PulteGroup, Inc. Privacy Policy

Last Updated: December 27, 2022

Your privacy is important to us at PulteGroup, Inc. (“American West,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), and we are committed to safeguarding, preserving, and respecting your privacy rights.  This online privacy statement (the “Statement” or “Policy”) describes how we collect, use, disclose, and the security of the personal information we gather about you through our websites, https://www.americanwesthomes.com, in person, or when you otherwise interact with our business (collectively, the “Services”). Please note that this policy does not apply to the practices of Pulte Mortgage LLC. For a copy of the Pulte Mortgage privacy policy, please click here.

For purposes of this Statement, personal information means data that is classified as personal information, personal data, personally identifiable information, or similar terms under applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations.  It does not include data excluded or exempted from those laws and regulations, such as deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated data.  Nothing in this Statement will constitute an admission or evidence that any particular data privacy or information security law or regulation applies to American West generally or in any specific context.

You Consent to This Statement

You should read this Statement carefully.  We recommend printing and retaining a copy for your future reference.  By accessing, browsing, or otherwise using the Services, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed with this Statement.  If you do not agree to this Statement, you may not use the Services.

This Statement applies regardless of how the Services are accessed and will cover any technologies or devices by which we make the Services available to you.

We may provide you with additional privacy notices and terms where we believe it is appropriate to do so.  It is important that you read this Statement together with any other privacy notice or terms we may provide on specific occasions, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Statement supplements these other notices and is not intended to override them.

If you have any questions or concerns about our personal information policies or practices, you can contact us in the methods described in the “Contact Us” section below.

 

The Information We Collect

We collect the information you voluntarily provide directly to us, such as when you complete a form or submit information to us.  We also collect information automatically when you interact with our Services, for example, through our use of cookies and related tracking technologies. 

 

Information You Provide

  • Completing Forms on Our Website.  If you request to receive information or fill out any forms on our Website, we may ask you to provide information such as your name and email address.
  • Using Our Services.  If you use our Services, we will ask you to provide certain personal information.  The information may depend on the Service requested, but it may include your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, government identification, employment information, location information, housing interests and preferences, and payment information.
  • Social Media.  If you interact with our Services through social media, we may collect information that you post.  Please note that your comments and information will be visible to the public, so you should never share personal information that you would like to keep private.
  • When You Contact Us.  If you send us an email or otherwise contact us, we will collect your email address, any information you provide regarding your employment and industry, any information you provide about your location and the projects you are pursuing, and any information that you provide in the communication.
  • When You Contact or Interact with us for a Business purpose. If you contact or otherwise interact with us in a professional capacity, such as a potential service provider or business partner, we will collect and process your identifying information as well as any additional information you provide to us through your communications.
  • Job Applications and Employment.  If you apply for a job with or are employed or contracted by us, we will collect various pieces of information about you to administer the employment relationship, provide benefits, and ensure security.  Such information will vary depending on your role, but it would likely include name, social security number, educational information, and financial account information.  If you are a current employee or contractor, please see our separate Employee Privacy Notice.

 

Information That We Collect About You from Other Sources

  • We may also receive Personal Information from other sources and combine it with Personal Information we collect from you. For example, we may obtain information about you from commercially available sources such as data aggregators and public databases. This information may include your name, demographic information, interests and publicly-observed data (such as from social media and shopping behavior).
  • You may also give us permission to access certain Personal Information maintained by other service providers. For example, you may link your Facebook or Gmail account to PulteGroup, which allows us to obtain information from those accounts (such as your friends or contacts). The Personal Information we obtain from these services often depends on your settings or the applicable provider's privacy policies, so please check these policies before granting us access. If you give us permission to access this information, we will use it for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
  • Finally, we may verify your identity using third party service providers with your consent. In these cases, your information may be collected by the third party vendor and subject to their privacy policies, which will be made readily available to you at the time of collection.

 

Information We Collect as You Navigate Our Site 

  • We automatically collect certain information as you use the Services, such as the following:
  • Usage Information.  We may collect information automatically through your use of the Services, such as which of the pages on the Services you access, the frequency of access, and how long you use our Services. We may also collect user browsing behavior and other information regarding your interactions with our website, including online activities over time and across third-party websites or services. We may also collect information through session replay tools that allow us to understand how your interact with our Services. This information may be shared with our service providers pursuant to this policy. 
  • Device Information.  We may collect information about the device you are using, such as hardware model, operating system, application version number, browser, and IP addresses.
  • Mobile Device Information.  When you access our Services via a browser on your mobile device, we may also collect mobile network information, including telephone number, the unique device identifier assigned to that device, mobile carrier, operating system, and other device attributes.

