VIA CERTIFIED MAIL — RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
M&T Bank Legal Document Processing
P.O. Box 844 Buffalo, NY
14240-0844
Pre-Arbitration Notice of Individual Consumer Privacy Dispute
To Whom It May Concern:
I am sending this Notice of Dispute to notify M&T Bank (a/k/a Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company), together with its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, and related entities (collectively, “M&T”), of my individual dispute arising from my use of M&T’s website and M&T’s deployment, installation, use, or enablement of third-party tracking code and related technologies in connection with, and during, my electronic communications and interactions with M&T.
Nature and Basis of the Dispute
I personally used the M&T Services while physically located in {answer_2}. During my use of those services, I {answer_3} and otherwise communicated and interacted with M&T. To the best of my recollection, this use occurred within the applicable limitations period.
Based on my current understanding and counsel’s investigation into M&T’s tracking practices, M&T deployed, enabled, or caused the deployment of tracking code associated with Quantum Metric, TransUnion, LinkedIn, and Google, including on mtb.com. That investigation showed that the tracking code caused or permitted the contents of electronic communications with M&T, or information reflecting the substance and meaning of those communications, to be contemporaneously transmitted or otherwise made available to Quantum Metric, TransUnion, LinkedIn, Google, or other third parties. Depending on the interaction, the information transmitted or made available included or reflected search terms entered into M&T’s site-search field; the pages searched for or viewed, including pages concerning consumer lending and repayment assistance; and other substantive account- and product-related activity reflected in page URLs. For example, search terms entered through M&T’s search functionality were included in the page URLs transmitted to Quantum Metric and to TransUnion through its trkn.us pixel, in each case carried with persistent session and cookie identifiers; and the URL of M&T’s repayment-assistance page, reflecting a visit to loan and line-of-credit repayment-assistance information, was transmitted to LinkedIn carried with LinkedIn’s advertising and identity cookies. The investigation also observed TransUnion’s barometric[cuid] identifier cookie, and LinkedIn’s li_adsId, li_sugr, and bcookie identifiers, being carried with those transmissions. Taken together, these findings support a reasonable inference that M&T deployed or enabled the challenged tracking code not merely to process communications between consumers and M&T, but to associate information reflecting the contents or substance of those communications with consumer identifiers or persistent behavioral profiles and to facilitate the subsequent profiling, use, disclosure, targeted advertising, marketing, commercial exploitation, or other unlawful downstream use of that information.
Upon information and belief, the challenged tracking code operated in the manner described above in connection with my electronic communications and interactions with M&T, causing or permitting the contents or substance of my communications to be contemporaneously transmitted or otherwise made available to Quantum Metric, TransUnion, LinkedIn, Google, or other third parties. I did not provide legally sufficient prior consent or authorization for these, or other, third parties to contemporaneously receive, read, learn, or otherwise acquire the contents of my electronic communications with M&T as described above.
Separately, the investigation showed that the challenged tracking code and related technology recorded or decoded non-content dialing, routing, addressing, signaling, or related information associated with electronic communications and interactions with M&T. This information included or reflected, as applicable, IP addresses and browser-, device-, cookie-, session-, and request identifiers associated with the source, destination, routing, addressing, or transmission of those communications. Upon information and belief, the challenged tracking technology operated in this manner in connection with my electronic communications and interactions with M&T, thereby recording or decoding non-content dialing, routing, addressing, signaling, or related information associated with my communications, without first obtaining the required court order and without any applicable statutory exception or other lawful authorization.
I contend that the conduct described above violated applicable federal and state anti-wiretapping, interception, eavesdropping, and electronic-surveillance laws, including the federal Wiretap Act, as amended by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510 to 2523, including 18 U.S.C. § 2511, by intentionally intercepting, endeavoring to intercept, procuring, enabling, or otherwise causing the interception of my electronic communications in violation of federal law. These claims include any applicable theories concerning interception, procurement or assistance of interception, and use or disclosure of unlawfully intercepted communications recognized under the law governing my communications.
