Privacy Policy

To help you understand our Privacy Policy, here are some important terms you should know.

• “Personal information” or “information” includes information about an identifiable individual, such as contact information, account numbers, identification numbers, age and marital status, financial information, biometric information, photographs, and signatures. This can also include information collected through your activities on Santander Digital Channels, such as your phone or computer model, browser type and IP address.
• “Santander”, “we”, “our” or “us”, “the bank” means collectively Santander Consumer Bank that offers consumer products and services.
• “Santander Digital Channels” means our [websites, social media accounts, virtual assistant and other digital channels].

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how our Bank collects, uses, and discloses personal information in connection with its commercial activities in Canada. This Policy explains how we handle and protect personal information, including personal information collected through the Bank’s Digital Channels. It also gives you information about your privacy rights and choices. By giving us your information, you consent to the collection, use and sharing of your information as described in this Policy for as long as our Bank holds your information.

We may update this Policy and our other privacy-related documents. Except as otherwise provided, any changes we make to this Policy take effect when we post the updated Policy on our websites and any other channels where this Policy appears. In some cases, we will also notify you of changes we make to the Policy in accordance with applicable law.

This Policy does not apply to information that is not personal information, and it does not apply to personal information relating to an employee of our Bank, as their personal information is dealt with in our Bank’s "Employee Privacy Policy."

You can request more information about the purposes for which we collect personal information by contacting our Chief Privacy Officer. Details on how to contact us can be found in the “Contact our Privacy Office” section.

The type of personal Information we collect depends on various factors, such as the type of products or services you use or apply for, any applicable legal and regulatory obligations, and the channel you use to communicate with us.

This information includes:

• Contact Information, such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address or other electronic address, and fax number;
• Identity information such as your driver’s license number, Social Insurance Number or SIN and photograph;
• Credit and other financial information such as your banking information, payment methods and preferences, billing and credit history, and other information collected from credit bureaus;
• Business relationship information including information related to your agreements, preferences, advisors and decision-makers;
• Customer relationship information such as customer service requests and feed-back and information requested or provided by or from you; and
• Any other information you may provide to conduct business with us such as reference and employer contact information.

In connection with the financing of a vehicle, our Bank may collect personal Information such as your name, address, birth date, Social Insurance Number, marital status, living arrangement (property rental or ownership), employment situation (past and present), banking information, and credit information.

While disclosing your social insurance number to us is not mandatory, we collect your social insurance number to assist us in identifying you and your credit records. Santander may also require the same information from any spouse, partner, co-signer or co-borrower. We may collect personal information directly from you, or from third parties such as credit bureaus or credit reporting agencies or your vehicle dealer, employer, bank, references, landlord or mortgage holder. We may also collect insurance information from your insurer in order to verify compliance with insurance requirements under a Conditional Sales Contract or Instalment Sales Contract (collectively “Finance Agreement”). If you are in default under your Contract, we may also track the location of your vehicle in accordance with the terms of that Contract.

The choice to provide our Bank with personal Information is always yours. However, your decision to withhold particular details may limit our ability to provide our credit services to you. If we are unable to accommodate your request based on the information that has been provided to us, we may ask for additional details in order to identify other ways to be of assistance. In some instances, our Bank may also maintain a file containing contact history that is used for customer inquiry purposes. To help us better understand our markets, we may also gather information for analytical purposes by extracting demographic information from existing files. Santander may also collect information about you as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirement.

We may collect personal information from you directly, from third parties or by using technology, or when you use Santander Digital Channels.

Directly from you

We may collect personal information directly from you, including when you:

From third parties or public sources

We may collect personal information from third parties or public sources. We do so with your consent or as permitted or required by law. For instance, we may collect personal information from third parties or public sources like these:

We collect your personal Information so that we can communicate with you, process your application, and provide you with the services you have requested. Our Bank also collects personal Information to enable us to manage and develop our business and operations;

• to determine your ongoing financial situation, and whether or not you meet our credit and other requirements in a personal and professional situation;
• to establish, maintain and manage our relationship with you, including collecting amounts owing by you to us;
• to provide or receive requested products and services, and to review and improve them based on your requests;
• to protect you and us against error, fraud, theft and damage to our goods and property;
• to enable us to comply with applicable law or regulatory requirements; and
• any other reasonable purpose to which you consent.

