Privacy Policy

This Policy applies to Personal Data collected through the Platform, including through web forms, WhatsApp, telephone calls, email, and offline interactions connected with your use of ForeignEduLoans' Services.

This Policy does not govern the independent data-processing practices of Partner Institutions after Personal Data has been lawfully shared with them for loan processing. Their respective privacy policies and applicable legal obligations will govern their subsequent processing of your Personal Data.

ForeignEduLoans is a technology-enabled education loan facilitation and advisory platform operated by Gateway Educonnect

ForeignEduLoans is not a bank, non-banking financial company (NBFC), financial institution, payment system operator, or registered lender under applicable law. ForeignEduLoans does not itself provide, sanction, underwrite, disburse, guarantee, or service any loan.

Its role is limited to facilitating communication between Users and Partner Institutions and assisting Users in submitting loan applications and related documentation.

ForeignEduLoans does not make any representation or warranty regarding a User's eligibility for any loan, likelihood of approval, applicable interest rates, repayment terms, collateral requirements, loan amount, processing timelines, or disbursement.

All lending decisions, including approval, rejection, sanction amount, documentation requirements, pricing, repayment schedule, and disbursement, are made solely by the relevant Partner Institution in accordance with its policies and applicable law.

ForeignEduLoans shall not be responsible or liable for any lending decision, action, omission, delay, or requirement imposed by a Partner Institution, except to the extent such liability cannot lawfully be excluded.

Any information, loan comparisons, preliminary eligibility assessments, educational content, calculators, recommendations, or guidance provided through the Platform are for general informational and facilitation purposes only and shall not constitute financial, investment, tax, legal, or other professional advice.

Users should independently evaluate any loan product and obtain professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.

ForeignEduLoans does not act as a financial adviser, investment adviser, legal adviser, or fiduciary in relation to any lending decision.

We may collect the following categories of Personal Data:

a) Identity and Contact Data

Name;

Date of birth;

Gender;

Mobile number;

Email address;

Residential address;

PAN; and

Where required for applicable verification or KYC purposes, Aadhaar-related information, subject to applicable law and the consent or other lawful basis required for such processing.

b) Academic and Admission Data

Course details;

University/college details;

Country of study;

Admission or offer letters;

Academic transcripts;

Test scores, including IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT and similar information; and

Other academic or admission-related documents relevant to the loan application.

c) Immigration and Travel Data

Passport details;

Visa application and status information; and

Other travel or immigration documents required to support the loan application.

d) Financial Data

Income details;

Employment information;

Co-applicant and guarantor details;

Bank statements;

Collateral documents;

Existing loan or credit information; and

Other financial documents required for processing the loan application.

e) Communication Data

Records of calls;

WhatsApp messages;

SMS;

Emails; and

Other communications exchanged with you in connection with the Services.

f) Technical Data

IP address;

Browser type;

Device information;

Cookies;

Usage information; and

Other technical information collected automatically when you use the Platform.

We generally collect Personal Data directly from you through forms, chats, calls, uploads, applications, and communications. Where relevant, we may also receive information relating to your application status or processing from Partner Institutions or other authorised third parties.

We process Personal Data on the basis permitted under applicable law, including:

Your consent, where consent is the applicable basis for processing;

Certain "legitimate uses" expressly permitted under the DPDP Act, where the circumstances specified under the DPDP Act apply and separate consent is not required; and

Compliance with applicable legal, regulatory, governmental, judicial, accounting, audit, or statutory requirements.

Where our processing relies on consent, we will provide the relevant notice before obtaining such consent and provide a mechanism for withdrawal of consent as described in Section 11.

We may use Personal Data to:

Assess preliminary eligibility and identify potentially suitable loan options;

Prepare, complete, and submit loan applications to Partner Institutions;

Communicate with you regarding your application, documentation, and application status;

Coordinate between you and Partner Institutions throughout the loan journey;

Verify document completeness and identify inconsistencies;

Use automated document-processing, OCR, fraud-detection, and similar technology as described in Section 8;

Improve and personalise the Platform and Services;

Comply with applicable legal, regulatory, audit, or governmental requirements;

Detect, prevent, investigate, and address fraud, misuse, security incidents, or compliance concerns; and

Carry out other purposes disclosed to you at the time of collection or otherwise permitted under applicable law.

