PRIVACY ACT NOTICE
Information required by subsection (e)(3) of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)
(3))requires the following notice be provided to you:
The authorities for collecting the requested information from and about you are Section 455(h) of the Higher
Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 1087e(h)) and 34 C.F.R. § 685.206(c) and the authorities for
collecting and using your Social Security Number (SSN) are the same but also include 31 U.S.C. 7701(b). The primary
purpose of the information collected is for the use and administration of the U.S. Department of Education's office of
Federal Student Aid (ED/we) for borrower defense to loan repayment program. The information you provide ED on
this form and your SSN are voluntary, but you may need to provide the requested information on this form, including
your SSN and/or a Federal Student Aid ID (FSA ID) that provides ED your verified SSN and other individual information
pertaining to a student's or parent's Student Financial Assistance Programs account(s), for ED to process or complete
our review of your borrower defense to loan repayment application. You may submit a form without your SSN or an
FSA ID by filling out a form and sending it to ED via email or physical mail because disclosure of the information
requested on this form is voluntary. However, without providing all the requested information on this form, ED may
not be able to conduct a full investigation and complete the review of your application.
We use the information that you provided on this form including your name, SSN, date of birth, address, email
address, telephone number(s), and / or an FSA ID, to receive, review, evaluate, and process requests for relief under
the borrower defense to loan repayment regulations, to render decisions on the merits of such requests for relief,
and, where requests for borrower defense to loan repayment are successful, to determine the relief that is
appropriate to borrowers under the circumstances as well as to initiate appropriate proceedings to require schools
whose acts or omissions resulted in the successful defenses against repayment to pay ED the amounts of the loans
that apply to the defenses. Without your consent, ED may disclose the information that you provided and as
otherwise allowed by the Privacy Act, pursuant to the routine uses identified in the system of records notice (SORN)
entitled “Customer Engagement Management System (CEMS)” (18-11-11) and published in the Federal Register as
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FR 27587-27591 (June 13, 2018). These routine uses include, but are not limited to, a routine use that permits ED to
disclose your information to foreign agencies, Federal agencies, State agencies, Tribal, or local agencies, accreditors,
schools, lenders, guaranty agencies, servicers, and private collection agencies when further information is relevant to
ED's resolution of your complaint, request, or other inquiry, tracking your application or your inquiry, and, where a
request for borrower defense to loan repayment is successful, to determine the relief that is appropriate under the
circumstances as well as to initiate the appropriate proceeding to require the school whose acts or omissions resulted
in the successful defense against loan repayment to pay ED the amount of the loan that apply to the defenses. We
may use your information for reporting, analyzing the data to make recommendations in student financial assistance
programs, and assisting in the informal resolution of disputes. Disclosure of relevant information also may be made to
the responsible foreign, Federal, State, Tribal or local agencies charged with investigating or prosecuting a violation or
potential violation of law in the event that information indicates, either on its face or in connection with other
information, a violation or potential violation of any applicable statute, regulation, or order of a competent authority.
In the event of litigation or alternative dispute resolution (ADR) involving ED or that we have an interest in and if that
a party is either any component of ED, any ED employee in his or her official capacity, any ED employee in his or her
individual capacity where representation for the employee has been requested or has been agreed to by ED or the
Department of Justice (DOJ), or the United States where ED determines that the litigation is likely to affect ED or any
of its components, we may disclose your information to DOJ, a court, adjudicative body, a person or an entity
designated by ED or otherwise empowered to resolve or mediate disputes, or a counsel, party, representative, or
witness if the disclosure is relevant and necessary to the litigation or ADR. ED also may disclose your information to
DOJ to the extent necessary for obtaining DOJ's advice on any matter relevant to an audit, inspection, or other inquiry.
We may send information to members of Congress if you ask them to help you with federal student aid or Student
Financial Assistance Programs account(s) questions. Disclosures may be made to our contractors for the purpose of
performing any programmatic function that requires disclosure of records. As part of such a contract, we will require
the contractor to maintain safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of the records that are disclosed to
the contractor. If a record is relevant and necessary to a borrower complaint regarding participants in any Federal
Student Financial Assistance Programs under title IV of the HEA, ED may disclose a record only during the course of
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