Privacy Policy
  
 

Protecting the Privacy of First South Bank Customers

    
 
First South Bank is committed to protecting your confidentiality and safeguarding your financial account information. You will find that as an institution we are dedicated to maintaining the security of your account information and maintaining your privacy. Our Privacy standards comply with federal and state laws including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
  
     
Important Information About Proceedures for Opening New Accounts  
 
To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account.

What this means for you: When you open an account, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver’s license or other identifying documents.

We appreciate your cooperation in providing this information.

  
   
Customer Information Collected by the Bank  
 
At First South Bank, we collect personal information from you so that we may service your existing accounts and provide you with other financial products and services. Most of the personal information that is collected is provided to us from you. We may however obtain personal information about you from a consumer reporting agency or from a First South Bank affiliate. We only ask for information that is relevant to the type of service that you have requested or that may help us in providing you with another type of product or service that may be beneficial to you. Information that we obtain to process your financial requests generally includes your name, mailing address, street address, social security number, home phone number, work phone number, place of employment and date of birth. Personal information that we gather to help us better understand your financial needs include the following:
  
   
   
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Information that you provide to us on an application to obtain a loan, credit card or other financial product or service, such as assets, income and other debt;
  
 
   
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Information related to your First South Bank transactions and account experience, such as account balance, payment history, overdraft history, and credit or debit card purchase information;
  
 
   
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Information that shows that you are an existing customer or have been a First South Bank customer in the past;
  
 
   
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Information we receive from credit reporting agencies, such as your credit history or credit worthiness; and
  
 
   
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Information that you provide to us in connection with collecting on a loan or servicing a loan.
  
   
How We Use Your Information  
 
We use your personal and financial information to communicate with you and to establish loan and deposit accounts that you have requested. We may also use this information to provide you with notices of change in conditions as they relate to your accounts and to provide you with information about new products and services that may be of interest to you. Most of the transaction account information that we gather reflects your activity with First South Bank. This information is updated periodically and sent to you in the form of a periodic bank statement, loan history or notice of payment due.
 
   
To Whom We Disclose Information  
 

At First South Bank we may provide information to other First South Bank companies. Law permits sharing of certain types of information with our affiliates, such as information about your transaction experience. We may share other non-transactional  information about you with our affiliates so that we may make other services available to you. Unless as permitted by law, you may request that we not share other non-transactional information which we have collected from you to our affiliates. You may request that we not share other non-transactional information about you by calling us toll free at 1-800-946-4178 and asking for Deposit Operations Support or by completing and mailing the opt-out notice that is attached to your annual Privacy disclosure. If you have a joint account, it is only necessary for one of you to contact the Bank and make this request. Only one signature is needed on the opt-out notice that is attached to your annual Privacy disclosure.

First South Bank does not sell information about its existing and former customers. First South Bank also does not share information to third parties, except as permitted by law. We do share information to other companies so that we may process your accounts with us. Examples are as follows:

  
     
   
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Check Printing Companies so that they may provide you with checks, deposit tickets and other related items.
  
 
   
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Information about your account that we transmit to our service provider that prints your First South Bank statement or loan payment notice.
  
 
   
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Companies that act on behalf of First South Bank to market our services.
  
   
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Other parties as permitted or required by law such as a subpoena or court order.
  
   
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As authorized by you.  As a customer you may authorize us to send your account statements to a third party for reconcilement.
  
 
     
  In each of these cases, we only share the information that is needed to perform a particular service.  These companies are prohibited from using this information for any other purpose and are required to protect the confidentiality of your relationship with First South Bank and safeguard your account information.  
     
Safeguarding of Information  
   
   
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First South Bank restricts access to customer information to those employees who need to know that information for purposes of servicing a customer’s account. All employees have been notified of their responsibility to safeguard the confidentiality of customer information and are bound by the Bank’s Privacy Policy. Every employee is expected to maintain a code of conduct that protects the confidentiality of your personal and financial information and are subject to disciplinary action for failure to follow this code of conduct. All employees are required to read the Privacy Policy as a condition of hire and sign a statement certifying that they agree to be bound by a code of ethics requiring confidential treatment of customer information.
   
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When you request information about your accounts, we identify you to safeguard your account information.
   
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We encourage all customers to access their account information by using the Bank’s ACCESSLine. This service requires that you enter a personal identification number (PIN) selected by you, prior to obtaining account information.
   
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Our data service provider uses firewalls that protect our systems from unauthorized access or intrusions. Encryptions are also in place to protect customer information at ATM terminals and point of sale (POS) terminals.
               
How You Can Protect Your Account Information
 
   
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Do not share account information with others. This includes account numbers and personal access codes such as your personal identification number (PIN) that is used with your ATM card or VISA CheckCard.
   
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Do not give out your social security number and other confidential personal information to unknown callers.
   
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 Safeguard your account statements and other financial records.
 
 
If you suspect that you have been the victim of fraud or Identity Theft, contact your local branch immediately or contact Deposit Operations Support at 1-800-946-4178 and request us to put holds on your accounts.
   
Investor Information  
 

If you should have any questions regarding First South Bank’s Privacy Policy, you may contact your local branch or call us toll free at 1-800-946-4178 and ask for Deposit Operations Services.

 
     
Policy Updates    
 
It may be necessary for us to update, modify or change our Privacy Policy. When an update or change is required, we will notify you accordingly.