Sallie Mae Privacy Policy

EFFECTIVE AS OF May 9, 2023

1. DESCRIPTION.

At Sallie Mae, we care about the privacy and security of your information. This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy” or “Policy”) is provided by Sallie Mae Bank and its subsidiaries (“Sallie Mae”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) and sets forth the policies for the collection, usage, storage, sharing and protection of Personal Information including Sensitive Personal Information, as defined in the table below, through our websites and mobile applications (collectively, our “Sites”).  This Privacy Policy applies to any individuals (“you” or “your”) accessing and using the Sites.  The choices you may have in the use and sharing of your Personal Information and Sensitive Personal Information are also governed by the Sallie Mae Privacy Notice (“Privacy Notice”).  If you have applied for or obtained a Sallie Mae product or service (collectively “Services”), please refer to the Privacy Notice regarding our privacy practices and your privacy rights as it relates to those Services.

2. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

The types of Personal Information we collect depends on your relationship with us. Examples for each relationship type are provided below.  We have also provided a table detailing the categories of Personal Information collected and for what purposes. 

A.  Account Servicing - If you are an account holder with Sallie Mae (“Customer”) or if you are applying for Services (“Applicant”).

• The Personal Information we may collect includes Customer and Applicant account servicing information used to: register, login or use our Sites, complete a form, verify identity, apply for Services, apply for a job, confirm work or education status, determine eligibility for Services, respond to a survey, to provide account Services and or communicate with us, including via our call center, mobile applications, or live chat.

B.  Visitor – Anyone visiting our Sites.

• The Personal Information we may collect includes your contact information used to respond to your requests for information.

C.  Education Services – If you are a consumer who registers to use our Scholarship Services, College Planning Calculator and College Planning tools.

• The Personal Information we may collect includes career, education, and other categories of Personal Information received directly from you or from our Authorized Third Parties (as further defined below) with whom we partner to provide co-branded and other Services, such as Scholarship Search or sweepstakes.

We may collect Personal Information about you from third parties with whom we have a contractual relationship and a lawful basis for collecting this Personal Information, specifically credit bureaus, referral partners, business partners, affiliates, service providers and financial institutions (each an “Authorized Third Party” and collectively “Authorized Third Parties”).

3. How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

We use the Personal Information we collect from you for the following business purposes (“Business Purposes”):

• to process your transactions in the provision of Services including but not limited to servicing Customer accounts;
• to provide Services in accordance with your request to communicate with you, including via email, chat, text message, push notifications, and/or telephone calls;
• to gather analytics to better understand how you use our Sites and to determine whether the content on our Sites is effective;
• to authenticate your identity;
• to develop and improve our Services;
• to fulfill legal and regulatory requirements; and
• to prevent fraud.

You may not opt out of our collection of Personal Information for Business Purposes.

We also use the Personal Information we collect for marketing and communications purposes (“Marketing Communications”) including:

• to personalize your experience when you use the Services and to provide custom, personalized content and communications, including targeted content and advertising through our Sites, on sites hosted by our Authorized Third Parties, or on other devices you may use;
• to personalize your experience by sending you emails and other communications related to our Services.

You may opt out of email Marketing Communications by clicking on the unsubscribe link provided in such Marketing Communications.  You may opt out of all Marketing Communications by contacting customer service at 855-582-1928.

You may opt-out of the use and disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information when it is collected for the purpose of inferring characteristics or if it will be used or disclosed beyond what is necessary to provide the requested Services. Sallie Mae is not using your Sensitive Personal Information to infer characteristics or for any purpose other than the purpose of providing the Services. 

