How safe is your information when you apply for a payday loan over the Internet? That depends on the company you do business with. Online payday loans, which are also called direct deposit cash advances, take data security very seriously because their business depends on it. If the company and its officers didn't do what they should have done to protect data, they could be held responsible in civil and even criminal ways.
Here are some ways to figure out how safe your information is during the application process for a payday loan.
First, look at the Privacy Policy on the website of the payday lender. It should be written clearly and list places where a borrower could find more information that could be useful to them.
Second, you can talk to a customer service person about your questions. It doesn't matter if a customer talks to a business through e-mail or in real-time through a website's live chat feature. Ask your questions and say what worries you, and then judge how complete the answer is.
If you're talking about security over the phone, you might want to ask if account databases can be accessed by employees who don't have the right security clearances.
If you're online, go to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page or the "About Us" page and read the information there. You won't be the first person to have questions, so most payday loan companies have a section on their website called "Frequently Asked Questions."
You can also find out how the payday loan company will handle your customers' accounts. It should be protected by a password so that once your account is set up, only you can get to it. You should also be able to change your account login information whenever you want to.
When you apply for payday loans online, it's also important to make sure that the application page itself is secure so that your personal information is safe. Since security is everyone's number one concern, most companies build it right in from the start. When you're about to send sensitive information, like when you're buying plane tickets, looking at your bank account information, or applying for a payday loan, there are two things to look for to make sure the transmission is safe. The first is a small padlock icon in the lower right corner of your screen. The second change is that the Internet address line at the top of the screen now has an "s" after the "http" part of the URL. These symbols mean that your data will be encrypted before being sent to the website.
When applying for a payday loan, the last thing you can do to make sure your information is safe is to look into the business itself. There are a lot of payday loan companies because most of them are local and there aren't any big national ones like banks and insurance companies. Look around and look for companies that have a good reputation. Before you start doing business with the company you've chosen, check with the Better Business Bureau and local or state regulatory agencies to learn more about it.