We do not use your Personal Data for purposes materially unrelated to the purposes described in this Policy unless such processing is otherwise permitted under applicable law or the consent required for the new purpose is obtained.

ForeignEduLoans may use artificial intelligence, machine learning systems, automated document-processing tools, optical character recognition (OCR), fraud-detection systems, and other technology solutions to:

Improve service quality;

Verify document completeness;

Identify inconsistencies;

Facilitate application processing;

Enhance customer experience; and

Detect or prevent fraud and misuse.

Such technologies are used to assist operational processes and do not independently determine loan eligibility or make lending decisions. Lending decisions remain the responsibility of the relevant Partner Institution.

Partner Institutions may, as part of their own credit-evaluation processes, obtain credit information from credit-information companies or credit bureaus such as CIBIL, Experian, Equifax, or CRIF, in accordance with their own policies and applicable law.

ForeignEduLoans does not itself perform credit-bureau checks or obtain your credit report unless specifically authorised by you for a particular purpose.

The Platform may use cookies and similar technologies to enable essential functionality, remember preferences, understand how the Platform is used, improve our Services, and, where applicable, measure the effectiveness of communications or advertising.

You may control or disable cookies through your browser or device settings. However, disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality or availability of some features of the Platform.

Where applicable law requires consent for the use of non-essential cookies or similar tracking technologies, ForeignEduLoans will obtain such consent through appropriate mechanisms.

11.1 Consent for Service-Related Processing

Where processing is based on consent, ForeignEduLoans will obtain your consent through a clear affirmative action after providing you with the required information regarding the Personal Data to be processed and the purposes for which it will be processed.

Where applicable, submitting an enquiry or application may constitute the affirmative action through which such consent is provided, provided that the relevant notice and consent mechanism are presented to you at that stage.

Where such consent is provided, it may cover:

Contacting you by telephone, WhatsApp, SMS, email, or other relevant communication channels regarding your loan application; and

Collecting, storing, using, and sharing relevant Personal Data and documents with Partner Institutions and service providers for the purposes described in this Policy.

Where the relevant processing is based on consent, such consent is necessary for ForeignEduLoans to perform the corresponding loan-facilitation activities, including contacting you and sharing relevant Personal Data with Partner Institutions.

11.2 Marketing Consent

Marketing communications, including newsletters, promotional offers, educational content relating to loans, or information about new Partner Institutions or products, will be sent only where the consent or other lawful basis required under applicable law has been obtained.

Where marketing consent is required, it will be separate and optional and will not affect your ability to use the core loan-facilitation Services.

You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe mechanism provided in the relevant communication or by contacting ForeignEduLoans using the details in Section 21.

11.3 Withdrawal of Consent

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting our Grievance Officer using the contact details in Section 21 or through any consent-management mechanism made available on the Platform.

The ease of withdrawing consent will be comparable to the ease with which it was given.

Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Withdrawal of consent may affect ForeignEduLoans' ability to continue providing certain Services. For example, withdrawal of consent for processing necessary to facilitate a loan application may prevent ForeignEduLoans from continuing that application.

Subject to applicable law and its commencement, you may have the following rights in relation to your Personal Data:

Right to Access Information

You may request information regarding the Personal Data processed by ForeignEduLoans, the processing activities carried out by it, and the relevant Data Processors and Partner Institutions with whom your Personal Data has been shared, as applicable under law.

Right to Correction and Erasure

You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete Personal Data and erasure of Personal Data that is no longer required for the purpose for which it was processed, subject to applicable legal, regulatory, contractual, or retention requirements.

Right to Grievance Redressal

You may raise a grievance concerning ForeignEduLoans' processing of your Personal Data. ForeignEduLoans will provide a readily available grievance mechanism in accordance with applicable law.

Where required under applicable law, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India after exhausting the grievance-redressal mechanism provided by ForeignEduLoans.