4. HOW DO WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We may disclose your Personal Information for the following purposes:

• to fulfill your request or for the purpose explained when you provided the Personal Information; for example, if you share your name and contact information to ask a question about our Services, we will use that Personal Information to respond to your inquiry, if you provide your Personal Information to apply for Sallie Mae Services or apply for a job with Sallie Mae, we will use that Personal Information to facilitate the application and contact you regarding the outcome;
• with your consent we may share your Personal Information with Authorized Third Parties with whom we partner to provide contests, scholarships, or co-branded Services;
• to fulfill legal and regulatory requirements or comply with federal, state or local laws; civil, criminal or regulatory investigations, or disclose Personal Information to third parties if we reasonably believe that such action is necessary to (a) comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law enforcement; (b) to enforce our Terms of Use or to protect the security or integrity of our Services; and/or (c) to exercise or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Sallie Mae, our Customers, Visitors, or others;
• to operate, maintain, and provide the features and functionality of the Sallie Mae Sites and Services;
• to help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our Sites, Services, databases and other technology assets, and business; to diagnose or fix technology problems, and otherwise plan for and enhance our Services;
• to share information for marketing purposes with our affiliates or other companies owned or controlled by Sallie Mae and where we are legally permitted to do so; and
• in the event of a transfer, sale or merger of all or part of Sallie Mae or its affiliates whether through a sale, acquisition, merger, consolidation, reorganization, bankruptcy, or other corporate change involving us and/or our affiliates. 

5. ONLINE TRACKING AND ADVERTISING

We collect certain usage information through a variety of tracking technologies, including cookies, Flash objects, web beacons, file information and similar technology (collectively, “Cookies”), and we may use third-party partners, with whom we have contracted (“TPPs”), to collect Cookies.  Information collected using Cookies includes Personal Information. For example, we may collect the following Personal Information using Cookies:

• your device and its software,
• your IP address,
• your browser type,
• your browsing history,
• your Internet service provider, platform type,
• a unique ID that allows us to uniquely identify your browser, mobile device, and your account depending on your device settings, or
• your geographical location data.

We do not collect Sensitive Personal Information using Cookies.

Although we do our best to honor your privacy preferences, we are unable to respond to Do Not Track signals set by your browser at this time.  If you would prefer not to accept Cookies, most browsers will allow you to: (i) change your browser settings to notify you when you receive a Cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept it; (ii) disable existing Cookies; or (iii) set your browser to automatically reject Cookies.  Please note that doing so may negatively impact your experience using the Sites as some features and services on our Sites may not work properly and the offers we provide when you visit or use our Sites may not be as relevant to you or tailored to your interests. Depending on your mobile device and operating system, you may not be able to delete or block all Cookies. 

We and our TPPs may also use Cookies for advertising purposes. 

We may share, or we may permit TPPs to collect Personal Information about your use of our Sites over time so that they may display ads that may be relevant to your interests on our Sites as well as on other websites or apps, or on other devices you may use.  We or the TPPs use this information to make the advertisements you see online more relevant to your interests. As noted above, depending on your browser or mobile device, you may be able set your browser to delete or notify you of Cookies by actively managing the settings on your browser or mobile device. You may also be able to limit interest-based advertising through the settings on your browser or device.  For example, you may be able to opt-out of some interest-based advertising on your mobile device by selecting “limit ad tracking” (iOS) or “opt-out of interest-based ads” (Android).

You have choices about how Cookies are used during your visits to our Sites. You may be presented with a Cookies banner where you can opt in to or out of certain Cookies categories. You may not opt out of strictly necessary Cookies which ensure our Sites work properly. If you do not make any selections by either clicking the “x” to close the banner or by navigating away from the initial web page, your choices will be captured as opted out of all Cookies except strictly necessary Cookies. You can change your choices at any time within our Sites. If you delete Cookies and then access our Sites from a different device or change web browsers, you may be prompted to make your selections again.

To opt out of Cookies tracking please use the Cookie Preferences button on salliemae.com.

A.  Your choices and control over your personal information

If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, or Virginia please click here to learn about your consumer privacy rights.

If you would like to exercise your privacy rights, you do not need to create an account. We will only use Personal Information provided in a request to review and comply with the request.

