Our Commitment is to provide you with vehicle financing and other quality financial products and services. We obtain and use information about you to do so. We appreciate and respect the trust you show in providing information to us. We value our relationship with you, therefore, explaining to you how we collect, use and protect customer information is important to us.

WHY WE COLLECT CUSTOMER INFORMATION

We collect customer information to identify you, confirm facts about you, help us assess requests for financial products and services, and deliver financial products and services to you.

CUSTOMER INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We get customer information from a variety of sources:

• Information you, or others on your behalf, provide on applications and other forms, including identifying information such as name, address, telephone number, e-mail addresses and social security number and credit related information such as your assets, income, and liabilities.
• Information from your dealings and relationships with us, our related family of companies, motor vehicle dealers and others, such as vehicle and vehicle financing information, services provided to you, and how you perform on your outstanding credit obligations.
• Information from consumer reporting agencies such as credit history and capacity
• Information from outside sources like motor vehicle dealers, employers, marketing firms and others sources, such as employment status and demographic data.

PROTECTING CUSTOMER INFORMATION

Safeguarding customer information is important to us. We use systems, policies and procedures to maintain the accuracy of customer information and to protect it from loss, misuse, or alteration. Customer information is accessible by appropriate personnel who have a business need for the information. We provide training and communication programs to educate our personnel about the meaning and requirements of this privacy notice.

HOW WE USE CUSTOMER INFORMATION

We use customer information to meet your requests for financial products and services, administer accounts, develop new financial products and services and comply with legal requirements. We also use customer information to determine which products or services might be of interest to you.

In striving to serve you, we sometimes share customer information with others so they may help us by providing services to us or by providing services on our behalf or jointly with us to you. We don't sell personal information about you to unrelated companies for their independent use. We do share information as permitted by law. In the past, our customers were asked if they wanted to "opt out" of information sharing. However, because we limit our sharing as described in this notice, there is no reason for you to provide us an opt out request.

SHARING INFORMATION WITHIN OUR FAMILY OF COMPANIES

We may share the information we collect about present and former customers within our family of companies. Our "family" is the group of companies related to us by common control or ownership. We share information within this family as a normal part of conducting company business and offering products and services to customers. This sharing of information is limited. Shared information includes identifying information and information we get from our dealings with you and the relationship you have with us.We do not share customer credit information we collect from outside sources, such as credit reports, within our family of companies.

SHARING INFORMATION WITH UNRELATED COMPANIES

In order to provide you with the services you request and with other valuable financial products and services, we share customer information with unrelated companies -- companies who are not members of our family of companies. This sharing allows us to: service accounts; provide the services or products requested; report our experiences; protect our business against fraud and unauthorized transactions; respond to governmental requests and regulatory requirements. We may also share information to offer financial products and services jointly with other financial service providers.

We may share customer information about present and former customers with the following types of companies:

• Select financial service providers who participate in joint marketing programs with us: such as motor vehicle dealers providing vehicle financing; and also others who provide products or services on our behalf such as mortgage bankers providing real estate loans, securities broker-dealers providing stock trading, and insurance agents, brokers, or underwriting companies providing auto and other types of insurance
• Financial service providers and non-financial companies who provide services for us or on our behalf, such as companies that prepare account invoices or statements, help us service accounts, promote and market our products, provide computer and systems support and other services
• Others, such as independent contractors or suppliers.

Unrelated companies receiving customer information from us enter agreements with us to protect the information they receive before information is provided. These agreements also limit the use of the information to providing services we request. We do not share customer information with other companies unless an agreement to protect customer information is in place, except as otherwise permitted by law.

Future Changes

This notice updates and replaces any previous notices you may have received from us about the collection, use and protection of customer information . We may change this privacy notice at any time and if we do, we will notify you as required by law.

Additional Rights

Some states may provide additional privacy protections under existing or future state laws. We are committed to complying with applicable law when we share customer information.

Questions?

Call 1-866-222-4405 for answers to your questions about this privacy notice.

© 2003 Ford Motor Credit Company. All rights reserved.

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