Terms of Use

Last updated: November 27, 2019

Welcome to FORWARD FORM SOLUTIONS INC.  (“Company”, “we”, “us” or “our” as the context dictates). We are happy to offer you our real estate compliance and data management services (the “Services”) as available through our Website. The terms and conditions set out below (these “Terms of Use”) in combination with our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference and available at our Website (these Terms of Use together with such other documents, our “Terms”), governs your use of our Services.

Please read our Terms carefully since they are legally binding and have sections which contain important information about use, rights, liability, and your obligations and matters related to disputes, including the exclusive use of arbitration to resolve disputes. All defined terms, unless otherwise set out in the body, are provided at the end of these Terms of Use. 

By using our Services, you expressly acknowledge that you have read these Terms of Use and agree to all terms and conditions herein.  If you do not, or are unable to, agree to our Terms, please do not open an Account to use our Services. If you set up an Account or use our Services, you shall be considered to express your consent and agreement with our Terms. For any clarification, please contact us at info@fintracker.ca.

• Understanding our Role
  • We are only responsible for providing the Fintracker platform which allows a real estate agent, whether independently or as a brokerage representative (the “User”, “you” or “your” as context dictates) to capture information needed for purposes of compliance relating to, and execution of, real estate transactions.
  • We have no role and assume no liability in relation your use of Fintracker and whether Fintracker meets your needs or goals. As set out in the Disclaimer clause below, you agree to accept the use of Services “as is”. We only provide Fintracker’s functionality in our own corporate capacity and not as employees, agents, or representatives for you or a Third Party Provider.
  • A User may sign up for our Services directly, but the costs of the use of our Services may be borne by a third party (e.g. a brokerage or a regional real estate association). You understand that even if you are not paying for your subscription to Fintracker, you:
    • are subject to the rules, limitations and certain liabilities in these Terms of Use at all times when using our Services;
    • we are obtaining certain information from you for our purposes which we consider of value as we utilize such information to improve our business capabilities (see Privacy Policy for further discussion of information usage); and
    • understand that in case you are a real estate agent, in case you switch brokerages, certain data will continue to remain with the brokerage. All Forms with brokerage name remain there. (All access to clients Identification will still be available for reuse.)

 

• Service Offering
  • Right to Use. Subject to your compliance with these Terms of Use and payment of the amounts owed by you for use of our Services ( see “Fees and Payment” clause), we grant you a nonsublicensable, nontransferable, nonexclusive, limited and revocable license and right to access and use our Services only for the purposes described by Company. Company reserves all other rights in our Services, which are protected by trade secret, copyright, and other intellectual property laws.  
    • You are entitled to utilize a trial period when you sign up for our Services. You do not have to make any payments during the trial period.
    • Each User will subscribe for an individual subscription to our Services.
    • If you are working for a brokerage, see “Fees and Payments” clause.
  • Our Services may be accessed through a compatible mobile device and Internet access. You agree that you are solely responsible for these requirements, including any applicable changes, updates and fees as well as the terms of your agreement with your mobile device and telecommunications provider.

 

• Registration and Account Set-up. You must create an Account on our Website to use our Services fully. Once an Account is created, you are responsible for managing the Account. You should also inform us promptly of any changes to the information provided in order to ensure effective communication with you and Company.
• Credentials Management and Incidents. You shall: (1) keep your Credentials strictly confidential and secure; and (2) inform us immediately if the confidentiality of any part of your Credentials have been compromised (e.g. you or someone you authorized has shared your Credentials with a third party or you believe there is a credible chance of the security of your Account being compromised).
• Suspicious Activity.
  • We retain the right, but do not have the obligation, to suspend your Account and take any other reasonable action if we suspect any unauthorized access to your Account or note that there is suspicious activity in relation to your Account, and you agree to assist in executing such actions, which may involve your resetting of passwords or taking other measures as may be required.
  • If any communication you receive looks suspicious or has links that you do not expect, please do not open or click through. Instead, email us at Info@fintracker.ca.
• Cancellation by User. As a User, you may decide at any time to cancel your Account. Please note that if you cancel your Account, we will store your data for five (5) years, after which you will no longer be able to access your data.
• Cancellation by Company. We reserve the right to suspend, and if deemed appropriate, cancel your right to utilize our Services. If we suspend or cancel your Account, you may not be able to download any data from our Website, but you may request access to your data within five (5) years of your Account cancellation/suspension and we will provide such data during this period on a commercially reasonable basis.

