Privacy Policy

Information you provide

You may provide information directly when you ask a question through Ask USMI, email us, submit a correction, or otherwise communicate with us.

That information may include your question or message, information you voluntarily include in it, and contact information if you choose to provide it through a feature that requests it.

The public research tools do not require you to submit borrower contact information to a lender in order to research published mortgage information. There is no public account or public sign-in on this website.

The contact page provides an email address. It does not save a web form in a database. A correction request is different: if you submit one, USMI stores the institution identifier, your email address, the field you identify, your description, and any source URL you provide so the request can be reviewed.

The page on how to file a mortgage complaint explains official public routes. It does not accept a complaint file for USMI to investigate. A provider claim-profile workflow is not currently available, and there is no separate report-a-problem form that stores a message.

Ask USMI

Ask USMI is a source-backed conversational interface for USMI's published lender data, public records, mortgage education, methodology, sources, calculators, and related information.

For lender and public-record questions, Ask USMI is designed to retrieve relevant USMI information and source material before an AI model composes the response. Your question is sent to the USMI server. The server uses it to search published records. The resulting evidence is limited to information the public site already publishes.

When AI composition is enabled, your Ask USMI question and limited relevant context needed to generate the answer may be transmitted to USMI's AI service provider, OpenAI, through its API. That context can include retrieved public-record facts, source names, and structured calculator or page context needed for the answer.

USMI does not currently maintain a dedicated database of Ask USMI conversation transcripts. The response is returned to your browser for that visit. USMI does not write the question into an Ask transcript table.

Operational systems may still process technical information needed for security, reliability, troubleshooting, and service operation. Ask application logs record operational details such as an error category, a capability identifier, and model usage counts. They are not a conversation transcript. The hosting provider receives the request that contains the question so the server can answer it.

A refinance-planning session can be kept in your browser's session storage for the open tab. That storage holds structured fields such as a balance, rate, term, or payment for the planning example. It is not a transcript of the conversation, it is not local storage, and it is removed when the tab closes or when you clear the session.

Do not submit Social Security numbers, account numbers, passwords, full borrower documents, or other sensitive personal information. Do not submit authentication credentials.

OpenAI's API data controls documentation (opens in a new tab) states that data sent to the OpenAI API is not used to train or improve OpenAI models unless the API customer explicitly opts in. The same documentation states that default abuse-monitoring logs may contain prompt and response content and may be retained for up to 30 days, subject to applicable exceptions, settings, agreements, and legal requirements. USMI does not control OpenAI's independent retention decisions.

Ask USMI can make mistakes. Its responses are informational and should be checked against cited sources when a decision depends on accuracy. Ask USMI does not provide legal advice, personalized financial advice, licensing determinations, or lender approval.

Technical and usage information

The site is hosted by Vercel. A request to the website can include the IP address, browser and device information the browser sends, the page requested, the time of the request, and a referring address when the browser provides one. USMI uses that infrastructure to deliver, secure, and troubleshoot the site.

The public website does not use advertising pixels or analytics cookies. The published-data connection can read and set a cookie required by the database client. That cookie is not an advertising or analytics cookie.

Ask USMI does not store questions in local storage. Calculator pages keep the example you are working on in the page session. They do not send that example to a lender.

Public-record information

USMI publishes and organizes information derived from public and official sources concerning banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, mortgage-market activity, complaints, examinations, regulatory records, and related subjects.

USMI lender profiles are USMI profiles compiled from official or public records. They are not official agency profiles.

If you believe published information is incorrect, use the correction process. A request is reviewed against the relevant official or public source. Payment does not change a factual public-source record.

How USMI uses information

USMI uses information for these purposes:

• Operating the website and published research tools
• Responding to questions and retrieving USMI information
• Generating an AI-assisted answer when that composition is enabled
• Securing the service and debugging failures
• Reviewing correction requests
• Complying with law

USMI does not use Ask questions to determine mortgage eligibility, approve or deny credit, rank lenders for the user, or make lending decisions.

Service providers

These providers process information for the public website:

• Vercel hosts the website and receives the HTTP requests required to deliver pages and submit questions.
• Supabase stores the published research records the site reads. It also stores correction requests, including the email address and description you submit. Ask USMI questions are not written to a transcript database there.
• OpenAI receives an Ask USMI question and limited relevant context through its API when AI composition is enabled, in order to compose the response.

Provider access is limited to the role described above.

Sale and advertising

USMI does not sell personal information submitted through Ask USMI to lenders.

USMI does not provide Ask USMI conversations to advertisers for targeted advertising.

The public site does not run advertising cookies or advertising pixels.

Data retention

USMI does not currently maintain a dedicated database of Ask USMI transcripts.

Other information, including correction requests and operational logs, is retained only as reasonably necessary for operational, security, support, legal, and correction purposes. USMI has not published a fixed deletion period for those records.

Service-provider retention is governed by applicable settings, agreements, and provider policies. OpenAI's current API documentation describes the default abuse-monitoring period noted above.

Security

USMI uses reasonable technical and administrative safeguards designed to protect information the site processes. No website can guarantee perfect security, and USMI does not guarantee that transmission or storage will be uninterrupted or error-free.

Privacy rights

Depending on where you live, and subject to applicable law, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, or a copy of certain personal information, or to object to or limit certain processing.

Send a request to admin@usmortgageindex.com. Use the subject Privacy Request. USMI may ask for enough information to find the request and confirm that it relates to you. USMI does not require you to send a Social Security number, a government identification document, or account credentials with the request.

Third-party websites

Links to regulators, licensing systems, source databases, and other external websites leave USMI. Those services maintain their own privacy practices. USMI is not responsible for their content or their handling of information.

Some pages display a Mortgage News Daily rate widget. Your browser loads that widget from Mortgage News Daily. That company has its own privacy practices. USMI does not control the widget and does not send Ask USMI questions to it.

International processing

USMI is a U.S.-focused platform operated by US Mortgage Index LLC. Hosting, database, and AI service providers may process information in the United States or in other jurisdictions according to their applicable agreements and legal requirements.

Children's privacy

USMI's mortgage research platform is not designed for children under 13.

If a parent or guardian believes a child submitted personal information, contact admin@usmortgageindex.com so USMI can review the request.

Changes

USMI may update this policy. When it does, the Last updated date on this page will change. The effective date above is the date this version took effect.

Contact

US Mortgage Index LLC

Contact address

admin@usmortgageindex.com

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