California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Last Updated: 04/06/2023

We take protecting your data and privacy very seriously. The California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) does not apply to the collection, maintenance, disclosure, sale, communication, or use of information of entities whose activities are subject to regulation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 1681 et. seq., Title 15, of the United States Code. Based on this statutory exemption, Advantage Credit, Inc. is exempt from the requirements of the CCPA. The law can be found here: https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa

To see an excerpt detailing our exemption from this law, please CLICK HERE

Heard about the CCPA and wondering how and if it applies to Advantage Credit, Inc., and your data?
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was signed into law on June 28, 2018, and went into effect on January 1, 2020. This law expands on a consumer’s right to know what data businesses have on them, request the deletion of that data, and prohibit the sharing of that data with a third party.

Advantage Credit, Inc. is a reseller of consumer credit information (“Reseller”) pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) (15 U.S.C. § 1681a(u)). As a Reseller, our company does not maintain a database of consumer credit reporting information, but rather assembles reports based on information obtained from the nationwide credit reporting agencies. In order for our company to provide information regarding a consumer, our client must certify that it has a permissible purpose pursuant to the FCRA, and has obtained the consumer’s consent. Thus, we do not provide consumer reports for transactions that are not initiated by the consumer.

Please be advised that as a Reseller of credit data, Advantage Credit, Inc. is designated as a Credit Reporting Agency (“CRA” and commonly known as ‘credit bureaus’)), and as such the data we use is regulated by the FCRA and our activities are exempt from the CCPA.

If a consumer wishes to contact the nationwide Credit Reporting Agencies, consumers may contact the Bureaus at www.annualcreditreport.com.

Alternately, consumers may reach them via phone:

• Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (1-888-397-3742), or 714-830-7000
• TransUnion: 800-916-8800
• Equifax: 800-548-7878, or 866-640-2273

The CCPA does not apply to the following types of activities:
Consumer credit reporting activities: Activities involving the collection, maintenance, disclosure, sale, communication, or use of any personal information bearing on a consumer’s credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living by a consumer reporting agency that provides information for use in a consumer report (as defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)), and by a user of such a consumer report to the extent governed by the FCRA.

For additional information, please refer to:

Section 1798.145(d) of Title 1.81.5 of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) states that information subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act is expressly exempt from the CCPA. The California Attorney General acknowledges the exemption as well. Based on that exemption, and Advantage Credit’s obligations to accurately report information pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Advantage Credit cannot honor any consumer requests to delete consumer reporting information.

(d)(1) This title shall not apply to an activity involving the collection, maintenance, disclosure, sale, communication, or use of any personal information bearing on a consumer’s creditworthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living by a consumer reporting agency, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 1681a of Title 15 of the United States Code, by a furnisher of information, as set forth in Section 1681s-2 of Title 15 of the United States Code, who provides information for use in a consumer report, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 1681a of Title 15 of the United States Code, and by a user of a consumer report as set forth in Section 1681b of Title 15 of the United States Code.

Additionally, the CCPA provides an exemption for Reseller CRAs in their definition of ‘Data Broker.’ See https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa#sectiona, section I.1.

I. DATA BROKERS AND THE CCPA
1. What is a data broker?
Another California law, Civil Code section 1798.99.80, defines a data broker as “a business that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship.” This law exempts certain businesses that are regulated by other laws from this definition. Exempted businesses include consumer reporting agencies (commonly known as credit bureaus) and certain financial institutions and insurance companies.
Data brokers collect information about consumers from many sources including websites, other businesses, and public records. The data broker analyzes and packages the data for sale to other businesses.