This Global Privacy Notice describes the types of Personal Information we collect, the purposes for which we collect that Personal Information, the other parties with whom we may share it and the measures we take to protect the security of the data. It also tells you about your rights and choices with respect to your Personal Information, and how you can contact us about our privacy practices.
Please note that we also act on behalf of and under the instructions of financial institutions, merchants and other partners which act as data controllers, including for processing payment transactions. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for more information regarding the processing of your Personal Information in these contexts.
Our privacy practices may vary among the countries in which we operate to reflect local practices and legal requirements. Specific privacy notices may apply to some of our products and services. Please visit the webpage or digital asset of the specific product or service to learn more about our privacy and information practices in relation to that product or service.
“Personal Information” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. We may collect the following categories of Personal Information:
For the purpose of this Global Privacy Notice, unless otherwise specified, “Personal Information” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. We may obtain different types of Personal Information (including Sensitive Personal Information, as may be the case under applicable laws) relating to you in the situations described below.
Personal Information We Receive from Financial Institutions, Merchants, and Other Partners in Connection with Mastercard’s Products or Services
As a processor of payment transactions and provider of related services, we obtain a limited amount of information in connection with your payment transactions such as the personal account number, the merchant’s name and location, the date and the total amount of the transaction. Importantly, we generally do not need or collect the cardholder’s name or other contact information to process payment transactions.
In addition, for certain products and services, your financial institutions, the merchants where you make a transaction or other partners may provide us with more information about you, or we may collect it directly from you to provide you with those products and services on their behalf, support their business or perform processing activities on their behalf.
In the above situations, we may act on behalf of and under the instructions of financial institutions, merchants and other partners which act as data controllers. Unless otherwise authorised by law, we will process your Personal Information to process payment transactions or for the purposes agreed between Mastercard and the financial institutions, merchants and other partners. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for more information regarding the processing of your Personal Information.
Personal Information We Collect when Providing Mastercard’s Products and Services Directly to You
Mastercard may provide you directly with products and services such as marketing programmes, rewards programmes, eWallets, Open Banking solutions, prepaid services, location alert programmes, and biometric authentication tools. To benefit from one or more of these products and services, you can submit information to us directly via various means including: (i) on our websites and digital assets, (ii) in response to marketing or other communications, (iii) by signing up for a Mastercard product or service, or (iv) through your participation in an offer, programme or promotion. We may also obtain Personal Information about you through your use of our products or services, from companies that use or facilitate our products or services, from publicly available sources, or from third party partners. Your Personal Information may also be passed on to us by your financial institution, merchant or other business partners.
Below is an overview of the types of Personal Information we may collect in relation to programmes we offer directly to you. Each programme differs, so where applicable, please refer to the relevant programme-specific privacy notice for more information on the use of your Personal Information for that specific programme.
You may be subject to obligations under applicable laws, such as the obligation to provide complete and accurate Personal Information when consenting to the processing of your Personal Information.
In addition, we may collect or use Personal Information for fraud prevention and monitoring, risk management, dispute resolution and other related purposes. Such information may include identifiers, commercial information, and Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as the personal account number, merchant’s name and location, date and total amount of the transactions, IP address, fraud score, location data, merchant details, items purchased and information about the dispute. When we provide cryptocurrency and blockchain intelligence solutions, we may also collect and process information gathered from the blockchain, including blockchain addresses and other cryptocurrency transaction details. For more information, please click here.
For more information on our collection of Personal Information in the context of our Open Banking solutions, please click here.
Personal Information We Obtain from Your Interaction with Mastercard’s Ads, Websites, Apps or Other Digital Assets
We, our service providers and partners may collect certain information about you via automated means such as Internet or other electronic network activity information, cookies, and web beacons when you interact with our ads, mobile apps, or visit our websites, pages or other digital assets. The Internet and/or Device Information we collect in this manner may include: IP address, browser type, operating system, mobile device identifier, geographical area, referring URLs and information on actions taken or interaction with our digital assets. A “cookie” is a text file placed on a computer’s hard drive by a web server. A “web beacon,” also known as an Internet tag, pixel tag or clear GIF, is a technology that helps us identify when content has been accessed or visited.
