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Bank of Marin's Policies and Practices Regarding Personal Information You place your trust in us with your banking relationship and we value that trust as our most important asset. Bank of Marin wants you to know what policies and practices we use in handling your personal information.
We recognize that you expect us to collect, use, and share information about you in an appropriate and responsible fashion, and we intend to meet that expectation, as described more fully in this statement.
If your account relationship is held jointly with another person or persons, we ask that you share this statement with the other person(s), as we may only furnish this statement to one of you.
We will send you another copy of this statement or an updated version of it annually, as long as you maintain an active account.
Our policies and procedures concerning personal financial information we acquire about you are governed by the overriding principle that any information you provide is personal and that it is important to you. We strive to keep such information accurate, secure and confidential.
For these purposes, "personal financial information," or just "information" includes:
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The fact that you are or have been a customer and have obtained a financial product or service from us;
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Information about your identity, such as your address, birth date, tax identification, or driver's license information; |
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Information provided to obtain a financial product or service; |
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Account or loan information, such as balance, payment or overdraft history, credit or check card purchase information; |
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Information provided or obtained in connection with the application, servicing or collection of a deposit or loan such as income, personal assets, or employment; |
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Information collected through an Internet website, such as an Internet "cookie;" |
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Information obtained from a consumer report, credit reference, or other financial service provider. |
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We collect personal information from you or others, such as consumer reporting agencies, lenders, employers, or other affiliated or non-affiliated third parties that can provide assistance to us in delivering products and services to you.
We use this information in order to identify and communicate with you, manage your relationship with us, process your transactions with or through us, and to provide better customer service.
When and With Whom We Share Information
We share personal financial information we acquire about you to such companies as:
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Financial service providers (such as check printers, escrow companies, data processing companies, or lenders that have or may acquire interest in a loan made to you); |
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Non-financial companies (such as consumer reporting agencies, bank auditors, bank examiners, and our lawyers); |
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Governmental agencies and private parties to whom the law requires us to make such disclosures (such as under subpoena or under the laws that require reporting of certain transactions, payment of interest or other matters). |
We share this information to the extent necessary:
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To deliver our products and/or services to you; |
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To process your transactions efficiently; |
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To enable consumer credit reporting agencies to have and maintain accurate information about your transactions with us (if applicable); |
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In response to requests from third parties for information that you have authorized us to release; |
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As required by law, such as under subpoena or in governmental reporting; |
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In response to independent audits, regulatory examinations, and legal requests; |
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Internally to bank employees who have a business reason for knowing such information; |
We have no plans to share personal financial information about you to third parties for marketing purposes. Should we ever decide to do so, we will provide advance notice of our new intentions to you and will give you an opportunity to prevent such disclosure of information.
Bank of Marin safeguards the privacy of your information according to policies that we have adopted. These policies are intended to ensure that all of our employees understand the importance of customer privacy and that if they violate these privacy principles, they will be subject to disciplinary measures.
We place a high importance upon assuring the financial information we maintain about you is accurate, current and complete. To accomplish this goal, we have established internal procedures for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in a timely manner. If you should find an error in any information we maintain about you, please contact us for prompt resolution of the matter.
Information may be provided to a third party to facilitate the delivery of our products and services to you. We require assurance of strict confidential treatment of any information provided and that it will only be used to accomplish these purposes. (Of course, we have no control over the privacy policies of other parties involved in a transaction associated with your account, such as other banks or companies who handle a check you have written or made payable to you).
Should you have questions or concerns regarding the privacy of your personal information, please contact your branch representative by phone or in person at your convenience.
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Identity theft is a rapidly growing crime of worldwide proportion. It turns peoples' lives upside down and in some cases, takes years and thousands of dollars before they can resume their normal existence. It can damage good credit, deplete bank accounts and destroy emotional well-being.
Thieves gather personal information about an individual and use it for financial gain. Some pose as telemarketers and gather information by phone. Others steal mail, such as pre-approved credit card offers or checks. Still others are known as "Dumpster Divers" who literally dig through the trash to retrieve financial or identifying documents. They use the information to obtain credit or access accounts that belong to someone else. They make purchases, get loans or travel under another's identity. By the time the problem is discovered, sometimes months later, the perpetrators are long gone with goods and services obtained with that identification.
The victim gets a phone call from a creditor or collection agent trying to collect an unknown loan or receives a bill for something he or she never purchased. He or she must then prove that each transaction was fraudulent, sometimes having to obtain a lawyer's help to do so, at his or her own expense. Meanwhile, until the process is finally stopped, the victim's good credit rating and bank accounts decline rapidly, as bills continue to mount for items the victim never purchased.
