Privacy Codes and Policies

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 debit card or username and password to login. Only you know your password. Our employees do not have access to your password, and they will not ask you to reveal it. If someone does ask you to provide your password 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.

The following list of permissions and activities are required by our mobile app to operate. These include:

• “Access Camera” permission is used by the app to deposit a cheque via mobile deposit capture, store a custom profile picture and background.

• “Access Location” permission is used by the app to accurately locate the nearest ATM or branch in the “Find Us” feature.

• “Call Permission” is used to automatically call the user’s preferred branch by tapping on the phone number in the “Find Us” feature.

• “Read Contacts” permission is used to set up new Interac e-Transfer® contacts and send an Interac e-Transfer®. Only the device contact information a user confirms is readable by Interac.

• “Internal Storage” permission is required to view, share and download PDF files from the mobile app to a user’s device.

• “App Activities” uses mobile app interaction data for analytics on usage and crash information for the current app version. We also monitor application stability using the crash logs to make ongoing improvements. Data collected on app activities, information and performance is completely anonymous and aggregated – individual users are not identifiable.

We create a secure channel between your browser and our server to protect your information when you use the site. To learn more about how we do this, please review our information on Internet Security.

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.

To ensure that no-one else can access your personal information, always use the sign out button to end an online banking session. It is located at the top of every page. When you exit using the sign out button, we delete your session cookie so that your session cannot be resumed unless your debit card or username and password 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 password 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 enroute 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. 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.

The Credit Union Privacy Officer is your point of contact if you wish to raise any matters regarding the use of your personal information.

The Privacy Officer is responsible for monitoring information collection and data security, and ensures credit union employees receive appropriate training on privacy issues and their responsibilities under the Code. The Privacy Officer also handles all privacy inquiries and personal information access requests under the Code.

Ultimate responsibility for our compliance with the Code rests with the credit union board of directors. For information, questions or concerns on credit union privacy issues, please contact:

Jason Sentes

Privacy Officer/CEO

1st Choice Savings and Credit Union Ltd.

45 Fairmont Blvd S AB T1K 1T1

Phone: 403.320.4600

Email: privacyofficer@1stchoicesavings.ca