More about the U.S. Bank1 Consumer Privacy Pledge
U.S. Bank is deeply committed to keeping our customers informed of our policies and practices. In order to continue that commitment, U.S. Bank has adopted a new format for our consumer privacy pledge. This new format is part of an industry-wide initiative geared to better inform our consumer customers on how information about them is collected, shared and protected. It also discusses how consumer customers may, in some instances, limit information sharing.
Questions about our use of information2
Why do you want to know about me?
The information we collect about you provides significant customer benefits. It enables us to understand your financial needs, improve products and services, comply with laws and regulations, provide enhanced customer service, and protect you against fraud.
Protection – We gather information about you to protect you. We need to be able to identify you and your products and services to prevent access to personal and financial information by unauthorized persons.
Customer Benefits – We also gather information to help us understand your financial needs and provide you with quality products and services. For example, if we know you own your own home, we know that a home equity loan may be a better alternative than an installment loan to finance your next purchase - because of better rates and possible tax benefits.
Product Enhancements – In some cases, we gather information to help us design or improve our products and services. For example, information obtained from customers can tell us whether to develop a new type of home mortgage loan or a checking account. This type of information enables us to identify the needs of customers and provide services to meet those needs.
Comply with Law and Regulation – We gather information to comply with laws and regulations that govern the financial services industry. For example, federal regulations require that we obtain a Social Security number or tax identification number for many types of accounts, such as bank deposit accounts that pay interest.
How do I benefit when you share information about me and my products and services within your affiliated family of banks and companies?
We provide products and services to customers through a number of affiliated banks and companies. Our Consumer Privacy Pledge provides you with a representative list of the U.S. Bank family of financial service providers with whom your information could be shared. By allowing our affiliated banks and companies to share information about you and your products and services with each other, you enable us to serve your total financial needs. You may receive our combined bank/company account statements, easier access to certain account features, new or enhanced products, special promotional offers, and certain discounts that you might not otherwise know about or be eligible to receive.
If I request to be excluded from information sharing among affiliates as explained in the Consumer Privacy Pledge, will all of your affiliated banks and companies honor this request?
Yes, all of our affiliated banks and companies will honor your request. Certain information about you and your products and services with us still may be shared as explained below. You cannot selectively request to be excluded on a company-by-company basis or product-by-product basis. To provide you with better service, if we are unable to offer you the U.S. Bank product you applied for, we may offer you the opportunity to have us forward your application and related information to another U.S. Bank company for a similar product.
If I request to be excluded from information sharing among your affiliates, what information about me and my products and services with you will and will not be shared within your family of banks and companies?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act and certain other laws permit you to direct us not to share certain information within our affiliated family – but these laws also permit us to share certain other information within our affiliated family. Even if you "request to be excluded from affiliate sharing of information," we will share this other information about you and your products and services within our family in order to provide you the fullest range of financial services, as discussed below.
Fair Credit Reporting Act
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is the primary law that covers information sharing within our affiliated family of banks and companies. This act permits our affiliated banks and companies to share with each other the following types of information: identification information about you; information about your transactions with any of our affiliated banks and companies; and information about the experiences of any of our affiliated banks and companies with you. However information that is categorized as "personal credit information" cannot be shared with our affiliated banks and companies if you tell us not to share this information. Personal credit information is information that bears on your creditworthiness, personal characteristics, mode of living or the like (other than identification, transactional, and experiential information described above). When you request to be excluded from affiliate sharing of information according to the procedures set out in the Consumer Privacy Pledge, we cannot share this personal credit information about you.
Other Restrictive Laws
Other laws and rulings also regulate our ability to share certain information within our affiliated family of banks and companies in particular circumstances, or to offer you products and services in particular cases. Some laws, for example, prohibit us from sharing certain information within our affiliated family of banks and companies without your expressed written or oral consent or, in a few cases, under any circumstances. Whether or not you have exercised your choice and provided us with a request to be excluded from information sharing among our affiliates, we, of course, abide by these laws.
Can you provide me with a few examples of information that still may be shared within your affiliated family of banks and companies if I request to be excluded from information sharing among your affiliates?
We can share identification information about you, such as your name and address. In most cases, we also can share information about your transactions or experiences with any of our affiliated banks and companies, such as your loan repayment or checking account history, as permitted under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. When we process your accounts, we can share additional information, including personal credit information about you, solely for that purpose. Some of our affiliated banks and companies, for example, share or receive information in order to provide technical or operational support services - such as to prepare your account statements or provide data processing services - for other affiliated banks and companies.
Under what circumstances do you provide information to parties outside your affiliated banks and companies?
We are committed to protecting our confidential information about you and your products and services with us. However, it is occasionally necessary to provide some of this information to parties outside our affiliated banks and companies. We may also provide certain information to third parties for other purposes as described below.
