moved on to Redstone Communications as a Media Buyer. Broadening her media knowledge, she was invigorated by people with the same goal of garnering a response by delivering the right message to the right customer via the right mix of media.

After a short return to radio, Amy found herself taking her marketing knowhow to the finance industry as a Product Manager for First National Bank Omaha’s bank card division. Working for eight years with direct mail, event marketing, operations and emerging forms of electronic media was a great way to learn to project profitability, measure response and properly analyze results.

As both the Partnership Marketing Manager and Acquisition Manager for Omaha Steaks, Amy spent the next ten years working with various companies throughout the country developing marketing programs to sell product, acquire new customers, and generate leads and awareness of the business. It was with this position Amy was able to improve both her marketing analyst and creative abilities, producing reports to track real time results and make tweaks to print and digital ads to improve marketing efforts.

Amy began her four years at Mutual of Omaha in late 2015 managing product launches, applying process to all areas of marketing, testing print and online campaigns and maneuvering marketing projects in a very regulated industry.

Excited to be the first marketing-focused member of the Credit Information Systems team and work within the business-to-business area, Amy joined as Marketing Director in December of 2019.

Mike Osbourne, Senior Account Manager

402-660-0060
mike@creditinfosystems.com

For Mike Osbourne, his 28-year career in the credit reporting industry began October 1990 in a sales role for CSC Credit Services. As an Account Manager for CSC, Mike opened a brand-new sales territory in Western Iowa and developed new and existing accounts in Eastern Nebraska. CSC was acquired by Equifax and Mike continued to work successfully at various sales roles within the new organization for his midwestern clients. Mike joined Credit Information Systems as a Senior Account Manager April 2021.

Mike has a passion for the financial services industry both personally and professionally. Mike has served on several credit industry boards and continues to facilitate financial literacy though Financial Peace University.

Mike grew up in Northwestern Illinois and received his Management degree from Millikin University in 1985. He moved to the Omaha in 1987. Eventually, he went on to earn his MBA from the University of Phoenix. Mike is excited to now be part of the customer-focused sales team at Credit Information Systems.

Shane Hoelscher, Senior Account Manager

712-308-0030
shane@creditinfosystems.com

Shane Hoelscher received his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics in 1991 from Texas A&M University. He followed that up with a Master of Agriculture in Agricultural Economics – Agribusiness emphasis in 1994. Shortly thereafter he entered a management training program with Terminix Pest Control engaging in all aspects of the professional environment.

Shane began his 23-plus year career in the credit industry after leaving Terminix to join CSC Credit Services as an Account Manager. He managed the relationships and was responsible for revenue-growth with various resellers in the auto, mortgage, tenant, and employment screening industries. In addition to his account management role, Shane was also a member of a new business development team and eventually led a trio of representatives engaged selling credit reporting services to all types of industries.

Shane continued with Equifax as a Channel Manager after they acquired CSC Credit Services in 2012. His primary focus was on the small-to-mid-sized resellers of Equifax products and services before he separated from Equifax in 2020.

Shane joined Credit Information Systems in April, 2020 as a Senior Account Manager and is looking forward to continued growth for the company.

Chad Hartnett, Chief Financial Officer

chad@creditinfosystems.com

Chad has over 29 years of finance leadership experience in industries that include professional services, vertically integrated supply chain, franchise and public accounting.

After graduating in 1992 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Accounting, Chad spent 6 years in public accounting as a consultant and auditor with companies that included Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young.

Chad then worked 16 years at HDR, Inc., one of the country’s largest engineering and architecture firms, in various roles including leading the company’s mergers and acquisitions division. He spent his final 7 years as the company’s Treasurer and Corporate Controller.

Chad then worked for 4 years as the Chief Financial Officer of Scooter’s, one of the fastest growing vertically integrated franchise companies in the country before joining Credit Information Systems in 2020 as their Chief Financial Officer and member of the board of directors.

Helen M. Meyers, Senior Executive Vice President

helen@creditinfosystems.com

With a Credit Reporting career spanning more than forty years, Helen Meyers started at Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs (1975-1979) learning the business and providing service to customers by reading their credit reports to them over the phone, verifying tradelines and gaining certification to interview consumers during a time when consumer files were handwritten.

In 1980, Helen accepted a customer service position in the installment loan department of Council Bluffs Savings Bank. Before she left the bank in 1995, she had worked her way up to Assistant Vice President/Loan Officer.

Returning to the Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs (d/b/a Credit Information Systems) in 1996, Helen has spent the last twenty-five years overseeing all mortgage loan customer service staff members, ensuring happy clients and a smooth flow of the company’s day-to-day operations. She also manages compliance with the Repositories as well as with state and federal laws.

Helen also served on the board of the National Consumer Reporting Association (NCRA) from 2018–2020.

Heather Russell-Schroeder, President

Heather Russell-Schroeder
800-782-9094
heather@creditinfosystems.com

Heather Russell-Schroeder began her 35 plus year career in the Credit Reporting industry as a high school and college student working part-time answering phones, entering data, handling consumer disputes and public record bulletins for her family’s business, Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs.

After graduating from the University of Nebraska Lincoln with a Master of Arts Degree in Deaf Education in 1997, Heather spent two years teaching 1st grade at Crete Elementary and managing their Deaf Education program.

Heather returned to the Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs in 2000 as Compliance Officer – Executive Vice President, holding that position for eight years.

Heather has been the Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs, President and the President of Performance Data Systems, Inc since 2008. Beginning in 2009, Heather was the Co-Owner Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs, Inc and Performance Data Systems, Inc.

Currently, Heather is the third generation Owner Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs, Inc and Performance Data Systems, Inc.

Lee H. Volmer, Vice President Sales

402-714-0856
lee@creditinfosystems.com

In 1979, Lee Volmer’s Credit Reporting industry career launched with the Credit Bureau of Rockford, Illinois, where he was involved in automation to the Chilton System. After the Credit Bureau was purchased by Parker Business Systems, Lee was promoted to General Manager and led the Bureau’s conversion to the TransUnion System.

Lee was transferred to Seattle, Washington in 1982 to automate and market Washington and Oregon as an affiliate of the TransUnion System. Parker Business sold the franchise to TransUnion in 1985 and Lee took on the role as sales manager of Chilton’s Dallas, Texas operation. Promoted to General Manager of Chilton’s Omaha, Nebraska location in 1986, Lee’s duties included management of a 5-state area. Lee left TRW (formerly Chilton) in 1994 and worked with CSC Credit on special projects.

The Credit Bureau of Council Bluffs added Lee to the team as Vice President of Sales in 1995, a position he currently holds along with being a trusted resource to many in the credit reporting industry.