WA529 Invest Privacy Policy

Please read this notice carefully. It gives you important information about how WA529 Invest (the "Program") uses and protects personal information when you visit 529invest.wa.gov or when you submit documents via mail, email or in person in connection with the Program through its Program Manager, TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc. ("TFI" or "we"). Subject to the "Changes to our Privacy Policy" section below, this policy applies to all Account Owners in the Program and 529invest.wa.gov website visitors.

Information We May Collect

We, on behalf of the Program, may collect personal information about you, the successor Account Owner and Beneficiary from various sources to provide information requested by you about the Program, as well as to transact business with you, including to service and maintain your account in the Program. We may obtain this personal information (which may include Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and date of birth belonging to the Account Owner, successor Account Owner and Beneficiary) in any of the following ways:

You provide it on the Program enrollment form ("Application");
You provide it on other Program forms;
You provide it on the Program's website or it is collected through "cookies" and similar text files;
You provide it during consultations;
You provide it on sweepstakes or promotional materials;
We obtain it to complete your requested transactions;
Third parties the Account Owner authorizes to provide information to the Program; or
Third parties the Account Owner designates to have access to the Program.

Protection of Information

Personally identifiable information (“PII”), as defined in this Privacy Policy, means information about a natural person that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. PII includes such things as your name, address, and phone number.

We do not disclose any individual account information about current or former Account Owners and Beneficiaries to anyone, except as permitted or required by law.

We will not collect PII about you unless you voluntarily provide it or otherwise respond to an email request, an online form or survey. You may choose not to contact us by email or to provide any PII using an online form or survey. Your choice to not participate in these activities will not restrict or impair your ability to use our site and read or download any information provided on the site. If you choose to provide PII by emailing us, participating in a survey, or completing an online form, we may store this information.

How Your Information Is Shared and Used

TFI does not disclose your personal information to any third parties so that they can market their products and services to you.

As permitted by law or contract, TFI may disclose your information to those service providers, affiliated and nonaffiliated, hired by us on behalf of the Program who need the information to respond to your inquiries and/or to service and maintain your account and improve the Program's ability to serve you and enhance your Program benefits.

The affiliated and non-affiliated service providers who receive your personal information may use it to:

Process your Program transactions;
Provide you with Program materials;
Mail you Program account statements;
Mail, email or digitally provide you Program communications; and
Maintain the Program website.

These service providers provide services at TFl's direction and include marketing agencies, fulfillment companies, and printing and mailing facilities. Under their agreements with TFI, these service providers are required to keep your personal information confidential and to use it only for providing the contractually required services.

In addition, TFI may be required by law to disclose your personal information to government agencies and other regulatory bodies (for example, for tax-reporting purposes or for reporting suspicious transactions).

Security of Your Information

TFI protects the personal information you provide against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, destruction, loss or misuse. Your personal information is protected by physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in accordance with federal and state standards. These safeguards include appropriate procedures for access and use of electronic data, provisions for the secure transmission of sensitive personal information on the Program's website and telephone system authentication procedures.

Public Access to Information

In the State of Washington, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public's right to access public records that serve various needs including the privacy of individuals. Exceptions are provided by both state and federal laws.

As a public agency, all our information is governed by laws such as Washington’s Public Records Act (Chapter 42.56 RCW). Information you send us may become a public record, and it may be subject to public inspection and copying if not otherwise protected by federal or state law.

Information collected through the use of this site may be public information and subject to inspection and copying by members of the public. Each agency, in accordance with published rules, shall make available for public inspection and copying all public records, unless the record falls within the specific exemptions of subsection (6) of this section [RCW 42.56.070(6)], Chapter 42.56 RCW, or other statute which exempts or prohibits disclosure of specific information or records. To the extent required to prevent an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy interests protected by Chapter 42.56 RCW, an agency shall delete identifying details in a manner consistent with Chapter 42.56 RCW when it makes available or publishes any public record; however, in each case, the justification for the deletion shall be explained fully in writing.

