Capital One Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 2026
About this Policy
The privacy and confidentiality of the personal information you provide is important to us. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes the privacy practices of Capital One (Canada Branch) related to the provision of our products and services to you (collectively, our “Products”).
In this Policy:
- “Capital One”, “we”, “us” or “our” means Capital One Bank (Canada Branch);
- Applicants” are individuals who apply to become our customers, including individuals whose applications are not approved;
- “Consumers” are individuals who are not currently our customers; and
- “Customers” are individuals who have an active customer agreement with us to use our Products.
We update this Policy from time to time to reflect our privacy practices and to comply with applicable laws. It’s your responsibility to visit this web page regularly for updates.
Table of Contents
- Privacy commitment and personal information
- Accountability
- Information we collect, and limiting collection
- Identifying purposes
- Credit models and credit policies
- Consent
- Sharing personal information
- Information transferred and processed outside Canada
- Retention
- Accuracy
- Safeguards
- Openness, individual access and challenging compliance
- Contact us
1. Privacy commitment and personal information
We collect, use and disclose personal information to operate our business and as required by law. Personal information is information about an identifiable individual, as defined in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Please note this policy does not apply to information that is not considered personal information.
2. Accountability
We’re responsible for personal information in our possession or custody, as well as personal information transferred to a third party for processing on our behalf. We have appointed a Privacy Office who is responsible for ensuring that we comply with this Policy and applicable privacy laws. Please refer to the Contact us section for information on how to contact our Privacy Office.
3. Information we collect, and limiting collection
We take steps to limit the information we collect, use and disclose to what we need for identified purposes or as required or permitted by applicable law, including as set out in this Policy.
Connecting with us
We may collect information you provide if you visit or use our website or apps, register or apply for one of our Products, interact with us through social media or online ads, participate in surveys or engage with us in any way.
Applying for any of our Products
We collect the information set out in the application form and otherwise requested during the application process, which may include a copy of your government identification.
You may also have the option of providing us with your social insurance number (SIN), which we use to identify you with consumer reporting agencies.
As a customer
We may collect information about you, such as transaction information, including purchases, account balances, fees, payment history, parties to transactions and credit card usage.
We may periodically collect information from consumer reporting agencies, such as your employment, residency status, credit score and credit history.
When you provide us with information about authorized user(s) on your account, we expect that you have authority to consent to its collection, use, and disclosure as outlined in this Policy.
Digital and online information
We may collect information from your mobile and online activity, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) address to determine your geographic region, mobile device ID, cellular carrier, data about how you use the site, application and website use, and history. We use cookies (small computer files that a website’s server places on your computer) on our website to collect information about your online behaviour. You can set your browser to reject cookies, but this may impair our ability to customize and test your experience, like remembering your preferred language or presenting province-specific information to you. Information may also be collected through our app as part of our membership with the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada. Please refer to the Consent section for information about opting out of ad tracking on your phone. We may also collect publicly available information about you from online sources, or from surveys, including by telephone, that you participate in.
Third-party service providers
We may collect information about you from third parties that we have contracted with who help us to assess, process, collect on, make offers for and service your account, such as consumer reporting agencies or affiliates.
Communication
When you have a telephone conversation with one of our representatives, your call may be recorded for quality and training purposes, as well as to resolve concerns. If you choose to contact us by email or mail, we may retain your email address, the content of your communication and our response.
4. Identifying purposes
We identify the purposes for which we’ll use your personal information (and we obtain your consent to those purposes) at the time we collect your personal information, unless otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.
We may use your information to communicate with you
Your information allows us to communicate with you by various methods, including mail, email, SMS message, and telephone at the contact points you have provided to us. We’ll contact you to respond to your questions, proactively provide you with information about your account(s) with us, inform you about our Products, and update you on changes to our website, mobile app, and other digital services we provide. We may use your information to send you important updates about your application status and account opening disclosures, and important or useful messages about your account(s). When you communicate online or by email, you should be aware that sending information over the internet is not secure, as it can be intercepted and/or manipulated and retransmitted.
We may use your information to authenticate you
We may use your information to confirm your identity, including by sharing your information with consumer reporting agencies or other third parties to authenticate you when you apply for a Product, to verify that it’s you we’re speaking with when you call our Customer Service number to discuss your account, or identify you when you visit us online or on our mobile app.
We may use your information to assess your creditworthiness
We may use your information to periodically assess your creditworthiness to determine your eligibility for Products and process your application(s). This information is helpful for us to offer you Product choices that are appropriate for you. This includes collecting and using information such as employment, residency status, credit score and credit history to better assess your credit risk and inform our underwriting decisions for new applications and existing accounts. In order to do this, we’ll provide your information to, and collect information about you from consumer reporting agencies. Please refer to the Sharing personal information section.
