Bank of America

Online Privacy Notice

This U.S. Online Privacy Notice (Notice) describes how Bank of America collects, uses and shares information from or about you through our U.S. online interfaces (e.g. website or mobile application) owned and controlled by us ("the Site"). This Notice also explains how we collect information based on your interactions with our online ads both on our Sites and on other websites.

Bank of America has websites and mobile applications outside the U.S. and each of those is governed by separate Privacy Notices. If you visit or access your accounts from one of our Non-U.S. sites, please review the online privacy practices of that site to understand how your online information may be collected, used and shared.

For U.S. account holders and visitors to this Site, we will use and share any information that we collect from or about you in accordance with the Bank of America U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice, which provides choices in the use and sharing of information. For Non-U.S. account holders utilizing this Site, we will use and share your account information in accordance with the privacy disclosure that covers your account and with the privacy and security rules applicable to the relevant Bank of America affiliate.

For additional information on our Privacy Notices and practices, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Please note the terms and conditions of this Notice control. By using our Site, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Notice.

COLLECTING AND USING INFORMATION

Personal Information We Collect Online Personal Information means personally identifiable information such as information you provide via forms, surveys, applications or other online fields including name, postal or email addresses, telephone, fax or mobile numbers, or account numbers.  How We Use Personal Information

We may use Personal Information:

• to respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests;
• to send you important information regarding the Site, changes to our terms, conditions, and policies and/or other administrative information;
• to send you marketing communications that we believe may be of interest to you;
• to personalize your experience on the Site by presenting products and offers tailored to you;
• to allow you to apply for one of our products (e.g., to prequalify for a mortgage or to apply for a credit card, a retirement account, securities or other financial product) and evaluate your eligibility for such a product;
• to verify your identity and/or location (or the identity or location of your representative or agent) in order to allow access to your accounts, conduct online transactions and to maintain measures aimed at preventing fraud and protecting the security of account and Personal Information;
• to allow you to participate in surveys, sweepstakes, contests and similar promotions and to administer these activities. Some of these activities have additional rules, which could contain additional information about how we use and disclose Personal Information;
• to allow you to use our online financial planning tools. Please note that some of our planning tools require that you provide Personal Information to use (e.g., mortgage interest rate tracker), whereas others do not (e.g., mortgage calculator). Information that you enter into one of these planning tools may be stored for future access and use. We will let you know when we plan to store information, and we will give you the option not to have this information saved;
• collected through aggregation services such as My Portfolio® and My Financial Picture® in order to consolidate your financial account information at one online location; understand what account or service may be of interest to you; and present you with offers;
• for our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products, enhancing our Site, improving our services, identifying usage trends and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns;
• for risk control, to comply with laws and regulations and to comply with other legal process and law enforcement requirements.

How Personal Information is Shared

Please see the Bank of America U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice for information on how Personal Information may be shared. 
 

Other Information We Collect Online Other Information is any information other than Personal Information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an individual, such as:

• Browser information
• Information collected through cookies, pixel tags and other technologies
• Demographic information and other information provided by you such as your date of birth or household income
• Aggregated and De-identified data

How We Collect and Use Other Information  We and our third-party service providers may collect and use Other Information in a variety of ways, including:

• Through your browser: Certain information is collected by most browsers, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, device type, screen resolution, operating system version and internet browser type and version. We use this information to ensure that our Sites function properly and for security purposes.
• Using cookies: Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the device you are using. Cookies we use do not contain or capture unencrypted Personal Information. Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Site, pages visited, and language preferences. We use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, to personalize your experience while visiting the Site, and to recognize your device to allow your use of our online products. We also gather statistical information about the usage of the Site in order to continually improve the design and functionality, to monitor responses to our advertisements, to understand how customers use the Site and to assist us with resolving questions regarding the Site. We may also use cookies in online advertising to monitor websites in order to select which of our advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you, display them to you and monitor your responses. Please see the Advertising section below for more information.
  
  You can refuse to accept these cookies and most devices and browsers offer their own privacy settings for cookies. You will need to manage your cookie settings for each device and browser you use. However, if you do not accept these cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Site and some online products. For example, we will not be able to recognize your device and you will need to answer a challenge question each time you log on. You also may not receive advertising or other offers from us that are relevant to your interests and needs.
• Using pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs or other technologies: These may be used in connection with some Site pages, downloadable mobile applications and HTML-formatted email messages to measure the effectiveness of our communications, the success of our marketing campaigns, compile statistics about usage and response rates, and to assist us in resolving customers' questions regarding use of our Site.
• Flash objects: As part of our solutions for online authentication, we use Flash objects (sometimes referred to as "Local Shared Objects") to help us recognize you and your device when you come back to the Site. For our pages running Adobe® Flash® content (demos and tutorials with moving content), we use Flash objects to determine your browser type and version of Adobe Flash in order for you to view the content. We never store Personal Information in these Flash object files unless encrypted. We do not use Flash objects for any online behavioral advertising purpose. Deleting cookies does not delete Flash objects. You can learn more about Flash objects - including how to control and disable them - through the Adobe interface. If you choose to disable Flash objects from our Site, then you may not be able to access and use all or part of the Site or benefit from the information and services offered.
• IP Address: Your IP Address is a number that is automatically assigned to the device that you are using by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). An IP Address is identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user visits the Site, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP Addresses is standard practice on the internet and is done automatically by many web sites. We use IP Addresses for purposes such as calculating Site usage levels, helping diagnose server problems, and administering the Site.
• Aggregated and De-identified Data: Aggregated and De-identified Data is data that the bank may create or compile from various sources, including accounts and transactions. This information, which does not identify individual customers, is used by the bank for its business purposes, which may include offering products or services, research, marketing or analyzing market trends, and other purposes consistent with applicable laws.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Advertising  Bank of America advertises on pages within the Sites as well as on other websites not affiliated with Bank of America. Information collected by our advertising service providers through cookies and other technologies includes the number of people who look at each of the pages on the Sites, search engine referrals, browsing patterns within the Sites, and responses to advertisements and promotions on the Sites and on websites where we advertise.

