Cookie Policy
Effective date: July 18, 2026
Last updated: July 18, 2026
This Cookie Policy explains how Better Rate Mortgage (“we,” “us,” “our”) uses cookies and similar technologies on betterratemortgage.com (the “Site”), and how you can control them. It supplements our Privacy Policy.
1. What cookies and similar technologies are
Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We also use similar technologies such as pixels, tags, and local storage. Together these let a site remember your actions and preferences, understand how the Site is used, and — with your permission — support marketing.
2. Your choices and consent
Non-essential technologies do not run until you consent. When you first visit, a banner lets you Accept All, Reject All, or choose which categories to allow. Strictly necessary technologies always operate because the Site cannot function without them.
You can change your choice at any time:
- use the “Cookie Settings” link in our footer to reopen the preferences panel; or
- use the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” control (California residents).
We also honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser signals automatically; set Google Consent Mode v2 signals to denied by default until you opt in; and record your consent choice (timestamp, categories, user-agent, GPC signal, and a one-way SHA-256 hash of your IP — not your raw IP) for 13 months, after which we ask again.
3. Categories of technologies we use
The table in Section 4 lists each specific technology with its vendor, category, purpose, and privacy-policy link. In summary:
Strictly necessary — always active, cannot be disabled
Required for the Site to function, including security, load balancing, remembering your consent choice, and bot protection on our forms (Cloudflare Turnstile — a privacy-preserving alternative to reCAPTCHA that protects our contact form from spam and abuse without advertising cookies). Also includes core website hosting (WP Engine) and form-handling (Gravity Forms) session functions.
Preferences — optional
Remember choices you make and support enhanced features, such as the Trustindex Google-reviews widget and AddToAny share buttons.
Statistics — optional, consent required
Help us understand how visitors use the Site by collecting usage data, via Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics (loaded through the tag manager).
Marketing — optional, consent required
Used to understand engagement and, where applicable, measure campaigns. Includes Microsoft Clarity (session analytics / heatmaps — records anonymized on-page interactions such as mouse movement, clicks, and scrolling) and Microsoft advertising measurement. These load only after you opt in.
Cookieless measurement — no consent required
Two tools measure traffic without setting cookies or collecting personal data, so they operate for all visitors regardless of the choices above:
- Our own first-party counter — measures page and interaction totals without cookies or identifiable data.
- Ahrefs Web Analytics — a privacy-focused, cookie-free analytics tool that reports aggregate traffic such as pageviews, referring sites, and country. It sets no cookies, does not collect personal data, and does not track you across other websites.
Because neither stores or accesses information on your device, they do not require consent. They let us understand overall site traffic even when you decline the optional categories above.
4. The technologies on this Site
The table below lists each technology currently in use, with its vendor, category, purpose, and a link to that vendor’s privacy policy.
| Name | Vendor | Category | Purpose | Privacy Policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AddThis / AddToAny | Oracle / AddToAny | Marketing | Social share button widgets. | Link |
| Microsoft Clarity | Microsoft Corp. | Marketing | Session recording + heatmaps by Microsoft. | Link |
| Google Analytics 4 | Google LLC | Statistics | Website analytics. Gated via Google Consent Mode v2 in Basic mode (no pings when denied). | Link |
| Google Tag Manager | Google LLC | Statistics | Tag orchestration container. Blocked until consent; Google Consent Mode v2 signals inherited by all tags inside. | Link |
5. Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to know, access, delete, correct, opt out of sale/sharing, limit the use of sensitive personal information, and not be discriminated against for exercising these rights (California CPRA/CCPA), or the equivalent rights under GDPR for EEA/UK visitors. See the Privacy Policy for the full description and how to submit a request.
6. Changes to this Cookie Policy
We may update this policy as our technologies or the law change. The “Last updated” date reflects the current version, and we version our consent notices so returning visitors are re-prompted when material changes occur.
7. Contact
Questions about this Cookie Policy: Better Rate Mortgage, 314-361-9979, Sean@BetterRateMortgage.com. For cookie choices, use “Cookie Settings” in our footer.
