College Avenue Student Loans LLC and College Ave Student Loan Servicing, LLC ( collectively, “College Ave,” “we,” “our,” and “us”) respect the privacy of our customers and visitors to this website (www.collegeave.com), its affiliated pages (such as www.collegeaveservicing.com, www.ambitionmastercard.com, and www.ambition.collegeave.com), and associated mobile applications (such as College Ave Student Loans and Ambition Card by College Ave) (the “App” or “Apps”) (collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit or otherwise interact with the Site, how we use it, and when we may share it. By visiting and using the Site, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, do not access the Site.
This Privacy Policy describes our practices when you interact with the Site and other offline activity, as applicable. For a copy of our privacy notice applicable to you when you apply for an account or loan product or when we service your account or loan, please click here.
In addition, our Sites may link to third party services or apps that we don’t control, including social media sites (collectively “Third Party Sites”). You should be aware that Third Party Sites may have different privacy practices from our Site and may provide less security than this Site. The choice to access a Third-Party Site is yours, in your sole discretion.
Please note that this Privacy Policy also applies regardless of how you may access the Site, including through a mobile device. Once you leave our Site or are redirected to a Third-Party Site, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy.
California Notice at Collection
In accordance with this Privacy Policy, we collect the following categories of personal information: identifiers, commercial information, geolocation, internet or other electronic network activity, professional or employment-related information, inferences, and sensitive personal information. We collect these categories for our business or commercial purposes, including to provide you with a decision on an application, and verify your identity. We do not sell your personal information but we do share your internet or other electronic network activity, commercial information, and geolocation with advertising networks. We will retain your personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary depending on our relevant legal and regulatory obligations.
How We Collect Information and What We Collect
Generally
We collect and receive certain information about you when you access the Site. What we receive, and how we receive it, in part depends on what you do when you access the Site.
We Collect Personally-Identifiable, Sensitive Personally-Identifiable, and Non-Personally-Identifiable Information.
We collect the following categories of personal information for the following purposes:
- Personally-identifiable information (such as your real name, alias, unique personal identifier, online identifier, address, email, phone number, or signature); this information is utilized to provide you information about requested products or services, to decision an application, to service your account, or to contact you related to any of the above.
- Sensitive personally-identifiable information (such as your Social Security number, account log-in, government issued identification information, citizenship and immigration status and financial information); this information is utilized to provide a decision on an application, to verify your identity, to collect payment on your loan, to service your account, or to disburse loan proceeds.
- Education, employment, employment history, professional related information, and financial information (including credit card number); this information is utilized to provide a decision on an application and to verify your identity.
- Commercial information, geolocation data, internet or other electronic network activity information, inferences drawn from any of the information identified in this Privacy Policy to create a profile about you reflecting your preferences, characteristics, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, and any other information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you or your household; this information is utilized to tailor appropriate products or services to you.
We collect personally-identifiable, sensitive personally-identifiable information, and non-personally-identifiable information when you provide it to us. For example, if you request to receive offers and alerts or when you complete an online survey. In addition, our business partners and service providers may give us information about you. Please note that, except for limited instances where you choose to interact with us and provide us with your personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information directly, you are not required to submit personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information.
We also collect personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information that you provide when filling in forms on the Site, including registration forms. We may also ask you for information when you enter a contest or promotion sponsored by us, and when you report a problem with the Site.
We may also collect, obtain, or acquire personally-identifiable, sensitive personally-identifiable, and non-personally-identifiable information from our service providers or third parties, for the purposes described above.
We Collect Information Automatically When You Access the Site
We (including our service providers and other third parties acting on our behalf) may also automatically collect personally-identifiable information and non-personally-identifiable information about you when you access the Site, which may include recording your activities and communications with us.
Tracking Technologies
When you download, access, and use the App, we may use technology to automatically collect:
- Usage Details: We may automatically collect certain details of your access to and use of the App, including traffic data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on or through the App.
- Device Information: We may collect information about your mobile device and internet connection, including the device’s unique device identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, operating system, browser type, mobile network information, and the device’s telephone number.
- Stored Information and Files: The App also may access metadata and other information associated with other files stored on your device. This may include, for example, photographs, audio and video clips, personal contacts, and address book information. The collection of these items may mean we collect personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information such as characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law (sex, race, color, national origin, age, and handicaps), biometric information, audio, visual or similar information.
When you use the App or its content, certain third parties may use tracking technologies (such as cookies and web beacons) and other automatic information collection technologies to collect information about you or your device and when you use the App.
