Privacy Policy & Agreement

Privacy of your Information

Trust has always been the foundation of our relationship with members. To preserve your trust, we pledge to protect your privacy by adhering to the practices described below. By signing any application or agreement with us, or by using any of our services with after receiving this document, you jointly and severally agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this Policy and Agreement. In this Agreement the terms we, our, or us mean Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union; and the terms you or your mean all members, consumers, borrowers and guarantors.

We only collect information about our members for lawful business purposes, or as otherwise required by applicable law. We collect information about members from the following sources:

• Applications for services, verifications, current and past employers, other forms and any communications you send to us including electronic messages from which we collect your name, addresses, phone numbers, and other information;
• Transactions involving your accounts or services with us from which we collect information such as your name, account number, balance, payment history, parties to your transactions and credit card usage;
• Consumer Credit Reports from which we collect information regarding your creditworthiness, credit history and account activity;
• Certain information collected when you visit our web site.

You agree that the telephone numbers and street addresses provided in your Membership Application and Signature Card, or any other application or communication sent to us are publicly available and will be used to provide notices, disclosures, statements, other communications (including but not limited to our responses to your e-mail communications) and offers for certain products or services.

Website

Use of our web site or linking to a site we sponsor requires the use of cookies, which are small pieces of information a web site stores on a visitors web browser to remind the site about the user the next time the site is visited. We do not store confidential or sensitive information through the use of cookies. Our use of cookies enhances our members’ online transactions and eases navigation through our web site. For certain application, such as online transactions, cookies are required to help protect the privacy of a member's transactions by, for example, terminating the session if the member forgets to log out. We collect e-mail addresses from members who request electronic services, and from users of our web site who choose to provide their addresses.

Our website may contain links to third party websites. We provide these links as a service. We are not affiliated with or an agent of any third party websites that are linked to our website, and when you link to a third party website, you leave our website. We want you to be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices or any other website. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any website you access, especially if individual identifying information is being collected.

Information we Disclose

To benefit our members, we share the information described above,, within the Credit Union which includes all staff, directors, agents, volunteers, committee members and field agents and with certain trusted third parties described in this paragraph, who are obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of your private information. We use the services of various third parties to assist us in offering financial services to our members. For example, we use the services of third parties for processing transactions using credit cards, checks, debit cards and other access devices; for assistance in making loans, loan underwriting, processing loan applications, appraising collateral and for processing our outgoing mail. We also work with companies that provide financial planning, financial counseling, investment services, extended automotive service contracts, personal and property insurance and credit counseling.

We share information with Palmetto Cooperative Services, a credit union service organization. This company is owned by us and other Credit Unions through the South Carolina Credit Union League. Palmetto Cooperative Services provides the following types of services to us: item processing and collection, statement printing, mailing services, consulting and business development. We use Digital Mailer for eStatement preparation. We share information about individual members with CUNA Mutual Group (CMG), which is a diversified financial services company that serves Credit Unions and their Members. CMG uses this information to offer insurance and/or mortgage lending services to our members.

We may also share information when permitted by applicable law.

We are committed to taking every reasonable precaution to protect individual identifying information that you provide to us. We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to staff who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We also maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

Notices and Joint Relationships

Except where expressly required by applicable law, we will provide all notices to the person (member) listed first on any application, agreement or other relevant document with us. The notice will be mailed to the address noted for said person on the application, agreement or other document. If this person (member) has agreed to receive notices and disclosures electronically, then we can send all such notices and notifications, to the e-mail or Internet address provided by said person; or we shall post or otherwise give notice by posting a notice, providing a link or using such other electronic methods authorized under applicable laws and/or regulations. All joint owners, borrowers and guarantors agree to the receipt and sufficiency of any notice or notification sent according to this paragraph.

Fair Credit Reporting Act Disclosure

The Fair Credit Reporting Act governs the sharing of information that may impact upon you for purposes involving credit, collections, employment, insurance, and other purposes set forth in Section 604 of the Act. We learn information about you from our experience with you and from information provided by others, such as through credit reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act permits us to share with our affiliates and credit reporting agencies information we learn from our experience with you. We may also share information provided by others but will not share this information if you direct us otherwise. You may direct us not to share the information provided by others by exercising your opt-out election in the same manner as set forth above. In the opt-out election, you will have the option of including or excluding the Credit Union from your opt-out election.

How to Help Protect Your Information

Protect your account numbers, card numbers, PINs (personal identification numbers), and passwords. In particular, never keep your PIN with your debit card or credit card, as that makes you vulnerable in the event you lose your card or your card is stolen. Use caution in revealing account numbers, social security numbers, etc. to other persons. In particular, if a caller tells you he/she is calling you on behalf of the credit union and asks for your account number, you should beware. Legitimate credit union staff would already have access to that information. It's important that the credit union has current information about how to reach you. If we detect potentially fraudulent use of your account, we will attempt to contact you immediately. If your address or phone number changes, please let us know.

The Credit Union reserves the right to modify, change or amend this Privacy Policy and Agreement at any time without notice other than as expressly required by applicable law.