California Consumer Privacy Act Disclosure

Last Updated: July 31, 2023

Applicability

This California Consumer Privacy Act Disclosure explains how Synovus Bank and its corporate affiliates (collectively “Synovus,” “we” or “us”) collect, use, and disclose personal information relating to California residents covered by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”). This notice is provided pursuant to the CCPA.

Introduction

Under the CCPA ‘Personal Information’ is information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked directly or indirectly with a particular California resident. The CCPA, however, does not apply to certain personal information subject to privacy laws, such as Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and certain other laws.

The specific Personal Information that we collect, use, and disclose relating to a California resident covered by the CCPA will vary based on our relationship or interaction with that individual. For example, this Disclosure does not apply to information that we collect about California residents who apply for or obtain our financial products and services for personal, family, or household purposes. For more information about how we collect, disclose, and secure information relating to these customers, please refer to our Synovus Privacy Notice, Synovus Digital Privacy Statement and our Safety and Security Page.

Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information

Synovus Consumer Privacy Notice and Synovus Digital Privacy Statement provide consumers information concerning the privacy of personal information. The notice provides detailed information about our collection/disclosure practices and how we collect and use your personal information.

In the past 12 months, we have collected and disclosed to third parties for our business purposes, the following categories of Personal Information relating to California residents covered by this disclosure:

  • Identifiers, such as a real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers
  • Personal information, as defined in the California safeguards law, such as contact information and financial information
  • Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, such as sex and marital status
  • Commercial information, including records of personal property, product or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies
  • Biometric information, such as fingerprints, voiceprint
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as browsing history and interactions with our website
  • Geolocation data, such as device location and Internet Protocol (IP) location
  • Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information, such as call and video recordings
  • Professional or employment-related information, such as work history and prior employer
  • Education information subject to the Family Educational and Privacy Act, such as student records, qualifications, confirmation of graduation and directory information
  • Inferences drawn from any of the Information listed above to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes
  • The following categories of Sensitive Personal Information:
    • Social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number
    • Account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account
    • Precise geolocation
    • Racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership
    • Contents of a consumer’s mail, email, and text messages unless we are the intended recipient of the communication
    • The processing of biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer
    • Personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer’s health

How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

Categories of sources from which we collect Personal information:

  • Directly from you or your guardian/representatives
  • Websites, Mobile Apps, Email and Social Media managed by us
  • Our Third Parties, Service Providers and Credit Reporting Agencies from which we collect personal information or market data as part of providing products and services, completing transactions, or supporting operations
  • Outside merchants or business partners such as credit card or lending partnerships, or corporate clients
  • Outputs from analytics
  • Information from our affiliates or subsidiaries
  • Public records or publicly available data

Business or Commercial Purpose of Collecting and Disclosing Personal Information

In the past 12 months, we may have used Personal Information relating to California residents to operate, manage, and maintain our business, to provide our products and services, and to accomplish our business and commercial purposes and objectives, including the following:

  • Performing services, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, conducting advertising or marketing services, providing analytic services, or providing similar services
  • Helping to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of personal information is reasonably necessary and proportionate for these purposes
  • Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity
  • Short-term, transient use, including, but not limited to, non-personalized advertising shown as part of a current interaction with us, where the information is not disclosed to a third party and is not used to build a profile or otherwise alter the California resident's experience outside the current interaction with us
  • Auditing related to a current interaction and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards
  • Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service controlled by us, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service. Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality
  • Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration
  • Complying with laws and regulations and to comply with other legal process and law enforcement requirements (including any internal policy based on or reflecting legal or regulatory guidance, codes or opinions)

Third parties that assist us with our business operations also collect and use information (including Personal Information) through the sites and may share the collected information with us. For example, our service providers collect and share information with us to analyze the performance of the Sites and to detect and prevent fraud. We also may share information with third party service providers upon your request.