These third parties may include:
- Parties who we utilize to service loans and accounts, collect payments, or process transactions on our behalf.
- Your mobile device manufacturer.
- Your mobile service provider.
The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites, apps, and other online services websites. We may receive reports on this activity on an individual and aggregated basis.
We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.
If you do not want us or third parties to collect this information, do not download the App or delete it from your device.
We or our service providers may also automatically collect non personally-identifiable information about you when you access the Site. The Site and some emails that we may send to you may also use common tracking technologies like:
- Cookies: A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your computer or mobile device to distinguish you from other visitors to the Site.
- Web Beacons: A web beacon (also referred to as a “pixel tag”) is a small block of code that is placed on a Site page or within an email to help distinguish you from other visitors to the Site, assess traffic patterns, and measure your engagement with the Site or email.
- Google Analytics for Firebase and Google AMP Client ID API: A service which generates statistical and other information about the use of the Site by means of cookies and tracks a user’s journey across website pages. Google Analytics for Firebase also provides other tracking, user notification, and messaging functions.
To learn more about Google’s privacy policy, please visit: https://policies.google.com/privacy. You can also learn more about how to opt out of the collection and processing of such information by Google by visiting this website: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
College Ave or our service providers use these features to collect non-personally-identifiable information about you. This type of information may include (but is not limited to) your IP address and/or domain; the type and version of the Internet browser that you use; the date, time and duration of your visit to the Site, and the specific pages, buttons, images, videos or other Site content that you may access during your visit. This information may also include browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interaction with an Internet website, application, or advertisement. These tools enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on and off the Site.
Your browser may enable you to block or (in the case of cookies) delete some of the means by which we automatically collect information when you visit the Site but doing so may affect your experience on the Site. You should refer to your browser for what options might be available to you. College Ave does not process or respond to Do Not Track signals, but may respond to other opt-out preference signals.
Behavioral Advertising
We or our service providers may use your Internet or other electronic network activity information about your activities on the Site (such as the pages that you visit and the key words that you use to search for content), commercial information, and geolocation to help determine what advertisements or offers might be of interest to you. These advertisements may be on the Site or on Third Party Sites. The use of information in this manner is referred to as “online behavioral advertising.” We believe that online behavioral advertising helps to provide you with more relevant advertising based on the websites that you visit.
You may opt-out of online behavioral advertising by following the instructions in the “Your Opt Out Options” section of this Privacy Policy. Please note that opting out of online behavioral advertising will not stop you from receiving advertisements. However, the advertisements that you see may not be as relevant to you.
How We Use the Information We Collect
Information that we collect about you and your web browsing behavior is used to optimize your online experience. Among other reasons, we may use the information that you provide or that we collect when you visit the Site to:
- Verify your identity and/or remember your personal settings or preferences when using the Site;
- Determine your interests and needs in order to recommend relevant products and services;
- Qualify you for products and services that you request and to process your transactions;
- Post advertising content on Third Party Sites, along with web beacons and pixel tags to provide information to us and to third parties about pages you visit after seeing our ads or offers;
- Analyze the quality and performance of the Site and marketing campaigns;
- Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection; and
- Notify you when App updates are available, and of changes to any products or services we offer or provide through it.
We may also use data that we collect on an aggregate or anonymous basis (such that it does not identify any individual customer) for various business purposes, such as:
- Auditing related to a current interaction with you and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards;
- Helping to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of the consumer’s personal information is reasonably necessary and proportionate for these purposes;
- Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
- Short-term, transient use, provided that the personal information is not disclosed to another third party and is not used to build a profile about you or otherwise alter your experience outside the current interaction, including, but not limited to, the contextual customization of ads shown as part of the same interaction;
- Performing services, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services;
- Providing advertising and marketing services, except for cross-context behavioral advertising, to the consumer provided that, for the purpose of advertising and marketing, a service provider or contractor shall not combine the personal information of opted-out consumers that the service provider or contractor receives from, or on behalf of, the business with personal information that the service provider or contractor receives from, or on behalf of, another person or persons or collects from its own interaction with consumers;
- Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration;
- Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by us, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by us; and
- Any commercial purposes, including any purpose to advance your commercial or economic interests, such as by inducing you to buy, rent, lease, join, subscribe to, provide, or exchange products, goods, property, information, or services, or enabling or effecting, directly or indirectly, a commercial transaction.
How We Disclose the Information We Collect
We may disclose your personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information that you provide to us or that we receive from our business partners and/or service providers with our service providers. The services performed by our service providers are done pursuant to a written contract and they process information on behalf of us. For example, we disclose your email address with service providers who send emails on our behalf.
