Sallie Mae wants you to know that we value the trust you have placed in us. As part of earning that trust, we want you to know that the privacy of your personal information is a serious matter for Sallie Mae and our employees. All of us at Sallie Mae respect your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. That's why we collect only information that is needed to serve you and administer our businesses. It's also why we share customer information only as outlined in these Privacy Principles and Practices and as permitted by law.
Please take a moment to read this policy. It explains what information we collect and why we collect it, as well as how and why we may share this information. It also explains how we protect your information. This notice applies to individual customers who obtain a product or service from a Sallie Mae company for personal or household purposes. It applies equally to current and former customers.
A tip from us
Many customers wish to reduce the number of "pre-approved offers of credit" that they receive from other companies.
You can request to have your name removed from pre-approved credit solicitation lists maintained by various credit bureaus by calling (888) 567-8688.
We limit the information we collect
We collect only limited "nonpublic personal information." Nonpublic personal information is information about you, which is not available publicly. We gather this information so we can deliver the products and services you request easily and efficiently and to administer our businesses. This information also helps us design and offer new products and services we believe you will like and use. We feel that the more we understand about you, the better we can serve you. We also collect some information because federal or state law requires it.
We gather this information from a variety of sources and use it in different ways including:
Information we receive directly from you:
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Contact information such as your name, address, email address or telephone number. Examples of how we use this information are to send you information about our products and services, and to call or write you about your accounts.
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Identification information such as a Social Security number or a mother's maiden name. This information helps us identify you as our customer, prevent unauthorized use of accounts or unauthorized disclosure of information, or report to the IRS the amount of interest you paid on your student loan or mortgage.
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Financial information such as income, assets or liabilities. We use this information to process applications and to suggest other products and services that help you get the most from your relationship with us.
Information about your transactions and experiences with Sallie Mae companies:
Such as account balances, payment history and account usage. This information permits us to process your requests quickly and recommend appropriate products or benefits.
Information about you from consumer reporting agencies:
Such as credit history and credit scores. We use this information to process loan applications, monitor and collect existing accounts and to make "pre-approved" offers.
We maintain safeguards designed to protect your information
Sallie Mae maintains administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information. We also limit access to personal information to protect against its unauthorized use. The only Sallie Mae employees who are authorized to see your personal information are those who need it as part of their jobs.
We carefully limit the sharing of information
Sallie Mae carefully limits and controls how we share information about customers. We do not disclose nonpublic personal information about our customers except as outlined in these Privacy Principles and Practices and as permitted by law. We do share this information in limited cases. They include:
Sharing of information within the Sallie Mae family of companies
We offer our services and products to you through our family of companies. The Sallie Mae family of companies is made up of many different companies. Some of them are Student Loan Funding Resources, Nellie Mae Corporation, Southwest Student Services Corporation, Student Loan Finance Association, Academic Management Services Corp., SLM Financial Corporation, Sallie Mae Bank, Upromise, Inc., and Sallie Mae, Inc. A more complete list of Sallie Mae companies is at the end of this policy. Different Sallie Mae companies offer education loans, private loans, mortgage loans and college savings plans and programs. By sharing information among these companies, we are able to offer you convenient customer service, combined statements and simpler applications, along with special discounts and other benefits.
Within the family of Sallie Mae companies, we may share:
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Financial profile information, such as income, assets and liabilities, that you give us on loan applications or elsewhere; and
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Information that we receive from third parties, such as consumer reporting agencies.
To complete your transaction or administer your account, employees from our different companies may access information regarding you and your account. For these purposes, we may share:
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Contact and identification information that you provide to us such as your name, address, telephone number, email address and Social Security number; and
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Information about your transactions with us such as your account balance, payment history and account usage.
Sharing this information, for example, enables our loan servicing company to administer your loan for the company that actually owns your loan. In these cases, our subsidiaries, affiliates, and their employees are required to use the information shared with them only for the intended purpose.
Sharing of information outside the Sallie Mae family of companies
We sometimes share customer information with outside companies that perform services for us or provide various financial products.
Service providers
From time to time, we use outside companies to perform services for us, such as printing payment coupons, preparing or mailing statements, or software programming. We also use outside companies to help us market our own products. When we use these companies, we give them only the customer information needed to perform that service.
Before we disclose any customer information to these companies, we require them by legal agreement to keep this information confidential and to use it only as authorized. They are not permitted to use this information for their own purposes or to sell this information to any other person.
Joint marketers
In order to offer you various financial products (for example, credit cards or insurance), we sometimes enter into marketing agreements with other financial institutions that offer these products. We select the financial institutions we work with very carefully.
Generally, we provide these financial institutions with only customer contact information. For some products, we might also provide them limited account information, such as the amount of the loan or mortgage, maturity date, monthly payment amount and payment history. We never give these financial institutions your account numbers. They are permitted to use the information we give them only for the specific products being offered under our contract.