Unless permitted by law, if we intend to use your information for a new purpose not previously disclosed to you or outlined in this privacy policy, we will inform you beforehand. We will seek your consent and/or provide you with the option to opt in before using your personal information for this new purpose.

Within the Bank and with the Bank’s Foreign Affiliates

We may share personal information with our parent and foreign affiliated companies in order to meet legal, regulatory and compliance requirements, including relating to the detection and prevention of money laundering, to facilitate investigations by law enforcement, terrorist financing, fraud and other unlawful activities. The information shared with our Bank’s parent and foreign affiliated companies is subject to the privacy policies of those entities, and the applicable laws and regulations of the countries where they are located.

Service Providers and other third parties

We share your personal Information with our employees, contractors, consultants and other parties (including affiliates) who require such information to assist us with establishing, maintaining and managing our relationship with you, including third parties that provide services to us or on our behalf; third parties that collaborate with the Bank in the provision of services to you; and, third parties whose services we require to provide our financial products.

These services may include mailing, call center, billing, payment processing, marketing, information technology and/or data hosting or processing services. Some of these third parties may be located outside of Canada, including in the United States, Spain or Portugal and as a result, your personal Information may be transferred, stored and processed outside of Canada for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. While outside of Canada, personal Information will be subject to applicable foreign laws, which may permit government, national security or regulatory authorities to access your personal Information in certain circumstances.

We may disclose your personal Information on an ongoing basis to credit bureaus and credit reporting agencies for the purposes of maintaining your credit history. These organizations may also verify and ensure the completeness of the information, and may share such information with local, provincial and national authorities in the investigation of unlawful or improper activities in order to protect you and us from fraudulent transactions or harm.

As part of our business operations, we may sell, assign, or transfer your loan to another company for management, or other purposes. This may include the transfer of your personal information to the purchasing or managing entity, as necessary to ensure the continued administration of your loan. The receiving company will be required to comply with applicable privacy laws and maintain the confidentiality and security of your personal information. We will notify you of any such transfer as required by law.

In addition, personal Information may be disclosed or transferred to another party in the event of a change in ownership of or the grant of security in all or a part of our Bank through, for example, an asset sale, or some other form of business combination, merger or joint venture, provided that such party is bound by appropriate agreements or obligations and required to use or disclose your personal Information in a manner consistent with the use and disclosure provisions of this Privacy Policy, unless you consent otherwise.

Here are some of the specific ways we collect, use and share information within our Bank or with our Bank’s Foreign Affiliates or other third parties:

• with your consent;
• to comply with valid legal processes such as search warrants, subpoenas, court orders, or other demand or request;
• to protect the rights and property of the Bank, including to collect a debt or enforce an obligation that is owed to us by you;
• to assist law enforcement investigations or to share information with government agencies;
• during emergency situations or where necessary to protect the safety of a person or group of persons;
• providing information to credit reporting agencies or financial institutions to access credits reports or verify your credit score;
• to protect you, the Bank, and others, as permitted by applicable laws;
• to fulfil legal and regulatory requirements applicable to us;
• in the event of default under our Finance Agreement, to the appropriate government registries for the purpose of obtaining updated demographic information.

We collect, use or disclose your personal Information with your consent, except where collection, use or disclosure without consent is permitted or required by law. Depending on the sensitivity of the personal Information, your consent may be implied or expressed or may be obtained using an opt-out mechanism.

Typically, we will seek your consent at the time that we collect the personal Information. In certain circumstances, your consent may be obtained after collection but prior to our use or disclosure of your personal Information. If we plan to use or disclose your personal information for a purpose not previously identified (either in this Privacy Policy or separately), we will endeavor to advise you of that purpose before such use or disclosure.

We assume that, unless you advise us otherwise, by receiving a copy of this Privacy Policy or by continuing to deal with us, you have consented to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal Information as explained in this Privacy Policy.

As we have described above, we may collect, use or disclose your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required to do so by applicable law or regulatory requirements.

Personal information will be kept as accurate, complete, and up to date as necessary for its intended purposes. We may request that you to provide updated personal information as needed.

Upon your request, we will grant you access to your personal information within legal limitations. You can contact our Chief Privacy Officer using the details in the “Contact Our Privacy Office” below.