In the event of a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the Public Records Act or other law governing the agency’s disclosure of records, the Public Records Act or other applicable law will control.

We will not disclose your personal information to unaffiliated third parties (except as permitted or required by law) unless you, the person who provides the information or the person who is the subject of the information gives express written consent to such disclosure.

State law requires agencies that collect personally identifiable information to provide “procedures for correcting inaccurate information, including establishing mechanisms for individuals to review information about them and recommend changes in information they believe to be inaccurate” (RCW 43.105.365). You can access any personally identifiable information we collect about you by using the information in the Contact Information section at the end of this Policy. We will do our best to correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information if you send us a written request that clearly shows the error. We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.

Changes in Our Privacy Policy

TFI, on behalf of the Program, periodically reviews and updates this Privacy Policy and its related practices and procedures. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective upon posting of the revised Privacy Policy on 529invest.wa.gov. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by means of a prominent notice on the Program's website prior to the change becoming effective.

Notice About Online Privacy

The personal information you provide through the Program website is handled in the same way as the personal information you provide by any other means, as described above. This section of the notice gives you additional information about the way in which personal information that is obtained online is handled.

Online Enrollment, Account Access and Online Transactions

When you visit the Program website, you can go to pages that are open to the general public or log onto protected pages to enroll in the Program, access information about your account or conduct certain transactions on your account. Once you have opened an account in the Program, access to the secure pages of the Program website is permitted only after you have created a username and password by supplying your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number, Account Number and ZIP code. The username and password must be supplied each time you want to access your account information online. This information serves to verify your identity.

When you enter personal data into the Program website (including your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number and your password) to enroll or access your account online, you will log into secure pages where we use Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol for protecting information. To use this section of the Program website, you need a browser that supports TLS encryption and dynamic Web page construction.

If you provide personal information to effect transactions on the Program website, a record of the transactions you have performed while on the site is retained by the Program.

Other Personal Information Provided by You on the Program Website

If you decide not to enroll online and you want to request Program enrollment materials to be mailed to you, you can click on the Request Information page in the Help Desk section or request e-communications directly from the home page to provide your name, mailing address and email address. The personal information you provide on the Program's website will be stored and used to market the Program more effectively.

When you visit the Program's website, we may collect information about your use of the site through "cookies." Cookies are small bits of information transferred to your computer's hard drive that allow us to know how often a user visits our site and the activities they are most interested in performing. By visiting the Program's site, you are deemed to accept such cookies to enable you to take full advantage of specific services offered. We may also require you to accept cookies placed by a third party supporting this activity on behalf of the Program.

The cookies collect certain technical and navigational information only, such as computer browser type, internet protocol address, pages visited and average time spent on our websites. In addition, we capture the paths taken as you move from page to page (i.e., your "click stream" activity). This information allows us to enhance your experience while on our site.

Finally, we use cookies to establish and maintain a logged-in connection while you are in the secure section(s) of our website. For example, when you visit your account, perform transactions, update contact information or perform other activity, the cookie allows you to navigate from page to page in a secure fashion without having to repeatedly log in.

External Links

The Program may, from time to time, contain links to external sites operated by third parties. We are not responsible for these third-party sites or the content of such third-party sites. Once you have left the Program website, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy of any website you visit.

Internet Tracking Disclosure

We do not have the protocol that offers you the choice to opt out of Internet tracking. You may reset your web browser to enable do not track functionality if your browser supports it.

Online Behavioral Advertising

Online Behavioral Advertising is a marketing approach where information is collected about consumers and their browsing behavior and used to share ads targeted at their interests.

You may opt out of Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) https://optout.aboutads.info/ and following the opt-out instructions.

Note: Opting out of Online Behavioral Advertising will not remove advertisements from the pages you visit. You will simply see general advertisements that aren’t targeted at your interests.

Obtaining Additional Information

You may call the Program toll-free at 1-844-529-5845 or write to the Program at WA529 Invest, P.O. Box 219072, Kansas City, MO 64121-9072.

DCD:February 2025