We may also disclose non-personally-identifiable information with third parties who perform advertising services on our behalf and with companies that operate or analyze the Site. We do not authorize these third parties to collect, use, or disclose this information except as necessary to perform services for us or to comply with law. These third parties may not use the information that we provide to them to independently market to you unless you consent. To the best of our actual knowledge, we do not disclose the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.
If you are also a customer of College Ave, the disclosure of your personally-identifiable and sensitive personally-identifiable information will be governed by our customer privacy notice that may be accessed by clicking here. For example, we may disclose your personally-identifiable information with third parties as necessary to process a transaction at your request or with our business partners, such as your financial advisors.
There may be other instances in which we may disclose either your personally-identifiable, sensitive personally-identifiable, or non-personally-identifiable information with a third party. For example:
- To respond to a subpoena, warrant, court order or other official governmental actions that are served upon us, and then in conformity with their terms or as we are otherwise permitted or required by law;
- To respond to our regulators or other governmental authorities;
- To protect or defend College Ave or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries, or their directors, officers, employees, agents, partners, or independent contractors in any legal proceeding;
- Where we suspect fraud or for other risk management purposes;
- As required or permitted by law;
- For any of the uses described in this Privacy Policy;
- To conduct any other legitimate business activities not otherwise prohibited by law; or
- As otherwise instructed or authorized by you.
Online Security
College Ave has developed and maintains security standards that are designed to protect information as it is transmitted from your computer to the network that hosts the Site. This technology is referred to as Secure Socket Layer (SSL), and it is the leading security protocol of data transfer on the Internet.
However, you also have a significant role in maintaining the security of your information. For example, you should ensure that you have up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware software installed on your device. You should also understand that College Ave will never send you electronic communications (whether they be email or requests made over the Internet) to request sensitive personal information. Similarly, you should never send us your sensitive personal information through a non-secure email channel. If you do communicate with us electronically you consent for us (or our service providers) to reply to you in that medium.
You are also in control of the information that you share with College Ave, either directly or indirectly. If you are uncomfortable with disclosing your personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information with us, the easiest option is not to do so. However, you understand that if you do not disclose such information with us we may be unable to assist you with certain transactions.
Additionally, if you found information about College Ave on a Third-Party Site – such as a social media site like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter – you understand that if you share information about yourself on such a Third-Party Site that it will not be governed by this Privacy Policy and, depending on the Third-Party Site, may be visible to all users of that Third-Party Site. You should review the privacy policies and practices of Third-Party Sites before providing information to them.
How Long Your Personal Information Is Retained
We will retain your personal information, including your personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information until it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected (for example, to service your loan). We may retain your personal information for longer periods to the extent that we are required by law or regulation, to protect you or others from fraud, as necessary to protect our legal rights, or for purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Personal Information of Children
The Site, and the products and services described on the Site, are intended for use by individuals who are at least 13 years old. If you are under the age of 13 you should not be visiting the Site. We do not knowingly collect or retain personal information from children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13 and are visiting or otherwise using the Site you are advised not to disclose or provide any personally-identifiable information on the Site.
If You Access the Site from Outside the United States
If you reside outside of the United States, you understand and agree that any information you provide to us on the Site will be transferred from the country of your residence or location at the time it was provided to the United States. If you do not want your personally-identifiable or sensitive personally-identifiable information to be transferred to the United States do not provide that information to us. By providing us with your information you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
We may make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time and without notice to you. It is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy from time to time to understand whether any changes have been made. Unless otherwise stated, any modifications to this Privacy Policy will go into immediate effect after they have been posted, as indicated by the “Last Updated” date located at the end of this Privacy Policy. If you use the Site following any update to this Privacy Policy, it constitutes your acceptance of the modifications.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, College Ave’s privacy practices, or have a disability and would like to access this Privacy Policy in an alternative format please contact us at 844-422-7502.
State Privacy Rights
- The right to request that a business disclose what personal information it collects, free of charge, during the preceding 12 months.
- The request may include the following:
- The categories of personal information and sensitive personal information that it has collected about you.
- The categories of sources from which the personal information and sensitive personal information is collected.
- The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information or sensitive personal information.
- The categories of third parties with whom the business shares personal information or sensitive personal information.
- The specific pieces of personal information or sensitive personal information it has collected about you.
- The right to correct inaccurate personal information.
- College Ave will not sell or disclose the personal information of minors under 16 years of age without affirmative authorization.
- The right to request deletion of your personal information collected or maintained by the business.