• Fees and Payment
  • Fees Payable by Users
    • Free Trial Period. The amount of fees you owe for your use of Services shall be limited to the amounts set out in the initial subscription process on our Website.
    • You will be charged the fees as set out on our Website, subject to subsections (i) and (iii).
    • Fees & Third Party Payors. If you are a member of a real estate board or associated with a brokerage which has purchased a license on your behalf, then the subscription fees for our Services paid by you shall be nil unless we are otherwise informed by such third party payor or such payor cancels its subscription.
  • Auto-charge. Subjection to subsection (iii) in the preceding clause, we will charge your credit card automatically for a further subscription Term unless you inform us that you do not wish to obtain Services for another subscription Term.
  • Refunds. We do not provide pro-rated refunds. If you cancel your subscription during the subscription period, you will forego any payments that have already been made to us. If we terminate, suspend or remove your Account in connection with your violation of the Terms, we shall do so without any liability to you or any third party payor.
  • Fee Changes. We may in the future implement a new fee, or modify an existing fee, for certain current or future services offered. If we revise our fees, we shall notify you by posting the revisions on the Website or by sending you an email.
  • Currency. All fees and transactions shall be in Canadian dollars.
  • Third Party Payment Processors. Users acknowledge that all transactions involving payments must comply with the terms and conditions of the third party payment service provider. We do not provide those payment services, are not a party to any license or agreement you may have with the applicable third party payment provider, and shall not be liable or responsible for your use of those third-party payment services.
• Representations, Warranties and Covenants
  • You acknowledge and agree that: (1) you are 18 years old or older; (2) you have the authority to bind yourself, or such other party which you may be representing, to our Terms; and (3) your use of our Services shall (A) be solely for purposes that are permitted by these Terms of Use, (B) not infringe or misappropriate the Intellectual Property Rights of any third party, and (C) comply with all Laws.
  • Restricted Actions. You covenant that you shall not:
    • register for more than one Account;
    • misrepresent your identity (e.g. represent to anyone in relation to Company that you are someone else or you are affiliated with someone that you are not);
    • in regards to fees, circumvent the payment methodology of our Services;
    • share your Account log-in details with any person other than those expressly authorized by you;
    • make use of our Services to do anything other than to carry out activities which are normally related to activities conducted using our Services;
    • reverse engineer, de-compile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code or underlying ideas or algorithms in any part of our Services;
    • rent, lease, sell, resell, assign, timeshare, offer in a service bureau, or otherwise make any part of our Services available to any third party;
    • damage, disable, overburden or impair our servers or network, or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of our Services;
    • access our Services in order to build a commercially available product or service which competes with our Services;
    • copy any features, functions, integrations, interfaces or graphics which are part of our Services;
    • violate any Laws;
    • make statements on any part of Company on any topic associated with us, particularly regarding Content and our Services, which could reasonably be considered false or misleading;
    • willfully tamper with the security of our Services, including attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the App or to breach its security or authentication measures;
    • share any sensitive data with us which, in the normal course of events, would demand special Handling and introduce a security burden on us that is not agreed upon by us in writing in advance of receipt of such data;
    • transmit any information, through our Services or in any other manner, which may be: (1) unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, harassing, fraudulent, obscene, vulgar, indecent, inflammatory, sexually explicit, pornographic or profane; (2) in violation of a third party’s Intellectual Property Rights or is subject to Intellectual Property Rights; (3) refutes or is contrary to what is set out anywhere in our Services; (4) is considered “spam” (including machine or randomly-generated, constitutes unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, chain letters, any other form of unauthorized solicitation or any form of lottery or gambling); (5) contains or installs any viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses or other content that is designed or intended to disrupt, damage or limit the function of any software, hardware or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any data or other information of any third party; and (6) violates the privacy of any third party; or
    • attempt to gain unauthorized access to our Services or our computer systems or networks through hacking, password mining or any other means.

       We reserve the right to investigate and prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, any violation of the subsections (i) to (xvi) above.

• Proprietary Rights
  • Ownership and Reservation of Rights to Company Intellectual Property.
    • Company and its licensors own all Intellectual Property Rights in our Services.
    • You shall not obtain any ownership interest in our Services as a result of your provision, access or use of Services.
  • Right to Handle Your Data. You hereby grant Company a non-exclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free and transferable right to Handle your data to (1) provide you our Services set out in these Terms of Use, and (2) generate Aggregated Information.
    • You agree that all such data may be, without further required consent by you, Handled by a third-party for either (1) the third party’s own legitimate business purposes, (2) purposes which serve our business purposes, including transaction processing and data monitoring or storage, or (3) for regulatory or other reasons which are imposed on us in Canada or in any other jurisdiction in which  may otherwise decide to store or process such data.
    • Aggregated Information. We’ll own all Aggregated Information for any purpose we see fit, including but not limited to publication of, and creation of derivative works from the Aggregated Information, provided that such usage shall not reveal to a third party any confidential information or the identity of a User.
  • Your Input. We shall have a royalty-free, worldwide, transferrable, sub-licensable, irrevocable, perpetual license to use or incorporate into Services any User Input. You shall have no obligation to provide User Input. Although Company does not seek to monitor or control the submission of User Input, we reserve the right to delete, move and edit any User Input submitted where, in our sole and absolute discretion, it is considered prudent or necessary to do so. User Input is the sole responsibility of the person or entity that provided the User Input. You shall be solely responsible for your User Content and any consequences that may arise from posting, providing or publishing it on the Website.
• Monitoring of User Activity and Privacy

We may, solely at our discretion or at the request of a governmental authority, monitor, record or otherwise process all User interactions with our Website. Further information is available in our Privacy Policy.  

• Corrective Action and Notice

If you are a brokerage and become aware of any actual or threatened activity by a User which is prohibited by the “Restricted Actions” clause, you shall immediately (a) take all reasonable and lawful measures within your control that are necessary to stop the activity or threatened activity and to mitigate its effects (including, where applicable, by discontinuing and preventing any unauthorized access to our Services), and (b) notify Company of any such actual or threatened activity.