I further contend that M&T violated California Penal Code §§ 638.50 to 638.51 by installing, using, enabling, or causing the use of a pen-register device or process that recorded or decoded non-content dialing, routing, addressing, signaling, or related information associated with my electronic communications, without first obtaining the required court order and without any applicable statutory exception or other lawful authorization. Additionally, I contend that M&T violated California Penal Code § 631(a) by aiding, agreeing with, employing, or conspiring with Quantum Metric, TransUnion, LinkedIn, and Google to willfully and without my consent read, attempt to read, or learn the contents or meaning of my electronic communications with M&T while those communications were in transit, and to use or communicate information obtained through that conduct, without my valid consent or other lawful authorization.
I reserve all other statutory, common-law, contractual, consumer-protection, privacy, equitable, or related claims, theories, rights, and remedies supported by the facts and applicable law.
Relief Sought
I presently seek $5,000 in monetary relief to resolve this dispute. This amount reflects my present good-faith settlement demand based on the information currently available, including the claims asserted and the remedies potentially available under the federal Wiretap Act, applicable state anti-wiretapping, interception, eavesdropping, and electronic-surveillance laws. I also seek injunctive relief requiring M&T to cease the challenged tracking practices unless and until M&T brings those practices into compliance with applicable law. Nothing in this Notice waives any claim, remedy, or right to seek different or additional relief if subsequently discovered facts, applicable law, or the course of proceedings establishes entitlement to such relief. Nor does this Notice constitute any concession concerning the number, measure, or proper unit of violations or damages.
M&T should take reasonable steps to preserve documents and electronically stored information relevant to this dispute, including information concerning the challenged tracking technologies, their configuration and operation, my relevant interactions with the M&T Services, and the information collected, recorded, or transmitted in connection with those interactions. This request extends to relevant information within M&T’s possession, custody, or control, including information maintained by vendors or service providers to the extent within M&T’s control. M&T should take reasonable steps to prevent the routine deletion, overwriting, or destruction of such relevant information.
Informal Resolution
I am providing this Notice in good faith to give M&T an opportunity to discuss an informal resolution of my dispute before formal proceedings become necessary. Without conceding that any pre-dispute notice, informal-resolution process, waiting period, or other condition precedent is contractually required, applicable, enforceable, or unsatisfied, I am willing to engage in good-faith informal-resolution discussions during the 30 days following M&T’s receipt of this Notice. I reserve the right to initiate arbitration or another proceeding sooner if reasonably necessary to preserve my claims.
If the dispute is not resolved, I am prepared to initiate individual arbitration and pursue any other available remedy. See M&T, Terms of Use, https://www.mtb.com/help-center/bank-policies/terms-of-use (last visited August 2026). If arbitration becomes necessary, I will seek all recoverable attorneys’ fees and, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, contract, and arbitral rules, the maximum permissible allocation to M&T of filing fees, administrative fees, arbitrator compensation, and other arbitration-related costs. My election to pursue arbitration does not concede that arbitration is mandatory or exclusive.
I expressly reserve all arguments and objections concerning the existence, validity, formation, assent, notice, identity and applicable version, applicability, scope, interpretation, and enforceability of any arbitration or related dispute-resolution terms M&T may invoke. These reservations include any term concerning pre-dispute notice, informal resolution, cure, waiting periods, or other conditions precedent; contractual deadlines or limitations periods; governing law, forum, venue, administrator or arbitrator selection, arbitral rules, or delegation; confidentiality; individual-only, consolidated, coordinated, batched, bellwether, or mass-filing procedures; fees, deposits, costs, or fee shifting; waivers or restrictions on claims, procedures, remedies, or relief; and amendments or modifications. I also reserve all arguments that any such requirement was satisfied, substantially complied with, waived or forfeited by M&T, excused, inapplicable, or unenforceable. Nothing in this Notice waives any claim, remedy, objection, defense, or right to proceed in any otherwise available forum.
I authorize M&T to communicate with my counsel identified below regarding this dispute and to produce to them all records and information associated with me that are reasonably necessary to evaluate and resolve this dispute.
This Notice is not a complete statement of all facts, claims, legal theories, damages, remedies, defenses, objections, responses, or grounds. I reserve the right to amend, supplement, refine, narrow, expand, or otherwise modify this Notice and my requested relief based upon additional investigation, records, technical analysis, discovery, expert review, arbitration proceedings, litigation proceedings, or other information. If M&T believes that additional information is required to evaluate or resolve this dispute, please identify the specific information requested and the contractual or legal basis for the request.
Please direct all communications concerning this dispute to my counsel identified below.
Sincerely,