Advertising on our Sites  Bank of America advertises its products and services, including prescreened offers of credit, on pages within the Sites. These advertisements may take the form of banner ads, splash ads (ads that appear as you sign on or sign off of your online accounts), and other formats. We may use information about your relationship with us, such as types of accounts you have, transactional information, or the state in which you bank to tailor advertisements that may be of interest to you.

Online Behavioral Advertising on our Sites  We also use advertising service providers to help us determine which of our advertisements are most likely to be of interest to you using non-personal behavioral information. We limit access and collection of information for specific purposes by advertising service providers.

• If you prefer not to have non-personal information used in this way, you may opt out of online behavioral advertising on our Sites.

Please note that if you opt out, you may still receive online advertising from Bank of America. Opting out means that the ads you do receive will not be based on your preferences or behavior. 

Advertising on other websites  Bank of America contracts with advertising companies to advertise our accounts and services on websites not affiliated with us.

Online Behavioral Advertising on other websites  Some of these ads are online behavioral advertising and may contain cookies that allow monitoring of websites and your response to our advertisements. Cookies placed by these companies do not collect Personal Information. We limit companies that place our ads from using information for any purpose other than to assist us in our advertising efforts.

Bank of America has adopted the use of the Advertising Options Icon on all its behaviorally targeted ads. Anyone receiving a behaviorally targeted ad may click on the displayed Icon to receive more information and can opt-out at that time or by visiting the advertising company's website.

Please note that if you opt out, you may still receive online advertising from Bank of America. Opting out from a specific advertising provider means that the ads you do receive will not be based on your preferences or behavior.

In order for behavioral advertising opt-outs to work on your device, your browser must be set to accept cookies. If you delete cookies, buy a new device, access the Sites from a different device, login under a different screen name, or change web browsers, you will need to opt out again. If your browser has scripting disabled, you do not need to opt out, as online behavioral advertising technology does not work when scripting is disabled. Please check your browser's security settings to validate whether scripting is active or disabled. 

Mobile Applications  Bank of America's Mobile Banking Applications for U.S. accounts ("Applications") allows you to access your account balances, make transfers and pay bills on your mobile device in accordance with our Online Banking Service Agreement. This Notice applies to any Personal Information or Other Information that we may collect through the Applications.

Linking to other sites  We may provide links to non-Bank of America websites, such as credit bureaus or merchants. If you follow links to websites not controlled by Bank of America, you should review their privacy policies and other terms, as they may be different from those of our Sites. Bank of America does not guarantee and is not responsible for the privacy or security of these websites, including the accuracy, completeness, reliability or suitability of their information.

Social media sites  Bank of America provides experiences on social media platforms such as Facebook®, Twitter® and LinkedIn® that enable online sharing and collaboration among users who have registered to use them. Any content you post, such as pictures, information, opinions, or any Personal Information that you make available to other participants on these social platforms, is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policies of those platforms. Please refer to them to better understand your rights and obligations with regard to such content.

Security  To protect Personal Information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with federal law. These measures include device safeguards and secured files and buildings. For more information visit bankofamerica.com/security.

Using other aggregation websites  Other companies offer aggregation websites and services that allow you to consolidate your financial account information from different sources (such as your accounts with us or with other financial institutions) so that you can view all your account information at one online location. To do this, an aggregation provider may request access to Personal Information, such as financial information, usernames and passwords. You should use caution and ensure that the aggregator company has appropriate policies and practices to protect the privacy and security of any information you provide or to which they are gaining access. We are not responsible for the use or disclosure of any Personal Information accessed by any company or person to whom you provide your Site username and password.

If you provide your Site username, password or other information about your accounts with us to an aggregation website, we will consider that you have authorized all transactions initiated by an aggregation website using access information you provide, whether or not you were aware of a specific transaction. If you decide to revoke the authority you have given an aggregation website, we strongly recommend that you change your password for the Site to ensure that the aggregation website cannot continue to access your account.

Making sure information is accurate  Keeping your account information accurate and up to date is very important. If your account information is incomplete, inaccurate or not current, please use the Contact Us option on our Site, or call or write to us at the telephone numbers or appropriate address for changes listed on your account statements, records, online or other account materials. You can also speak to a customer representative at a banking center, or to your financial advisor or account representative.

Protecting children's privacy online  The Site is not directed to individuals under the age of thirteen (13), and we request that these individuals do not provide Personal Information through the Site. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13 without parental consent. For more information about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), visit the Federal Trade Commission website.

Updates this privacy notice

This U.S. Online Privacy Notice is subject to change. Please review it periodically. If we make changes to the U.S. Online Privacy Notice, we will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this Notice. Any changes to this Notice will become effective when we post the revised Notice on the Site. Your use of the Site following these changes means that you accept the revised Notice.