We may use your information for automated decision making
We may, for certain purposes described in this section, render a decision based exclusively on automated processing of your personal information throughout the course of our relationship with you. For instance, in relation to your credit card application, we may use automated processing to determine your eligibility for our credit cards or to allow you to check which cards you’ll be approved for before you apply. We may also use such automated processing to review your account regularly in order to determine eligibility for credit limit increases or other Products.
If you’re a resident of Quebec, you may contact Capital One to:
- Request information about an automated decision
- Request details on the personal information used to render the decision and the reasons and principal factors that led to the automated decision
- Request to submit observations to a member of the Capital One team who is in a position to review the decision
We may use your information to service you
Your information may be used to maintain, service, process, analyze, audit and collect on your account(s). We may use your information to service your mobile account, optimize our website, perform analytics, and provide you with a unique user experience. We may also send notifications and support mobile payments with this information. When we issue you a new card, we may provide your new account information to facilitate your payments, pursuant to industry standards. Please refer to the Sharing personal information section.
We may use your information to make improvements
We may use your personal information to evaluate existing Products, develop new Products, drive strategy and improve the customer experience we offer. Information we collect is also valuable for our quality and servicing training programs.
We also customize our website and mobile applications based on information collected, and use that information to understand and deliver Products that you, and others who are similar to you, may find useful. The information is used to better understand our website and mobile application activity, and how users interact with our digital sites. It’s also used to monitor and improve our website and mobile applications.
We may use your information to manage our business
We may use your information to assist us to monitor and manage the performance of our business.
We use personal information from current, former, and prospective customers and applicants to perform analytics, develop data insights, and create models including predictive models. This analysis is essential for managing and mitigating business risks, including credit and fraud, developing and enhancing our Products, and for marketing purposes. Additionally, your information is used to analyze performance and generate internal reports and models that help us develop or refine our credit strategies and policies, and assess financial, credit, operational, legal, and regulatory risks. Please refer to the Credit models and credit policies section.
The information we collect may also be used to undertake network and information security activities.
We may use your information to prevent fraud
We may use your information to assess fraud and other risks to you and Capital One, and to protect consumers, applicants and customers from identity theft, fraud and unauthorized account access. When investigating fraud, we may ask for identification documents (such as a Canadian driver’s license, Canadian passport, birth certificate, utility bill or bank statement or other forms of identification).
We may use your information to serve you offers, advertising and marketing
Elements of your personal information may be used to determine your suitability, or to directly communicate with you, for targeted advertising, marketing, promotions, rewards programs, research or contests. You may see advertisements for our Products on our website, mobile applications or on third-party websites, based on your online or mobile activity and information you’ve shared with third parties.
We may use your personal information to identify you on third-party platforms you already use (such as Facebook and X) and serve you ads through their marketing platforms.
We may also use your information to identify you on third-party platforms (such as Facebook and Google), and then use the algorithms of those platforms to find other people with similar characteristics.
We may prevent you from seeing Capital One offers that may be unsuitable for you, based on the information we know about you. For example, if you are already a customer, we don’t want to serve you ads for Products you already have with us.
You can opt out of offers, advertising and marketing uses of your information and opt out of the use of cookies by following the instructions in the Consent section.
We may use feedback that you provide to us in future marketing materials. This information will not strictly identify a specific individual, unless additional consent is received.
We may use your information to report
We may share application and transaction information with consumer reporting agencies and other parties who have financial, employment or business dealings with you.
5. Credit models and credit policies
We may use personal information to develop or refine our credit models and credit policies which help us make lending decisions and manage financial, legal, and regulatory risk.
In doing so, we may use the personal information of applicants (including individuals whose applications are not approved), customers and former customers. This includes information derived from credit applications and that we receive from consumer reporting agencies (for example, credit score and certain credit report data). We may also use account information about our customers.
We typically develop or refine our credit models and credit policies when consumer reporting agencies introduce new data products or change how credit information is available or scored. We may develop or refine our credit models and credit policies using information from those agencies:
- If you’re a current customer, the information used for these updates may be based on updated credit information that the consumer reporting agency has on file for you. These inquiries do not affect your credit score.
- If you’re a former customer or your application was declined, the anonymized information used for these updates is a historical snapshot as of the time of your past application or the time your relationship with us ended (as applicable). This does not affect your credit score.
Using personal information for credit modelling and policy purposes is essential to our operations and is therefore a condition for having your credit application considered and receiving our credit products. Do not apply for credit if you do not wish us to use your information for these purposes.
6. Consent
If you apply for a Product, communicate with us or provide personal information to us in any way, you acknowledge your consent for personal information collection, use and disclosure as set out in the application form, this Policy, and as otherwise identified to you, and any other purposes permitted by applicable laws. If we want to use your information for a purpose that was not disclosed at the time of consent, consent will be sought at the time of this new purpose if required by applicable laws.
