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Website privacy policy and legal notices

We take protecting your personal privacy seriously. This page describes consumerfinance.gov policies and procedures on the collection, use, and disclosure of your information on our website. More information about CFPB’s Privacy Program can be found here.

What information does CFPB collect about you?

Traffic statistics

We use technologies called 'analytic cookies' within our website to capture basic analysis of website use and traffic (such as the number of people visiting a certain page). We do not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information (PII). Only the following cookies are used on the CFPB website:

  • Single Session Cookies (Tier 1) are stored temporarily on your computer and are deleted immediately after the session ends. We use single session cookies such as web measurement and customization technologies for the purpose of improving your experience on our website through analysis of usage or through customization of the user's experience.
  • Persistent Cookies (Tier 2) remember users through multiple session. We use a "persistent cookie" technology called Google Analytics to remember you and track your visit across our website. We use Google Analytics to collect non-identifying information such as:
    • The type of browser and the version of the browser you are using to visit our website;
    • The date and time of your visit to our website;
    • The pages and documents you viewed on our website;
    • The referring website that linked you directly to our website (if you arrived here by clicking a link on another website); and,
    • Your geographic location information, specifically the city location, when you visit our website. It does not collect home address information.

We may keep this information for a period of five years and as required to manage and maintain our website in accordance with an approved general records retention schedule provided by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). CFPB does not use Google Analytics to track, collect or upload any PII to identify a user of our website. Most Internet browsers automatically accept persistent cookies. Although persistent cookies help us create a better experience for you, most of our website is accessible without their use. You can change your browser's options to not accept them or to prompt you before accepting them when you visit our website. Here's how to disable cookies.

Personal information

Our website does not collect or store any PII from you. Our website provides information about how to interact with CFPB, such as how to submit a consumer complaint, contact CFPB about a particular question, or to sign up for email alerts about news topics related to CFPB. Our website helps you navigate to the CFPB systems and applications that may collect PII you voluntarily provide to administer the service or program you select. Prior to collecting your information, CFPB will provide you with a privacy notice that clearly describes the purpose of collection and what CFPB will do with the information collected from you by that system or application. While our website helps you navigate to these systems and applications, our website does not collect or store any of this information directly.

We also offer opportunities for you to subscribe to particular CFPB topics to follow news and alerts about that topic. CFPB uses subscription delivery services, such as GovDelivery. GovDelivery is a web-based e-mail subscription management system that allows you to subscribe to news and information about CFPB. You may select specific topics that interest you and choose to provide an email address about that topic. You may customize and manage your subscription profile in order to receive exactly the types of information you desire, and you may cancel your subscriptions at any time. CFPB only uses your email to send email messages related to the topics selected by the user in the GovDelivery system. If, at any time, you wish to stop receiving our messages, simply click on the "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each email message.

In addition, on our website you will find contact information for many of our programs that allows you to send us emails. Email correspondence of any form may not necessarily be secure. CFPB strongly recommends that you do not send PII (such as your Social Security number) to us via email. If you are required to send any PII to CFPB for any reason, the CFPB program collecting this information from you will provide a secure means of collecting your information to protect your privacy.

You can view our Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and System of Records Notices (SORNs) to learn more about how various CFPB programs may collect and use PII.

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We embed and use third-party services that you can interact with while navigating our website. Third-party services are web-based technologies that are not operated or controlled by CFPB, such as website links to external websites, social media platforms, or third-party service providers. We primarily use these third-party services to promote communications about CFPB and interact with the public, such as Flickr and GovDelivery. We use these application to collect a limited amount of PII through these third-party services, such as your email address, to subscribe you to CFPB newsletters. Where practicable, we will provide clear notice before you are directed to a third-party service from our website.

