Capital One Privacy Policy
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”). The term “Capital One”, or “we” or “us” or “our” in this Policy means Capital One Bank (Canada Branch). Please refer to this Policy to help understand what personal information we will collect, how we will use it and who may see it.
We update this Policy from time to time to ensure consumers, applicants, customers and former customers are aware of updates to our privacy practices, to streamline those practices and to comply with applicable laws. Consumers are individuals who are not currently our customers; applicants are individuals who apply to become our customers; customers are individuals who have been approved and currently use our products; and former customers are individuals who have used our Products in the past. Please visit this web page regularly for updates.
Table of Contents
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 are 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 Officer who is responsible for ensuring that we comply with this Policy and applicable privacy laws. Please see Section 10 for information on how to contact our Privacy Officer.
3. Information we collect, and limiting collection
We will limit the information we collect to what we need for identified purposes, and we will only use it for those purposes as set out below.
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.
Information about you
If you sign up for one of our Products, we may collect information about your transactions, including purchases, account balances, fees, payment history, parties to transactions and credit card usage. We may collect information from credit reporting agencies and other outside sources to verify financial information about you, such as your employment and credit history. We may ask you for a copy of your government identification and we may request that you send us a selfie to verify your government ID. If you give us your social insurance number (SIN), we may use it to identify you with credit reporting agencies and other parties.
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 see section 5 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 credit 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
Capital One clearly identifies the purposes for which personal information is collected, used or disclosed prior to, or at the time of, collection and as set out in our cardholder agreement.
We may use your information to contact you
Your information allows us to contact you by various methods, including mail, email, SMS message, and telephone at the contact points you have provided to us. We will 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
With your information, we can confirm your identity by sharing your information with credit reporting agencies or other third parties to authenticate you when you apply for a product or service, to verify that it’s you we are 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
With your information, we can 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. In order to do this, we will provide your information to, and collect information about you from credit reporting agencies (refer to section 6 Limiting use and disclosure for information on third party sharing).
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 are a resident of Quebec, you may email our Privacy Office at canadaprivacyoffice@capitalone.com 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 (refer to section 6 Limiting use and disclosure for information on third party sharing).
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. Your information may be used to analyze performance and generate internal reports and metrics, including to generate credit strategies. These reports and metrics will help us assess risks, including financial, credit, operational, legal and regulatory risks. 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 Twitter) 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 below.
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. 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 this Policy and applicable laws. If we want to use your information for a purpose that was not disclosed at the time of initial consent, consent will be sought at the time of this new purpose.
Updating 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 were approved.
Opt out of mail, email and phone marketing
We will not 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.
6. Limiting use and disclosure
Capital One limits use and disclosure of personal information to the purposes we identify, and as required by applicable laws.
Third parties
We do not sell or rent customer lists or personal information to others. We may share your personal information with service providers who perform services for your account on our behalf (such as credit reporting agencies, card manufacturers, print suppliers, payment processing businesses, marketing, research, call centres, and other services as required to service you). Our contracts with third parties include obligations to protect your personal information, and third parties must meet our rigorous privacy standards. When you engage with other companies directly, or contact us through their platforms, their use of the information they collect from you is subject to the terms of their privacy policies.
The following paragraphs highlight the basic information disclosed to third parties for uses as described in section 4 of this policy (Identifying Purposes):
Credit reporting agencies
We may share your information with the credit agency/agencies to make a decision about your application and other decisions about your account. Information shared may include the following: name; address; SIN; phone number; credit card number; account terms; date of birth; transaction records; credit information; and customer performance data. Information disclosed may be used by the credit reporting agencies for credit reporting purposes.
The credit reporting agencies we use to obtain your credit information are Equifax and TransUnion. You can contact them directly to obtain a copy of your credit report.
Credit card manufacturers
We may share your information with the credit card manufacturer to issue your credit card(s). Information shared may include the following: credit card number; name; and address.
Print suppliers
We may share your information with print suppliers to print letters and statements pertaining to your account. Information shared may include the following: credit card number; name and address; and previous period transactions.
Payment processing suppliers
We may share your information with our payments processing suppliers to process your transactions and payments. Information shared may include the following: transaction information; account number; bank from which monies were extracted; and the name on the account of the bank.
Collection agencies
We may share your information to help us collect a debt owed to us by you. Information shared may include the following: contact and financial information.
Fraud detection services
We may use third parties to verify your identity, authenticate you or to monitor your transactions and online banking activity. This will help us to prevent fraud, identify fraudulent activity on your account, or to enhance our detective tools. These third parties may also perform intake services for individuals who report potential fraud to us.
Mastercard
As part of the payment network, and pursuant to the Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU) as amended from time to time, we may update and/or provide information regarding your credit card or account. The types of account information disclosed to Merchants via the ABU service may include card number, expiry date, and other account details needed to allow future transactions to be processed. ABU facilitates the secure transmission of account updates to card-on-file and recurring payments merchants. Card-on-file refers to you providing prior consent to a merchant to store your credit card information for subsequent use in connection with one or more future transactions with that merchant. Recurring payment merchants refers to you providing your prior consent to a merchant to store and use your credit card information on an ongoing basis in order to process recurring and future payment transactions with that merchant. ABU helps reduce the number of declined transactions due to card expirations, lost or stolen cards, and other account changes. You may opt out of the Mastercard ABU by calling the phone number on the back of your Capital One credit card and speaking to a customer service representative.
Call centres and quality assurance providers
We may share access to your account information maintained on Capital One systems, with call centres to service your account and provide you with customer support. We may share your customer experience with a third party to evaluate how we are doing, and ensure we are complying with applicable laws.
Marketing and research companies
We may share your information to understand and deliver products, services and offers that you, and others who are similar to you, may find useful. We may also share your information to block offers that you won’t find useful.
Law firms, actuaries and auditing firms
We may share your information with our legal representatives and auditors when we respond to complaints, seek legal advice, pursue or respond to legal actions or ensure compliance with audit requirements.
Regulators, courts, law enforcement and other government institutions
We may share your information to resolve concerns and as required by law.
Assignees
We may, at any time, sell, transfer or assign any or all of our rights to our Canadian business, including our interests, rights or obligations regarding your account(s) with us. If we do so, we may share your personal information with prospective purchasers, transferees or assignees.
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.
7. 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 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.
8. Accuracy
Capital One ensures 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 by mail or email. If you move or change your phone number or email address, update your address with us. If we do not agree to make the amendments that you request, you may challenge our decision as described in the Challenging Compliance section below.
9. Safeguards
Capital One uses procedures and practices appropriate to the sensitivity of personal information to protect against loss, theft and unauthorized access. Access to your information is restricted to those individuals and parties who require access.
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 all reasonable 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.
10. 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.
For privacy-related requests, to raise a privacy concern or for more information about our Policy, please contact our Privacy Office.
By email:
canadaprivacyoffice@capitalone.com
By mail:
Attention:
Privacy Officer
Capital One Canada
P.O. Box 508, Stn D
Scarborough, ON M1R 5L6
Please note that this email address will only be monitored for privacy-related requests.
You can also contact Customer Service for general privacy inquiries or concerns.
To speak to a Customer Service Representative please call: 1-800-481-3239
