CareCredit Advisory Panel Privacy Pledge
CareCredit, in conjunction with its research partner, Digital Research, Inc., conducts a variety of online research surveys and studies through the web site, www.carecreditpanel.com. Sweepstakes incentives in the form of cash are frequently offered to those who participate in our studies. Membership in our Panel is totally voluntary.
Protecting your privacy is essential to our research. We report our survey results in the aggregate and never provide individual information to anyone without your prior consent.
Digital Research, Inc., the research partner of the CareCredit Advisory Panel, is a member of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) and subscribes to the CASRO Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research. CASRO is a professional organization whose members' common goal is to promote professional standards in research and to enhance the quality of survey research.
About The Information We Gather
Personal Information and Demographic Information
As part of our recruitment process, we ask you to provide personal information such as your name, address, and the ages of members of your household ("Personal Information"). In addition, we will ask Panel Members for characteristics (such as consumer habits), attributes, and other Demographic Information (such as age, income, gender).
You are in control of the Personal Information and Demographic Information that you provide to us. We rely on you to provide accurate information and to update your Personal and Demographic Information when requested. You can:
- Ask for a copy (verification) of your Personal Information and/or Demographic Information;
- Ask for your Personal Information and/or Demographic Information to be corrected or updated; and
- Ask us to remove your Personal Information and Demographic Information from our database.
To do this, please see the "Access to Your Information and Filing Complaints" section provided later in this statement. CareCredit will use all reasonable efforts to comply with your request.
Operating Information
CareCredit may, in the course of interacting with Panel Members, gather other types of information from its Panel Members ("Operating Information"). For example, as a CareCredit Advisory Panel member, you will receive surveys from us on a periodic basis. These surveys will ask questions about your interests, needs and attitudes. We receive your responses to these surveys with your full knowledge and participation. Similarly, if we offer other features, services or programs in which you explicitly agree to participate, then CareCredit will also receive Personal Information, Demographic Information and/or Operating Information from these features, services or programs with your full knowledge and consent.
We may also record anonymous site statistics, such as your Internet Provider address, to help diagnose problems with our server and maintain our database. We may place a "cookie" on your computer, which saves your Panel ID and allows for a more user-friendly interface on some of our survey forms. Cookies may also occasionally be used in our online surveys to prevent duplicate responses. A "cookie", by itself, cannot be used to find out the identity of any user. If you do not wish to accept "cookies", you can turn this feature off in the options menu of your browser. If you choose to turn off this feature, we may not be able to include you in some of our research projects.
How We Use Your Information
Personal Information and Demographic Information
Any Personal and Demographic Information collected by Digital Research, Inc. on behalf of CareCredit is used exclusively to support its research efforts. The Personal Information you provide is used to communicate with you and your household members, and to assist you with questions you may have about your participation in the CareCredit Advisory Panel. It may also be used for sweepstakes entry processing and delivery of incentives to Panel Members. Personal Information concerning location or address is also used by us to ensure that our Panel accurately represents the US/International population as a whole.
A panel members' Demographic Information is used to pre-qualify or identify prospective respondents for research, based on specific member characteristics (such as men/women of a certain age range or occupation). This Demographic Information may also be combined with your survey responses ("Operating Information") and reported in the aggregate to CareCredit. At no time will any Personal Information be transmitted to anyone outside of CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. without your express permission.
Operating Information
CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. use the Operating Information collected from you solely in the conduct of its research business. The Operating Information you provide while completing our online surveys is maintained in independent internal databases. Operating Information may be combined with select Demographic Information and reported in the aggregate to CareCredit. At no time will any Personal Information be transmitted to anyone outside of CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. without your express permission.
Data Sharing and Transfer
Personal Information about panel members will never be shared with any third parties without your express permission, except that we may disclose your Personal Information or Demographic Information if we believe we are required to do so by law or subpoena, if we must do so to protect someone's safety or our rights or property, or in order to comply with this policy or other policies that may be applicable. If at any time CareCredit or Digital Research, Inc. is required to share Personal Information and/or Demographic Information (for the purpose of fulfilling sweepstakes awards or for other research-related services), the entity with which this Personal Information or Demographic Information is shared will be required to sign a Data Transfer Agreement that protects this Personal Information and/or Demographic Information. These partners agree not to sell or otherwise share this data and they are contractually obligated not to use any Personal Information except for the purpose of providing the services for which CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. have contracted, unless you enter into a relationship with them that would directly allow them to do so.
CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. collect and share Demographic Information and Operating Information in anonymous form. CareCredit will never receive Personal Information about panel members without your express permission, nor will CareCredit be able to identify panel members from the Demographic Information or Operating Information we provide.
CareCredit is an expanding business, and like other companies, we sometimes acquire or divest business units. As part of such transfers, we may convey the business assets of the particular business unit, including Personal Information, Demographic Information or Operating Information of panel members.
Children's Guidelines
Occasionally, our work focuses on the attitudes, opinions and preferences of young people. Respondents under the age of 18 may participate in our surveys only with the consent of an adult member of the household in which they live. CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. comply with all applicable national and international children's privacy regulations, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO).
Security
CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. are committed to keeping the data you provide us secure and will take reasonable precautions to protect your Personal Information from loss, misuse or alteration. Vendors, contractors, or partners of CareCredit who may have access to your Personal Information in connection with providing services to CareCredit are contractually required to keep the Personal Information confidential and are not permitted to use this data for any other purpose than to carry out the services they are performing for CareCredit.
CareCredit also safeguards Personal Information, Demographic Information, and Operating Information from unauthorized access. Only authorized CareCredit employees or agents carrying out permitted business functions are allowed access. In addition, each employee of CareCredit is required to sign a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement requiring him or her to keep confidential all Personal Information of panel members. Employees who violate this agreement are subject to disciplinary actions, including termination of employment. CareCredit does not maintain any Personal Information regarding its panelists online. All data is stored at Digital Research, Inc.’s offices, on the Digital Research, Inc. internal office computing network. At no time is your Personal Information available to anyone else, or used for anything other than market research purposes. You will never be asked to purchase any products or services as a result of your membership in the CareCredit Advisory Panel or participation in any studies.
Access To Your Information and Filing Complaints
If you have submitted Personal Information or Demographic information to CareCredit through our CareCredit Advisory Panel or otherwise, or if someone else has submitted your Personal Information or Demographic Information to CareCredit, you can:
- Access, Correct or Update your Personal Information or Demographic Information -- by visiting the Update area of our website, by e-mailing your request, or by sending a letter to the address listed below. CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. will use reasonable efforts to comply with your request for access or to correct any inaccuracies in your Personal Information or Demographic Information.
- Prevent Further Use of Your Personal Information or Demographic Information -- by visiting the Remove area of our website, by e-mailing your request, or by sending us a letter to the address listed below. CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. will use reasonable efforts to prevent further use of the Personal Information or Demographic Information in our files.
- Notify Us of Comments or Complaints -- CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. are committed to working with our panel members and web site visitors to obtain a fair and rapid resolution of any complaints or disputes about privacy. Please send us your questions or comments regarding our privacy practices by e-mail or by sending a letter to:
Privacy Compliance Coordinator
CareCredit Advisory Panel
c/o Digital Research, Inc.
201 Lafayette Center
Kennebunk, ME 04043
CareCredit and Digital Research, Inc. are happy to respond to all questions and comments.
Opting-Out - Removal from our Panel
At any time, you may discontinue your participation in the CareCredit Advisory Panel. You may opt-out immediately online by visiting the Remove area of our website, by sending us an e-mail containing your Panel ID number or by sending a letter to the address listed above. Please note that opting-out of the CareCredit Advisory Panel will not result in our deleting Operating Information (survey responses) previously collected from your household.
Research Participation Incentive Policy
Our studies may offer incentives to participants in the form of cash sweepstakes prizes. Each study will have the rules and regulations for the sweepstakes attached to the invitation to participate in that study. All prize winners will be notified via e-mail and will be required to complete a prize winner Affidavit of Eligibility, to be returned to Digital Research, Inc. by US mail (or equivalent).
Other Sites
CareCredit is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other web sites. We recommend that you carefully read the privacy policies of each site you visit.
Contacting Us
If you have questions about CareCredit's Privacy Pledge or the practices of the CareCredit Advisory Panel Web site, e-mail us or contact:
CareCredit Advisory Panel Manager
c/o Digital Research, Inc.
201 Lafayette Center
Kennebunk, Maine 04043
Email our Panel Administrator
Your Acceptance of our Privacy Practices
By agreeing to become a member of the CareCredit Advisory Panel (signified by supplying Personal Information and/or Demographic Information) or participating in a CareCredit survey, service or program, you signify your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Privacy Pledge. CareCredit will make changes to this privacy statement from time to time, and will post these changes to our web site. We encourage you to periodically review our Privacy Pledge. A notice of any significant changes will be provided to panel members via written, electronic, or other notice from CareCredit.
04/07