CFPB uses social media platforms such as Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube to conduct external relations (such as important announcements, communications, to conduct outreach, and to engage in public dialogue), to announce information and services to the general public, and promote transparency and accountability of CFPB operations. We provide links to our social media on our website for you. The information posted on our social media is available to any and all users who are able to access and follow our social media accounts. If you choose to comment, post, or respond to any social media release, please do not include any PII in your comments or responses, such as your full name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone numbers, email addresses, or any other sensitive PII. We may collect a limited amount of PII through our social media platforms to respond to questions or complaints that we receive. For example, if an individual posts a consumer complaint on CFPB's social media platforms, we generally respond by asking the individual to submit their complaint or question to us through our consumer response process or by calling the appropriate consumer response phone number.

Only authorized CFPB employees or contractors that manage our third-party services or social media platforms have access to the limited amount of PII we collect. We retain PII in accordance with an approved general records retention schedule provided by NARA. Social media platforms we use maintain their own separate privacy policies. You should refer to these policies as they may differ from those described in this policy. More information about the Bureau’s use of social media can be found in our Social Media PIA .

Our website also provides external links to websites that are created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations (identified by ). We provide these links as a service to those visiting our website in an attempt to provide you with additional information that may be beneficial in your search. When you link to an outside website, you are leaving the CFPB website and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website(s). The CFPB does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any information or privacy policies posted on the sites to which we link. Further, links to particular items in hypertext do not reflect their importance and should not be considered an endorsement of the organizations sponsoring the sites, the views expressed on the sites, or the products or services offered on the sites.

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Storing and protecting your information

We take precautions to maintain the security, confidentiality, and integrity of the PII collected at CFPB. Such measures include access controls designed to limit access to the information to the extent necessary to accomplish our mission. We also routinely test our security measures to ensure that website features remain operational and effective.

  • For website security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, CFPB and its associated service providers use security software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
  • Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individuals that visit our website for legitimate purposes.
  • We continually monitor the security posture of our systems to protect consumer data, and we undergo audits to verify those protections are effective.
  • Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

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What information is shared?

Information we collect about user interactions with our website is used to improve our website performance. We may share this aggregated information with other federal agencies and authorized CFPB contractors to help improve visitor experiences and design more efficient methods of navigating our website. The information we collect or share does not include any form of PII.

If you provide your PII to CFPB (e.g., submit a consumer complaint or subscribe to a newsletter), CFPB may only share your information with third parties as legally authorized. We identify how the CPFB may share any data we collect within our published SORNs.

Within the CFPB

We may use your information to contact you if you identify yourself in an e-mail, comment, or other communication and provide us with your contact information. Bureau employees and contractors may use your information to complete your request, such as signing up for e-mail updates, and maintaining distribution lists. Our contractors may view and use your information when operating consumerfinance.gov, or systems that collect data through the website, on our behalf.

With other government agencies

We work with other government agencies to investigate complaints, coordinate law enforcement investigations, cooperate with oversight investigations, or further consumer protection activities. In some cases, we are required or authorized by law to share personal information with other agencies. When we do so, we ensure appropriate protections are in place.

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Monitoring and protecting our website

CFPB monitors the use of consumerfinance.gov to keep the website secure and available to all users. We employ software that monitors network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the website, users, or public visitors. Part of this process involves collecting non-identifying information about you as described above. By using consumerfinance.gov you expressly consent to such monitoring. If our monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, we may provide such evidence to appropriate law enforcement officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload information and/or change information on this website are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and 18 U.S.C §§ 1001, 1030 .

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Copyright and trademark

Website content: Information created by the CFPB is in the public domain and you may reproduce, publish, or otherwise use it without the Bureau’s permission. Please consider appropriate citation to the Bureau as the source. Copyrighted materials created by entities outside of the Bureau also may appear on this website, or may be reached through a link on this website. Copyright and other intellectual property laws may apply to your use of those materials.

Bureau trademarks: The Bureau’s logo, as well as the names Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and CFPB are registered trademarks. Your use of them, and any other registered trademarks, must comply with intellectual property laws.

Liability

The government assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process described or depicted on this website. Finally, CFPB does not represent that the use of any such information, apparatus, product, or process would not infringe privately owned rights.

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Revised December 2023