Privacy at a Glance
The companies within Wachovia Corporation that provide education loans – Educaid®, Wachovia Education Finance, Wachovia Bank, N.A., and Wachovia Bank of Delaware, N.A.1 – are your partners in helping you achieve your financial goals. We are dedicated to providing you with the highest level of service and protecting your privacy. As technology continues to transform the way information is collected and distributed, we want to make sure you know that we have implemented a number of important practices for safeguarding the privacy and security of financial information about you.
We employ safeguards to protect consumer information and to prevent fraud. We carefully manage information about you. We do not sell customer information to other companies for marketing purposes.
You may direct us not to contact you for marketing purposes. You may direct us not to share, within Wachovia, non-transactional information about you (such as credit of employment history) that we receive from others.
How to Reach Us to Exercise Your Choices
Complete our Consumer Privacy Preferences Form at educaid.com/privacy. Call us at 1-800-338-2243 to speak to a representative.
How You Can Help Protect Your Privacy
Do not share your account information, passwords or code words with others. Do not provide confidential information by telephone to unknown callers. Do not provide confidential information online unless you initiated the contact, know the party with whom you are dealing and provide the information through a secure channel.
When conducting business over the Internet, always use a secure browser and exit online applications as soon as you finish using them.
Protect your account records
If you believe you are a victim of fraud or identity theft, please contact us at 1-800-338-2243 for assistance, such as to put holds on your accounts. Also see the “Identity Theft Assistance” section of our Privacy Statement. Since this section is a summary, it is important that you read the rest of this statement.
How We Secure Your Assets and Protect Information About You
We train our employees to protect customer information. We continually enhance our security tools and processes. We protect customer data and accounts by asking you for information that only you should know when you contact us. We follow these procedures on the phone and over the Internet.
How We Protect Your Privacy Online
Protecting customer information online is an essential part of our service to you. Our systems use technologies such as firewalls (which protect systems from intrusion) and encryption (scrambling of information) to protect consumer information. We validate your identity through confidential access codes before we allow online access to your accounts. For more information on our Internet Security and Privacy policies, please visit educaid.com/privacy.
How We Gather Information to Understand Your Financial Needs
The information we gather about you helps us to better understand your financial needs and to provide more personalized, efficient service to you. For example, this information may prompt us to recommend a particular education loan product or service to meet you education financing needs.
* This Privacy Statement explains how we handle and protect information and replaces any Privacy Statements previously provided. The Privacy Statement applies to consumers who are customers or former customers of the Wachovia companies that provide education loans – Educaid, Wachovia Education Finance, Wachovia Bank, N.A., and Wachovia Bank of Delaware, N.A. – and have established relationships with Educaid/Wachovia In the United States. The policies and practices described in this Privacy Statement are subject to change, but we will notify you of any significant changes.
The information we gather comes from a variety of sources, including:
Information you provide directly to us on an application or otherwise (such as your Social Security Number, assets and income) Information related to your transactions with Educaid, Wachovia Education Finance, Wachovia Bank, N.A., Wachovia Bank of Delaware, N.A. and their affiliates (such as account balance and payment history) Information we receive about you (such as your credit history or enrollment status) from third parties including credit reporting agencies, schools, and guaranty agencies when you apply for education loan products Information we obtain from others at your request (such as information requests you authorize on your federal loan documents) Information obtained when you use Internet products and services (such as application and transaction information and information contained in e-mails you send us) We carefully manage all the information gathered about you as described in the following section.
How We Manage Information to Serve Your Needs
Within Wachovia Corporation
We consolidate information about customers within the companies that make up Wachovia Corporation, including: Information based on your transactions with us (for example, information that we would collect in order to offer you a federal consolidation loan) and contact information (such as your name and address) Non-transactional information received from others (such as credit or employment history) to evaluate your eligibility for various financial services (for example, a non-government student loan) We share your non-transactional information with other Wachovia companies when necessary to give you a product or service you have requested. For all other purposes, you may tell us not to share non-transactional information about you with other companies within Wachovia Corporation.* For more information, see the section below entitled “Your Choices as a Customer.”
Outside of Wachovia Corporation
Other than limited exceptions like those below, we do not provide customer information to companies outside of Wachovia Corporation. You do not need to request this confidentiality; it is our standard practice.
