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FDIC Privacy Policy

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.

  1. Technical Information Collected Automatically
  2. Information Collected for Web site Improvement & Customization (Cookies)
  3. Personal Information You Voluntarily Send to Us
    1. Use and Sharing of Personal Information
    2. Retention of Personal Information
  4. Information from Children
  5. Your Rights Under the Privacy Act
  6. Social Networking
  7. Security and Intrusion Detection Monitoring
  8. Links to Other Sites
  9. FDIC Privacy Program
  10. Questions or Complaints

1. Technical Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our Web site, we automatically collect some general, anonymous information about your visit to help us improve navigation on 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.

2. Information Collected for Web site Measurement and Customization (Cookies)

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 click here. 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 ForeSee Results, 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. During periods when feedback is collected, a visitor's browser will automatically set a persistent cookie to register that a user has been presented with the survey and to avoid repeatedly requesting feedback on subsequent visits.

Also, some videos embedded in the FDIC Web site, but hosted by third party-vendors, 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, please click here: http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml.

3. Personal Information that You Voluntarily Send to Us
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, vendors, and Pay.gov 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.

4. Information from Children
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.

5. Your Rights Under the Privacy Act
The Privacy Act of 1974 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 concerning the Privacy Act, including a listing of FDIC Systems of Records Notices (SORNs), can be found at: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/2000-3900.html#SORNtop.

6. Social Networking
In order to encourage greater public participation, collaboration, and transparency, the FDIC currently maintains official Corporation accounts on commercial social networks sites, including Youtube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. The Corporation does not collect, maintain, or disseminate information posted by visitors to these sites. Additionally, the Corporation does not endorse or control the comments or opinions provided by visitors to these sites. Please note that the FDIC Privacy Policy does not extend to, or have authority over, the privacy policy of any commercial social networking sites you may visit. Therefore, if you choose to 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 Youtube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

7. Security and Intrusion Detection Monitoring
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 Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 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.

8. Links to Other Sites
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: http://www.fdic.gov/about/policies/index.html.

9. FDIC Privacy Program
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 page at http://www.fdic.gov/privacy/.

10. Questions or Complaints
If you have privacy-related questions or complaints, please e-mail Privacy@fdic.gov or write to:

FDIC Chief Privacy Officer
3501 Fairfax Drive, Room VS-A-7074
Arlington, VA 22226



Last Updated 1/18/2011 Privacy@fdic.gov