We are required, for example, to share information about you and your products and services with us with parties named in a lawsuit or administrative action when we are served with a subpoena or court order. We also are required to share this information with federal or state regulatory authorities, such as banking examiners or the Internal Revenue Service, as authorized by federal or state law. Consistent with the practice of other banks and financial service companies, we also share certain information about you and your products and services with us with reputable credit reporting agencies as authorized by federal law and with others who may receive certain information from us under particular circumstances - but only as lawfully permitted or required.
From time to time, we contract with parties outside our affiliated banks and companies in order to offer you certain financial products. For example, we may contract with insurance companies to offer you various insurance products. Under these programs, a limited amount of information about you or your account may be provided to the third party under an agreement requiring the third party to keep the information confidential and not use it for any other purpose. We do not provide account or personal information to non-U.S. Bank companies for the purpose of independent telemarketing or direct mail marketing of any non-financial products or services of those companies.
We also sometimes contract with outside agents or service providers to prepare your account statements, enter or calculate transactions and balances, or provide other materials or services on our behalf. These agents, service providers, and third party product providers agree to safeguard our information about you and your products and services with us, and must abide by applicable law.
We also occasionally decide to sell business assets or a business line. In these cases, we may transfer to the purchaser the related customer information.
Questions about direct marketing
Does U.S. Bank conduct direct marketing?
We may contact our existing customers by mail, telephone, or email to offer additional financial products or services that we believe may be of interest to you. In addition, we may from time to time purchase mailing or other lists from outside agencies or companies that are in the business of compiling lists for purchase by others for their independent use. These lists are compiled by such agencies and companies primarily from public sources of information.
The Privacy Pledge provides procedures regarding how you may direct us not to send you such offers.
How can I remove my name from lists created by outside agencies and companies that are in the business of compiling lists for purchase?
For information on how to remove your name from mail and telephone lists created by outside agencies and companies, contact the organizations below. You must personally register your own name, address and/or telephone number directly with each organization because they cannot process any requests from us.
Direct mail
To limit the volume of direct mail you receive, contact the Direct Marketing Association:
On-Line: dmachoice.org
By Phone: 212.768.7277
Be sure to include all versions of your name that appear in mailings you receive. The Direct Marketing Association will include your name in its consumer exclusion files so that your name may be removed from lists compiled or maintained by the agencies and companies that are members of that organization. Your name remains in the file for five years.
National Do Not Call Registry
To limit the number of telemarketing calls you receive on your home or mobile phone, go to the National Do Not Call Registry:
On-line: donotcall.gov
By Phone: 1.888.382.1222
The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days.
Credit reporting agencies
If you would like to stop credit reporting agencies from disclosing your information to companies who want to offer you credit or other products, call the following toll-free number and follow the instructions on the recorded message: 888.567.8688.
Questions about your credit file
What is a credit file disclosure or a credit report?
A credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, provides you with all of the information in your credit file maintained by a consumer reporting company that could be provided by the consumer reporting company in a consumer report about you to a third party, such as a lender. A credit file disclosure also includes a record of everyone who has received a consumer report about you from the consumer reporting company within a certain period of time ("inquiries"). The credit file disclosure includes certain information that is not included in a consumer report about you to a third party, such as the inquiries of companies for pre-approved offers of credit or insurance and account reviews, and any medical account information which is suppressed for third party users of consumer reports. You are entitled to receive a disclosure copy of your credit file from a consumer reporting company under Federal law and the laws of various states.
How can I request a free credit report?
You are entitled to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. This free credit report can be requested by web, phone or by mail. For more information, please go to: annualcreditreport.com. This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
It is entirely your choice whether you order all three credit reports at the same time or order one now and others later. The advantage of ordering all three at the same time is that you can compare them. (However, you will not be eligible for another free credit report from the Central Source for 12 months.) On the other hand, the advantage of ordering one now and others later (for example, one credit report every four months) is that you can keep track of any changes or new information that may appear on your credit report. Remember, you are entitled to receive one free credit report through the Central Source every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – so if you order from only one company today you can still order from the other two companies at a later date.
How do I place a "fraud alert" on my credit file?
You have the right to ask that nationwide consumer credit reporting companies place "fraud alerts" in your file to let potential creditors and others know that you may be a victim of identity theft. A fraud alert can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you. It also may delay your ability to obtain credit. You may place a fraud alert in your file by calling just one of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. As soon as that agency processes your fraud alert, it will notify the other two, which then also must place fraud alerts in your file.
Equifax: 1.800.525.6285 equifax.com
Experian: 1.888.397.3742 experian.com/fraud
TransUnion: 1.800.680.7289 transunion.com
An initial fraud alert stays in your file for at least 90 days. An extended alert stays in your file for seven years. To place either of these alerts, a consumer credit reporting company will require you to provide appropriate proof of your identity, which may include your Social Security number. If you ask for an extended alert, you will have to provide an identity theft report. An identity theft report includes a copy of a report you have filed with a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency. For more detailed information about the identity theft report, visit ftc.gov.