Here are some tips to protect yourself from this crime:
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Don't give your Social Security number over the phone unless it's absolutely necessary and you know the identity of the person requesting the information. |
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Be wary of giving out other identifying information, such as birthplace and mother's maiden name unless you are sure of the person requesting the information. This information is often used by financial institutions for identification purposes. |
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Lock your mailbox. If that is not possible, empty it as soon as possible after mail delivery. |
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Don't leave letters for pickup outside your box. Put them in a secure U.S. Postal Service box or take them to the post office. |
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Check your credit report at the three national credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union) at least annually and look for unauthorized activity. |
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Buy a paper shredder (they aren’t expensive) and use it to dispose of old financial records (including tax returns), pre-approved credit card offers and any other documents that may contain identifying information. |
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Don't leave behind receipts that have credit or debit card numbers at ATMs, stores or gas pumps. |
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Don't put credit card or personal information on a website unless you know that it is secure. |
If you should fall victim to identity theft, follow these steps as quickly as you can:
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Contact the three national credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union) and ask them to attach a "fraud alert" to your credit file. Each has a website and a toll free number. |
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Contact all your creditors (by phone and in writing) to inform them of the problem. |
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Contact the local police. They may be able to act under state consumer protection laws. |
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If mail use is suspected, notify your local postmaster. |
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Alert your bank immediately. Your financial institution can then watch for any unusual activity or suggest other means of protecting your account. |
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Request that any Personal Identification Numbers ("PINs") or passwords used for account access are changed. |
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Contact the Federal Trade Commission and the national clearinghouse for complaints by victims of identity theft. The hot line is
1-800-IDTHEFT (438-4338).
ID Theft Resources
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This section explains our policy regarding any personal information you might supply to us when you visit this site. Our goal is to protect your information on the Internet in the same way that we protect it in all the other ways we interact with you: in branches, at ATMs, and on the phone.
1. You can visit this site and find out about our products and services, read our Corporate reports, check on career opportunities, or get a news update and other value-added services without giving us any information about yourself.
2. If you do provide personal information, such as address, e-mail, telephone and fax numbers, as well as demographic and customer identification, we will not disclose (share, sell or divulge) it to third parties without your consent except as already explained in our privacy statement. We will maintain this information, as well as your business activities and transactions, according to our usual strict security and confidentiality standards. Bank of Marin does not accept any responsibility for the security of or any losses incurred as a result of sharing personal account information (such as usernames, passwords and PINs) with any unaffiliated third party for account aggregation purposes. General Online Security Tips
- Use a current browser that supports secure and private transactions.
- Install and regularly update virus detection software.
- Do not allow unauthorized access to your PC.
- Do not install pirated software or software from an unknown source.
- If using cable modems or DSL for Internet access, don't keep the connection active when not in use; also consider installing personal firewall software.
- Do not open e-mail attachments from unknown sources
Tips for Securing Online Financial Transactions
- Conduct financial transactions first in any online session. After completing financial transactions online, including a credit card number, log off before continuing other online activity. This may help to protect your confidential data (account numbers, passwords, etc.).
- Protect your PINs and passwords; create PINs and passwords that do not use readily identifiable information like names, birth dates, personal numbers or familiar words.
- When applying online for any financial account, ensure that you are dealing with a reputable, federally insured institution with secure pages.
- Learn about your financial institution's capabilities for secure online financial services. All online contact with the institution should be through its secured web pages.
- Notify your financial institution immediately of any changes in your account information.
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In order to provide better service, we will occasionally use a "cookie." A cookie is a small piece of information that a web site stores on your web browser on your PC and can later retrieve. The cookie cannot be read by a web site other than the one that set the cookie. We use cookies for a number of administrative purposes, for example, to store your preferences for certain kinds of information or to store a password so that you do not have to input it every time you visit our site. None will contain information that will enable anyone to contact you via telephone, e-mail, or "snail mail." You can set up your web browser to inform you when cookies are set or to prevent cookies from being set. Cookies facilitate certain features that can make the surfing experience more convenient and valuable for web users. This is useful for having your browser remember some specific information which the web server can later retrieve. As you browse the web, some cookies are "set" on your web browser. When you quit your browser, some cookies are stored in your computer's memory in a cookie file, while some expire, or disappear. Most cookies last only through a single session, or visit. All cookies have expiration dates. The cookie is set on a particular browser on a particular computer, so when you use a different computer, the cookie will not exist. Instances where cookies are most commonly used include:
Online ordering systems can use cookies that remember what a person wants to buy. Cookies enable users to keep browsing and adding to their "shopping cart." They can even end a browser session, come back, and still have the same items in their carts from the last session, if they so choose.
If you decide to register for an informational site, such as a newspaper, periodical or an interest group site, or even a chat group or online community, you will likely by asked to supply some information about yourself so that you can use the service on a regular basis. Often cookies are used so that you do not have to identify yourself every time you reenter the site
Cookies allow users to indicate what types of information they are interested in receiving when they visit a particular site. Users can then view only what they are interested in and not waste time with news or information of no interest to them
Tracking allows site owners to find out what pages visitors link to, and interpret or infer what is interesting to them. This helps the owners of sites to keep their content fresh and relevant.
Cookies can be used to build a profile of where on a particular site you visit. This information is then used to target advertising that might be of interest to you. Some sites use cookies to "remember" which advertisements were sent to you, so that you do not see the same ones again.
Cookies cannot be shared between web servers. Cookies can however be used to obtain data from your hard drive, get your e-mail address or steal sensitive or personal information about you without your knowledge. Computer viruses are not passed through the setting or use of cookies. If you, as a visitor, want to disallow cookies you can do so in your web browser. Please be advised that cookies should be considered as sensitive data, and you should protect yourself from unauthorized access to them.
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