Privacy Policy & Notice

What does Cotton Belt FCU do with your personal information?

Financial companies choose how they share your personal information. Federal law gives consumers the right to limit some but not all sharing. Federal law also requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your personal information. Please read this notice carefully to understand what we do.

The types of personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you have with us.

This information can include:

  • Social Security number and credit history
  • Employment information and payment history
  • Transaction history and transaction or loss history

When you are no longer our member, we will continue to share your information as described in this notice.

All financial companies need to share members’ personal information to run their everyday business. In the section below, we list the reasons financial companies can share their members’ personal information, the reasons Cotton Belt FCU chooses to share, and whether you can limit this sharing.

Reasons we can share your personal information, does Cotton Belt FCU share, and can you limit this sharing?

  • For our everyday business purposes – such as processing your transactions, maintaining your account(s), responding to court orders and legal investigations, or reporting to credit bureaus.

    • Does Cotton Belt FCU share? Yes

    • Can you limit this sharing? No

      For our marketing purposes – to offer our products and services to you

      • Does Cotton Belt FCU share? Yes

      • Can you limit this sharing? No

    • For joint marketing with other financial companies

      • Does Cotton Belt FCU share? Yes

        • Information obtained thru SMS Opt-in will not be sold or shared with any third party including agents, affiliates, joint ventures, etc. with promotional aims.

      • Can you limit this sharing? No

    • For our affiliate’s everyday business purposes – information about your transactions and experiences

      • Does Cotton Belt FCU share? No

      • Can you limit this sharing? We don’t share

    • For our affiliate’s everyday business purposes – information about your creditworthiness

      • Does Cotton Belt FCU share? No

      • Can you limit this sharing? We don’t share

    • For non-affiliates to market to you

      • Does Cotton Belt FCU share? No

      • Can you limit this sharing? We don’t share

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      What we do

      • How does  Cotton Belt FCU protect my personal information?

        • To protect your personal information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with federal law. These measures include computer safeguards and secured files and buildings.

      • How does Cotton Belt FCU collect my personal information?

        • We collect your personal information, for example, when you open an account or provide account information, give us your contact information or show us your driver’s license, make deposits or withdrawals from your account

        • We also collect your personal information from others, such as credit bureaus,

          affiliates, or other companies.

      • Why can’t I limit all sharing?

        • Federal law gives you the right to limit only

          • sharing for affiliates’ everyday business purposes – information about your creditworthiness

          • affiliates from using your information to market to you

          • sharing for nonaffiliates to market to you

          • State law and individual companies may give you additional rights to limit sharing.

        Definitions

        • Affiliates: Companies related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies. Cotton Belt FCU has no affiliates

        • Nonaffiliates: Companies not related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies. Cotton Belt FCU does not share it with our nonaffiliates, so they can market it to you.

        • Joint Marketing: A formal agreement between nonaffiliated financial companies that together market financial products or services to you. Our joint marketing partners include insurance companies.

How to keep yourself safe in cyberspace

An important part of online safety is knowledge. The more you know, the safer you’ll be. Here are some great tips on how to stay safe in cyberspace:

Have a strong password.

Good password is a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers and one that is not easily guessed. Change your password frequently. Don’t write it down or share it with others.

Don’t reveal personal information via email.

Emails and text messages can be masked to look like they are coming from a trusted sender when they are actually from someone else. Play it safe, do not send your personal information such as account numbers, social security numbers, passwords etc. via email or texting.

Don’t download that file!

Opening files attached to emails can be dangerous especially when they are from someone you don’t know as they can allow harmful malware or viruses to be downloaded onto your computer. Make sure you have a good antivirus program on your computer that is up-to-date.

Links aren’t always what they seem.

Never log in from a link that is embedded in an email message. Criminals can use fake email addresses and make fake web pages that mimic the page you would expect. To avoid falling into their trap, type in the URL address directly and then log in.

Websites aren’t always what they seem.

Be aware that if you navigate to a Website from a link you don’t type, you may end up at a site that looks like the correct one, when in fact it’s not. Take time to verify that the Web page you’re visiting matches exactly with the URL that you’d expect.

Log off from sites when you are done.

When you are ready to leave a site you have logged in to, log in rather than just closing the page.

Monitor account activity.

Monitor your account activity regularly either online or by reviewing your monthly statements and report any unauthorized transactions right away.

Assess your risk.

We recommend periodically assessing your online banking risk and put into place increased security controls where weaknesses are found; particularly for members with business accounts. Some items to consider when assessing your online banking risk are:

  • Who has access to your online business accounts?
  • How and where are user names and passwords stored?
  • How strong are your passwords and how often are they changed? Are they changed before or immediately after terminating an employee who had access to them?
  • Do you have dual controls or other checks and balances concerning access to online banking transactions?

What to expect from Cotton Belt Federal Credit Union

ATM/Debit Cards. Our card provider, Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union, will ask you to verify your street address and one other identification verification factor. They will never ask for your card number, expiration date, or CVC code.

Cotton Belt will NEVER call, email, or otherwise contact you and ask for your username, password, or other online banking credentials.

Cotton Belt will NEVER contact you and ask for your ATM/debit card number, or PIN security code.