- The right to know what personal information is sold or shared and to whom.
- The right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information by a business.
- The right to limit use and disclosure of sensitive personal information. Please note that we do not use your sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you.
- The right of no retaliation following opt out or exercise of other rights and to not receive discriminatory treatment by a business for the exercise your privacy rights.
- The right to designate an authorized agent to make a request under state law on your behalf by having the authorized agent submit such request and provide appropriate documentation needed to substantiate the authorization and/or request.
- Please see the Data Requests section below to make a request.
Your rights, and any data requests, may be limited and subject to certain exceptions, including but not limited to: complying with federal, state, or local laws, including the record retention provisions of laws such as the Truth in Lending Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and US PATRIOT Act, and use of consumer information that is deidentified, used in the aggregate, or has not been associated with an individual.
If you would like to appeal our denial or your request or any other decision relating to your request, please contact us.
Your Opt Out Options
Based on your state of residency, you may be able to opt out of our use of behavioral advertising by choosing “Decline” on the banner that may appear when you first visit our Site. Additionally, you may be able to opt out of online behavioral advertising by clicking the opt-out logo in the corner of an advertisement or visiting http://www.aboutads.info/choices or http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices. This opt-out is browser- and computer-specific because the opt out is stored as a cookie. If you delete cookies after you opt out, you will need to opt out again on AdChoices. Please note that you may still continue to see our generic advertising even if you opt out of online behavioral advertising.
For the App, you can learn more about which third parties have currently enabled cookies for your mobile device and how to opt-out of some of those cookies by accessing the NAI’s website at http://www.networkadvertising.org/mobile-choices from your mobile device. On your mobile device you may also select “Limit Ad Tracking” (on iOS devices) or “Opt out of Interest-Based Ads” (on Android).
If you do not want us or third parties to automatically collect information from you through your use of the App in the ways described above, do not download the App or delete it from your device.
To stop receiving promotional emails, follow the instructions in any promotional message you receive from College Ave. Even if you opt out of getting marketing messages, we may still send you transactional messages, including responses to your questions or information about your application, loan, or account.
To stop receiving all promotional materials, including mail, submit a request to opt out of future marketing communications by clicking here.
It can take up to 45 days following the completion of your request for all communications to stop. Even if you opt out of getting marketing messages, we may still send you transactional messages, including responses to your questions or information about your application, loan, or account.
Data Requests
If you would like to make a request related to your data, please click the appropriate link below or call 844-422-7502.
Submitting a data request WILL NOT stop you from receiving promotional materials such as email and mail, see the above “Your Opt Out Options” section for how to submit a request to stop promotional materials.
Customers (I have completed a College Ave application or have an existing loan/account with College Ave)
- To request disclosure of your data, click here.
- To request correction of your data, click here.
- To request deletion of your data, click here.
- To request that College Ave not sell or share your personal information (Do Not Sell or Share My Info), click here.
Non-Customers (I have NOT completed a College Ave application and DO NOT have an existing loan/account with College Ave)
- To request disclosure of your data, click here.
- To request correction of your data, click here.
- To request deletion of your data, click here.
- To request that College Ave not sell or share your personal information (Do Not Sell or Share My Info), click here.
College Ave may require you to provide certain personal information to process and/or verify your request, including your name, email address, mailing address, information present on your credit report, and your Application Reference Number, Loan ID, or other unique identifier (if applicable) to verify your identity.
If you use our mobile application, you can delete your mobile application account through the application. College Ave will delete the mobile application account data, but College Ave may have certain legal obligations to retain data to continue servicing your loan or account and for regulatory compliance purposes. College Ave will retain data only for these purposes and will not use it for any other purpose.
College Ave is located at 233 N. King St, Suite 400, Wilmington, DE 19801.
Ambition Mastercard
The Site may be used to obtain “Bank Services” as described in our Terms of Use, including the Ambition Mastercard. The collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information related to Bank Services is governed by the Bank’s privacy policy available at https://www.getevolved.com/privacy-policy/, as modified or supplemented from time to time. By accessing Bank Services through us, you agree that we may share your information with the Bank and the Bank may share your information with us. This includes your personal identification information, account balances, transaction data, and other information needed to provide Bank Services. To the extent we are permitted to use that information in connection with “Non-Bank Services” as described in our Terms of Use, we will do so in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our privacy notice. In all other instances, the Bank’s privacy policy shall control over this Privacy Policy and our privacy notice, but only with respect to information collected, obtained, or created in connection with the Bank Services.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on: May 22, 2024.