Privacy Statement

Our Privacy Pledge. At Yakima Valley Credit Union we respect the privacy of our members. We recognize the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of your personal financial information. This notice describes the privacy policy and practices followed by Yakima Valley Credit Union. This notice explains what types of member information we collect and under what circumstances we may share it.

Member Information We Collect. The Credit Union collects only relevant information about members that is needed to establish and maintain your account and services as the law allows or requires us to collect. We may collect personal and financial information about you (member information) which is "nonpublic." The member information we collect varies depending on the accounts and services you request and use. We collect information about you from the following sources:

Application Information. We retain personal information we receive from you on any application you provide for membership, deposit account, EFT services, loans, or other Credit Union services. This information includes: name, address, social security number, birth date, phone number, employment and financial status, and credit history.

Your Transactions. Any time you make a transaction on one of your accounts, including ATM or card transactions, loan advances, transactions through the YVCU Internet Branch, over the phone or at a branch, we retain the transaction information, including: your account number, the date, amount, location of the transaction, and other pertinent information.

Credit Reports. When we evaluate your application for an account or service, we may request a credit report about you from a consumer reporting agency. We retain the personal and credit history information about you and we may use it to evaluate future account service requests.

Online. We obtain information online when you visit our Web site. This includes retaining information you provide us on any online application, YVCU Internet Branch transaction or information you send to us by e-mail.

Member Information We Share. In order to provide financial services to you, we share certain information about you with our third party service providers. However, we only share information to the extent necessary to service your account or offer new services to you. If we share your information, it is with the goal of bringing you quality services, more choices, and greater convenience. Information we may have about former members is generally only shared or disclosed if necessary to enforce or administer an account or as required by law.

Sharing Information with Third Party Service Providers. In order for us to conduct our operations, including servicing your account or processing your transactions, we need to share information with our service providers, including: data processing companies, check, ATM and other payment processing companies, payment networks, loan service providers, insurance companies, collection agencies, credit reporting agencies, financial planners, securities brokerage, and insurance companies, and other financial service providers with whom we have joint marketing agreements. These service providers act on our behalf and have agreed in writing to keep the member information we provide to them confidential. We share the following categories of information to third party service providers depending on the specific services provided:

• Personal information (name, address, and account number)
• Account information (type of accounts, account balances, and transaction history)
• Transaction information (dates, amounts, locations, and type of transaction)

We do not sell member information nor share your account numbers with independent third party marketers offering their products and services. While we may assist in offering financial products and services of our contracted financial service providers, we control the member information used to make such offers.

Sharing Information as Legally Required or Permitted. We may share any member information of yours in response to a lawful request issued by a court, government agency, or regulatory authority or as permitted by law in order to administer or enforce your account. We may also share our experience information about you with credit bureaus. Our reporting to credit bureaus is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which affords you the right to make sure that your credit bureau reports are accurate.

Our Confidentiality and Security Safeguards. We maintain strict policies and security controls to assure that member information in our computer systems and files is protected. Our employees and agents are permitted access to member information that they may need to perform their jobs and to provide service to you. Our employees and agents have access to such member information as necessary to conduct a transaction or respond to your inquiries. All employees and agents are trained to respect member privacy. No one except our employees and agents has regular access to the Credit Union computer system and records storage. The Credit Union has established internal security controls, including physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the information you provide us and the information we collect about you. We will continue to review our internal security controls to safeguard your member information as we employ new technology in the future.

Online Privacy Protections. At our Web site, you may apply for accounts and services and you may communicate with us via e-mail. To protect the information you provide us online, we use multiple levels of security. The application information we accept online and our YVCU Internet Branch service relies on industry standard "Secure Sockets Layer" (SSL) encryption to secure your transaction information and communication. Generally, our e-mails are not secure. However, if we ask you to e-mail us information other than your name, address, e-mail address and phone number, it will be obtained using a secure (SSL encryption) e-mail form.  We may gather information about which pages of our Web site our visitors browse. This enables us to track how a visitor navigates through the site areas in which they show interest. We gather information about the use of our site, but we do not gather personally identifiable information. We use this information to better serve you. When you visit our Web site, you can access site information without revealing your personal identity.  However, in order to help us identify you for future site visits, we use “cookies” to track your visit. Cookies are small text files assigned and attached by a Web server to the directory file on your PC. Cookies help Web sites recognize return visitors. So, when you return to a Web site that you have visited before, your browser gives this data back to the server. We use cookies to make your online experience easier and more personalized. We use cookies in the following way: the Home Banking service places a cookie on your PC when you log in. It is a temporary cookie that holds a unique number that identifies you only to our server. It holds no account numbers or personal information but it is used  to authenticate your Home Banking access. Various pages on our Web site also place cookies on your PC when you visit those pages. The purpose of those cookies is to track activity and usage patterns on the site. These cookies are not personally identifiable.

Protecting Children's Information Privacy. We are committed to protecting the online privacy of children. In accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, we will not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 without first obtaining parental consent. If we receive online information from any child, we will only use the information to respond directly to the child's request. We recognize that protecting children's identities and online privacy is important and that responsibility rests with us and with parents.

Member Identification Requirements. In accordance with Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act signed October 26, 2001, all persons are subject to the identity verification requirements even though they may be a long term member and well-known to the Credit Union

For the purpose of the regulation, an "account" includes every formal financial relationship that entails ongoing services, dealings or transactions. Some examples are a deposit account, loan, trust relationship or safe deposit box rental.

If you request to open an account or become a signatory on an account with the Credit Union and the Credit Union has not previously verified your identity under the new regulatory requirements, the Credit Union will request documentary verification of your identity, such as driver's license or passport and/or it will verify your identity through other non-documentary methods. Similar identification requirements apply to business entities such as corporations and partnerships.

Privacy Policy Inquiries. For more information please call 248-1720 (800-347-9222 outside the Yakima calling area), send an e-mail, or visit any Yakima Valley Credit Union location.