To opt out of the potential sale or sharing of your Personal Information or to limit the use and disclosure of your Sensitive Personal Information, visit the opt-out page by following the Link below. Personal Information will not be sold or shared for nonaffiliates to market to you.

“DO NOT SELL OR SHARE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION” or “LIMIT THE USE AND DISCLOSURE OF MY SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION”
 

B.  If you are a Sallie Mae Customer

You may update your Customer profile and other Personal Information by logging in and accessing your Customer account. You may opt out of any Marketing Communications by clicking on the unsubscribe link provided in such Marketing Communications. We make every effort to promptly process all unsubscribe requests. You may not opt out of Services-related communications (e.g., account verification, transactional communications, changes/updates to features of the Sites or Services, technical and security notices).

You may contact us using the Contact Us information posted on this Privacy Policy.
 

C.  If you are a Visitor

You may elect to stop receiving Marketing Communications from us by clicking on the unsubscribe link provided in such communications. We make every effort to promptly process all unsubscribe requests.

You may contact us using the Contact Us information posted on this Privacy Policy.
 

D.  Links to Authorized Third Parties websites and services.

From time to time, you may access our Sites through the website of one of our Authorized Third Parties. We will try to show clearly whether a page is co-branded by placing the Authorized Third Parties’ name or logo in a prominent place. If you provide your Personal Information on a co-branded page, your Personal Information may be shared with the Authorized Third Party.  Please review the Authorized Third Parties’ privacy policy and terms of use.  If you have any questions regarding the privacy policies of our Authorized Third Parties, please contact the Authorized Third Parties directly using the channels provided by the Authorized Third Parties.

Some of our Sites also permit you to access non-Sallie Mae websites directly from our Sites. It is important to remember that if you link to a non-Sallie Mae website from any of our Sites, that third-party's privacy policy and its terms and of use apply to you.  We encourage you to learn about each third-party's privacy policy before sharing your Personal Information with them. 

6. HOW WE STORE AND PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION 

A.  Data storage and transfer.  Your Personal Information collected through our Sites may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which we or our subsidiaries or service providers maintain facilities.  While Sallie Mae does not directly market to residents outside of the United States, you should be aware that if you are located in the European Union or other regions; those regions have laws and regulations governing data protection, security, collection and use (“Data Protection Laws”) that may differ from Data Protection Laws in the United States. Please note that we may transfer Personal Information to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same Data Protection Laws as your jurisdiction, and you consent to the transfer of your Personal Information to the United States or any other country in which we or our service providers maintain facilities.  Any transfer of Personal Information outside of the United States will be done in accordance with the security requirements outlined under Data Protection Laws.

B.  Keeping your Personal Information safe.  We care about the security of your Personal Information. We use industry standard physical, administrative, and technological safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of Personal Information collected through our Sites.  However, no security system is impenetrable, and we cannot guarantee the security of our systems 100%.  In the event that any Personal Information under our control is compromised as a result of a confirmed breach of security, we will take appropriate steps to investigate the situation and, notify you if your Personal Information may have been compromised in accordance with any applicable Data Protection Laws.

7. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

Sallie Mae does not knowingly collect or solicit any Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13.  If we learn that we have inadvertently collected Personal Information from a child under age 13, we will delete that Personal Information promptly.  If you believe that we might have any Personal Information from a child under 13, please contact us using the Contact Us information listed below. 

8. UPDATES

This Privacy Policy may be updated or amended at any time and from time to time and will reflect the date it was last updated or amended. Under certain circumstances, we may also elect to notify you of updates or amendments to our Privacy Policy by sending you an email. Please check this Privacy Policy each time you utilize the Sites to ensure you are aware of any changes in our practices. Your continued use of the Sites indicates your acceptance of and agreement with the changes to this Privacy Policy.

9. CONTACT US

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, you are welcome to write or call us toll-free at:

Customer Privacy
Sallie Mae
P.O. Box 3319
Wilmington, DE 19804-4319
(855) 582-1928

You may also contact us via email at: privacy@salliemae.com