This supplemental policy applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California (“consumers” or “you”). We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice.

HWA Home Warranty, Inc. California Privacy Notice: Effective Date January 1, 2020

Direct Energy and its affiliates (collectively “us,” “we,” or “our”) operates and controls websites, mobile sites, contests, promotions, events, sweepstakes, applications, and other content and services (collectively, “Site”). 

At Direct Energy, we are committed to respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how we collect, use, disclose, store and otherwise process information through our Site, our affiliated websites, and other online products and services in the United States. In addition, this Policy states how you can control the collection, correction and/or deletion of information. We will not use or share information about you with anyone except as specified in this Policy.

This Policy only applies to information collected by us, our affiliates, or our service providers from or about:

(i) visitors to, or users of, our Site;

(ii) prospective and current residential and small business customers;

(iii) users of any mobile-device applications that we offer (such as its iOS and Android applications);

(iv) participants in our contests or promotions;

(v) service providers and business partners;

(vi) job applicants; and

(vii) other third parties that we interact with.

WHEN YOU ACCESS ANY OF OUR SITES OR SUBMIT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US BY ANY MEANS, YOUR INFORMATION WILL BE MANAGED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS POLICY. 

I. Information We Collect

Our Site collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device (“Personal Information”). We have collected the following categories of personal information, and some of the examples of Personal Information, about its consumers within the last twelve (12) months:

‌Personal Information does not include:

• Publicly available information from government records.
• Deidentified or aggregated consumer information.
• Information excluded from CCPA’s scope, like:
• health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;
• personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

We obtain the categories of Personal Information listed above from the following categories of sources:

• Directly from you. For example, from forms you complete or products and services you purchase.
• Indirectly from you. For example, from observing your actions on our Site.
• Service providers.
• Third party vendors.
• Commercially available sources.

II. Use of Personal Information

We may use or disclose the above categories of Personal Information we collect for one or more of the following business purposes:

• To fulfill your requests for products or services you have chosen and communicate with you or your authorized representative about those requests.
• For business or operational purposes (including product and service development; managing our communications; determining the effectiveness of our sales, marketing and advertising; analyzing and enhancing our products, services, websites and apps; ensuring the security of our networks and information systems; technical support; performing accounting, auditing, invoicing, reconciliation and collection activities, payment processing; data processing and management; and improving and maintaining the quality of our customer service;
• To establish, manage and terminate business relations with you;

• To better understand customer behavior to improve our marketing and advertising efforts and improve the distribution of our products and services;
• To obtain credit approval;
• To personalize our service offerings and Sites and inform you of our products and services other than those that you have specifically requested;
• To verify identity of customers and protect us against error, fraudulent activities, theft and damage to our goods, property and reputation;
• To comply with legal or regulatory requirements or to comply with legal process including subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, and as otherwise authorized by law;
• To investigate or prevent illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person or violations of the terms and conditions of using the Site;
• To enable your participation in programs, promotions, sweepstakes, contests, games, special events, blogs and chats if you choose to participate;
• In connection with a job application or inquiry for employment consideration; and
• To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us about our customers is among the assets transferred
• Data analytics

We will not collect additional categories of Personal Information or use the information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

III. Sharing and Disclosures of Personal Information

We DO not rent or sell your Personal Information but may disclose your Personal Information to a third party for a business purpose. When we disclose Personal Information for a business purpose, we enter a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that Personal Information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.

In the preceding twelve (12) months, we have shared or disclosed the categories of Personal Information listed in Section I. above with the following categories of third parties, including our affiliates, for the aforementioned business or operational purposes:

• Service providers.
• Third party vendors
• Business partners
• Data aggregators
• Internet service providers
• Government and regulatory bodies
• Operating systems and platforms

IV. Your Rights and Choices

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their Personal Information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your Personal Information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will disclose to you:

• The categories of Personal Information we collected about you.
• The categories of sources for the Personal Information we collected about you.
• Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling that Personal Information.
• The categories of third parties with whom we share that Personal Information.
• The specific pieces of Personal Information we collected about you.
• If we sold or disclosed your Personal Information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:
• sales, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and
• disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

We do not provide these access and data portability rights for B2B personal information.

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request we delete any of your Personal Information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your Personal Information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:

• Complete the transaction for which we collected the Personal Information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
• Fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law.
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
• Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
• Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
• Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
• Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
• Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:

• Calling us at 1-888-492-7359
• Visiting us at Contact Us and use the “Send Us A Message” feature
• Logging on to your Online Account

Only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your Personal Information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative.
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Information relates to you.

Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. However, we do consider requests made through your password protected account sufficiently verified when the request relates to Personal Information associated with that specific account.

We will only use Personal Information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

For instructions on exercising sale opt-out rights, see Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights.

Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your Personal Information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights

If you are 16 years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your Personal Information at any time (the “right to opt-out”). We do not sell products or services to children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 13 and believe he or she has disclosed Personal Information to us, please Contact Us. Please know that we do not sell the Personal Information of consumers.

To exercise the right to opt-out of the sharing of your Personal Information, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by contacting us at info@hwahomewarranty.com.

You do not need to create an account with us to exercise your opt-out rights. We will only use Personal Information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request.

V. Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

• Deny you goods or services.
• Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
• Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
• Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

However, we may offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your Personal Information’s value and contain written terms that describe the program’s material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt in consent, which you may revoke at any time.

VI. Other California Privacy Rights

Residents of the State of California, under certain provisions of the California Civil Code, have the right to request from companies conducting business in California a list of all third parties to which the company has disclosed certain personally identifiable information as defined under California law during the preceding year for third party direct marketing purposes. You are limited to one request per calendar year. In your request, please attest to the fact that you are a California resident and provide a current California address for our response. You may request the information in writing at 90 Washington Valley Road, Bedminster NJ 07921, Attn: Privacy Officer, c/o Compliance Department or by email at info@hwahomewarranty.com .

You may learn more about your rights under California's privacy laws at http://www.privacyprotection.ca.gov.

VII. Changes to Our Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this privacy notice, we will post the updated notice on the Website and update the notice’s effective date. Your continued use of our Website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

VIII. Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments about this notice, the ways in which we collect and use your information, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under California law, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Phone: 1-888-492-7359

Website: Contact Us

Email: info@hwahomewarranty.com

Postal Address:

Privacy Officer
c/o Compliance Department
Direct Energy
90 Washington Valley Road
Bedminster, NJ 07921