IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PRIVACY
We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the information you share with us and value your trust. The privacy of your information is protected not only by state and federal laws but, more importantly, by Southern Bank's commitment to you.
This notice summarizes our consumer privacy policies and practices and certain rights you have under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Our consumer privacy policies and practices protect the confidentiality of information about individuals who obtain financial products or services from us primarily for personal, family or household purposes. The policies and practices described in this notice do not apply to or protect information about you that is publicly available, information about business entities, or information about individuals who obtain financial products or services for business, commercial or agricultural purposes. As used in this Notice, the term "nonpublic personal information" means information about you that is not publicly available.
We recognize and respect your privacy expectations and are committed to protecting your privacy rights. We want to assure you that:
4 We do not sell our customer mailing lists or other customer information to outside marketing firms.
4 We do not disclose medical information except as necessary to process insurance applications and claims or as otherwise permitted by law.
4 We will continue to protect your privacy rights even after you close your accounts or become an inactive customer.
4 We have strict security standards to protect your privacy.
Collection of Customer Information4 Information about your experiences and transactions with us, with our affiliates or with others. For example, this information may include your account balance or payment history.
4 Information you provide us on applications, personal financial statements or in other oral, written or electronic communications. For example, this information may include your name, address, Social Security number, employer, assets, income and health information.
4 Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies (credit bureaus). For example, this information may include your credit history, credit score and other information about your creditworthiness.
We use information about you, for example, to administer your accounts, process your transactions, and provide you with information about products, services and other opportunities that may interest you.
Internal Confidentiality Standards
We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. Our employees are bound by our Code of Conduct to access customer information only for legitimate business purposes and to keep information about you confidential. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with Federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.
Information Sharing
With Related Companies to Serve You Better. We call the companies that are related to us by common ownership or control our “affiliates.” Our affiliates are all financial service providers, including banks, insurance companies and insurance agencies. When we are permitted to share information about you with our affiliates, we can serve you more efficiently, make it easier for you to do business with us and offer you a wider variety of financial products and services.
We are permitted by federal law to share certain types of information about you with our affiliates, including identification information and information about your transactions and experiences with us. In addition, unless you tell us not to, we may share other information about you with our affiliates that we call “eligibility information.” We use eligibility information to determine your eligibility for our products and services. Eligibility information may include, for example:
4 Information we obtain from your applications or other forms, such as your name, address, assets, employment and income;
4 Information we obtain from a consumer report or a credit bureau, such as your credit history or your credit score.
How to Tell Us Not to Share Eligibility Information with Our Affiliates If you prefer that we refrain from sharing eligibility information about you with our affiliates, you may direct us not to by calling us toll free at 800-821-0655 or by writing to us at: 121 East Main Street, Credit Administration, Mt. Olive, NC 28365. When two or more customers jointly obtain a financial product or service from us, we will treat a request not to share eligibility information made by one of the joint customers as applying only to that person unless that customer tells us that he or she is acting on behalf of other joint customers. We will process your request as quickly as we reasonably can.With Companies that Work with Us to Serve You Better. We may use outside companies to assist us in processing your transactions, maintaining and servicing your accounts and in the day-to-day conduct of our business. For example, other companies perform specialized support services for us when they provide data processing support, process payments or assist us in our marketing efforts. In addition, we may enter into joint marketing agreements with other financial institutions to offer you a wider variety of financial products and services. We may disclose any of the information we collect to companies that perform services (including marketing services) for us and to other financial institutions with which we have joint marketing agreements. However, when we do so, the company’s right to use and redisclose the information we provide is limited by law and contract.
In Other Situations. We do not otherwise disclose information about you without your consent except as required or permitted by law. For example, we are permitted or required to disclose information about you to process your transactions and maintain and service your accounts with us, to report our experiences with you to credit bureaus in accordance with well-established banking practices and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, to protect against fraud or loss, or to respond to a subpoena or court order.
Reporting Information to Credit Bureaus.
We may report information about your account or accounts to credit bureaus. Late payments, missed payments, or other defaults on your account may be reflected in your credit report.