[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR313.4]

[Page 398-400]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
                   CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
 
PART 313--PRIVACY OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                 Subpart A--Privacy and Opt Out Notices
 
Sec. 313.4  Initial privacy notice to consumers required.


    (a) Initial notice requirement. You must provide a clear and 
conspicuous notice that accurately reflects your privacy policies and 
practices to:
    (1) Customer. An individual who becomes your customer, not later 
than when you establish a customer relationship, except as provided in 
paragraph (e) of this section; and
    (2) Consumer. A consumer, before you disclose any nonpublic personal 
information about the consumer to any nonaffiliated third party, if you 
make

[[Page 399]]

such a disclosure other than as authorized by Secs. 313.14 and 313.15.
    (b) When initial notice to a consumer is not required. You are not 
required to provide an initial notice to a consumer under paragraph (a) 
of this section if:
    (1) You do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about the 
consumer to any nonaffiliated third party, other than as authorized by 
Secs. 313.14 and 313.15; and
    (2) You do not have a customer relationship with the consumer.
    (c) When you establish a customer relationship--(1) General rule. 
You establish a customer relationship when you and the consumer enter 
into a continuing relationship.
    (2) Special rule for loans. You establish a customer relationship 
with a consumer when you originate a loan to the consumer for personal, 
family, or household purposes. If you subsequently transfer the 
servicing rights to that loan to another financial institution, the 
customer relationship transfers with the servicing rights.
    (3)(i) Examples of establishing customer relationship. You establish 
a customer relationship when the consumer:
    (A) Opens a credit card account with you;
    (B) Executes the contract to obtain credit from you or purchase 
insurance from you;
    (C) Agrees to obtain financial, economic, or investment advisory 
services from you for a fee; or
    (D) Becomes your client for the purpose of your providing credit 
counseling or tax preparation services, or to obtain career counseling 
while seeking employment with a financial institution or the finance, 
accounting, or audit department of any company (or while employed by 
such a company or financial institution);
    (E) Provides any personally identifiable financial information to 
you in an effort to obtain a mortgage loan through you;
    (F) Executes the lease for personal property with you;
    (G) Is an obligor on an account that you purchased from another 
financial institution and whom you have located and begun attempting to 
collect amounts owed on the account; or
    (H) Provides you with the information necessary for you to compile 
and provide access to all of the consumer's on-line financial accounts 
at your Web site.
    (ii) Examples of loan rule. You establish a customer relationship 
with a consumer who obtains a loan for personal, family, or household 
purposes when you:
    (A) Originate the loan to the consumer and retain the servicing 
rights; or
    (B) Purchase the servicing rights to the consumer's loan.
    (d) Existing customers. When an existing customer obtains a new 
financial product or service from you that is to be used primarily for 
personal, family, or household purposes, you satisfy the initial notice 
requirements of paragraph (a) of this section as follows:
    (1) You may provide a revised privacy notice, under Sec. 313.8, that 
covers the customer's new financial product or service; or
    (2) If the initial, revised, or annual notice that you most recently 
provided to that customer was accurate with respect to the new financial 
product or service, you do not need to provide a new privacy notice 
under paragraph (a) of this section.
    (e) Exceptions to allow subsequent delivery of notice. (1) You may 
provide the initial notice required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section 
within a reasonable time after you establish a customer relationship if:
    (i) Establishing the customer relationship is not at the customer's 
election; or
    (ii) Providing notice not later than when you establish a customer 
relationship would substantially delay the customer's transaction and 
the customer agrees to receive the notice at a later time.
    (2) Examples of exceptions--(i) Not at customer's election. 
Establishing a customer relationship is not at the customer's election 
if you acquire a customer's loan, or the servicing rights, from another 
financial institution and the customer does not have a choice about your 
acquisition.
    (ii) Substantial delay of customer's transaction. Providing notice 
not later

[[Page 400]]

than when you establish a customer relationship would substantially 
delay the customer's transaction when:
    (A) You and the individual agree over the telephone to enter into a 
customer relationship involving prompt delivery of the financial product 
or service; or
    (B) You establish a customer relationship with an individual under a 
program authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) or similar student loan programs where loan 
proceeds are disbursed promptly without prior communication between you 
and the customer.
    (iii) No substantial delay of customer's transaction. Providing 
notice not later than when you establish a customer relationship would 
not substantially delay the customer's transaction when the relationship 
is initiated in person at your office or through other means by which 
the customer may view the notice, such as through a web site.
    (f) Delivery. When you are required to deliver an initial privacy 
notice by this section, you must deliver it according to Sec. 313.9. If 
you use a short-form initial notice for non-customers according to 
Sec. 313.6(d), you may deliver your privacy notice according to 
Sec. 313.6(d)(3).