Privacy Policy

Section 1. Commitment to Privacy Protection for Customers1

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), doing business as FedLoan Servicing, is committed to safeguarding the individual privacy rights of all of its customers. FedLoan Servicing strongly believes that it has a responsibility to protect from disclosure to unauthorized parties the nonpublic, personal information (e.g., name, address, date of birth, Social Security Number, etc.) of its customers. FedLoan Servicing has adopted and implemented this privacy policy to protect your account and nonpublic personal information.

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Section 2. Who is a FedLoan Servicing Customer?

This Privacy Policy applies only to a customer of FedLoan Servicing. FedLoan Servicing customers are those individuals whose loans have been made or are owned by FedLoan Servicing. Individuals whose loans have only been originated and/or are serviced by FedLoan Servicing for a lender or loan holder other than FedLoan Servicing are not FedLoan Servicing customers. If your loans have been made or are owned by a lender other than FedLoan Servicing, you must review that lender's privacy policy, as that lender's privacy policy applies to you.

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Section 3. Collection and Receipt of Nonpublic Personal Information

We may collect and receive nonpublic personal information about you. This includes information such as your name, Social Security Number, birth date, assets, and income. We collect this information from the following sources:

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Section 4. Notice and Disclosure

FedLoan Servicing may have a number of very different relationships with customers. It is important to note that FedLoan Servicing may be required, depending upon its relationship with a customer, to share information about the customer with authorized third parties, as described in this Section.

The United States Department of Education requires disclosure of individuals' Social Security Numbers on applications and other Federal Family Education Loan Program ("FFELP") and Direct Loan Program documents, pursuant to published regulations. For information on how the Department of Education treats the privacy of Social Security Numbers, please link to the following website to see the United States Department of Education's privacy policy: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/secpriv.htm

In compliance with Department of Education requirements, and under our administration of FFELP and the Direct Loan Program, FedLoan Servicing similarly is required to collect and disclose the Social Security Numbers of applicants for loans under FFELP and the Direct Loan Program. The primary use of this information is to verify applicant's identity, to determine program eligibility and benefits, to permit the servicing of financial aid, and to certify attendance and status at an approved higher education institution. The disclosure of this nonpublic personal information is mandatory for participation in FFELP or the Direct Loan Program.

FedLoan Servicing does not sell, trade, or disclose nonpublic personal information of its customers to any unauthorized third parties. However, FedLoan Servicing is required to share your information in the delivery of its financial products and services, in the following circumstances:

  1. When you have authorized the disclosure of information in circumstances including but not limited to: certifications you have made on loan applications and promissory notes, the (FAFSA), and documents held by FedLoan Servicing and its partners such as schools, lenders, servicers, United States Department of Education, [including The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), which is the U.S. Department of Education's central database for student aid], and guarantors of customers' financial aid.
  2. As noted in Section 2 above, when FedLoan Servicing acts as an originator and/or servicer of your loans, you do not become a FedLoan Servicing customer; instead, you remain the customer of the lender from whom you obtained your loan(s) or the entity that holds your loan(s). In this instance, FedLoan Servicing will adhere to your lender's or loan holder's privacy policy.
  3. When FedLoan Servicing needs to share your information to provide products or services that you requested; for example, as when an authorized credit check is performed.
  4. When FedLoan Servicing is required to disclose your information by order of court or subpoena, pursuant to state, local, federal, or international statute, regulation or mandate, and in cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
  5. When FedLoan Servicing shares information with consumer reporting agencies.

Additionally, FedLoan Servicing sometimes shares information with other companies that perform services, or produce goods and products, which FedLoan Servicing does not. For example, we sometimes use outside companies to print documents, prepare statements, to perform software programming, or to provide loan collection support. When outside companies are used, FedLoan Servicing provides them with only the information needed to perform that particular service. Before representatives of the outside company receive such information, we require that they sign an agreement to keep all nonpublic personal or proprietary information confidential. These outside companies may not use this information for their own purposes.

In other instances, FedLoan Servicing contracts with non-affiliated third parties to market FedLoan Servicing products and services. In such instances, your information may be shared with a non-affiliated third-party, which may market the FedLoan Servicing product to you. In such instances, the non-affiliated marketer will have agreed, via contract with FedLoan Servicing, to keep your information confidential and will only use the information in the marketing of FedLoan Servicing products and services. Customers can choose to opt-out of receiving these e-mails as set forth in Section 5.