 

How Do We Use “Cookies” and Other Tracking Technologies? 

We may send one or more Cookies to your computer or other device.  We may also use other similar technologies such as tracking pixels, tags, or similar tools when you visit our Services.

Cookies are small files created by websites, including our Services, that reside on your computers hard drive and that store information about your use of a particular website.  When you access our Services, we use Cookies and other tracking technologies to: 

  • Estimate our audience size and usage patterns;
  • Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Services according to your individual needs;
  • Contact you to provide you with information or services that you request from us;
  • Advertise new content, events, and services that relate to your interests;
  • Provide you with more personalized content that is most relevant to your interest areas; and
  • Recognize when you return to our Services.
  • You can manage your Cookies preference as described in the “Managing Your Cookies” section below.
  • We do not use any cookies, pixels, or other tracking that discloses to any third party information that identifies a person as having viewed specific video materials.

 

1. How Long Do Cookies Stay on My Device?

  • Some Cookies operate from the time you visit the Services until the end of that particular browsing session.  These Cookies, which are called “Session Cookies,” expire and are automatically deleted when you close your Internet browser.
  • Some Cookies will stay on your device between browsing sessions and will not expire or automatically delete when you close your Internet browser.  These Cookies are called “Persistent Cookies” and the length of time they will remain on your device will vary from Cookie to Cookie.  Persistent Cookies are used for a number of purposes, such as storing your preferences so that they are available for your next visit and to keep a more accurate account of how often you visit the Services, how your use of the Services may change over time, and the effectiveness of advertising efforts.

 

2.  Managing Your Cookies

  • It may be possible to block Cookies by changing your Internet browser settings to refuse all or some Cookies.  If you choose to block all Cookies (including Essential Cookies), you may not be able to access all or parts of the Services.

 

3. Does the Site Respond to “Do Not Track” Signals?

  • At this time, our Site does not respond differently based on a users Do Not Track signal.

 

How We Use Personal Information

We use your Personal Information in the following ways: 

  1. To help you complete your purchase. We use your Personal Information to complete the sale of your home as well as provide you with the services you request. We may also share your Personal Information with our service providers who help you complete aspects of your purchase such as a third party design center to help you select your home options.
  2. To respond to your requests. For example, we may use your Personal Information to process your employment application or respond to your questions or inquiries.
  3. To improve our products and services and for related business purposes. For example, we use your Personal Information to help us understand you. We use your Personal Information to initiative a new homeowner survey. We also use your Personal Information to analyze how this website is used. We also use this information to make website improvements. We also may use this information to customize your browsing experience. We may do these activities using the tracking technologies described here. We also use this information for debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
  4. For security purposes. We may need to use Personal Information to protect our website and our users and the rights or interest of others. We may also use Personal Information to protect our company or our affiliates.
  5. To promote PulteGroup and our related companies. For example, we use your Personal Information to send you marketing materials. We may also use your Personal Information to notify you of new products or features.
  6. To send you transactional communications. For example, we use your Personal Information to notify you about your account. We may also send you other information about our relationship with you.
  7. To send you offers and promotions for our products and services. We use your Personal Information to inform you about our products or services that may be of interest to you. To stop receiving our promotional emails, send an opt-out request to compliance@pultegroup.com.
  8. To maintain or establish a business relationship with you. We may use information you provide to us in a professional capacity as necessary to maintain a business-to-business relationship with you.
  9. To comply with law. We may use your information to respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
  10. As described to you when collecting your Personal Information or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy.

 

Third Party Processing

We use a third-party payment processor, Stripe, to process payments made to us. In connection with the processing of such payments, we do not collect, store, or process any Personal Information or any financial information, such as credit card numbers. Rather, all such information is provided directly to Stripe, whose use of your personal information is governed by Stripe’s privacy policy. You agree to your Personal Information being transferred, stored, and processed by Stripe in accordance with Stripe’s privacy policy. The Stripe privacy policy may be viewed at https://stripe.com/us/privacy.

 

How We Share Personal Information

With Your Consent: 

The Services were created in order to give you control over your personal information.  In the course of using our Services or Site, you may consent to the sharing of your personal information with various third parties.  Where we rely on your consent to share your personal information, we will disclose the categories of data and third-party recipients at the time of obtaining your consent.