We use this information to improve our online products and services by assessing how many users access or use our online products and services, which content, products and features of our online products and services most interest our visitors, what types of offers our customers like to see and how our online products and services perform from a technical point of view. For instance, we may use third-party web analytics services on our websites and mobile apps, such as those of Adobe Omniture. The analytics providers that administer these services use technologies such as cookies and web beacons to help us analyse how visitors use our websites and apps.
We, our service providers and partners may also collect information about you in connection with our marketing activities, including offers, sweepstakes, contests and promotions. The information collected for these purposes may include identifiers and your contact information (e.g., name, postal address, email address, telephone number), electronic identification data (e.g., username, password, security questions, IP address), and data collected in the context of online marketing programmes, including commercial information, Internet or other electronic network activity information, geolocation data, and inferences drawn from Personal Information (e.g., personal characteristics, life habits, consumption habits, interests, location data, and voice and image recordings).
We, our service providers and partners may also collect information about you to provide you with content and advertising tailored to your individual interests based on inferences drawn from Personal Information. The information collected for these purposes may include Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as details about things like the particular pages or ads you view on our websites and apps and the actions you take on our websites and apps.
We, our service providers and partners may collect certain information about you via automated means such as, social media tools, widgets or plug-ins to connect you to your social media accounts. These features may allow you to sign in through your social media account, share a link or post directly to your social media account. When you visit a website that contains such tools or plugins, the social media or other service provider may learn of your visit. However, your interactions with these tools are governed by the privacy policies of the corresponding social media platforms. As we do not control these third-parties’ data handling practices, we recommend that you review their privacy policies, terms of use, and licence agreements (if any). For further details, please consult Section 7 (“Features and Links to Other Websites”) of this Global Privacy Notice.
In addition, some of our online products and services include advanced fraud prevention technology using behavioural-based data or biometric information, such as keystroke timing, device accelerometer, scroll position and mouse-location.
Where required under applicable law, we obtain your consent prior to using the above automated means, and prior to sending you marketing communications, tailored content and advertising.
Please see the “Your Rights and Choices” section of this Global Privacy Notice to learn about your choices.
Because there is not yet a consensus on how companies should respond to web browser-based do-not-track (“DNT”) mechanisms, Mastercard does not respond to web browser-based DNT signals at this time. To learn more about browser tracking signals and DNT, visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.
Personal Information We Obtain when You Apply for a Job with Us
If you are applying for a job at Mastercard, we may collect certain identifiers and professional or employment-related information from your job applications on our Career website. To learn more about the type of information Mastercard collects in connection with job applications, please see the Mastercard Applicant Privacy Notice.
Personal Information We Collect in the Context of Our Business Relationship with a Financial Institution, Merchant or other Entity Partnering with Mastercard
We may collect Personal Information from individuals working for one of our business partners (including financial institutions, merchants, customers, suppliers, vendors and other partners), including identifiers, name, job title, department and name of organization, business email and postal addresses, business telephone number, queries, answers to security questions, security passwords and other credentials. We may use this information to provide products and services directly to financial institutions, corporate clients, merchants, customers and partners, to manage our business relationships and financial reporting, for franchise development and integrity, to protect us from financial crime, to improve our service, for marketing and to comply with applicable law, as well as for accounting, auditing and billing purposes.
In certain jurisdictions, it may be necessary for us to receive and process your Sensitive Personal Information to provide respective products and services to you and/or to financial institutions, corporate clients, merchants, customers and partners. Such processing of your Sensitive Personal Information will be protected with adequate security measures and be conducted in a manner so as to have the lowest possible impact on your personal rights and interests. The following information may be considered Sensitive Personal Information as defined by applicable law: personal account number, card expiry date, card verification code, answers to security questions, security passwords and other credentials, address or location information (to the extent that it may reveal your personal tracks), voice and image recordings, electronic identification data, payment transactions, and biometric information.
We May Use Your Personal Information to:
Where required under applicable law, we will only use your Personal Information with your consent; as necessary to provide you with products and services; to comply with a legal obligation; or when there is a legitimate and overriding interest that necessitates the use.
We may use Personal Information we obtain about you for the purposes set out below. Depending on the country in which you are located, we will only process your Personal Information, where permitted under applicable laws, and when we have a legal basis for the processing as identified in the table below. However, please note that even though the chart below does not list consent as a legal basis for each processing activity, in some countries consent is the only or most appropriate legal basis for the processing of Personal Information, and in those countries, we rely on consent.
