Your Privacy Matters

Either before or when we collect information about you, we promise to explain what that information will be used for and ask for your consent for it to be used in those ways - and we'll do our best to ensure that you understand what you are being asked to consent to. We won't collect information beyond what is relevant to the products and services we provide, or use your personal information for anything beyond what you have agreed to. 

We ask you for your information in order to determine your financial situation and your creditworthiness. For taxation purposes and in order to minimize the risk of error or fraud, we will ask for your Social Insurance Number (SIN). This also ensures that your information is never accidentally confused with another person's. If you choose not to provide us with your SIN, this will not in and of itself disqualify you from being offered our products and services.

Some of our employees need access to your information in order to provide you with the services you receive from us. Only employees who need this information have access to it, and they are bound to keep this information confidential.

We also use your information, with your permission, to keep you informed of products and services we think you might be interested in. This is because we want you to feel confident that, of all the products and services we offer, you are receiving precisely those that you feel are most suitable for you in your situation. If, however, you would rather we didn't do this, you can tell us not to and we will respect your wishes. This will never affect our decision to extend credit to you or your eligibility for our products and services.

We disclose your information in three situations: when we outsource a specific task to an outside company, when we are required to or permitted to by law, and when we have your permission to do so. In all situations, we make sure that any organization receiving your information handles it in a secure and responsible way.

At times, we may use an outside company to do certain work for us, for example manufacturing Member Cards or MasterCard® credit cards. In such situations, we select the company carefully and make sure that its security standards are as good as our own.

In some situations, we are required or permitted by law to disclose information. For example, we are permitted to disclose information in order to collect a debt.

We also ask for your permission to share your information with affiliates so that they can determine which of their products and services you may be interested in.

Your consent can be given in a variety of ways. It can be implicit or explicit, written or verbal. In using our MemberCard, you signify your consent for your information to be used in the ways described in the Terms of Operation, and in signing an application or an agreement, you may be giving your consent for your information to be used for purposes described in the agreement. You can also withdraw your consent at any time for your information to be used for certain purposes.

You may ask us at any time to explain your options of refusing or withdrawing your consent for using your information in certain ways. For some purposes, like allowing us to determine your financial situation, your consent is required. Consent for other purposes is optional. For example, if you do not wish to receive information and offers on our products and services, or do not wish your information to be shared you can let us know and we will respect your decision. We will make ourselves easily available to answer your questions, and will investigate and respond to any concerns you may have about any aspect of the way we handle your personal information.

Your personal information is, at all times, protected with appropriate safeguards and security measures. We keep your information only as long as we need it in order to fulfill the purposes for which it was obtained, or as long as we are required to by law; and we do our best to ensure that information we have about you is always accurate and up-to-date.

You may at any time inquire about the personal information we have about you. We'll tell you what information we have, how we use it, and to whom we may disclose it. If you believe any of the information we have about you is incorrect, you have the right to request that it be changed.

Member and account holder information, such as copies of statements, transaction slips, and account agreements, will be provided upon request. The Credit Union may charge a fee for doing so.

For other information, which an Access to Information Request form must be used, the Credit Union will provide the individual with the personal information under the control of the Credit Union, information about the ways in which the personal information requested has been and is being used, and the names of individuals and organizations to whom the personal information requested has been disclosed. The Credit Union may charge a minimal fee for providing information.

The Credit Union will provide an estimate of the fee upon receiving the Access to Information Request. The Credit Union may require a deposit for all or part of the fee.

The Credit Union may not provide information that it is not required to be disclosed and will not disclose information that it is required not to be disclosed by law, such as information that would reveal the identity of another individual without his or her consent.

Summerland Credit Union takes our responsibility to respect and protect the confidentiality of your personal information very seriously.

For more information or if you have any concerns about our commitment to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information please ask for the Privacy Officer at our Branch or contact us at privacy@sdcu.com.