Finally, consistent with student loan industry practice, FedLoan Servicing shares customer information with industry aggregators for the benefit of students. Such industry aggregators include the National Student Clearinghouse2, ELM Resources3, and Meteor TM4.

Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), FedLoan Servicing will not knowingly collect or retain information submitted to it by children under the age of thirteen. If FedLoan Servicing learns that it unknowingly collected personally identifying information from children under thirteen years of age, it will immediately take all reasonable measures to delete the information from its computer systems and all other data systems.

FedLoan Servicing closely monitors and restricts its employees' access to customer account and personal information to only instances of business necessity.

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Section 5. Choice, Consent and Opt-Out Concerning Availability of On-Line Information and Electronic Communications

FedLoan Servicing provides its customers access to customer specific information on FedLoan Servicing websites, behind the security of a unique login process. This customer specific information includes but may not be limited to customers' individual account level information and customers' eligibility for financial aid. FedLoan Servicing fully understands and wishes to fully serve its customers that do not desire to have personally identifying account and status information available on FedLoan Servicing websites. Customers may "opt out" of having this information available on FedLoan Servicing by requesting the deletion of their FedLoan Servicing account information available to them on FedLoan Servicing websites by completing one of the following actions:

Upon receipt of an "opt out" request from a customer submitted through Account Access, e-mail, or letter via First Class Mail, FedLoan Servicing will remove the customer's account information from FedLoan Servicing websites but will continue to retain all of the information on FedLoan Servicing computer systems as required by state and federal laws and regulations governing the customer's relationship with FedLoan Servicing.

FedLoan Servicing reserves the right to not make data, information, products, or services available on its websites to all of its customers and to individual customers.

Unless specifically notified by the customer, FedLoan Servicing will operate as though the customer consents to account information being available on FedLoan Servicing websites. Please review the sections on data security and our privacy commitment for explanations of the security utilized by FedLoan Servicing to protect personal account information from unauthorized disclosure.

FedLoan Servicing will also, upon proper and legally binding authorization from its customers, release information to and accept direction for action from third parties authorized by the customer. Customers are solely responsible for maintaining their authorizations of third parties. FedLoan Servicing will only revoke a third party's authority upon request from the customer. Finally, FedLoan Servicing provides information to its customers via e-mail newsletters. Customers can choose to opt-out of receiving these e-mail newsletters and other informational e-mails at any time by performing one of the following actions:

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Section 6. Data Quality and Access

FedLoan Servicing will take all reasonable steps to assure that information about its customers is accurate, complete, and timely for the purpose for which it is intended to be used. FedLoan Servicing will take reasonable measures to establish appropriate processes or mechanisms so that inaccuracies or errors in customer information may be corrected timely by FedLoan Servicing. For information on how to contact FedLoan Servicing, refer to the How to Contact FedLoan Servicing section of this Privacy Policy. FedLoan Servicing will try to make these processes and mechanisms as simple and easy to use as possible, while providing assurances that the erroneous and inaccurate information has been corrected timely. FedLoan Servicing allows its customers to update some data made available online after the customers have been properly authenticated through a unique and secure login process.

The information contained on FedLoan Servicing websites is subject to change without prior advance notice.

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Section 7. Data Security

Securing customers' nonpublic personal information is very important to FedLoan Servicing. Therefore, FedLoan Servicing has implemented several security measures to protect customers' personally identifying information from loss, misuse, or alteration. When customers send personally identifying information to FedLoan Servicing via FedLoan Servicing websites, FedLoan Servicing requires that a secure session be established first, using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. During a SSL session, data passed back and forth between the customer's computer and FedLoan Servicing servers is secured through the use of public key cryptography. The customer's computer exchanges key information with FedLoan Servicing servers to create a private conversation that only the customer's computer and FedLoan Servicing servers may understand. To benefit from SSL technology, customers must use a browser with SSL capabilities. Please note that while using any FedLoan Servicing website, customers will be notified upon entering and leaving a secured session, unless the setting is turned off on the customer's browser. After leaving a secured session, information transmitted to FedLoan Servicing is not secure.