The categories of third parties to whom we disclosed Personal Information for our business purposes described in this privacy disclosure are:

  • Affiliates and Subsidiaries of Synovus
  • Businesses, Vendors, Contractors, and Service Providers who we partner with to provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, preventing and detecting fraud, information technology and related infrastructure, customer service, email delivery, marketing, and marketing research activities
  • Partners and Third Parties who provide services such as payment, banking and communication infrastructure, storage, legal expertise, tax expertise, notaries, and auditors, who promote the bank and its financial services and products to customers and other prospective customers
  • Other Third Parties who enable customers to conduct transactions online and via mobile devices, support mortgage and fulfillment services, loan processes and aggregators (at the direction of the customer)
  • Government Agencies as required by laws and regulations

Sale or Sharing of Personal Information and to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

In the past 12 months, we have not “sold” Personal Information subject to the CCPA. We do not and will not sell your personal information. For purposes of this Disclosure, “sold” means the disclosure of Personal Information to a third-party for monetary or other valuable consideration. We do not knowingly collect or share personal information from children under 16 without parental or legal guardian consent.

We do not disclose sensitive personal information for purposes other than those specified in CCPA or outside the scope of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act exception. Our Privacy Notice discloses applicable areas where you may opt out of sharing your personal information.

Retention of Personal Information

We take necessary steps to ensure that your personal information is only retained for the minimum period necessary for the purposes set out in this disclosure. We utilize the following criteria to determine the duration for which we will retain your personal information:

  1. To fulfill the business or commercial purpose for which the personal information was collected, used or disclosed.
  2. To comply with applicable laws, regulatory requirements or requests, audit requirements, or orders from competent courts.

 

Consumer Access Request

Rights under the CCPA

If you are a California resident, you have the right to:

  1. Receive this notice at the time or before collection of your personal information.
  2. Request we disclose to you free of charge the following information covering the 12 months preceding your request:
    1. The categories of Personal Information about you that we collected.
    2. The categories of sources from which the Personal Information was collected.
    3. The business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing your Personal Information.
    4. The categories of third parties to whom we disclosed your personal information to.
    5. The specific pieces of Personal Information we collected about you.
  3. Request we delete Personal Information we collected from you.
  4. Request we correct inaccurate information we maintain about you.
  5. Be free from unlawful discrimination for exercising your rights under the CCPA.

To complete a request, we will acknowledge receipt of your request and advise you how long we expect it will take to respond if we are able to verify your identity. To look into your request, we will verify your identity, by collecting additional Personal information such as Driver’s License, State ID, or Military ID (front and back).  Requests for specific pieces of Personal Information will require additional information to verify your identity.

If you submit a request on behalf of another person, we may require proof of authorization and verification of identity, such as Driver’s License, State ID, or Military ID directly from the person for whom you are submitting a request.

In some instances, we may not be able to honor your request. For example, we will not honor your request if we cannot verify your identity or if we cannot verify that you have the authority to make a request on behalf of another individual. Additionally, we will not honor your request where an exception applies, such as where the disclosure of Personal Information would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of another consumer or where the Personal Information that we maintain about you is not subject to the CCPA’s access, correction, or deletion rights.

We will advise you in our response if we are not able to honor your request. We will not provide social security numbers, driver’s license numbers or government issued identification numbers, financial account numbers, healthcare or medical identification numbers, account passwords or security questions and answers, or any specific pieces of information if the disclosure presents the possibility of unauthorized access that could result in identity theft or fraud or unreasonable risk to data or systems and network security.

We will work to process all verified requests within 45 days pursuant to the CCPA. If we need an extension for up to an additional 45 days in order to process your request, we will provide you with an explanation for the delay.

How to Exercise Your Rights

If you are a California resident, completing a request for yourself or on behalf of someone else you may submit a request by:
 

  1. Contacting us using our toll-free number: 1-888-SYNOVUS (1-888-796-6887)
  2. Submitting a request using our webform at: Synovus Privacy Request

Questions or Concerns

For further information about this disclosure or our practices, please call 1-888-SYNOVUS (1-888-796-6887).

Change Notice

Synovus may change or update this Disclosure periodically. When we do, we will post the revised Disclosure on this page with a new revision date.