For more information, please contact us at:

Attention: Privacy Officer

Summerland Credit Union

Box 750 13601 Victoria Road North

Summerland, British Columbia VOH 1ZO

Tel.    (250) 494 7181Fax:    (250) 494 4261

email:  privacy@sdcu.com

To ensure that you are the only person accessing your personal financial information, we restrict access to the online banking section of the site by requiring that you enter your Member ID and PAC to login. Only you know your PAC. Our employees do not have access to your PAC, and they will not ask you to reveal it. If someone does ask you to provide your PAC to them, we ask that you refuse to do so and contact us immediately.

By nature, our Internet banking site has many transactional functions such as transfers between accounts and bill payment functions. These transactions are all logged to ensure that your accounts are debited or credited appropriately, and a history of each transaction is available to verify your account information. We store and use your transactional information in the same fashion as if you performed the transaction at a branch or through any other service channel.

We may also use transactional information for servicing your account — for example, billing you for the particular transactions that you perform, or for the services that you use.

We create a secure channel between your browser and our server to protect your information when you use the site.

To provide you with a convenient method for applying for loans and mortgages, or for purchasing other financial services products such as Registered Savings Plans, we may provide secure online application forms. These forms capture personal information that we use to provide you with the products and services you request. This information is processed in a similar way to application forms received through our other channels.

To continually improve our site, we often collect statistics about how our members are using it. These usage statistics are only viewed in the aggregate and are not associated with you as an individual. We use this information for purposes such as improving the pages where our members are having difficulties.

The information collected may include your IP address, your browser type and your operating system, as well as data such as the number and types of pages visited, and the length of time spent per page and on the site overall.

We also use a key web technology called cookies. A cookie is a small information token that sits on your computer. As you use this site, cookies are passed back and forth between our server and your browser.

Specifically, we use two kinds of cookies — session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie exists only for the length of your browsing session and is deleted when you close your browser. A persistent cookie is a cookie that stays on your computer after you close your browser. A persistent cookie may or may not expire on a given date.

We use a session cookie to maintain the integrity of your online banking session. With each page that you visit, the cookie is passed back and forth between our server and your browser. We use the cookie to distinguish your session from the many others that may be happening at the same time. Our session cookies never store any personal information, such as your name, or date of birth, or financial information, such as your accounts and balances.

We may use persistent cookies to (i) provide you with a customized experience by recording your preferences; (ii) gather statistical information such as average time spent on a page; and (iii) to show you targeted marketing information about us when you visit other websites. The data gathered provides us with information on how we can improve the design, content and navigation of our website.

Most recent browser versions allow you to set some level of control over which cookies are accepted and how your browser uses them. For example, it may be set to notify you when it is receiving a cookie so that you accept cookies from only known, reliable sites such as this one. If you are concerned about cookies, we encourage you to upgrade your browser to a recent version and review the Help section of your browser to learn more about its specific control features.

We use a persistent cookie to store information to help you personalize the site and to make it easier to use. For example, we allow you to make the login easier by remembering your login information within our Memorized Accounts feature. Since the Memorized Accounts feature is optional, this cookie only contains information that you have entered into it. We never store your Personal Access Code (PAC) in a cookie.

To ensure that no-one else can access your personal information, always use the logout button to end an online banking session. It is located at the top of every page. When you exit using the logout button, we delete your session cookie so that your session cannot be resumed unless your Member ID and PAC are re-entered.

In the event that you leave your computer without logging out, the online banking feature of this site has been designed to end your session automatically if our system detects that you haven't provided any instructions or used the browser buttons to navigate for several minutes. To restart the session, you will need to provide your PAC again.

To communicate with us electronically, we strongly recommend that you use our Contact Us feature. This feature provides a secure channel for sending us comments, questions or instructions.

General email is not secure since it passes through many points on its route from you to us. If you are using general email to communicate with us, we strongly recommend that you do not include personal financial information (such as account numbers) within the email as we cannot guarantee its confidentiality en route to us.

When you email us your comments, questions or instructions, you provide us your email address and we use it to correspond with you. We then store your email and our replies to you in case we correspond further.

Our site may also contain links to other websites or Internet resources. As an example, from time-to-time we may provide links to Microsoft or Netscape to assist you in upgrading your Internet browser. However, we have no control over these other websites or Internet resources and do not control their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. Always review the Privacy Statements of the sites that you are viewing.