Owner and scope
Beyond the Credit Score, at beyondthecreditscore.com, is owned and operated by Jeffrey D. Benson. In this Privacy Policy, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Jeffrey D. Benson operating Beyond the Credit Score.
This policy explains how information is handled in connection with our website, general inquiries, and email mailing list. The website provides educational information about credit, consumer rights, identity theft, homeownership, retirement income, and related financial topics.
Credit-service inquiries are handled through Credit Rescue Inc. Other financial and insurance inquiries may be directed to The Benson Agency Group. Separately provided services may be subject to additional privacy notices, disclosures, and agreements from the business providing them. This policy does not describe the practices of every business linked from the website.
Contact-form spam prevention
Our contact form uses Google reCAPTCHA to help distinguish human visitors from automated submissions. When the contact page loads, reCAPTCHA connects to Google and may process technical and interaction information, such as IP address, browser information, cookies, and activity used for security checks. The form sends a verification token to our website’s server, which checks it with Google before accepting a consultation request. Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. We do not specify a separate Google retention period because we have not verified one for this integration. You may choose not to use the form and contact us by phone instead.
Information you provide
Our Contact Us form requests your full name, email address, telephone number, preferred contact method, and a message. We also receive information you voluntarily provide when corresponding with us.
The general contact form is for an initial inquiry. Please do not include Social Security numbers, passwords, complete bank or payment-card numbers, credit reports, identity documents, or other sensitive financial records. If documents are needed for a separate service, request appropriate instructions from the service provider.
Website hosting, technical information, and cookies
The website is hosted through OpenAI Sites and delivered through Cloudflare infrastructure. Serving a page involves processing network and request information, such as the requested address and technical information accompanying the request.
Cloudflare uses the __cf_bm security cookie to help distinguish legitimate traffic from automated traffic. Cloudflare documents that this cookie expires after 30 minutes of continuous inactivity. That cookie expiry is not a statement about how long hosting providers retain server logs or security records.
You may clear or restrict cookies in your browser settings. Restricting security cookies may affect website access or verification. We do not currently provide a separate cookie-preferences panel.
Our current website configuration does not include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, or Meta Pixel. Embedded YouTube video players are described below. This statement concerns the website integrations we configure; it is not a promise that hosting providers perform no technical logging or security processing.
Website engagement measurement and sharing
We keep private aggregate counts of observed page views, clicks toward Contact Us and free guides, sharing actions, and starts and completed playback of website-hosted videos. The counters store a calendar date, a known public page path, an action category, a coarse source label (such as Facebook or Google), and a count. They do not store names, email addresses, form contents, full referring URLs, query strings, IP addresses, or visitor identifiers. Hosting and security processing described above still applies.
A temporary browser-session record holds only the coarse traffic-source label and its time, so moving from an article to a guide can preserve the source for up to 30 minutes. We skip these engagement counters when the browser signals Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control. Aggregate counts are kept in the restricted website database in a rolling 90-day window; older counts are removed when new activity is recorded. Counts are approximate, may include automated activity, and do not identify unique visitors or prove that a share was published, an inquiry was accepted, or a sale occurred. Embedded YouTube playback is not counted by these website counters.
Sharing buttons open Facebook or LinkedIn only when clicked. Copy link and supported device sharing use browser features. Facebook and LinkedIn share links include generic source and campaign labels. We do not load their advertising pixels or sharing widgets. Each platform handles information under its own privacy policy after you choose to use it.
Contact-form processing and HubSpot
The Contact Us form sends your name, email address, telephone number, preferred contact method, message, and a request identifier to our website’s server. We validate the submission and security check before accepting it. Recognizable sensitive-number patterns may be removed from the message, but this safeguard cannot identify every kind of sensitive information. Do not submit sensitive records through this form.
Accepted inquiries are stored in a restricted website database so they can be processed and processing problems can be reviewed. We use HubSpot as our customer relationship management (CRM) service: we create or update a contact using your email address and save the inquiry as an associated note. The record may include your name, email address, phone number, preferred contact method, message, submission time, and website inquiry source. A later inquiry using the same email address may update the existing contact.
We also send an internal notification email to jeff@thebensonagencygrp.com through Google Apps Script and Google’s email service. That notification contains the inquiry details needed to respond. Temporary processing records include delivery and CRM synchronization status and identifiers so failed processing can be reviewed or retried. Acceptance of a request does not guarantee immediate CRM synchronization or email delivery.
We use this information to respond to your inquiry using your selected contact method and manage related correspondence. Credit-service inquiries may be handled by Credit Rescue Inc.; other financial or insurance inquiries may be handled by The Benson Agency Group. Our service providers process information for these purposes. We will explain any referral or transfer of your inquiry to a separate business before forwarding it.
Submitting Contact Us does not subscribe you to marketing emails, and recording an inquiry in HubSpot does not itself grant marketing permission. The separate opt-in process for free-guide updates is described below.
Free financial guides
Guide requests collect your first name and email address so we can record the request, provide the download, and send the requested guide email. Receiving a guide does not require marketing consent. The separate marketing checkbox is optional and unchecked by default.
