Privacy Policy

YOUR PRIVACY IS IMPORTANT TO US

Premier Bank recognizes the importance our customers place on privacy and the security of their personal information.  We have developed this privacy statement to help you understand the steps we take to protect your personal information.

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

“You” and “Your” mean our consumer customers who have a continuing relationship with us as a deposit account, loan, sage deposit box, retail installment contract we hold and services, self-directed Individual Retirement Account where we act as custodian or trustee.

“We”, “Our”, or “Us” means Premier Bank.

“Nonpublic personal information” means information about you that is not publicly available that we obtain because you apply for or receive a financial product or service from us.

Table of Contents

1. Disclosure of Customer Information
2. Collection, Retention and Use of Information
3. Maintenance of Accurate Information
4. Employee Access to Information and Enforcement
5. Customer Notification
6. Internet Information
7. Direct Marketing
8. Privacy of Children

Premier Bank will not disclose any nonpublic personal information (hereafter referred to as customer information) about our customers or former customers except as permitted by law.

Customer information will only be disclosed to authorized account holders, and only after identification of that account holder has been verified. Verifying information may include social security number, date of birth, amount and date of last deposit, mother’s maiden name, signature and/or other identifying information. If the information request is made over the telephone and we are uncertain about the identity of the person requesting the information, we will ask that the request be made in writing or in person.

Premier Bank employees will not share personal or financial customer information with nonaffiliated third parties except when legally required (in order to comply with federal or state laws/regulations and government or court orders) or when legally permitted to serve the customer’s interest (such as disclosure to credit reporting bureaus).
Examples are as follows:

• Where it is necessary to complete a transaction initiated by the customer.
• In order to report the existence and condition of an account to companies such as credit bureaus or merchants.
• In order to comply with government or court orders.
• If we have the written permission of the account holder.

Premier Bank will provide certain customer information to nonaffiliated third party companies that we hire to provide us operational support. These nonaffiliated third party companies provide services that allow us to complete transactions such as a real estate loan. Examples of these services include, but are not limited to, appraisals, title searches, flood certifications and credit reports.
Premier Bank will not knowingly do business with any nonaffiliated third party provider(s) or company that sells this information for marketing purposes.

Premier Bank will share certain customer information with its affiliate banks as necessary to permit you to complete banking transactions with Premier Bank at affiliate bank locations, e.g. deposits to your Premier Bank account(s), check cashing against your Premier Bank account(s), loan payments, etc. Please see your Personal Banker/Teller for further details. Premier Bank may also share discretionary current and historical transactions and experiences about you with our affiliates in order to establish necessary credit worthiness and general good standing to further provide you with a variety of financial services offered by our affiliates.

Premier Bank collects nonpublic personal information about you
from the following sources:

• Information we receive from you on applications or other forms;
• Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others; and
• Information we receive from a credit reporting agency.

We may disclose all of the information we collect as described above to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or to other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements.

Premier Bank will only collect information we believe is reasonably useful in administering our business and to provide products, services and other opportunities to you, our customer. Premier Bank will never make unexpected telephone calls or send e-mails to our customers asking for customer’s user ID access codes, personal identification numbers or other account information.

Premier Bank will correct known inaccurate information in a timely manner. Please notify us if we report any inaccurate information about your account(s) to a consumer reporting agency.  Your written notice describing the specific inaccuracy(ies) should be sent to us at the following address:  Premier Bank, Post Office Box 3606, Tallahassee, FL  32315-3606.

All Premier Bank employees are educated on the importance of confidentiality and customer privacy. They are thoroughly trained to learn and follow the Premier Bank Privacy Policy. Employees with access to customer information are required to adhere to the Privacy Policy.

• Any employee that violates the Privacy Policy will be subject to disciplinary measures (warnings, reprimands, suspensions) and possible termination of employment.
• Employees of Premier Bank will only have access to customer information on a need-to-know basis. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

In the event of a breach of the security of the bank’s system data, the bank shall notify you of the breach in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with any measures taken by the bank as necessary to determine the scope of the breach and to restore the reasonable integrity, security and confidentiality of the data system. This notice may be delayed if an appropriate law enforcement agency determines that the notice will interfere with a criminal investigation.

Premier Bank recognizes the trust you have placed in us and the related responsibility we have regarding your financial privacy. It is Premier Bank’s responsibility to keep your sensitive financial and personal information confidential. Premier Bank has always had formal procedures to help protect your privacy.

With the exponential growth in the use of the Internet, it has become even more crucial that steps be taken to insure that your private information remains private. Premier Bank Privacy Principles include: a) web site security, b) web site privacy and c) control over your personal information.

Premier Bank provides Internet banking through our Internet banking provider(s), Jack Henry & Associates, hereafter referred to as our "service provider(s)". Our service provider(s) may collect general information on our website simply to help us provide banking and other financial services to you online. They collect certain information on our behalf for security and statistical purposes. The information collected for these purposes may include:

• The Internet address (referral site) which brought you to our web site;
• The date and time you access our site;
• The name and version of your web browser;
• The Internet service provider(s) you used when you accessed our site;
• Your Internet Protocol (IP) address;
• The pages you visited in our website

Our service provider(s) may use cookies to collect this general information on all website visitors. They also use cookies for security purposes in our Internet banking service.

A. Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses

An IP address is a number that's automatically assigned to your computer whenever you're on the Internet. Web servers, the computers that "serve up" Web pages, automatically identify your computer by its IP address.

