Content Policy

What may not be published

Customers agree not to publish, and we will remove, content that:

1. Is unlawful, or promotes or facilitates unlawful activity.
2. Defames an identifiable person or business, or states as fact something the publisher knows or should know to be false and harmful.
3. Harasses, threatens, or incites violence against any person or group.
4. Attacks or demeans people on the basis of race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, disability, or any other characteristic protected under the Fair Housing Act or applicable law — including any statement that indicates a preference, limitation or discrimination in the provision of housing finance.
5. Is sexually explicit, gratuitously violent, or otherwise inappropriate to a professional financial services setting.
6. Misrepresents licensing, credentials, regulatory status, or the terms or availability of credit — including rate, payment or approval claims that are not accurate and properly disclosed.
7. Impersonates a person or organisation, or uses another party's name, likeness, logo or trademark without the right to do so.
8. Infringes a third party's intellectual property rights.
9. Discloses personal information about an identifiable individual without a lawful basis, or publishes sensitive personal information of any kind.
10. Contains malicious code, or is designed to deceive a visitor into disclosing credentials or making a payment.

Item 4 carries more weight here than it would on a general-purpose platform. These are mortgage sites, and the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act govern what may be said on them. Advertising content that would violate either is removed, and we do not require a complainant to establish harm first.

We do not review content before it is published

Offices and loan originators publish directly. We do not read pages in advance, and this policy does not promise that we will. Review is reactive: it begins when somebody reports something, or when we notice it ourselves.

That is stated plainly because the alternative — implying a moderation capability we do not have — would mislead the people who rely on this page. What we do commit to is acting quickly once we know.

How to report content

Email support@branchpage.com. It is a monitored queue, not a personal mailbox, and it is the single channel for these reports.

Tell us the direct URL of the page, what the problem is, and — if the content concerns you personally or a business you represent — who you are and how you are affected. A report we cannot locate from its own description is one we may have to come back to you about, which costs time.

You do not need to be the affected party, a customer, or a lawyer. Anonymous reports are reviewed on the same criteria; we simply cannot tell you the outcome.

What we do, and when

Acknowledgement within one business day. You get a reply confirming we have the report and opening a ticket for it.

Review within three business days of acknowledgement, against the criteria in the first section. Where the content is alleged to be unlawful, or the assessment turns on a question of law, we take legal advice before deciding, and we tell you that the review is continuing rather than let the date pass in silence.

Immediate action, ahead of full review, where content appears to present a risk of imminent harm — a credible threat, a phishing page, malicious code, or an apparent Fair Housing or ECOA violation on a live advertisement. In those cases we unpublish first and complete the review afterwards.

Where we act, we do the narrowest thing that resolves the issue:

— edit or remove the specific content;
— unpublish the page while the customer corrects it;
— suspend the account, where the content is severe or the customer will not act;
— terminate the account, for repeated or deliberate breach.

We notify the customer whose account published the material of any action we take, and what they must do to restore it. We tell the reporter the outcome where we have their contact details, though we do not disclose what we discussed with the customer.

If you think we got it wrong

A customer whose content was removed may reply to the notice with their reasoning; a person whose report was declined may reply to ours. Either way the matter is reviewed by the Company's principal, who did not make the original decision where that is possible, and the second decision is final as a matter of this policy. Nothing here limits any legal right you have.

Records

Every report is recorded with the date received, the URL, what was alleged, what we decided and why, the action taken, and the dates of each. Records are retained for at least two years. They are how a pattern across a single account becomes visible, and how we can answer for a decision later.

Changes

We review this policy at least annually and update it when the service or the law changes. The date at the top of this page is the last revision.