 

Access and use by third-party service providers: 

From time to time, American West enters into arrangements with companies whose expertise is essential for our Services to function properly.  We disclose to these service providers only such personal information as is reasonably necessary to perform these functions, and any such third parties will be under an obligation to us to maintain the confidentiality of your personal information.   This may include information used to provide our services, process payments, or provide analytics and support for our systems. This may also include service providers who help us maintain or analyze our communications services.  By using our communications services, you agree and acknowledge that we may disclose this information to our service providers for the purpose of providing the requested service. For more information, please see the Notice to California Residents section, below.

 

For legal purposes: 

American West reserves the right to cooperate with local, provincial, state, federal and international officials in any investigation requiring either personal information or reports about lawful of unlawful user activity on this site.  We also reserve the right to share your personal information to establish, exercise, or defend our legal and property rights, including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention.  We may also share your personal information with any person who we reasonably believe may apply to a court or other competent authority for disclosure of that personal information where, in our reasonable opinion, such court or authority would be reasonably likely to order disclosure of that personal information.

If American West is ordered by a legal process or government to provide data about one or more individual users, we will notify those users of our compliance with that order, to the extent permitted by law.

 

Business transactions or mergers: 

American West reserves the right to share your personal information to third parties as part of any potential business or asset sale, merger, acquisition, investment, round of funding, or similar type of transaction.

 

Bankruptcy or insolvency:

In the event of bankruptcy, insolvency, or dissolution proceedings, we may share your personal information with third parties as part of the sale or reorganization process.

 

Advertising and Marketing Choice

We respect your rights in how your personal information is used and shared.  If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at compliance@pultegroup.com or follow the instructions at the bottom of each email and we will promptly remove you from all correspondence.  Please note, however, that there may be some categories of email from which you cannot opt-out and we may still need to contact you regarding other matters.

 

Notice to California Residents

California residents are entitled to certain rights and disclosures under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA”). For information regarding the rights available to California residents, please see the California and Virginia Privacy Rights section, below.

 

(a)What Information Do We Collect?

In the past 12 months, we have collected the following categories of information regarding California Consumers.

Category1 Examples Purpose of Collection
A. Identifiers A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers. To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; to Provide Support, to Troubleshoot Issues, and Manage Accounts; to Communicate with You; to advertise opportunities, services, or special events; and to Enforce our Terms, Agreements, or Policies.
B. Personal Information

A name, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information.

 

Some Personal Information included in this category may overlap with other categories.

To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; to Provide Support, to Troubleshoot Issues, and Manage Accounts; to Communicate with You; to advertise opportunities, services, or special events; and to Enforce our Terms, Agreements, or Policies.
C. Protected Classification Characteristics Under California or Federal Law Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information).
Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; and to Enforce our Terms, Agreements, or Policies.

D. Commercial Information

Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.

To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; to Provide Support, to Troubleshoot Issues, and Manage Accounts; to Communicate with You; to advertise opportunities, services, or special events; and to Enforce our Terms, Agreements, or Policies.

F. Internet or Other Similar Network Activity

Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.

To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; to Provide Support, to Troubleshoot Issues, and Manage Accounts; and to advertise opportunities, services, or special events.

G. Geolocation Data

Physical location or movements.

To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; and to advertise opportunities, services, or special events.

I. Professional or Employment-Related Information


Current or past job history or performance evaluations. To Process Employment Applications and Related Requests.

K. Inferences Drawn of the Consumer

Inferences drawn from Personal Information identified above to create a profile about a consumer reflecting a consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.

To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; and to advertise opportunities, services, or special events.
L. Sensitive Personal Information
Information revealing a government identification number; account log-in, credit, or debit card information in combination with any required security or access code, and precise geolocation information.
To Provide Our Services; to Better Understand our Users; and to advertise opportunities, services, or special events.

 

 We do not knowingly collect, process, sell, or share the personal information of consumers under 18 years of age.

We do not process sensitive personal information, as defined under the CCPA, for purposes other than those specifically authorized in Section 7027 of the CCPA regulations.

 

Sources from Which Personal Information Is Collected

We collect your personal information directly from you, from your interaction with our Site or Services, from publicly available sources, and from third parties, which collect the personal information directly from you. For more information, please see the “Information We Collect” section, above.