• Permission for Communication

We use email and other electronic means to stay in touch with Users. You agree that when you provide us your e-mail address or personally identifying information (e.g. name, address) during or prior to access of our Services or use of any other service or tool provided through or on the Website, you: (1) consent to receive communications from us, our affiliates, and the applicable Third Party Provider in electronic formats, including via the email address you have submitted or other agreed upon contact methods; (2) can opt-out from receiving communication from any such party at any time by completing the formalities on the Website, but we do not take on any liability for any communication of another party to you, particularly if you have provided your contact information to them independently rather than using the communication functions of the Website; and (3) agree that our Terms, agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications would satisfy if they were in writing and physically presented to you.

• Disclaimers
  • IN ADDITION TO ANY OTHER DISCLAIMERS SET OUT IN OUR TERMS, OUR SERVICES, INCLUDING ALL CONTENT AND FUNCTIONS, ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND MADE BY US. WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, RELIABILITY OR ACCURACY, OR INTEGRATION WITH ANY SYSTEM.
  • COMPANY DOES NOT CERTIFY ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING PRODUCTS, PROCEDURES, OPINIONS, OR OTHER INFORMATION THAT MAY APPEAR OR BE REFERENCED IN THE COMPANY CONTENT. RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT AND ANY OTHER INFORMATION, HOWEVER PRESENTED, OBTAINED THROUGH OUR SERVICES, IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
  • ALTHOUGH OUR SERVICES MAY PROVIDE ACCESS TO THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS, WE ASSUME NO OBLIGATION AND PROVIDE NO GUARANTEES WHATSOEVER IN CONNECTION WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF SUCH THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE TO YOU FOR THE CONDUCT OF ANY SUCH THIRD PARTY OR FOR ANY ERROR, DELAY, OR DEFICIENCY OF ANY PART OF THE SERVICE THEY PROVIDE, INCLUDING THE AVAILABILITY OF TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES FROM YOUR PROVIDER AND ACCESS TO OUR SERVICES AT ANY TIME OR FROM ANY LOCATION; ANY LOSS, DAMAGE OR SECURITY INTRUSION OF THE TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES; AND ANY DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES OR FAILURE TO TRANSMIT ANY DATA, COMMUNICATIONS OR SETTINGS CONNECTED WITH OUR SERVICES.

 

• WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT ANY PART OF OUR SERVICES OR THE FUNCTIONS THEREIN WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, OR THAT APP OR ANY ITEM CONNECTED WITH THE WEBSITE IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR ANY HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY TRANSMISSION TO AND FROM US OR COMMUNICATION BY YOU IS CONFIDENTIAL OR SECURE, EVEN IF WE BECOME AWARE OF ANY, OR ARE TOLD ABOUT, A POTENTIAL BREACH. YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES CREATES NO OBLIGATION UPON US AND THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP (WHETHER CONTRACTUAL, FIDUCIARY OR OTHERWISE) CREATED BETWEEN YOU AND US OTHER THAN PURSUANT TO OUR TERMS.
• ALL THIRD PARTY MATERIALS OR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY CONCERNING ANY THIRD PARTY MATERIALS OR SERVICES IS STRICTLY BETWEEN YOU AND THE THIRD-PARTY OWNER OR DISTRIBUTOR OF THE THIRD PARTY MATERIALS OR SERVICES.

 

• Release and Indemnification
  • You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Company, its officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and permitted assigns from and against any and all claims and expenses, including legal fees and disbursements, arising out of: your improper use of our Services, including your violation of any of the provisions in these Terms of Use; allegation of facts that, if true, would constitute your breach of any of your representations, warranties, covenants or obligations under these Terms of Use; or negligence or willful misconduct by you or any third party on your behalf in connection with our Services.
  • We may, at our sole discretion and expense, choose to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you and you shall not in any event settle any matter without our written consent.
• Liability
  • Your only remedy with respect to any dissatisfaction with (i) Company, (ii) our Terms, (iii) any policy or practice of Company, or (iv) any content or information transmitted through our Services, is to cancel your Account and to stop using our Services. You will unsubscribe through the applicable app store. We may terminate but are not bound to control your Account cancellations.
  • Under no circumstances shall Company and its officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and permitted assigns be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages arising from or relating to the use of our Services. This includes, but is not limited to, any loss of profit, earnings, anticipated earnings, interruption or loss of business, or any consequential losses, problems, or fault howsoever arising out of the use of our Services.
  • Under no circumstances shall we be liable for the acts, omissions or conduct of any third party users of our Services and you must ensure that you inform such third parties, who may benefit from any part of our Services, of this fact.
  • TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING IN THIS Clause ENTITLED “LIABILITY” THE LIMIT ON COMPANY’S TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY PERSON FOR ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO OUR SERVICES SHALL BE LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM OF $10.00.
  • Should a jurisdiction that does not allow the exclusion of incidental, special or consequential damages apply to these Terms of Use, the total liability to you or any person in connection with any incidental, special or consequential damages shall be limited by the above paragraph of this clause entitled “Liability.”
• Term and Termination
  • Our Terms shall be deemed to be applicable to you upon your use of our Services and shall terminate only upon an actual deletion or deactivation of your Account through the means provided on the Website. Abandonment or non-use of the Account shall not lead to an automatic termination of your Account.
  • We may terminate your access to all or any part of our Services at any time, with or without cause and with or without notice, effective immediately and for any reason deemed appropriate in our sole discretion.
  • You may cancel your Account at any time through the applicable App Store settings or subscription management function within the device. You may terminate your obligations to us at any time by canceling your Account and discontinuing use of our Services.
  • Except for the provisions set out in “Surviving Provisions” clause, these Terms of Use shall no longer be applicable to you if your Account is cancelled or terminated.
  • Upon termination of your Account, (1) all rights, licenses, consents and authorizations granted pursuant to these Terms of Use shall immediately terminate, and (2) we may disable all Users’ access to our Services.
  • Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Terms of Use, with respect to information and materials then in our possession or control:
    • we may retain any of your data in our backups, archives and disaster recovery systems until such data is deleted in the ordinary course; and
    • all information and materials described in the preceding subsection (i) above shall remain subject to all confidentiality, security and other applicable requirements of our Terms.
  • Modification of our Terms
    • Company reserves the right, at our sole discretion, to amend these Terms of Use at any time and shall update these Terms of Use in the event of any such amendments.
    • If our Terms are modified in a way we consider significant, we shall post the amended Terms on our Website. Although we shall take reasonable steps to notify you of such significant changes made, you are expected to check our Terms periodically for any amendments. Your continued use of our Services following such notification shall constitute your affirmative acknowledgement of these Terms of Use and agreed to be bound by our Terms, as amended. If at any time you choose not to accept our revised Terms, including following receipt of notification of any modifications made hereto, then please do not use our Services and as applicable, terminate your Account.
  • Governing Law