When collecting information our service provider(s) do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable, which means that a user's session will be logged, but the user remains anonymous.

B. What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a very small text file sent by a web server and stored on your hard drive, your computer's memory, or in your browser so that it can be read back later. Cookies cannot "read" information about you from your computer or be used to "steal" information about you; and cookies don't carry viruses. Cookies are a basic way for a server to identify you (most cookies actually identify the computer you happen to be using at the time, not you personally). Cookies are used for many things from personalizing start up pages to facilitating online purchases. Cookies help sites recognize return visitors and they perform a very important function when you engage in secure Internet banking. For your security Premier Bank or its service provider(s) do not store any of your personal information in our cookies. The cookies used in our Internet banking system are further described below:

Jack Henry and Associates provides access to our website and for Internet banking. This service provider(s) uses encrypted cookies that do not pass to your computer's hard drive. Instead the cookie is stored in your computer's memory, identifying only your computer while you are logged on. Only our service provider(s) can read the information in these cookies. These Internet banking cookies allow them to process multiple transactions during your session without requiring you to re-enter your pass code for each individual transaction. The cookies for Internet banking simply provide another level of security for our Internet banking product. When you log off, or close your browser, the cookie is destroyed. A new cookie is used for each session. That way no one can use the prior cookie to access your account. For additional security, the cookie expires after a given period of inactivity. It must then be renewed by re-entering your pass code. Our service provider(s) do not (and cannot) use this cookie to collect or obtain new personal information about you. You must allow your browser to accept this cookie so you can use the Internet banking system.

C. External Third Party Links

Our website has links to other third party sites. These links to external third parties are offered as a courtesy and convenience to our customers. It's important to note that any information you provide to a third party is not covered by our privacy policy.

BE SURE TO CHECK THE PRIVACY STATEMENTS OF ANY THIRD PARTY WEB SITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR USE OF COOKIES AND PERSONAL INFORMATION THEY MAY COLLECT AS YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO THEIR POLICIES WHEN YOU VISIT THEIR SITES.

With the exception of our service provider(s), we do not have access to the information collected by any third party, nor can we control how they use this information. If you have questions about the privacy policies and practices of these third parties, please review their websites and contact them directly.

D. Web Site Security

Premier Bank has implemented technology to assure you that any sensitive personal information you provide us or any account information you receive on-line is managed in a safe and secure manner. Additionally, procedures have been implemented to assure you that only authorized Premier Bank employees may view the information you share. This is accomplished by limiting access to that information (via access capability and password control) to only those employees having a legitimate business purpose for viewing your information and responding to your inquiries.

This is the same procedure that is followed for customers utilizing other banking methods, such as telephone banking or branch banking.

E. Web Site Privacy

The Premier Bank web site includes sections that are public (for example, www.premierbnk.com  Premier Bank Personal Accounts and www.mypremierhomeloan.com/welcome - Premier Bank Mortgage Services) and areas that are password protected (for example, NetTeller - Premier Bank On-line Banking Service.)

When any person visits the public areas of the web site, certain basic information is collected, such as how many people visited the site and what pages were visited.

Unlike the personal information that you provide and view with respect to your personal banking relationship (which is subject to the security procedures described above), all of the information gathered in the public areas of the web site is general. This general information is used to determine which parts of the Premier Bank web site are most popular and how people access them. The information gathered will help improve the content in the web pages and assist Premier Bank in our continuing efforts to improve service to all customers.

Also included in the Premier Bank web site is the capability for you to correspond with customer service. This correspondence may be for the purpose of asking general questions, requesting literature or responding to bank promotions. E-mail addresses from those who correspond with Premier Bank are collected along with any other information you provide, for example site registration or survey information.

Whether or not you are a customer of Premier Bank, personal information will be collected from you if, and only if, you voluntarily provide that information. The Premier Bank Privacy Policy prohibits any sale or rental of customer information to any nonaffiliated third party for marketing purposes.

F. Control of Your Personal Information

Premier Bank will not share information with any third parties other than as required or permitted by law, regulation or contractual obligations. Consequently, you will not receive information from another company as a result of your relationship with Premier Bank. If you provide Premier Bank with your postal address, you may receive periodic mailings from Premier Bank with information on products, services or upcoming events. Premier Bank encourages you to request any marketing information that interests you from us, such as loan rate or deposit account promotions.

Direct marketing is our communication with you by mail, telephone or electronic means to inform you about products and services that we think may be of interest and value to you. If you do not want to receive direct marketing from Premier Bank, you may request that we remove your name, address, email address and phone number from our marketing lists.

Premier Bank respects the privacy of children. We do not knowingly collect names, email addresses or any other personally identifiable information from children. We do not knowingly market to children.

FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING PREMIER BANK PRIVACY POLICY

This statement addresses our policies on internet information and internal customer information.

To OPT-OUT: 1) Offers of products or services by direct mail solicitations; or 2) offers of products or services by email from Premier Bank, call or write us at:

Premier Bank
Attn: Perin Bush
Post Office Box 3606
Tallahassee, FL  32315-3606
850.383.4648

REDUCING DIRECT MARKETING SOLICITATIONS FROM OTHER COMPANIES

Many customers wish to reduce the amount of advertising that they receive from other companies both by mail and by phone. You may contact the following agencies:

For a printable version, click here to open this policy in .pdf format.