CU Student Choice Partners ("Student Choice") is a service provider to credit unions and assists credit unions in providing private education loan solutions to their members.
About this Privacy Statement
This Student Choice Online Privacy Statement (“Statement”) explains how we collect, use, protect, and share your information. This Statement applies when you visit any studentchoice.org website that displays this Statement. This Statement is not applicable once you leave these website(s).
This Statement differs from the Gramm Leach Bliley Act Privacy Policy provided to you by your credit union. Additionally, because this website is hosted separately from your credit union’s website, the online practices described in this Statement may differ from the Privacy Notice provided to you by Elements Financial, found by visiting elements.org (often located in the website footer or found by using the search function).
Information We Collect
Personal Information
When you visit our website, or use our online services, Student Choice may collect personal information about you that you provide such as your name, birth-date, email address, mailing address, phone number, account numbers, government identification numbers such as your social security numbers or driver’s license number, and username/password.
Website Usage Information
Student Choice may also collect non-identifying information about your use of our online services. For example, we may capture the IP address or mobile ID number of the device you use to connect to our online services, the type of operating system and browser you use, and the screen settings on your browser or device. We or our third-party partners may also capture information about the site you came from, the parts of our online service that you access, and the sites you visit next. We or our third-party partners may also use tacking technologies such as cookies, pixels, and other similar technologies to collect and store information about your visit to our website or use of our online services. We do not link this automatically collected data to any personal information.
Information We Collect from Other Sources
When providing you our services, Student Choice may also collect personal information about you from other third-party sources such as information you provide to our third-party vendors during the loan application process, information obtained from your credit union, or information obtained from a credit reporting agency. We may combine this information with other personal information we have collected about you under this Statement.
How We Use the Information We Collect
We may use the information discussed above to:
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respond to inquiries and fulfill your requests
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notify you about important information regarding products and services that you applied for or in which you are enrolled
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verify your identity
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prevent fraud and enhance the security of your account or our online services
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manage your preferences
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perform analytics of your use of our online services (e.g.: the web pages and advertisements you have viewed)
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deliver non-interest-based internet advertisements
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internally evaluate and improve our business operations
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comply with legal requirements, relevant contractual obligations, and our internal policies
Who We Disclose Your Information To
Student Choice may share the information it collects from you with its third-party partners. For instance, we may share your information with:
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service providers, such as data processors to assist in the recordkeeping and administration of your account records
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service providers for the purposes of marketing our products/services to you
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legal representatives, to assist in the drafting and executing of required account documents
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the credit union through which you are obtaining our products or services
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consumer credit bureaus
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certain third-parties to comply with legal requirements, court orders, or to prevent fraud
Student Choice does not sell your personal information with third-parties for the purposes of marketing.
Internet Tracking
Use of Tracking Technologies
Both Student Choice and the companies we work with may use cookies, pixel tags, local shared objects, and other tracking technologies for certain purposes, including to monitor our advertising and marketing campaign performance and to prevent fraud. We do not use tracking technologies to collect unencrypted personal information. We do not use tracking technologies to collect personal information from residents of California.
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Cookies: Cookies are small packets of data sent by a website and stored on a user’s web browser. Each time the user loads the website, the browser sends a cookie back to the website to inform the user’s prior activity. Cookies may allow us or our third-party service providers to document your use of our websites over time so that we may customize your experience. Cookies also allow us to monitor the effectiveness of certain marketing campaigns. You may disable the use of cookies by our websites by adjusting your browser settings, but this will limit the functionality available to you on future visits.
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Pixel Tags: Pixel Tags, also known as web beacons or clear GIFs, are transparent images embedded in a web page or email which track whether a user has accessed the content. Pixel tags may be used in emailed advertisements or whenever you otherwise interact with a Student Choice advertisement on a webpage.
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Local Shared Objects: Also known as “flash cookies,” local shared objects are pieces of data that websites that use Adobe Flash may store on a user’s computer hard drive. Local shared objects operate similarly to cookies, but they cannot be managed by adjusting browser settings. Information on how to manage local shared objects.