Our Terms and any access to or use of our Services shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the Province of Manitoba and the federal laws of Canada therein, without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the Province of Manitoba or any other jurisdiction) that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than those of the Province of Manitoba.

• Arbitration

Any controversy, dispute, disagreement or claim arising out of, relating to or in connection with our Services or any breach thereof, including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination, shall be finally and conclusively resolved by arbitration under The Arbitration Act (Manitoba) (the “Rules”). There shall be one arbitrator selected in accordance with the Rules. The parties to the arbitration shall equally share the fees of the arbitrator and the facility fees and the parties shall each bear their own legal costs and expenses of the arbitration; provided, that the arbitrator shall have the authority to award such fees, costs and expenses in the decision of the arbitrator. The arbitration shall be conducted in English. Any decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties and their respective successors and assigns and there shall be no right to appeal such decision, whether on a question of law, a question of fact, or a mixed question of fact and law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Company shall have the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief that may be related to the breach of confidentiality obligations or violation of the Intellectual Property Rights set forth in these Terms of Use.

• Waiver of Class Proceedings

Users hereby waive any right they may have to commence or participate in any class action lawsuit against Company related to any claim, dispute or controversy and, where applicable, Users hereby agree to opt out of any class proceeding against Company otherwise commenced.

• Severability

If any portion or provision of our Terms shall to any extent be declared illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remainder of our Terms, or the application of such portion of provision in circumstances other than those as to which it is so declared illegal or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each portion and provision of our Terms shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

• Headings and Summaries

The headings, captions and summaries in these Terms of Use are for convenience only and in no way define or describe the scope or content of any provision of these Terms of Use.

• Notices
  • Except as otherwise stated in our Terms or as expressly required by law, any notice to us, including for purposes of termination, shall be given in writing by certified postal mail to:

200-309 McDermot Avenue Winnipeg MB R3A 1T3 Canada

or by email to: info@fintracker.ca. Any notice to you shall be given to the most current email address in your Account.

• If you are a real estate agent, it is your responsibility to notify us of any changes in your employment or brokerage office by emailing as set out under subsection (a).

 

• Other Rules of Interpretation

Any reference to gender includes all genders; words importing the singular number only shall include the plural and vice versa; the word “or” is not exclusive; the words “including”, “includes” and “include” mean “including without limitation”; and “shall” means “will” and “must”, all three of which can be changed interchangeably and shall not mean “may”.

• No Waiver of Covenants

Failure by any party to insist upon the strict performance of any of the covenants, agreements, terms, provisions or conditions contained in our Terms or to exercise any election shall not be construed as a waiver or relinquishment of such covenant, agreement, term, provision or condition but the same shall continue and remain in full force. No waiver shall be deemed to have been made unless expressed in writing.

• Surviving Provisions

Only the following clauses of our Terms of Use shall survive following any termination or expiration: Representations, Warranties and Covenants, Proprietary Rights, Permission for Communication, Disclaimers, Release and Indemnification, Liability, Governing Law, Arbitration, Waiver of Class Proceedings, and this Surviving Provisions clause.

• Entire Agreement

These Terms of Use, in combination with all policies and guidelines of Company (including the Privacy Policy), incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between Company and you and supersede all prior communications, agreements and understandings, written or oral, with respect to the subject matter of our Terms.

 

• Definitions

“Account” means a User’s account that was registered on our Website and created for the purposes of accessing our Services.

“Aggregated Information” means all information derived from your use of our Services and include without limitation, usage information, data and other content, provided however, such information shall not be able to reveal the identity of the User.