Right to Nominate

Where applicable, you may nominate another individual to exercise your rights in accordance with the DPDP Act and applicable rules.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw such consent as described in Section 11.3.

To exercise your rights, contact the Grievance Officer using the details in Section 21.

ForeignEduLoans will acknowledge your request within a reasonable time and use reasonable efforts to resolve it as soon as practicable, having regard to the nature and complexity of the request and applicable law.

To process your loan application, ForeignEduLoans may share relevant Personal Data, including identity, academic, financial, and immigration/travel documents, with banks, NBFCs, and other financial institutions formally associated with ForeignEduLoans to which ForeignEduLoans may recommend or facilitate the submission of your application based on your profile, requirements, and available lending products ("Partner Institutions").

Personal Data will be shared only to the extent reasonably necessary for the relevant loan-facilitation purposes.

You acknowledge that:

Once your Personal Data is received by a Partner Institution, that institution's own privacy policy and data-handling practices will govern its subsequent processing, subject to applicable law;

Partner Institutions may retain your Personal Data in accordance with their applicable regulatory, legal, contractual, and record-retention requirements; and

You should review the privacy policy of the relevant Partner Institution before proceeding with a loan application.

ForeignEduLoans is not responsible for the independent privacy practices or processing activities of a Partner Institution after Personal Data has been lawfully shared with that institution, except to the extent required under applicable law.

ForeignEduLoans may receive information relating to your loan application, eligibility, documentation requirements, application status, or lending decisions from Partner Institutions or other authorised third parties.

While ForeignEduLoans facilitates communication between you and such entities, it does not independently verify, warrant, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of information supplied by them.

ForeignEduLoans shall not be responsible for losses, delays, or consequences arising solely from inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information supplied by a Partner Institution or other third party, except to the extent such liability cannot lawfully be excluded.

ForeignEduLoans may share Personal Data with:

Service providers supporting its operations, including cloud-hosting providers, CRM providers, communication platforms, document-verification providers, payment processors, analytics providers, and similar vendors;

Group entities, where relevant to providing an integrated study-abroad and loan-assistance experience;

Legal, regulatory, governmental, judicial, or law-enforcement authorities where required or permitted by applicable law;

Successors or prospective successors in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of business assets, subject to applicable law and appropriate safeguards; and

Other persons or entities where such disclosure is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy or otherwise permitted under applicable law.

Such service providers process Personal Data only to the extent necessary to provide the relevant services to ForeignEduLoans and are subject to appropriate contractual, confidentiality, and data-protection obligations, as applicable.

ForeignEduLoans does not sell Personal Data to third parties for their independent marketing purposes.

As of the date of this Policy, ForeignEduLoans understands that Personal Data is stored and processed within India and does not intentionally transfer Personal Data outside India.

Where any cross-border processing becomes necessary, ForeignEduLoans will undertake such processing in accordance with applicable law and any restrictions, requirements, or conditions notified by the Central Government.

ForeignEduLoans may update this section where its processing arrangements change or where applicable law requires additional disclosures or safeguards.

ForeignEduLoans retains Personal Data for the duration of the loan-facilitation process and thereafter for 8 (eight) years following loan disbursement or closure of the application, whichever is later, subject to applicable legal, regulatory, audit, accounting, contractual, dispute-resolution, and business requirements.

Personal Data may be retained for a longer period where required by applicable law, including applicable tax, regulatory, litigation, or statutory retention requirements.

Where Personal Data is no longer required and there is no applicable legal or legitimate retention requirement, ForeignEduLoans will take reasonable steps to securely delete or anonymise such Personal Data.

You represent that the Personal Data, documents, financial information, academic records, and other information submitted through the Platform are, to the best of your knowledge, true, accurate, complete, current, and lawfully provided.

You are responsible for ensuring that information submitted by you is accurate and not fraudulent, forged, misleading, or unauthorised.

ForeignEduLoans shall not be responsible for consequences arising solely from inaccurate, false, fraudulent, forged, misleading, or unauthorised information provided by you.

ForeignEduLoans may verify the authenticity of information or documents submitted by you through internal verification procedures or authorised third-party verification service providers.