Guide records are held in a restricted Google Workspace spreadsheet accessed by authorized staff and our Google Apps Script processor. We record the requested guide, request date, marketing choice, consent wording version, timestamp and source, subscription status, and delivery status. Interests are categorized from the guide requested; an interest category does not authorize marketing.
Only people who separately opt in are eligible for the educational marketing sequence. Marketing messages identify the sender and contain an unsubscribe link. Confirming an unsubscribe stops future marketing sends; a new guide request alone does not override an earlier unsubscribe.
For guide reporting, we record coarse social-source labels and campaign tags, guide requests, observed page visits and download clicks. These counts are approximate and do not prove unique visitors, inbox delivery, or that a file was saved. We do not add advertising pixels, email-open tracking, or cross-site profiling for this guide system. A temporary browser-session receipt contains only the request status, source label and time; it contains no name or email address.
The guide form uses the Google reCAPTCHA security processing described above. We do not sell guide-request information. We use it for the request, separately authorized updates, subscription management and limited reporting, retain it only as needed for those purposes, and keep a limited suppression record to honor opt-outs. Contact jeff@thebensonagencygrp.com for access, correction, deletion, or privacy questions.
Marketing choices and unsubscribe
Submitting the Contact Us form does not subscribe your email address to the Beyond the Credit Score mailing list. Requesting an inquiry response or being recorded as a CRM contact is separate from agreeing to receive marketing. Educational follow-up emails for free-guide requests require the separate optional marketing opt-in.
You may unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions in an email or by sending an unsubscribe request to jeff@thebensonagencygrp.com. We will honor marketing-email opt-out requests within 10 business days and will not charge a fee to unsubscribe.
An unsubscribe request does not prevent delivery of a guide you requested, a response to an inquiry you initiated, or communications necessary for a separate service relationship. A new consultation inquiry does not itself change an earlier marketing opt-out.
Providing your phone number or selecting phone or text as your preferred response method requests a response to your inquiry. It does not, by itself, authorize unrelated promotional text messages or automated marketing calls. Any such marketing program requires its own applicable disclosures and consent process.
Sale and disclosure of information
We do not sell your personal information.
Information may be handled by OpenAI Sites and Cloudflare for website hosting and inquiry processing, HubSpot for CRM records, and Google for security checks, notification emails, and the free-guide system. These providers support the purposes described in this policy. These operational purposes are different from selling your information.
We may disclose information when required by applicable law or valid legal process. Any additional use or sharing practice must be accurately disclosed before it is adopted.
Retention and security
We retain information only as needed to handle inquiries, maintain an ongoing relationship, administer mailing preferences, keep necessary business records, and satisfy applicable legal obligations. The appropriate retention period depends on the record and its purpose.
Temporary website processing records are separate from CRM contacts, inquiry notes, email correspondence, and free-guide records. Completed processing records may be removed through periodic cleanup; unresolved processing records may remain while we investigate or retry delivery. Removing a temporary website record does not automatically remove its corresponding HubSpot record or notification email. Contact us to request review of records held across these systems.
We may keep a limited record of your marketing opt-out to help prevent future unwanted marketing. Records held by service providers may also be subject to their retention and backup practices.
We use reasonable safeguards appropriate to the information we handle. No website, email service, or storage system can guarantee complete security. Avoid sending sensitive documents through the general contact form.
Your choices and privacy requests
You may choose not to submit the form. You may request a correction to your contact details, stop marketing emails, or ask about access to or deletion of information by contacting jeff@thebensonagencygrp.com.
We may need to verify that a request comes from the person concerned. We will handle requests as required by applicable law. Some records may need to be retained for legal obligations, necessary business purposes, or marketing suppression.
Additional rights may apply depending on your location and the laws applicable to the business. This policy does not limit rights that cannot lawfully be limited.
Children
Our contact form and business-service inquiries are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, contact us so we can review and address it.
Educational material may be useful to younger readers, but reading an article does not require submitting personal information.
Videos and external websites
Some videos are served from our website. Others use an embedded YouTube player. The current YouTube embed uses the youtube-nocookie.com privacy-enhanced domain. Loading or using an embedded player involves connections to Google or YouTube, which may process technical and interaction information such as your IP address, browser information, and playback activity. Privacy-enhanced mode does not mean that no information is processed. Google’s Privacy Policy and YouTube Terms of Service apply.
Our website also links to educational resources, Credit Rescue, healthcare-membership information, social profiles, and our YouTube channel. Following an external link takes you to a service governed by its own terms and privacy practices. Review the destination’s privacy policy before providing personal information there.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as our practices or applicable requirements change. The effective date shown with the posted policy identifies its current version. We will provide additional notice or obtain consent when required by law.
Contact
Website owner and operator: Jeffrey D. Benson
Website: beyondthecreditscore.com
Privacy and website questions: jeff@thebensonagencygrp.com
The Benson Agency Group: 505-301-4940
Credit-service questions:
Credit Rescue Inc.
2601 Wyoming Blvd NE, Suite 117
Albuquerque, NM 87112
505-899-1448
Credit Rescue’s address is provided for credit-service inquiries; it is not identified here as Jeffrey D. Benson’s or The Benson Agency Group’s mailing address.