SECURITY PLEDGE

Direct Lending Family, Inc. understands the importance of providing you with a level of security that is strong.  We consistently work to protect your information from misuse, loss or unauthorized alterations.  In order to do this, we employ industry recognized security safeguards to help protect the personally identifiable information that you have provided to us.  All data input into the Direct Lending Family, Inc. sites is protected with technology that enables encryption or your data. Here is what we use:

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

Secure browsers employ Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to communicate  with servers.  This technology encrypts your account information, so it's virtually impossible for anyone other than the lending partner to read it. Each of the Direct Lending Family, Inc. websites has a Thawte SSL Web Server Certificate installed. Thawte's SSL certificates are capable of up to 256-bit encryption, even though most US-based browsers support 128-bit encryption. Thawte also has one of the highest compatibilities with most major browsers including Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Opera, Mozilla, Safari and Konqueror. More info about Thawtes SSL Certificates can be found at Thawte.

What Is SSL?

SSL is a protocol designed by Netscape Communications Corporation to provide secure communications on the Internet.  SSL does three things:

1.   SSL authenticates that the server you've connected to is the one it claims to be.  You can be assured that you are actually communicating with our system, and not a third party trying to intercept the transaction.

2.   SSL creates a secure communication channel by encrypting all communication between the user and the server.

3.   SSL conducts a cryptographic word count to ensure data integrity between the server and the user.  The word count or checksum provides a count of the number of bytes in a document and ensures the exact number of bytes is transmitted and received.  With SSL, even this checksum is encrypted so it cannot be modified.  If a message is not received in its entirety, it is rejected and another copy of the message is sent automatically.


How Can I Tell When My Connection Is Secure?

To confirm that your information is encrypted, perform the following steps:

1.   Place your cursor in the frame you want to check.

2.   With a Netscape browser, right-click, then select "View Frame Info" or select, "View", then "Page Frame Info" from the browser menu bar.  For Macintosh users, Ctrl-click, select "New Window With This Frame" or select "View", then "Page Info" from the browser menu bar.

3.   If you have an Internet Explorer browser, right-click, select "Properties".  For Macintosh users, Ctrl-click, select "Open Page In New Window". Double click on the lock icon in the bottom right of the browser window.  This will display the secure certificate information.

4.   Check the web address that you have accessed.  If you are in a secure area, the address will appear as https://www or <https://www/>. Notice the "s" in the address. This means that you have accessed a secure server.


Why Doesn't My Browser Appear Secure?

Rest assured...your financial information, user name, password, application and other sensitive information are being encrypted. (An encrypted item is scrambled so that no one between your computer and Direct Lending Family, Inc. can read the message or the information you entered.

The reason the icon provided on your browser might not appear secured (symbolizing an encrypted session) is because our web site uses multiple frames to display information you computer. Only pages that you enter data are encrypted. However, any screen that displays or requests information about your account, user name, password, application and other sensitive information are encrypted.


Do I Need A User Name and Password?

Yes! To access your account information, you must provide a user name and a password to enter the secure area of the site. Your password is not displayed when entered. If you do not provide this information, we cannot establish an online banking service for you.


How Can I Protect Myself?

Don't share your password and never reveal your password to anyone.  Never write it down where anyone can find it or figure out what it is.  Change your password often and be sure that you do not use common words that can be found in a dictionary or numbers in a series.  Try using birthdays combined with pet names, or sports teams combined with birthdays for example.  Never access your information from a computer that a non-trustworthy individual may have access to.

Treat your Direct Lending Family, Inc. user name and password with the same care you use for your credit cards.  Make sure that no one is physically watching as you enter your password.  Also, take standard precautions to keep your computer free from viruses, because there are some that could be used to capture your keystrokes.


Use The Log Out

Please us our "Log Out" feature if you are going to be away from your computer for an extended period of time.  The logout will end your session and you will be forced to submit your User Name and Password before entering the website again.  Shutting down your browser is also a good way of preventing others from using your access.

After a period of inactivity, your current session on the website will automatically time out.  To restart your session, all you have to do is re-enter your User Name and Password at the login screen.


Network Security And Monitoring

Firewalls are used to shield Direct Lending Family, Inc. systems and proprietary network from any unauthorized Internet traffic.  The purpose of a firewall is to ensure only authorized traffic is allowed to pass to Direct Lending Family, Inc. systems and networks; all other traffic from the Internet is rejected.  Firewalls also create logs of network traffic that allow for centralized auditing and security monitoring.  Once your information has been entered, Direct Lending Family, Inc. uses a secured network to transport data between all our systems and our partners' systems to make online loan applications secure and to protect your personal information.  Ensuring the security of your financial information is an ongoing process at Direct Lending Family, Inc.  As such, we employ security monitoring of our system and network.  We also conduct regular third-party reviews of our security.


Email

Inquiries and responses sent through our sites use Secure Socket Layer (SSL). General e-mail is not secure; we will not include confidential information in this environment.


Is It Safe For Me To Enter My Financial Information Over The Internet?

In a Washington Post article, David Medine of the Federal Trade Commission suggested that it is much safer to transmit your credit card number over the Internet than to give it to a waiter at a restaurant or read it aloud over a cordless phone -- two activities that are generally taken for granted as safe. For more information, read more articles in our "Education" section.

Our information is stored on servers that work to protect personally identifiable information from unauthorized access using industry-standard, computer security products -- such as firewalls -- as well as carefully developed security procedures and practices.  All employees with access to our server must sign an affidavit that they have reviewed and understand our security rules, practices and regulations.  We consistently update and test our system to ensure that our protection technology is up-to-date.