“Certify” means being officially recognized as possessing a certain qualification, criteria or meeting certain standards.

“Content” means any information, text, document, articles, blogs, links, reports, data, databases, tools, e-mail, code, photographs, pictures, audio, video, postings, graphics (including illustrations and animations), comments, interfaces, webpages, files, software, product names, company names, trade-marks, logos, trade names, or other materials.

“Credentials” means Account log-in and other details which are relevant to your access to our Services.

“Handle” means to process, record, transfer, access, receive, use, disclose, retain, dispose of, destroy, manage, collect, store, or otherwise handle and any variation of “Handle” and “Handling” has the same meaning depending on the context.

“Intellectual Property” means inventions, discoveries, or improvements (whether patented or able to be patented and whether or not reduced to practice), including patents, patent applications, certificates of invention, utility models, continuations, continuations-in-part, provisionals, divisions, reissues, renewals, re-examinations and extensions thereof; trade secrets, know-how, designs, methodologies, processes, rights in data, and similar rights; semiconductor chip protection and mask work right; the protection of works of authorship or expression and copyright (whether or not registered); trademark, trade names, service marks, logos, domain names and trade dress; and similar rights under any laws or international conventions throughout the world, whether now existing or hereafter arising or developed, including the right to apply for registrations, certificates, or renewals with respect thereto, the rights to prosecute, enforce, and obtain damages.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means any rights pertaining to Intellectual Property.

“Laws” means any statute, ordinance, regulation, rule, code, constitution, treaty, common law, governmental order or other requirement or rule of law of any governmental authority.

“Third Party Providers” means any an independent third party provider that may be accessible through our Services, including any organization which is governmental or regulatory in nature.

“Company Content” means any Content provided by us on the Website in provision of our Services.

“User(s)” means anyone who is using our Services, whether or not the person has an Account. 

“User Input” means any Content submitted or otherwise shared by a User in the course of provision of our Services, including suggestions, modifications or other actions undertaken by User or is otherwise shared with other Users through the Website.

“Website” or “App” means (i) any website (including www.fintracker.ca and a sub-domain or any such websites, and (ii) any mobile application for such websites or any other website operated by us, in connection with our Services provided to you.

Privacy Principles

The Forward Form Solutions ("Solutions") is committed to protecting its customers' privacy and confidentiality in accordance with our obligations under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, to the extent that such laws and policies are applicable to the delivery of the Fintracker software through Solutions' online portal hosted on our website and mobile app (collectively "the Service")

This Privacy Policy (the "Policy") explains how the Solutions will collect, use and disclose customers' Personal Information in the course of providing the Service. You must read the Policy carefully in order to gain a clear understanding of how Solutions will collect, use or disclose customers' Personal Information in the course of administering the Service and our website.

By using the Service or our website, or otherwise interacting with us, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by Solutions in accordance with the terms of and for the purposes set out in the Privacy Policy.

The following is a short summary of the key elements of this Policy. You can read the full version of the Policy following the summary.

SUMMARY OF PRIVACY POLICY

We may collect the following Personal Information about you:

• Customer name
• Customer complete physical address
• Customer alternate contact information
• Customer birth month and year
• Password(s) customer is asked to create in order to use the Service
• Answers to security questions customer is asked when they register for the Service
• Type and version of the electronic device(s) customer uses to access the Service
• Dates on which customer uses the Service
• Customer's selected preferences, such as primary language of Service (English or French), etc.
• Transaction property address
• Sales representative/broker name
• Date on which the customer's credit file was consulted
• Nature of customer's principal business or occupation
• Details of federal/provincial/territorial government-issued photo ID
• Name of Canadian Credit bureau holding the credit file and reference number of credit file
• Name of source verifying an individual identity and account or reference number
• Measures taken to ascertain the identity of an unrepresented individual
• Relationship between third party and customer, where the customer acts on behalf of a third party
• Determination of the risk level of a money laundering or terrorist financing offence for a customer
• Receipt of Funds Record, including transaction and payment information

We may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• Initiate or provide customers with the Service and access to the website;
• Provide customers with ongoing technical support;
• Provide ongoing administration of customer registration;
• Provide customers with relevant ads;
• Comply with legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order;
• Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, identity theft, security or other technical issues;
• Protect the rights, property or safety of Solutions, our employees or customers, or the public, as required or permitted by law.

We may share your Personal Information with the following parties:

(a)           Individuals or organizations who are our advisers, legal counsel or service providers;

(b)           Individuals or organizations who are, or may be, involved in maintaining, reviewing and developing our systems, procedures and infrastructure including testing or upgrading our computer system;

(c)           Real estate agents are provided with access to the real estate forms they submit on behalf of their clients;

(d)           Brokers and compliance officers are provided with access to all real estate forms submitted by agents within a brokerage; and

(e)           Administrators of McDermot Software Inc. that host the Service, who have access to all the data stored by Solutions. 

Solutions does not otherwise share any Personal Information it collects with third parties unless authorized by the customer.