Withdrawal of consent
Subject to legal and contractual restrictions, you can, with reasonable notice to Capital One, withdraw your consent for use and disclosure of your personal information, other than that which is required for us to maintain your account and to provide Products for which you registered for or were approved.
Opt out of mail, email and phone marketing
We won’t add your name to marketing campaigns for the first 30 days after the opening of your account to give you an opportunity to opt out of mail, email and phone marketing. You can also opt out of the use of cookies for Online Behavioural Advertising.
You can request that we don’t contact you for advertising, marketing, promotions, rewards programs, research or contests by updating your privacy preferences. You should know that withdrawing your consent in these instances may result in you missing out on offers specific to your account, such as credit limit increases.
To update your privacy preferences for specific Capital One credit card accounts, please contact us at 1-800-481-3239.
To opt out of the Capital One email marketing list only, visit our email opt-out site.
You must opt out of the use of cookies separately.
Opt out of cookies used for Online Behavioural Advertising (“OBA”)
You can adjust your browser to reject cookies by selecting the “AdChoices” link embedded in many of our ads. We subscribe to the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada’s Self-Regulatory Principles for OBA. These principles promote consumers’ awareness and choice about how their information is used for OBA. You can opt out of the use of your browsing habits for OBA – just visit the AdChoices website provided by the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada, and use the opt-out mechanism.
Do Not Track
Certain web browsers can transmit Do Not Track signals, but there is no universally accepted standard for how to interpret such signals. Our webpages do not function differently in response to these web browser Do Not Track signals. However, you may opt out from certain targeted advertising.
Opt out of targeted advertising
You can manage your preferences using the Limit Ad Tracking setting on iOS devices or the Opt-Out of Interest Based Ads setting on Android devices.
8. Information transferred and processed outside Canada
Your personal information may be stored and processed at our corporate offices in the U.S. or with approved third parties within the U.S. or elsewhere. This includes sharing personal information with US regulators as required by applicable law.
If a third party processes or stores information outside Canada, foreign governments, courts or regulatory agencies may therefore be able to obtain such personal information through the laws of the foreign jurisdiction.
For more information about our policies regarding transfers outside of Canada, you may contact the Privacy Office. Please refer to the Contact us section.
9. Retention
As a bank, we retain information for a variety of business and legal purposes, and we are required to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements with respect to data retention, including anti-money laundering legislation. Please be aware that this period may extend beyond the end of your applicant or customer relationship with us. Capital One will destroy or erase personal information once it is no longer required to fulfill the identified business purposes or to satisfy legal or regulatory obligations.
10. Accuracy
Capital One seeks to ensure that personal information is as accurate, complete and up to date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.
If you believe that the personal information we have about you is not accurate or complete, please contact us by updating your information through online banking, by calling the Customer Service number on the back of your card, or by contacting the Privacy Office - please refer to the Contact us section. If you move or change your phone number or email address, update your address with us. If we don’t agree to make the amendments that you request, you may challenge our decision as described in the Openness, individual access and challenging compliance section.
11. Safeguards
Capital One uses a variety of administrative, physical, technical and contractual measures in an effort to protect personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access, use or disclosure and to limit access to your information to those individuals and parties who require access for approved purposes.
For example, we have physical security (such as restricted access to our offices and secure storage), electronic protection (such as passwords and encryption) and safe business practices (such as customer authentication when you call us). We also train our staff on how to safeguard personal information.
While Capital One takes measures to protect data and safeguard your personal information, there is always inherent risk when providing personal information. There may be risks when sharing your personal information which can include financial harm caused by bad actors and identity theft. Risks may also arise from human error such as accidentally sending an email containing personal information to the wrong individual. As such, you can help us safeguard your information too. If you contact us through email or social media, you should avoid sending highly sensitive information, such as your banking information or full credit card number.
If someone who states that they are representing Capital One contacts you and requests your personal or financial information, and you are suspicious, you can always contact us to confirm that the request was legitimate. We also recommend that you use unique and strong passwords for your online account(s) and that you do not share your passwords with anyone.
12. Openness, individual access and challenging compliance
You can write to our Privacy Office to request access to the personal information we have on file for you to correct any inaccuracies in such personal information, and to otherwise exercise your privacy rights. We will provide you with the personal information we have, subject to certain considerations specified by law. Some of the information we have on you, such as your contact information and transactions, is available on your account statements easily accessed by you through online banking.
13. Contact us
For privacy-related requests, to raise a privacy concern or for more information about our Policy, please contact Customer Service.
To speak to a Customer Service Representative, please call: 1-800-481-3239.
You can also contact the Privacy Office by mail:
Attention: Privacy Officer
Capital One Canada
P.O. Box 508, Stn D
Scarborough, ON M1R 5L6