Parties to whom Personal Information is Sold, Shared, or otherwise Disclosed

In the preceding 12 months, we have sold, shared, or otherwise disclosed the following Personal Information about California residents for business purposes:

  • We disclose personal information in categories A (identifiers), B (personal), C (protected class), D (commercial), F (internet), G (geolocation), and K (inferences) with service providers for the purposes of providing our Services, enhancing online experiences, and customizing marketing. These service providers are restricted from using your information for purposes other than those specifically specified by us.
  • We allow analytics and marketing providers to use personal information in categories A (identifiers), B (personal information), F (internet), G (geolocation) and K (inferences) to enhance online experiences and customize advertising. These disclosures may constitute the sale or sharing of personal information under California law.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties for money.  But, the use of certain analytical and tracking tools may constitute the sale or sharing of information under the CCPA.  In the preceding 12 months, we used marketing or analytical tools that may constitute a sale or sharing of the following categories of information:

A (identifiers), B (personal), C (protected class), D (commercial), G (geolocation), and K (Inferences). The recipients of this information are providers of marketing and analytics services. You may learn more about your right to opt-out of the use of this data for targeted advertising and the sale or sharing of this data, below.

 

Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary for fulfilling the processing purposes identified in this Policy. Generally, we retain your information for as long as we have a relationship with you and, after our relationship with you has ended, if there is an ongoing business need to retain it. This includes retention to comply with our legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and/or billing and collection obligations, to resolve disputes, enforce our policies and establish, exercise and defend our rights and any claims.

We will delete your personal information when it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or upon your request, subject to exceptions as discussed in this policy or under applicable law, contract, or regulation.

 

California and Virginia Privacy Rights

Residents of California and Virginia (“Covered Consumers”) are entitled to specific rights regarding the processing of their personal information under the CCPA and Virginia Data Privacy Act, respectively.  This section explains these rights and provides a description of how Covered Consumers may exercise them.

 

Right to Know About Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, Shared, or Sold

Covered Consumers have the right to know whether we are processing their personal information and to request that we disclose their personal information we collect, use, and disclose to third parties.  There are two types of Rights to Know requests that you can make:

1. Right to Know (Abbreviated Request):  If you make a Right to Know (Abbreviated Request), you will receive the following information about you:

  1. Categories of personal information collected, sold, or shared;
  2. Categories of sources from which personal information is collected;
  3. Categories of third parties to whom the information is sold, shared or disclosed;
  4. Business or commercial purpose for collecting, sharing, or selling personal information;
  5. Categories of personal information disclosed for a business purpose and categories of persons to whom it was disclosed for a business purpose.

 

2. Right to Know (Specific Pieces of Information Request):  If you make a Right to Know (Specific Pieces of Information Request), you will receive the following information about you:

  1. Specific pieces of personal information collected about you.

 

We will provide this information to you free of charge, unless we determine that your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.  You may request this information twice in a 12-month period.

We will provide this information to you in a portable, and to the extent technically feasible, readily usable format that allows you to transmit the data without hindrance.

There are certain exceptions to a consumer’s Right to Know.  We will state in our response if an exception applies.

 

Right of Deletion

Covered Consumers have the right to request that we and our service providers delete any personal information about you which we have collected from you upon receipt of a verifiable request.  This right is subject to certain exceptions.  We will state in our response if an exception applies.

 

Right of Correction

Covered Consumers have the right to request that we correct inaccuracies in any personal information that we collect or process about them upon receipt of a verifiable request. When submitting a correction request, we request that you provide all of the information reasonably necessary to confirm that the accuracy of the correction request.  This right is subject to certain exceptions.  We will state in our response if an exception applies.

 

Right to Opt-Out of Targeted Advertising and the Sale or Sharing of Personal Information

Covered Consumers have the right to tell us not to disclose or transfer their Personal Information to a third party in exchange for something of value or for certain third party marketing purposes.  This is referred to as the right to “opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information” or the “do not sell my information” right.  It also allows you to opt out from our processing of your personal data for targeted advertising purposes.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties for money.  However, we use certain third party analytical cookies or other technologies that may be considered “sales” or “sharing” of data under applicable laws.  For more information, and to exercise your right to opt out, please visit our Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information page, which can be found in the footer of each page of our Websites or by clicking here.

Please note that opt-out choices may be stored via cookies.  If you clear cookies, if your browser blocks cookies, or if you view the page from a different browser or device, your opt-out choice may no longer be logged or recognized.

 

Right to Limit the Processing of Sensitive Personal Information

We will only collect and process your sensitive personal information with your consent. Residents of California have the right to request that we limit the processing of their sensitive personal information to only those purposes specifically authorized under California law. At this time, we only process your sensitive personal information for purposes specifically authorized by California law.

