PlainLender

Privacy Policy

Information We Collect

PlainLender applies the same rigor to protecting visitor privacy as it does to analyzing mortgage lending patterns. We use Umami for analytics, a cookie-free, privacy-focused platform that never records personal identifiers. All traffic data is anonymized and aggregated.

Cookies & Tracking Technologies

PlainLender does not set first-party cookies. However, third-party services used on this site may set cookies:

  • Google AdSense uses cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites. Google's DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your browsing patterns.
  • Cloudflare may set security cookies (e.g., __cf_bm) to distinguish humans from bots.
  • Google Analytics (GA4) uses cookies to measure website traffic and usage patterns. Data is processed by Google in accordance with their privacy policy.

Your browser's light/dark theme preference is stored in localStorage, which never leaves your device.

Advertising

We display advertisements through Google AdSense. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites. This includes:

  • Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie for ad serving
  • Third-party vendors and ad networks serving ads on this site

You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of third-party vendor cookies at aboutads.info. For a full list of Google's ad technology providers, visit Google's ad technology providers page.

Data Sources

All data displayed on this site comes from publicly available mortgage lending data from the CFPB Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) dataset. No private or proprietary data is used. No personally identifiable information from these datasets is stored or displayed.

Editorial Independence

Content on PlainLender is compiled by our editorial team: raw data from the CFPB Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Snapshot dataset and the FFIEC Transmittal Sheet / Panel files is transformed into readable lender, county, metro, and state profiles by our continuous editorial pipeline, validated against the source before publication. The PlainLender editorial team is responsible for editorial standards and corrections.

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from mortgage lenders, banks, credit unions, brokers, real-estate firms, or any other covered entity or advertiser of mortgage products. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense, advertisers do not influence which lenders or geographies we cover, how we present HMDA data, or the ranking and denial-rate figures shown on any page.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

Your Rights

Under GDPR, CCPA, and similar privacy regulations, you have the right to:

  • Know what data is collected about you
  • Request deletion of your data
  • Opt out of personalized advertising (see Advertising section above)
  • Use browser privacy features or ad blockers to limit tracking

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), you may be presented with a consent dialog for personalized advertising in compliance with GDPR. California residents may opt out of the sale of personal information under CCPA.

Children's Privacy

PlainLender does not knowingly collect information from children under 13.

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date.

Contact

Questions about this privacy policy can be directed to privacy@plainlender.com.