Where ForeignEduLoans reasonably believes that information or documentation is inaccurate, misleading, fraudulent, forged, or otherwise suspicious, it may:

Suspend or terminate processing of your application;

Decline to provide further Services;

Notify the relevant Partner Institution; or

Disclose information to competent authorities where required or permitted under applicable law.

ForeignEduLoans may also refuse, suspend, restrict, or discontinue access to the Platform or Services, subject to applicable law, where it reasonably believes that:

You have violated applicable law;

You have breached this Policy or the Terms & Conditions;

Fraud, identity theft, money laundering, sanctions, or other compliance concerns exist;

Inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or forged information has been submitted; or

Continuing the relationship would expose ForeignEduLoans to material legal, regulatory, reputational, security, or operational risk.

ForeignEduLoans implements reasonable technical and organisational measures appropriate to the nature of Personal Data and the risks associated with its processing.

Such measures may include, as applicable:

Encryption and other safeguards for data in transit and at rest;

Access controls, authentication, and authorisation;

Monitoring and logging;

Backups and recovery measures;

Security assessments and vulnerability management; and

Contractual confidentiality and data-protection obligations for relevant service providers.

No method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. ForeignEduLoans therefore cannot guarantee absolute security of Personal Data.

In the event of a Personal Data breach, ForeignEduLoans will notify the Data Protection Board of India and affected Data Principals in accordance with the timelines, manner, and requirements prescribed under applicable law.

Where notification is required, ForeignEduLoans may communicate relevant information regarding the breach and recommended protective measures through appropriate communication channels, including email or SMS.

For questions, concerns, grievances, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your Personal Data, including requests to exercise applicable rights, please contact:

Grievance Officer Name: Dikshant Jain Address: N-10, Shree Niketan, Road Number 10, Ashok Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan - 313001 Email: info@foreigneduloans.com Phone: +91 91160 11860

ForeignEduLoans will acknowledge your grievance within a reasonable time and use reasonable efforts to resolve it as soon as practicable, having regard to the nature and complexity of the grievance and applicable law.

Where required under applicable law, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India after exhausting the grievance-redressal mechanism provided by ForeignEduLoans.

The Platform is intended primarily for individuals aged 18 and above.

Where a minor's Personal Data is processed in connection with an education-loan application, ForeignEduLoans will obtain verifiable parental consent or consent of the lawful guardian where required under applicable law.

ForeignEduLoans will process such Personal Data only for the purposes for which it was collected and will not knowingly undertake behavioural monitoring, tracking, or targeted advertising directed at children where prohibited by applicable law.

ForeignEduLoans does not knowingly collect Personal Data from minors independently of the involvement of a parent or lawful guardian where such involvement is required by law.

ForeignEduLoans relies on third-party technology and service providers, including cloud-hosting providers, communication platforms, CRM providers, analytics providers, document-verification providers, and other vendors to operate and support the Platform.

ForeignEduLoans exercises reasonable care in selecting relevant service providers and may require appropriate contractual, confidentiality, security, and data-protection safeguards, as applicable.

ForeignEduLoans does not control the independent systems or infrastructure of such third-party providers and cannot guarantee uninterrupted availability or error-free performance of third-party services.

ForeignEduLoans shall not be responsible for delays, interruptions, outages, or failures attributable solely to third-party service providers, except to the extent liability cannot lawfully be excluded.

ForeignEduLoans may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in its processing practices, Services, technology, or applicable law.

The updated Policy will be published on the Platform with a revised "Last Updated" date.

Where reasonably practicable, material changes will be communicated through the Platform or by email, SMS, WhatsApp, or another appropriate communication channel.

The updated Policy will be effective from the date specified in the updated Policy.

Where a change involves a new purpose or processing activity for which consent is required under applicable law, ForeignEduLoans will obtain such consent before undertaking that processing.

Grievance Officer: Dikshant Jain

Grievance Officer Email: info@foreigneduloans.com

Grievance Officer Phone: +91 91160 11860

Registered/Correspondence Address: N-10, Shree Niketan, Road Number 10, Ashok Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan - 313001

Platform: https://foreigneduloans.com/

Company: Gateway Educonnect