Do-Not-Track
Some browsers incorporate a Do Not Track feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Tracking is not the same as using or collecting information about your use of a single website. For these purposes tracking refers to collecting information from consumers who use or visit a website or online service as they move across different websites over time.
How browsers communicate the Do Not Track signal is not yet uniform. Thus, this site is not yet set up to interpret or respond to Do Not Track signals communicated by your browser. Even so, as described more fully throughout this Statement, we limit our use and collection of your personal information.
Learn more about Do Not track protocols for browsers and mobile devices, and the choices available to you.
Links to Third-Party Websites
Student Choice may provide links to non-Student Choice websites. If you use an online link to visit a third-party website, you will be subject to that website’s privacy and security policies which may differ from ours. If you are asked to provide information on one of these websites, we urge you to review their privacy policies before sharing your information.
Advertising
Student Choice advertises online (e.g.: through both affiliated and unaffiliated URL webpages, mobile apps, and company managed social media accounts) and offline (e.g.: through direct marketing). We may use the information we collect (described above) about you to provide both tailored and untailored ads to you in various online and direct marketing advertising campaigns.
How we may tailor ads:
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Relationship-based Advertising: To provide advertisements and offers that are relevant to you, we may use information about your relationship with us (e.g.: your types of accounts; age; transactional information; or the state in which you live).
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Third-party Advertising: Student Choice contracts with third-party companies to advertise our products and services on our behalf. We may both use aggregated and de-identified data, and data provided by you to determine which types of advertisements and offers to deliver to you. We do not allow third-party companies to collect data for their own marketing purposes.
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Online Behavioral Advertising (also known as interest-based advertising or OBA): Student Choice and the third-party companies Student Choice partners with may use online tracking technologies (e.g.: cookies, web pixels, and flash objects) to collect information about your browsing habits (e.g.: non-affiliated webpages you visit) and interests in order deliver targeted ads and offers to you on Student Choice websites, third-party websites, or in direct marketing campaigns. If you don’t want Student Choice or the companies we work with to collect information about you for interest-based advertising purposes, you can opt-out of interest-based advertising by following the instructions in the next section.
How you can opt-out of online behavioral advertising:
Student Choice delivers interest-based advertisements using the Google Display Network. You can restrict Google (and other third-party marketers) from collecting your data to deliver interest-based advertisements by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Choice Tool. To opt out of OBA, please click on the following link and follow the instructions: http://youradchoice.com.
Please note that if you opt-out of interest-based advertising, you may still see non-interest-based ads from Student Choice. Additionally, for these opt-outs to work you must have your browser set to receive “cookies.” You will also have to opt-out on each web browser that you use.
Security
Student Choice uses physical, electronic, and procedural security measures that comply with government standards and guidelines to safeguard information. We have policies and procedures that restrict our employees', agents', and contractors' access to information about you. They have access to your information only on a business need-to-know basis. When you provide information on Student Choice websites, we use technology to encrypt and privately transfer your information to our network.
Updating Your Information
Keeping your account information accurate and up to date is very important. If your account information is incomplete, inaccurate or not current, please contact us to update your information.
Information from Children Online
Our online services are not intended for children under 17. We do not knowingly collect personal information for children under 17 without parental consent.
California Residents
If applicable California law provides more protections to California residents (as that term is defined under applicable the law), all information collected on such residents, if any, will be in accordance with such laws. Please go to the CCPA Privacy Notice to learn more about our Privacy Notice for California Residents. California residents may make a CCPA request if desired.
Changes to the Student Choice Online Privacy Statement
This Statement is subject to change and will always display the date of the last update. Please review it periodically or access the previous version of this Statement.
Questions or Concerns about the Student Choice Online Privacy Statement
If you have any questions related to this policy, please contact:
Elements Financial
c/o CU Student Choice
110 Broadway Street
Suite 505
San Antonio, TX 78205-1967
Effective Date: 07/31/2023