Santander endeavours to maintain security safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in question. These safeguards, designed to prevent loss and unauthorized access, copying, use, modification or disclosure of personal information include:

• Physical safeguards
• Technical safeguards
• Administrative safeguards

We retain personal information as long as it is reasonable or necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected or for legal or business purposes. When the personal information is no longer needed, we will take steps to render such information unidentifiable by making the information anonymous or deleting such information according to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA) or other applicable law.

When you visit our Bank’s website, we do not collect information that could identify you personally unless you choose to provide it voluntarily. You are welcome to browse the website at any time without revealing any personal or financial information about yourself.

We endeavour to manage our server environment appropriately and to ensure appropriate firewall infrastructure is maintained. Our security practices are reviewed on a regular basis, and we endeavour to employ current technologies to protect the confidentiality and privacy of your information.

Our website uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and 128-bit encryption technologies to enhance security when you visit the secured areas of these sites. When you access your accounts or send information from secured areas of these sites, encryption will scramble your data into an unreadable format to inhibit unauthorized access by others.

To safeguard against unauthorized access to our website, you are required to "sign-on" to certain secured areas of our Bank’s website using a user ID and a password. Both the user ID and password are encrypted when sent over the Internet.

The websites that are governed by the provisions and practices stated in this privacy policy are: https://www.santanderconsumer.ca, https://myaccount.santanderconsumer.ca

The Bank’s website may contain links to other third-party sites that are not governed by this Policy. Although we endeavour to only link to sites with high privacy standards, our Privacy Policy will no longer apply once you leave our website. Additionally, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by other third-party websites. Therefore, we suggest that you examine the privacy statements of those sites to learn how your information may be collected, used, shared, disclosed or retained.

Right to update or correct your information

The file containing your personal information will be maintained on our servers or those of our service provider. At Santander, decisions are made based on the information we have. Therefore, it is important that your personal information is as accurate, up to date, and complete as possible. To make a change to the personal contact information contained in your file, you may do one of the following:

• Use the various online options available within our Bank’s My Account site to request updates;
• Call our account management department at 1-888-486-4356, where one of our account managers will be available to receive your request for a change in your personal contact information; or
• Send a facsimile to us 1-888-486-7456 to request a change in your personal contact information.

Right to access your information

You can ask to see the personal Information that we hold about you, or to make any corrections in that information. If you want to review, verify or correct your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information set out below. Please note that such communication must be in writing.

When requesting an amendment in, or access to, your personal information, please note that we may charge you a reasonable fee to access your personal Information; however, we will advise you of any fee in advance. If you require assistance in preparing your request, please contact the office of our Chief Privacy Officer.

Your right to access the personal Information that we hold about you is not absolute. There are instances where applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse to provide some or all of the personal Information that we hold about you. In addition, the personal Information may have been destroyed, erased or made anonymous in accordance with our record retention obligations and practices.

In the event that we cannot provide you with access to your personal Information, we will endeavour to inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

Right to withdraw consent

You may change or withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations and reasonable notice, by contacting our Privacy Officer using the contact information set out below. For example, at any time you can withdraw your consent to our use or sharing of your personal Information for marketing purposes. In some circumstances, a change in or withdrawal of consent may severely limit our ability to provide products or services to, or acquire products or services from, you. All communications with respect to such withdrawal or variation of consent should be in writing and addressed to our Privacy Officer.

If you have questions or concerns regarding our privacy policies and practices, please call us at 1.888.486.4356. If you have a concern or complaint about privacy, confidentiality or the personal Information handling practices of The Bank, our employees or service suppliers, please contact:

Contact our Privacy Office

Chief Privacy Officer
Santander Consumer Bank
Address: #200, 4245 - 97 Street NW, Edmonton, AB
Phone: 1-888-486-4356
1-888-486-7456
Email: privacyofficer@santanderconsumer.ca

If you remain dissatisfied with the steps taken to resolve your concern through our complaint handling procedure, you may also contact our privacy regulator, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as well as the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments.

Mail:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, QC J8X 2A1

Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments.
20 Queen Street West,
Suite 2400,
P.O. Box 8
Toronto,
ON M5H 3R3

This Privacy Policy may be updated or revised from time to time. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you of any changes to this Privacy Policy, such as by posting the updated Privacy Policy on our website at https://www.santanderconsumer.ca. You may determine when this Policy was last updated by referring to the modification date found at the top of this Privacy Policy.