 

Right to Opt-Out of Automated Profiling

Covered Consumers have the right to opt out of the automated processing of personal data for the purposes of profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. At this time, we do not process your personal information in this manner.

 

Right to Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights, including, but not limited to, by: denying goods or services to you; charging different prices or rates for goods or services, including through the use of discounts or other benefits or imposing penalties; providing a different level of quality of goods or services to you; or suggesting that you will receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.  We will also not retaliate against any employee, applicant for employment, or independent contractor for exercising their rights under the CCPA.

 

Submitting Requests

Covered Consumers can submit an opt-out request through the mechanisms identified in the applicable section above.  You may submit all other request under this section by calling us at 800-664-2889.  You may also submit a request via email at compliance@pultegroup.com.

We will respond to these consumer requests, if applicable, within 45 days of receipt of the request and without undue delay.  If we need to extend this period, we will notify you of the delay and explain the reasonably necessary justifications for our delay. 

We will provide responses to your requests free of charge unless certain exclusions apply, depending on the state in which you reside.

 

Verifying Requests

When we receive a request through one of the means described above, we must verify that the person requesting information or deletion is the Covered Consumer about whom the request relates in order to process the request.  To verify a Covered Consumer’s identity, we may request up to three pieces of personal information about you when you make a request to compare against our records.  We may also request that you sign a declaration under the penalty of perjury from the consumer whose personal information is the subject of the request. 

You will not be required to create an account with us to submit a verifiable request. However, you may be required to access an existing account to the extent accessing the account is necessary.

We will only use personal information provided in your request to verify your identity and will delete any information you provide after processing the request.  We reserve the right to take additional steps as necessary to verify the identity of Covered Consumers where we have reason to believe a request is fraudulent.

 

Appealing Decisions

If you are a resident Virginia and we deny or fail to take action on your request to exercise your applicable consumer privacy rights, you may appeal our decision.  To do this, you may email us at compliance@pultegroup.com.  In the email appeal, please specify the right(s) you requested to exercise and the date you made such a request. 

We will inform you in writing within 60 days of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal.  We will also provide a written explanation of the reasons for our decisions regarding your request(s).

 

Authorized Agents

Residents of California may choose a person or a business registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf (“Authorized Agent”) to submit your requests.  If you choose to use an Authorized Agent, we require that you provide the Authorized Agent with written permission to allow them to submit your request and that you verify your identity directly with us.  Failure to do so may result in us denying your request.

 

How Long Is Your Personal Information Kept

We will retain your personal information until it is no longer necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it was collected.  We may retain your personal information for longer periods for specific purposes to the extent that we are obliged to do so in accordance with applicable laws and regulations; to protect you, other people, and us from fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access; as necessary to protect our legal rights; or for certain business requirements.

We will delete your personal information when it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or upon your request, subject to exceptions as discussed in this policy or under applicable law, contract, or regulation.

 

Our Commitment to Data Security

The security of your personal information is important to us.  We take various reasonable organizational, administrative, and technical measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.  If required by law to do so, we will notify you and/or the relevant supervisory authority in the event of a data breach.

However, we cannot and do not guarantee complete security, as it does not exist on the Internet.

 

Third Party Links

American West's Services may contain links to third-party websites.  When we provide links, we do so only as a convenience and do not endorse any products or services and are not responsible for any content of any third-party website or any links contained within.  It is important to note that this Statement only applies to Pulte Group’s Services. It does not apply to Pulte Mortgage, which maintains its own Policies that can be found at https://login.pultemortgage.com/.  We are not responsible and assume no responsibility for any personal information collected, stored, or used by any third party as a result of you visiting third-party websites.  We also advise that you read the privacy notice of any third-party websites you choose to visit carefully.

 

Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important.  Our Services are not intended for children under 18 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18.  In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 18 without verification or parental consent, we will immediately delete that information.  If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us using the information provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

 

Policy Changes

This Statement may change from time to time.  We will post any changes to this Statement on this page, and you should check these terms when you use the Services.  Your continued use of the Site constitutes acceptance of the most current version of this Statement

 

Contact Us

You can contact us by email at compliance@pultegroup.com or call us at 800-488-9673. You can write to us at 3350 Peachtree Road, NE, Suite 150, Atlanta, GA 30326, ATTN: Marketing and Communications. You understand and acknowledge that information sent by you will be stored and processed in the United States.