For security purposes, FedLoan Servicing uses special software programs to monitor website traffic and to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage to FedLoan Servicing websites. These programs do not collect personally identifying information about customers, but do enable FedLoan Servicing to collect information allowing FedLoan Servicing to identify website users attempting to tamper with FedLoan Servicing websites. FedLoan Servicing has policies in place against the misuse, misappropriation, unauthorized access, tampering, damage, destruction, or unlawful utilization of FedLoan Servicing websites and computer systems and will seek the maximum enforcement of state, federal, and international criminal laws against any individual engaging in such activity. Additionally, FedLoan Servicing will seek the maximum amount of civil damages available under the law for the unauthorized use and/or misuse of its websites and computer systems.

Please note that when a customer sends electronic mail messages (e-mail) to FedLoan Servicing, the customer's message will contain the customer's return e-mail address. FedLoan Servicing may use a customer's e-mail address in responding to customer inquiries and the content of customer's e-mail in formulating a response. FedLoan Servicing may permanently record and store any substantive e-mail received from its customers.

Customer e-mail sent to FedLoan Servicing is not necessarily secure against interception. Do not initiate communication with FedLoan Servicing by e-mail if your communication will include nonpublic personal information like your Social Security Number, bank account number, or other personally identifying information that you wish to protect.

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Section 8. Links to Other Websites

FedLoan Servicing does have links on its websites to other vendors and third parties. These links give customers the opportunity to explore opportunities with vendors or third parties having a relationship with FedLoan Servicing. FedLoan Servicing cannot guarantee how these third parties use or collect personally identifying information about the customer.

Customers should be aware that other websites to which a customer links from FedLoan Servicing websites may contain privacy policies, statements, promises, or provisions that differ from the FedLoan Servicing Privacy Policy. Customers are encouraged to fully review the privacy statements of other websites to determine whether or not the use of the sites comports with the customer's desire to maintain the privacy of his/her personally identifying information. FedLoan Servicing expressly forbids others to link to a FedLoan Servicing website without obtaining prior authorization from FedLoan Servicing. If you wish to link to a FedLoan Servicing website, contact FedLoan Servicing at:

Website Linking
FedLoan Servicing
P.O. Box 69184
Harrisburg PA 17106-9184

or:

Contact us via e-mail.

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Section 9. Contacts from FedLoan Servicing

FedLoan Servicing may contact its customers via phone, e-mail, fax, regular mail, or by other electronic means, depending on the relationship between FedLoan Servicing and the customer. The nature, method, and frequency of contact will all be driven by the relationship between the customer and FedLoan Servicing. FedLoan Servicing will reasonably accommodate customer requests for a specific type of communication, except in instances involving matters with prescribed communication requirements.

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Section 10. Changes to the FedLoan Servicing Privacy Policy

The FedLoan Servicing Privacy Policy may be modified when necessary to conform to federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations, and at other times to conform to technological changes, court decisions, or changes in FedLoan Servicing policy. Changes to the FedLoan Servicing Privacy Policy will be notated here when made so that customers may be fully informed about the privacy protections afforded to customers by FedLoan Servicing, enabling customers to make informed decisions concerning their opt-out choices. We recommend that customers check the FedLoan Servicing Privacy Policy each time they visit a FedLoan Servicing website.

Originally Adopted: September 1, 2009

Date Last Modified: N/A

Section Modified: N/A

Description of Modification: N/A

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Section 11. How to Contact FedLoan Servicing

FedLoan Servicing will strive to keep customer account data accurate and up-to-date. If a customer believes that the customer's account information is incorrect or incomplete, the customer should contact FedLoan Servicing using the contact information listed below. FedLoan Servicing will investigate and correct any inaccuracies as quickly as possible. Should a customer have any questions, concerns, or desire additional information concerning the FedLoan Servicing Privacy Policy, please contact FedLoan Servicing by one of the following means:

FedLoan Servicing
P.O. Box 69184
Harrisburg, PA 17106-9184

or:

Contact us via e-mail.

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1 For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, any reference to PHEAA or FedLoan Servicing means PHEAA, an Agency of and on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

2 The National Student Clearinghouse is a source for post-secondary student degree and enrollment verification. The Clearinghouse helps colleges and universities improve efficiency, reduce costs and workload, and enhance the quality-of-service they provide to students and alumni, lending institutions, employers, and other organizations.

3 The ELM Resources system provides students with automated Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), Direct Loan Program, and alternative loan data exchange, updates, funding, and information through the Internet.

4 Meteor TM is the result of a collaborative effort to provide financial aid professionals and students with online aggregated financial aid award information from various industry participants. Meteor TM enables students to obtain detailed, real time student aid information directly from the web and enables the financial aid professional to supplement their counseling services.

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