Cookie Policy
Nothing optional loads until you say yes. Here's everything this site keeps on your device, and how to change your mind.
Last updated
1. The short version
We block analytics and advertising cookies until you choose. That’s the behaviour for everyone who visits this site. We didn’t build a stricter version for some provinces and a looser one for the rest.
There’s one cookie we set no matter what you choose: the one that records your choice. If we didn’t set it, we’d have to ask you again on every page.
You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie preferences link in the footer of every page. It reopens the same panel you saw the first time.
2. The four categories
The banner splits everything into four groups. The first is always on. The other three are off until you switch them on, and you can switch them on individually.
- Strictly necessary: always on
- Needed for the site to work: security, load balancing, remembering your cookie choice, and keeping your place in a form. These can’t be switched off, because switching them off would mean the site couldn’t remember that you switched them off.
- Functional: off by default
- Remembers preferences like your province, light or dark mode, and your calculator inputs, so you don’t have to enter them again.
- Analytics: off by default
- Tells us which pages and calculators people use, so we can improve them.
- Advertising: off by default
- Lets us measure our advertising and show relevant ads on other sites.
3. What we store
Most of what this site keeps isn’t technically a cookie. A cookie is sent to our server with every request. Local storage and session storage never leave your browser. We list all of it together anyway, because privacy law cares about the purpose, not the mechanism.
| Name | Type | Lifetime | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| rl_consent | Cookie | 365 days | Remembers the cookie choice you made, and the version of the banner you were shown, so we don't ask again on every page and can show what you agreed to. |
| ratelens-theme | Local storage | Until you clear it | Whether you chose light or dark. Written only when you use the theme switch. Otherwise we follow your device. |
| ratelens-motion | Local storage | Until you clear it | Whether you asked us to reduce animation. Written only when you use that control. Otherwise we follow your operating system's reduced-motion setting. |
| Name | Type | Lifetime | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| rl_prov | Cookie | 12 months | The province you selected in a calculator, so tax and program rules stay correct as you move between tools. It defaults to Alberta, so for most visitors it changes nothing. It's the province you stated, not your location. We don't geolocate you. |
| ratelens-draft-rate-quote, ratelens-draft-pre-approval | Local storage | 30 days | Your place in an unfinished quote or pre-approval, so you can close the tab and come back. It stays on this device, and it isn't a submitted application. |
| ratelens-funnel-progress, shift:calc-url | Session storage | Until you close the tab | Which step you're on, and the calculator inputs behind the numbers on screen, so a refresh doesn't wipe your work. |
| ratelens-exit-intent-shown | Session storage | Until you close the tab | Records that we already offered you something once, so we don't do it twice. |
| Name | Type | Lifetime | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga, _ga_<id> | Cookie (Google) | Up to 24 months | Google Analytics 4. Which pages and calculators get used, so we know what to improve. Set only after you accept analytics cookies. |
| _gcl_au | Cookie (Google) | 90 days | Measures whether an advertisement we paid for led to an enquiry. Set only after you accept advertising cookies. |
Current banner version: 2026-09-16.1. If we materially change what we ask for, we change this version and ask you again. We don’t reuse an old consent.
4. Third parties
We load no third-party scripts on this site except Google Analytics and Google Ads, and only after you’ve said yes to the matching category. Our typefaces are served from our own servers, not from a font provider, so reading a page doesn’t send a request to anyone else.
Two places embed a frame from a third party: the office map on our contact page and, where we offer it, the booking calendar on our booking page. Both load only when you choose to open them, and both pages work without them.
We don’t run session-recording or heatmap tools, we don’t use a third-party chat widget, and we don’t sell or share what we collect with data brokers.
5. Changing your choice
Use the Cookie preferences link in the footer of any page. Your new choice replaces the old one immediately. If you withdraw analytics or advertising consent, the tags stop loading on your next page view; cookies Google has already set are removed by clearing site data in your browser, described below.
6. Controlling cookies yourself
Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies for a single site. Look for “Privacy and security” in your browser’s settings, then site data or cookies. Blocking even the strictly necessary cookies for this site is allowed and breaks nothing permanently. You’ll be asked about cookies again on every visit, and calculators won’t remember your inputs.
7. How long we keep the record
We keep a record of cookie consent decisions (the timestamp, the choice made, the version of the banner shown, and a hashed IP address) for 24 months. We keep it because showing what was asked and what was answered is the only way to demonstrate that consent was validly obtained.
Analytics events are retained for 25 months and then aggregated. The full schedule for everything else is in our Privacy Policy.
8. Questions
Our Privacy Officer answers questions about this page and about anything else we do with your information. You also have the right to complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta. Our Privacy Policy explains how, and what to expect.
Questions about cookies
Email privacy@ratelens.ca, call (825) 797-5417 during Mon–Fri 9–5 MT, or write to us at the office address below.
Daniel De Sousa, Mortgage Associate, is licensed by the Real Estate Council of Alberta and registered with Indi The Independent Mortgage Company Ltd. o/a Indi Mortgage.
Indi The Independent Mortgage Company Ltd. o/a Indi Mortgage is a mortgage brokerage licensed by the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA). Verify our licence on RECA ProCheck(opens in a new tab)
RateLens is a trade name used by Daniel De Sousa, Mortgage Associate, licensed in Alberta by the Real Estate Council of Alberta and registered with Indi The Independent Mortgage Company Ltd. o/a Indi Mortgage.
RateLens · 4990 92 Ave NW #105, Edmonton, AB T6B 2V4 · (825) 797-5417 · hello@ratelens.ca
Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Closed Saturday and Sunday.