Member Privacy Commitment

SEFCU is firmly committed to maintaining the privacy of our members and the confidentiality of their personal, business, and financial information. We recognize your right to privacy and, in turn, accept the responsibility to keep the information you provide to us confidential. As an extension of our long-standing commitment to keeping the information you share with us secure, we pledge that all such information will be confidentially maintained to the best of our abilities. At no time will SEFCU furnish names, addresses, e-mail addresses, or any other private information about our members for the benefit of a third party.
WHAT WE MEAN BY CONFIDENTIAL (PERSONAL) INFORMATION — In essence, we consider confidential information to be any data about you that is not readily available through public sources, such as a telephone directory.
WHY WE COLLECT INFORMATION — The information that we collect allows us to help provide you with the services that you request. Keeping this information on file also allows us to verify your identity when using our electronic services, such as DIAL and SEFCU OnLine. This information also helps us to better understand our members and to provide you with new and better products and services based on your needs. And finally, we collect some of this information in accordance with laws and regulations by which we are governed.
WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE USE IT —
Basic Information – In the course of your doing business with the credit union, you may be asked to supply us with the following types of confidential information:
1. Identifying information, such as name, address, Social Security or Tax Identification number, as well as additional details, such as home, business, and work phone numbers, place of employment, etc. This identifying information is used to ensure that we can correctly transact the business you have requested.
2. Information about your transactions with us or our wholly owned subsidiary, SEFCU Wealth Management Services, including account balances, payment histories, and transaction histories.
3. Credit information when you apply for a loan with SEFCU. This information includes the elements that you provide to us, such as assets, income, etc., and may also include credit information that we request from credit bureaus or services that provide payment histories. This information assists us in determining your eligibility for a loan.
4. Information about your accounts with other financial service providers when you sign up for Funds Transfer.  This information may include the names and your account numbers of other financial institutions and service providers with whom you do business.
Optional Information – Additional information, such as e-mail addresses, that you provide may be used to help us enhance our service to you through alerts about the credit union and its services, promotional messages, or events of interest to our members. We may use your e-mail address to help diagnose problems with our server or to administer our website; contact you regarding any survey or member feedback form that you submit in order to clarify your comments; assist you in resolving a problem; or notify you if a problem occurs with your account or with your use of SEFCU OnLine. By providing SEFCU with your e-mail address, you grant us permission to use the address for any of the communications listed above. The information that we collect becomes a part of your credit union record so that we may refer to it for future business transactions with you. Your confidential information will be used only for furthering our financial cooperative and its subsidiary or for better serving you and your fellow credit union members. We also maintain information on closed and inactive accounts. All such data is treated with the same level of security as information retained on our current and active members. Data we gather may be used to develop reports on product or service usage and trends or the success of promotional messages. However, these reports include collective information only, not personal or business data.
WHAT INFORMATION WE DISCLOSE — SEFCU strictly limits the confidential member information we disclose and the entities to whom we provide that information. SEFCU restricts internal access to confidential member information to only those employees who need such access to assist members or conduct SEFCU business. Each staff member must read and sign a privacy policy agreement concerning their responsibilities in safeguarding member information. With regard to outside organizations, member information is disclosed only to those parties who assist us in conducting credit union business. Examples include those vendors who produce our statements and member mailings, provide investment products, ATM and credit card providers, credit bureaus, etc. and our subsidiary, which provides our members with additional services such as insurance products. In order to ensure that the highest privacy standards are maintained, we also require that any vendor used for such services maintain similar confidentiality standards and we keep on file a Non-Disclosure Agreement or a contract including Non-Disclosure language. Sometimes, it is necessary for us to provide information to organizations outside of SEFCU, beyond those listed above, including:
• Requests necessary to comply with a government agency or court order
• Requests based on your permission to disclose such information
SEFCU does not share or sell any member information to any third party other than those with whom we contract for assisting us in conducting credit union and subsidiary business. Therefore, no opt-out provisions are necessary.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEB PRIVACY — SEFCU treats all information you provide to us in electronic form with the same confidentiality as that provided in person, whether you use our bank-by-phone, ATM network, or Internet banking services.
Linked Sites – Should you use www.sefcu.com or SEFCU OnLine to link to another site outside of SEFCU’s control, such as a retail store, news source, or other site, you should be aware that any information you provide may be collected and used by the particular site you visit. In order to ensure the confidentiality of information you may provide on other sites, we suggest that you review each site’s privacy policy before proceeding.
Cookies – Cookies are randomly assigned numbers that attach to your computer to help us recognize your browser and track your session within our site. While you can configure your computer to keep it from accepting these cookies, we suggest that you keep this function enabled so that we can better customize the information you receive from us. If you choose to register on www.sefcu.com to take advantage of any optional services via our website, such as stock tracking or other services, cookies may be used to help us identify items of interest to you and allow us to notify you of special events, products, and services that match your interests.
Cookies and SEFCU OnLine – When you enter your User ID information, your Internet banking session is tracked by the use of “cookies” until you exit SEFCU OnLine. All cookies related to your OnLine transaction are returned to the server and do not stay resident on your PC. That means that once you end your connection to SEFCU OnLine, the cookies are removed from your PC.
Cookies and SEFCU OnLine - Enhanced Security Login – When you add extra security to your computer by enabling the Enhanced Security Login, a secure cookie, which is separate and distinct from the cookies described above, will be placed on your computer. This cookie is only used by SEFCU to recognize you as an authorized user; it does not contain any personal information.
Security and Electronic Access – Because we know that you value the confidentiality of your personal and financial information, SEFCU and its service providers use security software that encrypts the information you send us. When you use SEFCU OnLine, only information relative to logging in will be requested. In order to conduct business via SEFCU OnLine, you must access your accounts with a password (also known as your Personal Identification Number or PIN). Since this number is a critical security component, it is essential that you protect your password from unauthorized use. It is also advisable to log off of SEFCU OnLine as soon as you complete your transactions to avoid any other person from accessing your account. Should you forget to log off of our SEFCU OnLine service, our system is designed to automatically end your session as an added protection for you. Loan applications you complete on sefcu.com are encrypted to protect your privacy. When contacting SEFCU via e-mail, it is important to note that only the secure e-mail available via SEFCU OnLine is encrypted. To protect your privacy, it is advisable not to include any confidential information sent via standard e-mail channels (such as contact with us via sefcuhelp@sefcu.com).
KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION CURRENT — So that we can be certain that you receive all necessary information concerning your accounts, it is important for you to notify us if any of your personal data has changed. If you find that the information that SEFCU has on record for you is incorrect, incomplete, or is in need of updating, please contact us, either in writing at:
SEFCU Vital Records Department
Patroon Creek Corporate Center
700 Patroon Creek Blvd.
Albany, NY 12206-1067
OR by phone at: 518-452-8183 (Capital Region), or 800-727-3328 (outside the 518 area code)
CONTACTING US — If you have any questions about this privacy commitment, or our privacy practices, please contact us:
1. By e-mail at sefcuhelp@sefcu.com,
2. By phone at the numbers listed above, or
3. In person at any of our branch locations.