You have the following choices:

• Cookies Settings and Preferences. You may disable cookies and tracking pixels through the settings in your browser. While doing so may negatively affect your experience with the use of our Service, it will not prevent us from transacting with you.
• Advertising: We place ads on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn in order to engage with our targeted audience and make our ads more relevant to you. To opt-out of receiving relevant ads from us, you may contact us at info@fintracker.ca. Note that Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn may be able to use the data about your visits to our website for their own advertising purposes. You can opt-out of Facebook's, Instagram's and LinkedIn's use of cookies and pixel re-marketing by visiting their privacy policies.
• Opt-Outs. You may contact our Privacy Officer at info@fintracker.ca to opt out of the use or sharing of your personal information. If you would rather not provide us with your Personal Information digitally, you can do manually. However, please note that declining to provide us with key information about the real estate transaction could result in a suspicious transaction report (STR). For more information on STRs, please see: https://www.fintrac-canafe.gc.ca/guidance-directives/transaction-operation/Guide3/str-eng/.

In case of a breach of security safeguards, we will:

• determine whether the breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you, including physical, financial or reputational harm;
• notify you, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and/or any provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner(s), as appropriate;
• notify any other organization or government institution that can reduce the risk or mitigate the harm from the breach; and
• keep a record of the breach in accordance with our legal obligations.

How to contact us:

For more information about this Policy, our privacy practices or to obtain access to or correction of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer at info@fintracker.ca.

 

FULL VERSION OF PRIVACY POLICY

This Policy covers the following:

1. What is Personal Information?
2. What Personal Information does Solutions collect?
3. Why does Solutions collect customer's Personal Information?
4. How does Solutions collect customer's Personal Information?
5. How does Solutions collect Personal Information from Minors?
6. How does Solutions use customer's Personal Information?
7. When may Solutions disclose customer's Personal Information?
8. Cookies
9. How can customers access or correct any inaccuracies in their Personal Information?
10. How does Solutions protect customer's Personal Information?
11. Links to other websites.
12. Resolving customer privacy concerns.
13. Changes to this Privacy Policy.

Principles

In the delivery of the Service, Solutions complies with the following principles set out in Schedule I to PIPEDA:

Principle 4.1 (Accountability) – An organization is responsible for personal information under its control and must designate an individual responsible for compliance with PIPEDA;

Principle 4.2 (Identifying Purposes) – An organization must specify why it is collecting personal information, and such purposes must be identified at or before the information is collected;

Principle 4.3 (Consent) – An organization must obtain an individual's consent for the collection of personal information and subsequent use and disclosure;

Principle 4.4 (Limiting Collection) – An organization must limit the collection of information to that which is necessary for the identified purposes;

Principle 4.5 (Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention) – An organization must not use or disclose personal information for a purpose other than for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or where required or permitted by law;

Principle 4.6 (Accuracy) – An organization must ensure that personal information it maintains is accurate, complete, and up to date;

Principle 4.7 (Safeguards) – An organization must take appropriate safeguards to protect personal information;

Principle 4.8 (Openness) – An organization must be open about its policies and practices;

Principle 4.9 (Individual Access) – An organization must provide individuals with a right of access to their personal information, subject to certain restrictions as set out in PIPEDA; and

Principle 4.10 (Challenging Compliance) – An organization must advise individuals of its complaint procedures.

1.             What is Personal Information?

"Personal Information" means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information, other than business contact information (e.g. name, title, business address) collected, used or disclosed solely for the purpose of communicating or facilitating communication with the individual in relation to their employment, business or profession.

This Policy does not cover aggregated data from which the identity of an individual cannot be determined. Solutions retains the right to use aggregated data in any way that we determine appropriate.

2.             What Personal Information does Solutions collect?

We collect the following types of Personal Information from customers during the registration process to become a user of the Service are:

1. Customer name
2. Customer complete physical address
3. Customer alternate contact information
4. Customer birth month and year
5. Password(s) customer is asked to create in order to use the Service
6. Answers to security questions customer is asked when they register for the Service
7. Type and version of the electronic device(s) customer uses to access the Service
8. Dates on which customer uses the Service
9. Customer's selected preferences, such as primary language of Service (English or French), etc.

We retain the CREA Fintrac forms (Individual Identification Information Record, Corporation/Entity Identification Information Record and Receipt of Funds Record) submitted by real estate agents, but do not keep true copies of the documents required in order to fill the mandatory fields in these forms.

The following informed will be retained as part of our Individual Identification Information Record, as required to be completed by a REALTOR member whenever they act in respect of purchase and sale of real estate:

1. Transaction property address
2. Sales representative/broker name
3. Date on which the customer's credit file was consulted
4. Nature of customer's principal business or occupation
5. Details of federal/provincial/territorial government-issued photo ID
6. Name of Canadian Credit bureau holding the credit file and reference number of credit file
7. Name of source verifying an individual identity (e.g. government/financial entity/utility provider) and account or reference number
8. Measures taken to ascertain the identity of an unrepresented individual
9. Relationship between third party and customer, where the customer acts on behalf of a third party
10. Determination of the risk of a money laundering or terrorist financing offence for a customer: assessed level of risk and explanation
11. Receipt of Funds Record, including transaction and payment information, as required to be completed by a REALTOR member for every amount of funds received in the course of a single purchase or sale real estate transaction

We also collect business information about corporate clients (Corporation/Entity Identification Information Record, as required to be completed by a REALTOR member whenever they act in respect of purchase and sale of real estate.

