Colón Izquierdo Law

Financial Aid Portal

Sign in

Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 27, 2026

Colón Izquierdo Law, LLC ("CIL," "we," "us," or "our") operates the CIL FinAid Portal at cil-portal.vercel.appand any successor domain (the "Portal"). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your information when you use the Portal in connection with our financial aid consulting services.

By using the Portal, you agree to the practices described in this Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Portal.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information so we can prepare, submit, and analyze financial aid applications on your behalf:

  • Identity information: names, dates of birth, Social Security Numbers, citizenship status, and contact details (email, phone, address) for the student, parents, and any siblings or dependents reported on the application.
  • Financial information: federal and Puerto Rico tax returns, W-2 / 480 forms, bank and investment account balances, retirement account values, real estate holdings, business ownership and net worth, and other assets and liabilities reported on the FAFSA, CSS Profile, IDOC, or other financial aid forms.
  • Account credentials: when you provide them to us, FSA IDs and CollegeBoard SAT ID credentials used to submit applications on your behalf.
  • Communications: messages, emails, SMS, voicemails, and other communications you send to us or your consultant, including content of conversations with our SMS bot.
  • Service and engagement information: services you have engaged us for, payments, contracts you have signed, and case status.
  • Technical information: IP address, browser type, device, and timestamps, which we use for security, fraud prevention, and signed-document evidence.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Provide the financial aid consulting services you have engaged us for, for the purpose of assisting you in the completion of financial aid applications — including FAFSA, CSS Profile, IDOC, and similar financial aid forms. CIL does not prepare or submit college admissions applications.
  • Calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI), Pell Grant eligibility, and per-school net price estimates;
  • Communicate with you about your case via portal, email, or SMS;
  • Generate invoices and process payments;
  • Maintain a record of signed agreements, service deliverables, and case progress;
  • Comply with legal, tax, and professional obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use it for any purpose unrelated to the services you have engaged us for.

3. How We Share Your Information

We share your information only with:

  • Government and educational entities as part of assisting you with the financial aid application process — for example, when we help you input information into the U.S. Department of Education (FAFSA), the College Board (CSS Profile, IDOC), or the financial aid offices of the colleges and universities to which you are applying. You retain control of submitting and authorizing your applications.
  • Service providers who help us run the Portal, strictly under contract to handle your data only for our purposes. Categories of providers include cloud hosting and encrypted infrastructure, database services, transactional email and SMS messaging, accounting and invoicing, and document processing services. Each provider operates under contracts that prohibit using your data for model training or marketing purposes, and consistent with the standards described in this Policy. A current list of providers is available upon written request to the contact below.
  • Legal and compliance authorities when required by law, court order, or to protect rights or safety.

4. Storage and Security

Your information is stored on encrypted infrastructure operated by U.S.-based cloud providers. Files uploaded to the Portal are stored in private storage encrypted at rest using AES-256. All transmissions to and from the Portal use TLS 1.3 in transit. Files are accessed only via an authenticated server-side proxy and are never exposed via a public URL. Access is limited to CIL staff actively working on your case.

No system is perfectly secure. While we use industry-standard safeguards, you acknowledge there is no guarantee against unauthorized access. Promptly notify us if you suspect your account has been compromised.

5. Third-Party Document Processing

Documents you upload to the Portal may be processed by third-party services for the limited purposes of file optimization, data extraction, and accuracy verification — for example, to ensure files are at usable size and quality, to read financial figures from tax returns and W-2 / 480 forms, and to verify consistency of data across documents. Documents are transmitted to these services over TLS-encrypted channels.

CIL contracts only with service providers that, by their terms of service, do not use your data to train their models or systems and do not share your data for marketing purposes. Transmitted data may be retained by these providers for up to 30 days, or longer if required for security, fraud-prevention, or legal compliance purposes, after which it is deleted under the provider's standard terms.

By using the Portal, you consent to this third-party document processing. If you object, you may request that document-processing features not be used on your documents by emailing ccolon@colonizquierdolaw.com.

6. Account Credentials Vault

As a courtesy, the Portal stores account credentials (FAFSA FSA IDs, CSS Profile / CollegeBoard logins, college portal logins, and similar) that you provide so CIL staff can complete and check the status of your applications on your behalf.

Encryption. Sensitive credential fields (usernames, passwords, PINs, security answers, and notes) are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM. The encryption key is stored separately from the database, so a database backup or dump alone cannot be used to decrypt your credentials.

Access logging. Every time a credential is created, edited, deleted, or revealed (decrypted to plaintext for use), the Portal writes an audit log entry recording who accessed it, when, from what IP address, and with what user agent. You can view the audit log for your own credentials at any time on your Logins page.

Your control. You may view, copy, or delete any stored credential at any time from the Portal. CIL staff may add or update credentials based on information you provide (e.g., a new FSA ID or a college portal login).

Not a password manager. CIL stores these credentials solely as a courtesy to facilitate your engagement. You should not rely on the Portal as your sole password manager — keep your own copies in a personal password manager or secure record. If your engagement with CIL ends or your credentials are deleted, we cannot recover them.

7. Document Retention & Deletion

After all of your financial aid applications for a given aid year have been submitted, CIL will delete the original documents (tax returns, W-2 / 480 forms, bank statements, and other supporting files) you uploaded to the Portal. The structured data extracted from those documents — adjusted gross income, asset balances, dependent information, and similar values — is retained in your CIL FinAid case profile for renewal cycles and consulting continuity.

It is your responsibility to keep your own copies of original tax returns, W-2s, and other supporting documents.Once CIL deletes documents from the Portal, they cannot be recovered by you or by us. The Portal's "Export All as ZIP" feature lets you download a complete copy of every uploaded document at any time before deletion.

CIL retains structured case data (questionnaire responses, calculated SAI, college lists, status notes, and a record that documents existed) for at least seven (7) years after conclusion of services to comply with professional, tax, and legal obligations. You may request deletion of records not subject to a retention requirement by emailing ccolon@colonizquierdolaw.com.

8. SMS / Text Messaging

When you provide your phone number to us through the Portal, you consent to receive SMS messages from CIL relating to your case, including case updates, document requests, deadline reminders, invoices, and replies to messages you send us. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.

You may reply STOP at any time to unsubscribe from SMS, or HELP for assistance. Opting out of SMS does not affect your engagement with CIL — we will still communicate with you by email and through the Portal.

Mobile phone numbers and SMS opt-in data are not shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing purposes.

9. Your Rights

You may:

  • Access the information we hold about you by signing into the Portal or requesting a copy by email;
  • Correct or update inaccurate information;
  • Request deletion (subject to retention obligations described above);
  • Withdraw consent for SMS communication at any time.

Residents of California, Puerto Rico (Law 21-2014), and other jurisdictions with applicable privacy laws may have additional rights. Contact us to exercise them.

10. Children

The Portal is not intended for children under 13. While we collect information about students who may be minors, that information is provided by, and the engagement is with, the parent or legal guardian.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be communicated through the Portal or by email.

12. Contact

Questions or requests under this Privacy Policy may be sent to:

Colón Izquierdo Law, LLC
Attn: Privacy Officer
Email: ccolon@colonizquierdolaw.com