Sallie Mae doesn't share customer information with non-financial companies to enable them to market their products and services to our customers. We do occasionally use customer information ourselves to offer third-party products or services that we think you may want or need. If you receive an offer, in your statement or along with other Sallie Mae information, for a product or service other than one provided by a Sallie Mae company, Sallie Mae or a company that works for us forwarded that offer to you. No nonpublic information about you was shared with the non-financial company.
Other circumstances where we may share information
We may share customer information in other circumstances. Some examples are:
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When you specifically request it or give us permission to do so.
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When we are required by law. For example, we are required to make disclosures to various student loan guarantee agencies, your schools and the U.S. Department of Education in connection with education loans.
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When we share information with consumer reporting agencies, when we suspect fraudulent or criminal activity, when we receive a subpoena or when we are ordered by a court to do so.
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When we sell a particular line of business or function.
Collection and sharing of medical information
From time to time, we may also receive some medical or health information about you. We do not share this information, except to process transactions or to provide services that you have requested or initiated.
Information sharing — You have the right and the choice
As discussed above, we share information about you within the Sallie Mae family. The information we share includes: (i) your name and address, (ii) other identification information, (iii) information about our experiences or transactions with you or your accounts, (iv) information you give us such as income, assets or liabilities, and (v) information we receive from third parties such as employment status and credit history.
You have the right to tell us not to share within the Sallie Mae family any information you give us on applications and that we receive from third parties. We may continue, however, to share other information, including your name and address and your account transactions and experiences.
To tell us not to share this information, please:
When writing, please include your name, mailing address, telephone number and, if possible, your account number.
We will honor your choice on restricting information sharing and your preference will also remain in effect until you tell us otherwise. If you previously told us not to share, you don't need to contact us again unless you wish to change your election.
If you contact us and you and another person have jointly obtained a product or service, we will treat a do-not-share instruction by you as applying only to you, unless you specifically request that such do-not-share instruction applies to all joint customers.
Vermont residents only. If you are a resident of Vermont, the information set forth above about your right to restrict information sharing does not apply to you. Under Vermont law, we are not permitted to share information you give us or that we receive from others unless you consent to that sharing. You don't need to contact us to give us your preference.
We are committed to protecting your information on our websites
Sallie Mae is the recognized leader in helping students and families plan and pay for college. To maintain this distinction, we host several innovative websites such as www.collegeanswer.com, www.salliemae.com, www.nelliemae.com, www.sssc.com, www.slfaloan.com, www.tuitionpay.com and www.studentloanfunding.com. We are committed to protecting your information on our websites with the same care we use for all Sallie Mae transactions. For more information about our online information policies, please visit www.salliemae.com/about/privacy_online.html.
We work hard to maintain accurate information
We work hard to keep complete and accurate information about you and your accounts. If you ever believe that our records are incorrect or incomplete, please let us know. We will investigate and correct any inaccuracies as quickly as possible.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this policy, please write us or call us at:
Customer Privacy
Sallie Mae Servicing
P.O. Box 9500
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18773-9500
(800) 428-1039
Sallie Mae companies providing this notice
This notice is made on behalf of the following Sallie Mae companies:
SLM Corporation
Sallie Mae, Inc.
Sallie Mae Bank
Sallie Mae Education Trust
SLM Education Loan Corp.
SLM Education Credit Finance Corporation
SLM Financial Corporation
SLM Mortgage Corp. – VA
SLM Financial Corp. – WV
SLM Mortgage Corp. – NC
SLM Mortgage Corp. – SC
Sallie Mae Home Loans, Inc.
Nellie Mae Corporation
Nellie Mae Holding LLC
Nellie Mae Education Loan LLC
Nellie Mae Loan Finance, LLC
Secondary Market Services, LLC
Southwest Student Services Corporation
Academic Management Services Corp.
AMS Education Loan Trust
Student Loan Finance Association, Inc.
Student Loan Finance Association – Washington, Inc.
Student Loan Funding Resources LLC
SLFR, LLC
Student Loan Funding LLC
SLF Education Loans, LLC
SLM Resources LLC
VL Funding LLC
HICA Education Loan Corporation
Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc.
General Revenue Corporation
Student Assistance Corporation
This notice is also provided on behalf of all trusts or other special purpose entities established by any Sallie Mae company.
In addition to the rights described in this policy, please note that you may have additional rights under state law.
In the event that any privacy or security related notices are required to be delivered to you pursuant to law or otherwise, Sallie Mae will provide such notices to you through one or more of the following methods: email to your last known email address on Sallie Mae's systems, written letter sent via U.S. mail to your last known mailing address on Sallie Mae's systems, phone call to your last known phone number on Sallie Mae's systems, or posting of notice to the applicable Sallie Mae website.
The effective date of this notice is January 14, 2008. It replaces all prior privacy policies issued by SLM Corporation or any other Sallie Mae company. We reserve the right to change our policy. The list of Sallie Mae companies also may change. If we make a major change to our policy, we will notify you. You can always see our current policy at our website at www.salliemae.com.
Sallie Mae and collegeanswer.com are registered service marks and Champions for Higher Education is a service mark of Sallie Mae, Inc. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Sallie Mae, Inc., are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America. Copyright 2008 by Sallie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved. 1/08