In order to serve your needs, we may provide all of the information we gather to:
Specialists that perform business operations for us (such as loan application and loan payment processing) companies that act on our behalf to market our services, or companies with whom we have entered into a joint marketing agreement in order to provide you with valuable financial services that we do not offer (such as non-government consolidation loans)* others only as permitted or required by law (such as to protect against fraud or in response to a subpoena, or to credit reporting agencies, guaranty agencies, and schools) We select very carefully the companies that provide services on our behalf, or offer you financial services that we do not provide. Also, we only provide them with information that we believe is necessary to fulfill their responsibilities or to provide a financial service to you. These companies are prevented by legal agreement from using this information for their own purposes or selling this information to others.
Other Applicable Laws
The practices described above are in accordance with federal law. We may also be subject to other privacy requirements under applicable state law. For example, Vermont law places additional limits on sharing information about Vermont residents. So long as they remain residents of Vermont, we will not share information we collect about Vermont residents to companies outside of Wachovia, except:
To companies that perform marketing or other services on our behalf; Contact information (like name and address), and transaction information (such as your payment history) to other financial institutions with which we have joint marketing agreements; With the authorization or consent of the Vermont resident; or As permitted by law. We also will not share non-transactional information about Vermont residents received from others within Wachovia except with the authorization or consent of the Vermont resident.
Your Choices as a Customer
1. We may contact you from time to time to inform you of different financial products and services that may be of value to you. If you tell us not to market other products and services to you, we will honor your request.
2. You also have a choice about how your customer information is managed within Wachovia. If you prefer that we do not share non-transactional information about you (such as credit history) with companies within Wachovia Corporation, you may tell us not to do so and we will honor that request as well.
Whatever your preferences, we will honor your wishes and respect your privacy. Your preferences will remain in effect until you tell us otherwise. You do not need to notify us if you have already indicated your preferences to us. To discuss your options, inform us of a preference, or provide us with feedback, visit us on the web at educaid.com/privacy or call us at 1-800-338-2243
If you contact us, we will assume your preferences apply to you only – unless you tell us that they also apply to other individuals listed on your accounts.
Please note that we are committed to providing you with superior service. Occasionally, we may need to contact you to resolve a problem or to service your accounts. For example, we may contact you if your school increases your loan eligibility.
Identity Theft Assistance
If you believe you may be a victim of identity theft:
1. Contact us at 1-800-338-2243 to place holds on your accounts, obtain a free copy of Wachovia’s Customer Fraud Assistance Package or for other assistance.
2. Contact the Social Security Administration’s Fraud Hotline at 800-269-0271 to report fraudulent use of your identification information.
3. Report the incident as quickly as possible to the credit reporting agencies:
Experian 888-397-3742 Equifax 800-525-6285 Trans Union 800-680-7289
4. File a police report in your local jurisdiction and retain the report number and the name of the officer who took the report.
5. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by contacting the FTC’s Identity Theft Hotline: 877-IDTHEFT.
How to Limit Direct Marketing from Other Companies
To limit the instances in which credit reporting agencies share your information with companies wishing to offer you pre-approved credit solicitations, you can call 888-567-8688 (the Credit Reporting Industry Pre-screening Opt Out Number). To limit the marketing you receive from companies outside of Wachovia, you may contact the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) at the addresses below and have your name removed from their contact lists. You must include your name, address, telephone number and signature with your request.
DMA Mail Preference Service: P. O. Box 643 Carmel, NY 10512
DMA Telephone Preference Service: P. O. Box 1559 Carmel, NY 10512
Email Preference Service: dmaconsumers.org/optoutform_emps.shtml
We Strive to Maintain Accurate Information
We strive to maintain complete and accurate information about you and your accounts. If you ever believe that our records contain inaccurate or incomplete information about you, please let us know immediately. We are committed to resolving any inaccuracies as quickly as possible.
Credit Reporting Agencies
If you believe we have reported inaccurate information about your account to any credit reporting agency, please let us know in writing. Be sure to include your complete name, current address, Social Security Number, telephone number, account number, type of account, specific item of dispute and the reason you believe the information is wrong. Send your notice to: EDUCAID, Wachovia Education Finance, P. O. Box 13667, Sacramento, CA 95853-3667. We will investigate your concern and strive to ensure any inaccuracies we find are corrected. You will be informed of any actions taken.
If You Have Questions, Contact Us
We welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have about this statement or the safeguarding and confidentiality of your information. Please visit our website at educaid.com/privacy, or call us at 1-800-338-2243
