Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

StraightSum operates a consumer finance education website and lender referral service at straightsum.com. StraightSum is an independent publisher and referral service. We are not a lender, a loan broker, a loan servicer, a credit services organization, or a subsidiary, agent, or affiliate of any lender or lead network. Forms hosted on this site by third-party providers are clearly identified as such.

2. What we collect, and why

Categories of personal information, with the purpose and how long each is kept:

We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes beyond those permitted under CPRA section 1798.121.

3. Where the tools differ from the form

This distinction matters more than anything else on the page, so it gets its own section.

Optional aggregate measurement

With Analytics consent, we count visits to selected pages, calculator interactions, referral clicks, and form loading or first interaction. We store only UTC day, event name, canonical page path, and aggregate count in Cloudflare D1. We do not send calculator inputs, application values, query strings, referrers, cookies, or visitor identifiers in these events. Cloudflare processes network metadata to deliver the service. Counters older than 90 days are removed on the next recorded event. Global Privacy Control disables this measurement, and consent can be withdrawn in Cookie settings.

4. Third parties who process your information

Some parts of this site are operated by independent companies. Naming them is the only way you can make an informed decision about what to enter where.

We also use hosting and content delivery providers to serve the site. These process technical request data — including IP addresses — as service providers on our behalf.

5. The AI assistant

The chat assistant sends your messages, along with a description of the page you are on, to a hosted language model that generates the reply. It has no access to your Dashboard, your Planner, or anything you have submitted through the loan form.

Do not enter your Social Security Number, bank account details, card numbers, or passwords into it. It is a general explanation tool, not part of any application, and no lender ever needs information delivered that way.

The assistant provides financial education, not financial advice. It cannot tell you what rate you would receive or whether you would be approved, and any answer implying otherwise should be disregarded.

6. How information is shared

• Lenders and lending partners — to evaluate a loan inquiry you have submitted
• Service providers — hosting, content delivery, form operation, and privacy request intake
• Marketing partners — where you have consented, and who may contact you about financial products
• Legal authorities — when required by law, or to establish or defend legal claims

Sharing your information with lenders and marketing partners may constitute a “sale” or “sharing” under California and other state privacy laws. You can opt out through the Privacy Center, and if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we treat it as an opt-out without requiring any action from you.

7. Financial privacy (GLBA)

Where we facilitate a loan inquiry, we may act as a financial institution for the purposes of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. In that capacity we may disclose nonpublic personal information about you to nonaffiliated third parties — lenders and lending partners — as permitted by law and as necessary to process the inquiry you have asked us to submit.

Because that disclosure is what makes the referral possible, it cannot be opted out of while still submitting a request. If you are not comfortable with it, do not complete the form; the calculators and guides remain free and require nothing.

8. Your rights

Depending on your state — including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, and others as their laws take effect — you may have the right to:

• Know what personal information is collected about you
• Access a copy of it
• Request deletion
• Correct inaccurate information
• Opt out of sale or sharing, and of targeted advertising
• Limit the use of sensitive personal information
• Not be discriminated against for exercising these rights

Submit a request through the Privacy Center or by emailing info@straightsum.com. We respond within 45 days, and will tell you if we need the additional 45 days the statute permits. An authorised agent may act for you with written permission.

One limit worth stating plainly: once a lender has received your information, they become an independent controller of it. We can delete what we hold, but a deletion request to us does not reach their records — you would need to contact them directly.

9. Security

Data submitted through the site is protected by TLS encryption in transit. We restrict access to production systems, review that access periodically, and publish a responsible disclosure policy at /legal/security/. No system is completely secure and we do not claim otherwise.

10. Children's privacy

The service is not directed to anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly collect their information. If you believe a minor has submitted information, email info@straightsum.com and we will delete it.

11. Changes

We may update this policy. Material changes will be reflected in the date at the top of this page. Continued use after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact

Privacy questions: info@straightsum.com. Security reports: security@straightsum.com. By phone: +1 (866) 888-0037.

See also our Cookie Policy, Terms, and Editorial Policy.