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information about customers' use of our Service or website when they interact with or use our Service or website, or respond to e-mails, newsletters or promotional or other information communications.

3.             Why does Solutions collect Personal Information?

Solutions may use the Personal Information customers provide to enable customers to use sign language to communicate with voice telephone users as follows:

(a)           Initiate or provide customers with the Service and access to the website;

(b)           Provide customers with ongoing technical support;

(c)           Provide ongoing administration of customer registration;

(d)           Provide customers with relevant ads;

(e)           Comply with legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order;

(f)            Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, identity theft, security or other technical issues;

(g)           Protect the rights, property or safety of Solutions, our employees or customers, or the public, as required or permitted by law.

Solutions may also use aggregated non-identifying information for research and analysis in order to improve the Service or our website, or in connection with promotional or other informational communications

4.             How does Solutions collect customers' Personal Information?

Solutions only collects Personal Information for purposes that would be considered reasonable in the circumstances and only such information as is required for the purposes of providing the Service. We use only fair and lawful methods to collect Personal Information.

Unless permitted by law, no Personal Information is collected, without first obtaining the consent of the individual concerned to the collection, use and disclosure of that information. However, we may seek consent to use and disclose Personal Information after it has been collected in those cases where we wish to use the information for a new or different purpose where the individual concerned has not already consented to such a use of their personal information.

In most cases and subject to legal and contractual restrictions, customers are free to refuse or withdraw their consent at any time upon reasonable, advance notice. It should be noted that in certain circumstances, the Service can only be offered if customers provide their Personal Information to Solutions. Consequently, if a customer chooses not provide us with the required Personal Information, we may not be able to offer them the Service. We will inform the customer of the consequences of the withdrawal of consent.

5.             How does Solutions Use customers' Personal Information?

Solutions uses the information we collect to provide customers with the Service and the website, and to respond to customer questions. We also use it to provide a better user experience and to continue improving the quality of our products and services. We may use Personal Information and other information to communicate with customers about our Service, including updates or newsletters, or to deliver content that may be of interest to customers.

We also use the information we collect to ensure that our Service and website remain functioning and secure, or to investigate, prevent or act on any illegal activities or violations of our Service Agreements. Our use of Personal Information is limited to the purposes described in this Policy and Solutions does not otherwise sell, trade, barter, exchange or disclose for consideration any Personal Information it has obtained.

6.             When may Solutions Disclose Customers' Personal Information?

(i) Solutions may disclose Customers' Personal Information to:

(a)           Individuals or organizations who are our advisers, legal counsel or service providers;

(b)           Individuals or organizations who are, or may be, involved in maintaining, reviewing and developing our systems, procedures and infrastructure including testing or upgrading our computer system;

(c)           Real estate agents are provided with access to the real estate forms they submit on behalf of their clients;

(d)           Brokers and compliance officers are provided with access to all real estate forms submitted by agents within a brokerage; and

(e)           Administrators of McDermot Software Inc. that host the Service, who have access to all the data stored by Solutions. 

Solutions does not otherwise share any Personal Information it collects with third parties unless authorized by the customer.

(ii) Where Solutions transfers Personal Information to service providers or contractors that perform services on our behalf, we will require those third parties to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to Solutions or our users, and to have appropriate safeguards for the protection of that Personal Information. Sharing of information with third party service providers and contractors will occur only after those entities have entered into a confidentiality agreement that:

(a)           prohibits them from using, allowing access to, or disclosing customer Personal Information to any other party (unless required to do so by law); and

(b)           requires them to have appropriate protections in place to ensure the ongoing confidentiality of customer's Personal Information.

(iii) Cross border transfer of information legal retention obligations.

Solutions may transfer personal information to a service provider which is located outside of Canada where privacy laws may offer different levels of protection from those in Canada. Customers' personal information may also be subject to access by and disclosure to law enforcement agencies under the applicable foreign legislation.

7.             Where disclosure can be made without consent>

Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where Solutions is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or governmental tribunal;
• Where Solutions believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
• Where it is necessary to permit Solutions to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that we may sustain;
• Where the information is public as permitted by law;
• Where it is reasonable for the purposes of investigating a breach of an agreement, or actual or suspected illegal activity; or
• Where it is necessary for the purpose of a prospective business transaction if the information is necessary to determine whether to proceed with the transaction or to complete the transaction, or a completed business transaction where the information is necessary to carry on the activity that was the object of the transaction. A "business transaction" includes:
• the purchase, sale or other acquisition or disposition of an organization or a part of an organization, or any of its assets;
• the merger or amalgamation of two or more organizations;
• the making of a loan or provision of other financing to an organization or a part of an organization;
• the creating of a charge on, or the taking of a security interest in or a security on, any assets or securities of an organization;
• the lease or licensing of any of an organization's assets; and
• any other prescribed arrangement between two or more organizations to conduct a business activity.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, Solutions will not disclose more information than is required.

8.             Cookies and tracking pixels

Cookies

We use Cookies to collect usage information when you visit our website and to serve advertisements to users. Cookies are small text files placed on your hard drive that assist us in providing a more customized website experience. It is our policy to use cookies to make navigation of our website easier for visitors.