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In most cases, we process your payment transactions as a processor on behalf of your financial institutions, merchants and other partners which act as data controllers. When we act as a processor, controllers are responsible for ensuring a legal basis for the processing of your Personal Information. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for more information regarding the processing of your Personal Information in these contexts. In some limited cases (e.g., chargebacks), we may process your payment transactions as a controller, provided that: |
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When we process Personal Information for fraud and cyber threat prevention, we may act as a controller or as a processor. When we act as a controller, we rely on one of the following legal grounds: For more information on our fraud prevention and monitoring activities, please see our Fraud & Security Notice. For more information on the Mastercard Alert To Control High-risk Merchants (MATCH) programme, please see our MATCH Notice. |
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In some cases, we provide our Open Banking solutions as a processor on behalf of your service provider, merchants and other partners which act as data controllers. When we act as a processor, controllers are responsible for ensuring a legal basis for the processing of your Personal Information. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for more information regarding the processing of your Personal Information in these contexts. For more information on our Open Banking activities, please see our Open Banking Privacy Notice. |
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Please consult the Specific Privacy Notice at the time of the collection. |
Where required under applicable law, we have carried out balancing tests for the data processing based on our or a third party’s legitimate interests to ensure that such legitimate interest is not overridden by your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms. For more information on our balancing tests, you may contact us as described in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
We will not subject you to a decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you, unless you explicitly consented to the processing where required under applicable law, the processing is necessary for entering into, or performance of a contract between you and Mastercard, or when we are legally required to use your Personal Information in this way, for example to prevent fraud.
If you provide us with any information or material relating to another individual, you must make sure that the sharing with us and our further use as described to you from time to time is in line with applicable laws, so for example you should duly inform that individual about the processing of her/his Personal Information and obtain her/his consent, as may be necessary under applicable laws.
Where the Personal Information we collect from you is needed to meet our legal or regulatory obligations or enter into an agreement with you, if you do not provide your Personal Information when requested, we may not be able to provide (or continue to provide) our products or services to you and you may not be able to purchase our products you require or fully use our services.
We May Share Personal Information with:
Depending on your country, you may have the right or choice to:
You, or a party authorised to act on your behalf, can exercise your rights on Mastercard’s “My Data” portal or by submitting a request as described in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
If you reside in the United States, you may have additional rights as described in our U.S. Privacy Addendum.
You may have certain rights regarding the Personal Information we maintain about you and certain choices about what Personal Information we collect from you, how we use it, and how we communicate with you.
We will not deny, charge different prices for, or provide a different level of quality of goods or services if you choose to exercise these rights, except where the different price or level of quality of good or service is reasonably related to the value of the data that we receive from you. In some instances, we may not be able to provide you with the good or service that you request if you choose to exercise certain rights.
You can choose:
Depending on the country in which you are located, you may have the right to:
If you reside in the United States, you may have additional rights as described in our U.S. Privacy Addendum.
For information on the number of privacy requests Mastercard processed pursuant to privacy laws globally, please review the “My Data Report” section of the “My Data” portal.
You may opt out from certain processing of your Personal Information, e.g., via our opt-out webpage.
Note that this list may not be exhaustive, which means that you may have additional rights in accordance with your local laws. In addition, the above rights may be limited in some circumstances by local law requirements.
To update your preferences, ask us to remove your information from our mailing lists or submit a request to exercise your rights under applicable law, contact us as specified in the "How To Contact Us" section below.
We have developed Mastercard’s “My Data” portal to facilitate the exercise of your rights. You, or a party authorised to act on your behalf, can exercise your rights on Mastercard’s “My Data” portal or by submitting a request as described in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
If we fall short of your expectations in processing your Personal Information or you wish to make a complaint about our privacy practices, please tell us because it gives us an opportunity to fix the problem. To assist us in responding to your request, please give full details of the issue. We attempt to review and respond to all complaints within a reasonable time and as required under applicable law.
To learn more about the APEC Certification and access Dispute Resolution, please click on the TRUSTe seal.
Mastercard is a global business. We may transfer your Personal Information to the United States and other countries which may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information, but we will protect your Personal Information in accordance with this Global Privacy Notice, or as otherwise disclosed to you.
