The FDIC is strongly committed to maintaining the privacy of your personal information. The FDIC collects no personal information about you when you visit our sites, unless you specifically and knowingly choose to provide such information. If you choose to provide such information, we use it only to fulfill your request for information or services or to assist us in carrying out our mission. To learn more about how we handle personal information that you may choose to submit to us, as well as non-personal information that is automatically collected about your visit, please read on or click on the following links.
When you visit our Web site, we automatically collect some general, anonymous information about your visit to help us improve navigation and functionality of our site or investigate disruption of service attacks. This information includes: the date and time of your visit; an Internet Protocol (IP) address; the browser software and operating system used for your visit; and the content of any sent or received cookie. This information is technical in nature, is not used to identify who you are, and is collected in the aggregate for statistical purposes.
FDIC Web sites may use cookies; however, cookies set by or on behalf of FDIC do not collect personal information about you, but only about your browser "session". This non-personal information is not disclosed to third parties, unless otherwise indicated below, and may be retained by FDIC for Web site improvement and customization purposes, in compliance with FDIC's policies for privacy and data safeguarding. Only the following types of cookies are used on FDIC Web sites:
Session cookies (Tier 1) are sometimes used on FDIC sites to provide streamlined navigation and for basic Web metrics.
Persistent cookies (Tier 2) may be used on some FDIC sites to allow you to create and save customized reports or preference settings for future visits. To learn more about these cookies, please visit Privacy Policy Definitions. Persistent cookies may also be used as part of a voluntary Web customer satisfaction survey that appears to a small percentage of our Web site visitors and is administered for FDIC by Qualtrics, a third-party survey company. The survey provides an opportunity to provide feedback about the Web site, and the information is used to improve the services delivered via FDIC.gov.
Videos embedded in the FDIC Web site are hosted by a third party-vendor, and may set a persistent cookie when you click to play the videos. These cookies are stored on your computer's hard drive and allow the third-party video provider to record and track the Web site that you have visited and which videos you have played. The FDIC does not capture or manage these cookies, and is not responsible for how they are utilized. Further information regarding the handling of these cookies is available in the privacy statements available on the video providers' Web sites. If you would like to view the videos without the use of persistent cookies, please refer to the "opt-out" instructions provided below.
Opt-Out Instructions: You can set your computer to reject (i.e. "opt out" of) cookies, and you will still be able to access all of the informational resources provided on our sites. However, some of the customized and dynamic features may not function properly or as efficiently. To learn more about how to opt out of cookies, visit USA.gov Web Measurement and Customization Opt-Out (usa.gov).
You may decide to provide FDIC with information, including personal information. The information you supply - whether through a Web form or by e-mail - is maintained by the FDIC for the purpose of processing your inquiry or request.
a. Use and Sharing of Personal Information
Various
employees of the FDIC may see the information you submit in the course of their official duties.
The information may also be shared by the FDIC with third parties to advance the purpose for which
you provide the information. Specifically:
- If you file a complaint, it may be sent to the appropriate financial institution and/or federal, state, or local government agencies for action or information may be supplied to the Department of Justice in the event it appears that federal criminal statutes have been violated by an entity you are reporting to the FDIC. The primary use of personal information you provide will be to enable the government to contact you in the event we have questions regarding the information you have reported.
- If you register with an FDIC online mailing list, the information you provide may be used to send you FDIC communications or notify you about updates to our Web site.
- If you submit an order via FDIC's Online Product Catalog, the information you supply is used only by authorized FDIC personnel and vendors for the sole purpose of processing and fulfilling your order.
- If you register for a non-deposit claim, the information you provide will be used by FDIC to certify your account ownership and process/resolve your claim. The information you provide is not shared with third parties.
In general, if you send us information or correspondence by e-mail, an online form, or any other means, you are consenting to the FDIC using the information provided therein, including personally identifying information, in accordance with this notice, unless you expressly state in your correspondence your objection to any use(s). Please note that under certain circumstances, the FDIC may be required or authorized by law to disclose information you submit to the Corporation, for example, to respond to a Congressional inquiry or subpoena.
b. Retention of Information
We may retain electronically submitted information as long as necessary to respond to your
request, depending on the subject matter and according to the principles of the Federal Records
Act and the regulations and records schedules approved by the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA). Computer Web server logs may be preserved as long as administratively
necessary and are scheduled for destruction in accordance with guidelines approved by NARA. The
information in the logs may be used at any time as necessary to prevent security breaches and to
insure the integrity of the data on our servers.
If you use an online form to register for information e-mail updates or for other purposes, information you provide may be retained so that we can notify you about changes or upgrades, where appropriate.
Sections of the FDIC Web site, such as Learning Bank, may offer educational content to children, parents and teachers. In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the FDIC does not require children to reveal any information that could personally identify them. If, however, a child chooses to provide us with personally identifying information, through an e-mail, Web form or other means, it will only be used to respond to the writer's question(s) or request(s). The information will not be retained, used for another purpose, or shared with third parties.
The Privacy Act Regulations protects the personal information the federal government keeps on individuals in Systems of Records (SOR). Please note that the Privacy Act does not cover all information collected online. More detailed information visit the Privacy Act, including a listing of FDIC Systems of Records Notices (SORNs).
In order to encourage greater public participation, collaboration, and transparency, the FDIC currently maintains official Corporation accounts on commercial social media sites, including Facebook, YouTube (YouTube Terms of Service), LinkedIn, and Twitter. The YouTube API client uses the YouTube API services and these services permit third parties to serve advertisement content. The FDIC does not own or operate these sites. These sites are owned, controlled and operated by non-government third parties. As such, the FDIC's Online Privacy Policy does not apply to, or have authority over, the privacy policy of any commercial social media sites you may visit. Therefore, if you choose to provide information or interact with the FDIC on a commercial third-party site, please review carefully the privacy policy of the third party. Click on the following to view the privacy policies of Google Privacy Policies, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Additionally, the Corporation does not actively collect, maintain, share, or disseminate information posted by visitors to these commercial third-party social media sites. However, if a posting indicates a potential threat or violation of law, such as a threat of criminal action or harm to financial institutions, the Corporation will take appropriate action to share the information with appropriate internal and external parties, as would be taken with any other such information in the public domain.
This government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Such attempts are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. We use Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption to protect the transmission of the information you submit to us when you use one of our secure online forms. Do not e-mail the FDIC sensitive information such as Social Security or account numbers. Instead, contact us by using our secure online forms or by phone.
Links to Web sites outside of the FDIC are provided for your convenience. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the FDIC of any private sector Web site, product, or service. Once you leave the FDIC Web site, this Privacy Policy no longer applies. For further information about FDIC's external links policy, visit the FDIC General Disclaimer.
To learn about FDIC's general privacy practices, including a list of Privacy Impact Assessments, as required by the E-Government Act of 2002, please visit the FDIC Privacy Program.
If you have privacy-related questions or complaints, please e-mail Privacy@fdic.gov or write to:
FDIC Chief Privacy Officer
550 17th Street, NW, MB-6124
Washington, DC 20429