Declining cookies: If you are concerned about cookies, most browsers permit individuals to decline cookies. To learn how you may be able to reduce the number of cookies you receive from us, or disable cookies that have already been installed in your browser's cookie folder, please refer to your browser's help menu or other instructions related to your browser. You can also learn more about cookies by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org, which includes additional useful information on cookies and how to block cookies using different types of browsers. Note that while declining cookies may negatively affect your user experience on our websites, it will not prevent us from transacting with you.

Tracking pixels

We use pixels to track clicks to our website from our ads on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. The use of pixels allows us to understand and deliver ads and make them more relevant to you. You can opt-out of our use of this information by modifying the settings in your browser.

Note that Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn may be able to use this data for their own advertising purposes. You can opt-out of Facebook's, Instagram's and LinkedIn's use of cookies and pixel re-marketing by visiting their privacy policies.

9.             How can Customers access or correct any inaccuracies in their Personal Information?

Solutions endeavors to ensure that any Personal Information provided and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which we use that information. If a customer advises Solutions that Personal Information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, we will revise the Personal Information and, if necessary, use its best efforts to inform third party service providers or contractors which were provided with inaccurate information so that those third parties may also correct their records.

Solutions permits the reasonable right of access and review of Personal Information held by us about an individual and will endeavour to provide the information in question within a reasonable time, generally no later than 30 days following the request. To guard against fraudulent requests for access, we may require sufficient information to allow us to confirm that the person making the request is authorized to do so before granting access or making corrections.

We will provide information from our records in a form that is easy to understand. Solutions reserves the right not to change any Personal Information, but will append any alternative text the individual concerned believes to be appropriate.

Solutions will not charge customers for verifying or correcting their information, however, to the extent permitted by applicable law, there may be a minimal charge imposed if you need a copy of records.

We keep customers' Personal Information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time we retain information varies, depending on the purpose for which it was collected and the nature of the information. This period may extend beyond the end of the customer's relationship with us but it will be only for so long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise at a later date.

When customers' Personal Information is no longer required for Solutions' purposes, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert it into an anonymous form.

10.             How does Solutions protect Customers' Personal Information?

Solutions endeavours to maintain appropriate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to our offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information. This also applies to our disposal or destruction of Personal Information. Solutions also restricts access to Personal Information to those employees that require access to the information in order that we may provide our Service.

If any officer, employee or volunteer of Solutions misuses Personal Information, this will be considered as a serious offence for which disciplinary action may be taken, up to and including termination of employment/volunteer contract. If any third party individual or organization misuses Personal Information obtained solely for the purpose of providing services to Solutions, this will be considered a serious issue for which action may be taken, up to and including termination of any agreement between Solutions and that individual or organization.

A "breach of security safeguards" is defined as the loss of, unauthorized access to or unauthorized disclosure of personal information resulting from a breach of an organization's security safeguards or from a failure to establish those safeguards. In case of a breach of security safeguards involving your Personal Information under Solutions' control, we will notify you and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if it is reasonable in the circumstances to believe that the breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you, including physical, financial or reputational harm. We will also notify any other organization or government institution that can reduce the risk or mitigate the harm from the breach.

What you can do to protect your Personal Information:

In order to enhance the protection of your Personal Information, Solutions recommends that users protect their mobile devices with a passcode and sign out of the application after use to avoid data from being accessed or copied if the mobile device is lost or stolen.

11.             Links to other websites

Solutions may provide links to, or automatically produce search results for, third-party web sites or resources or third-party information referencing or linking to third-party web sites or resources. Solutions has no control over such third-party Web sites and resources, and customers acknowledge and agree that Solutions is not responsible for the content or information contained therein. When customers follow such a link, they are no longer protected by our Privacy Policy, and we encourage all customers to read the privacy statements or other disclaimers of such other parties. Solutions is not responsible for the privacy or security practices or the content of non-Solutions web sites, services or products.

Solutions cannot and does not guarantee, represent or warrant that the content or information contained in such third-party Web sites and resources is accurate, legal, non-infringing or inoffensive. Solutions does not endorse the content or information of any third-party web site or resource and, further, Solutions does not warrant that such web sites or resources will not contain viruses or other malicious code or will not otherwise affect your computer. By using any of Solutions' systems or web sites to search for or link to a third-party web site, customers agree and understand that Solutions shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damages or losses caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with their use of, or reliance on, Solutions to obtain search results or to link to a third-party web site.

12.             Resolving customer privacy concerns

In the event of questions about: (i) access to customer's Personal Information; (ii) our collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information; or (iii) this Policy; Customers are to contact Solutions' Privacy Officer by sending an e-mail to our Privacy Officer at info@fintracker.ca.

Solutions will investigate all complaints and if a complaint is justified, we will take all reasonable steps to resolve the issue.

13.             Changes to this Privacy Policy

Solutions will update this policy from time to time if our practices change or if the law requires changes to it. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on our website and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice and a summary of the relevant changes at the top of the page. Customers should review this policy regularly for changes, and can easily see if changes have been made by checking the Effective Date below. If customers do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy or any other Solutions' policy, agreement, or disclaimer, they should exit the site and cease use of all Solutions services immediately. Customer's continued use following the posting of any changes to this Policy means they agree to be bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Effective Date: This Privacy Policy was last updated on March 21, 2024.