We comply with applicable legal requirements when transferring Personal Information to countries other than the country where you are located. If you are located in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, we will transfer your Personal Information in accordance with adequacy decisions, Binding Corporate Rules, standard contractual clauses, and other data transfer mechanisms.
See list of countries for which the European Commission has issued an adequacy decision here;
See list of countries for which the UK government has issued an adequacy decision here;
See list of countries for which the Swiss Federal Council has issued an adequacy decision here;
Mastercard’s privacy practices, described in this Global Privacy Notice, comply with the APEC Cross Border Privacy Rules System. The APEC CBPR system provides a framework for organisations to ensure protection of Personal Information transferred among participating APEC economies. More information about the APEC framework can be found here.
Mastercard is a global business. We may transfer the Personal Information we collect about you to recipients in countries other than your country, including the United States, where we are headquartered. These countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. When we transfer your Personal Information to other countries, we will protect that information as described in this Global Privacy Notice, as disclosed to you at the time of data collection or as described in our programme-specific privacy notice.
We comply with applicable legal requirements, including obtaining consent where required, when transferring Personal Information to countries other than the country where you are located. In particular, we have established and implemented Binding Corporate Rules (“BCRs”) that have been recognised by EEA data protection authorities as providing an adequate level of protection to the Personal Information we process globally. A copy of our EEA BCRs is available here. We equally rely on UK BCRs to transfer Personal Information outside of the United Kingdom. A copy of our UK BCRs is available here.
We may also transfer Personal Information to countries for which adequacy decisions have been issued (see list of countries for which the European Commission has issued an adequacy decision here); see list of countries which the Swiss Federal Council has determined to provide for adequate data protection legislation here), use contractual protections for the transfer of Personal Information to third parties, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or their equivalent under applicable law, or rely on other data transfer mechanisms where applicable. Depending on your country, you may contact us as specified in the “How to Contact Us” section below to obtain a copy of the safeguards we use to transfer Personal Information outside of your jurisdiction.
Additionally, Mastercard’s privacy practices, described in this Global Privacy Notice, comply with the APEC Cross Border Privacy Rules System. The APEC CBPR system provides a framework for organisations to ensure protection of Personal Information transferred among participating APEC economies. More information about the APEC framework can be found here.
If you are located in mainland China, you understand that we may transfer the Personal Information we collect about you to recipients in countries or regions other than mainland China, including Mastercard International Incorporated in the United States, Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte. Limited in Singapore and to other affiliates as listed here. When we conduct international transfers of Personal Information, we will always ensure to comply with requirements stipulated under applicable laws.
We maintain appropriate security safeguards to protect your Personal Information and only retain it for a limited period of time.
The security of your Personal Information is important to Mastercard. We are committed to protecting the information we collect. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the Personal Information you provide or we collect against accidental, unlawful or unauthorised destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use. We use SSL encryption on a number of our websites from which we transfer certain Personal Information.
In the event of a breach of our security safeguards, we will assess the extent of harm (if any) to individuals, and comply with reporting and notification obligations in accordance with the applicable law.
We also take measures to delete your Personal Information or keep it in a form that does not permit identifying you when this information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which we process it, unless we are required by law to keep this information for a longer period. When determining the retention period, we take into account various criteria, such as the type of products and services requested by or provided to you, the nature and length of our relationship with you, possible re-enrolment with our products or services, the impact on the services we provide to you if we delete some information from or about you, mandatory retention periods provided by law and the statute of limitations.
Our websites may include links to other third-party websites, social media tools, widgets or plug-ins, permitting sharing web content including IP address, with third parties and social media providers. These social media providers may learn of your visit even if you are not logged in to your social media account or if you do not have an account with them. To the extent any linked websites or features you visit or use are not owned or controlled by Mastercard, we suggest that you review their own privacy notices or policies.
Our websites may provide links to other websites for your convenience and information. Our website may also contain certain features for which we partner with other entities. These entities may learn of your visit regardless of whether you use these features. These websites and features, which may include social networking and geo-location tools, operate independently from Mastercard, and are clearly identified as such. To the extent any linked websites or features you visit or use are not owned or controlled by Mastercard, we suggest that you review the privacy practices of the websites.
