RHODE ISLAND STUDENT LOAN AUTHORITY
PRIVACY POLICY
PROTECTING YOUR PRIVACY IS
IMPORTANT TO US. We want you to
understand what information we collect
and how we use it. This policy explains the
standard for our employees regarding the
collection, use, retention, and security of
information about you.
Why We Collect Information
We collect information so we can identify you as our
customer so we can establish and better manage your
accounts, to create and offer you education loan products
you might be interested in, and to comply with legal and
regulatory requirements.
What Information We Collect
As part of providing your education loan, we obtain "non-public
personal information" which is information about
you that is not publicly available that we need to serve
you effectively and efficiently. Such information includes,
for example, account balances and payment history.
We may collect non-public personal information about
you in the following ways:
Information that you provide to us on applications
or other loan or other account forms, such as your
name, address, e-mail address, birthdate and phone
number, so we can identify you as a customer, get in
touch with you about your account when necessary
and generally maintain your account; your social
security number or other identifying information
that helps us prevent unauthorized access to or use
of your account; and personal information which
helps us process your application and identify
products or services that may be of interest to you. Information about your transactions with us or our
affiliates or others, including but not limited to
account balances and your payment history. We use
this information to respond to your requests, service
your accounts, and make recommendations or offers
to you as we feel appropriate. Information we receive from third parties such as
credit bureaus, for example your credit history and credit score. This information is used in processing
loan applications, collecting accounts and
determining eligibility for offers of other products or
services.
What Information We Share
We will only share information as allowed by law and
described in this policy.
Sharing Information With Affiliates
We have affiliates which, like us, are involved in education
loan funding and servicing. Among our affiliates we may
share:
Your financial data, for example, your assets and
income that you may include on a loan application;
and Information we receive from credit bureaus and other
non-affiliated parties, such as your creditworthiness
and your payment history.
Our affiliates may share among themselves certain
information about you in order to provide a loan to you
or service your account. Our employees engaged in this
sharing are only allowed to use the information for those
reasons necessary to perform these functions. This
information could include:
Information we receive from you on applications or
other forms, such as your name, address, telephone
number, e-mail address and social security number;
and Information about transactions with us, our affiliates
or others, such as your loan account balance and
payment history.
Sharing Information With Non-Affiliated Parties
In some circumstances, we may share your information
with companies outside our organization, such as:
Financial service providers. This includes companies
that originate loans or process loan transactions for
us, vendors that print, prepare, or mail statements
for us, correspondent letters and computer system
programmers; and Marketing service providers. Such companies may
be used to help us market our products and services
to you.
Our affiliates may share among themselves certain
information about you in order to provide a loan to you
or service your account. Our employees engaged in this
sharing are only allowed to use the information for those
reasons necessary to perform these functions. This
information could include:
Information we receive from you on applications or
other forms, such as your name, address, telephone
number, e-mail address and social security number;
and Information about transactions with us, our affiliates
or others, such as your loan account balance and
payment history.
These service providers receive limited information about
you as necessary to perform their functions. They are
always required to maintain confidentiality of the
information and we restrict their use to the purpose we
authorize. They are not allowed to pass your information
on to others for their own benefit.
We may also enter into agreements with non-affiliated
companies who offer products and services different
from ours. We are very cautious in selecting who we make
such agreements with and the outside third party must
agree to restrictions on the use of your information. The
information we provide to these outside companies
includes your contact information as described above,
and may include some account activity such as balance
and payment history as well as credit history and
creditworthiness information.
If you do not want us to share your information with such
non-affiliated third parties you may OPT OUT of that
sharing and except for disclosures required or permitted
by law we will not share your information with non-affiliated
companies. The OPT OUT procedure is
described below.
Legal and Other Situations
Sometimes the law or other circumstances requires us to
disclose information about you to non-affiliated third
parties. Some examples are: when you ask or permit us to
do so; when a guaranty agency, school or the Department
of Education needs the information in connection with
your account; in response to subpoenas or court orders;
with credit bureaus; or when we suspect fraud or criminal
activity. The OPT OUT procedure does not apply to such
disclosures.
Our Security Procedures
We take careful steps to safeguard customer information.
We restrict access to your personal and account
information to those employees who need to know that
information to perform their jobs, and we provide regular
training to our employees on privacy, information
security, and their obligation to safeguard your
information. We maintain physical, electronic, and
procedural safeguards that comply with federal and
industry standards to protect your personal information
and we regularly test those safeguards.
You can safeguard your own personal information by
taking a few simple precautions. Protect your account
numbers, passwords, PIN’s, and customer access numbers.
Never disclose confidential information to unknown
callers. You should always use a secure browser and
current virus detection software, and never open e-mail
from unknown sources.
Opting Out
If you prefer that we do not share information about you
with non-affiliated third parties, you may restrict
information (other than those disclosures permitted by
law) by mailing a written request, with your name,
address, and account number to: Rhode Island Student
Loan Authority, 560 Jefferson Boulevard, Suite 200,
Warwick, R.I. 02886-1371 Attention: Information Security
Officer, or by calling our toll free number at
1-800-758-7562.
Consumer Redress
If you feel that we are not abiding by this Privacy Policy
you should contact us immediately at the above address
or toll free number.
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