Mastercard offers you the possibility to share, link to, or mention things on social media about Mastercard’s products and services. For example, you may “like” an offer via your Facebook account, or “tweet” an offer using Twitter. When you visit a website with a social media button, your browser establishes a direct connection to that social media provider, and data concerning your visit, including IP address, is transferred to the social media provider. If you have an account with the social media provider, the provider may link your visit to your account, even if you are not logged into this account.
You may also choose to use certain features on our websites that can be accessed through, or for which we partner with, other entities that are not otherwise affiliated with Mastercard. These features, including geo-location tools, are operated by third parties and are clearly identified as such. Social media providers such as Facebook and Twitter, and these other third parties, are independent from Mastercard and do not necessarily share the same policy as Mastercard regarding the protection of privacy. Please review their privacy notices if you decide to use their services and consult your social media account settings if you want to deactivate certain features.
Mastercard products and services are not directed to, likely to be accessed by, or intended for, children under the age of 16 or 18, in accordance with applicable law.
Mastercard products and services are not directed to, likely to be accessed by, or intended for children. However, Mastercard may process Personal Information about children below 16 or 18 years of age with the parent or guardian’s consent, and with the child’s consent where required, or based on another legal basis in accordance with applicable law. If you learn that Mastercard is processing children’s Personal Information in violation of this Privacy Notice, then you may alert us at privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com.
This Global Privacy Notice may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our privacy practices.
This Global Privacy Notice may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our Personal Information practices. We will post a prominent notice on relevant websites to notify you of any significant or material changes to our Global Privacy Notice prior to them being effective and indicate at the top of the Notice when it was most recently updated. If we update our Global Privacy Notice, in certain circumstances, we may seek your consent.
You can e-mail our Global Privacy Office at privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com. You may also submit a request to exercise your rights to your Personal Information on Mastercard’s “My Data” portal or by emailing us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com.
If you have any questions, comments or complaints about this Global Privacy Notice and our privacy practices, or would like to update your privacy preferences, please email us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com or write to us at:
Global Privacy Office
Mastercard International Incorporated
2000 Purchase Street
Purchase, New York 10577
USA
If you reside in a state in the United States which recognises privacy rights under law, you may exercise your rights under applicable privacy law by submitting your request on Mastercard’s “My Data” portal, email us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com, or call our toll-free number: 1-833-244-4084. For more information on exercising these rights, please see our US Privacy Addendum.
If you are located in Quebec, Canada, you may contact our Data Protection Officer at privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com. For inquiries about your Mastercard card and your purchase, you should contact your financial institution or merchant. More information about how to contact them can be found on their respective websites.
If you are located in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, Mastercard Europe SA is the entity responsible for the processing of your Personal Information (or data controller). You may submit your request to exercise your rights to your Personal Information on Mastercard’s “My Data” portal, or email us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com, or write to us at:
Europe Data Protection Officer
Mastercard Europe SA
Chaussée de Tervuren 198A
B-1410 Waterloo
Belgium
If you are located in Brazil, Mastercard Brasil Soluções de Pagamento Ltda. is the entity responsible for the processing of your Personal Information. You may submit your request to exercise your rights to your Personal Information on Mastercard’s “My Data” portal, or email us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com or write to us at:
Brazil Data Protection Officer
Mastercard Brasil Soluções de Pagamento Ltda.
Avenida das Nações Unidas, 14.171, 20º andar, Crystal Tower
São Paulo/SP
Brasil
CEP 04794-000
If you are located in Asia Pacific (excluding mainland China), Middle East or Africa, Mastercard Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. is the entity responsible for the processing of your Personal Information. You may submit your request to exercise your rights to your Personal Information by emailing us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com, calling our toll-free number listed here or write to us at:
Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa Data Protection Officer
Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd
3 Fraser Street, DUO Tower, Level 17
Singapore 189352
If you are located in South Africa, you may also send your complaint to the South African Information Regulator at the following:
Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
Post: PO Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
Website: https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/
If you are located in mainland China, Mastercard Shanghai Business Consulting Ltd. is the entity responsible for the processing of your Personal Information. You may submit your request to exercise your rights to your Personal Information by emailing us at: privacyanddataprotection@mastercard.com or writing to us at:
China Data Protection Officer
Room 2907-14, Part of 29/F Tower 2
Shanghai IFC, 8 Century Avenue
China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone