Univest Privacy Policy
Privacy Commitment
Customer confidentiality is a long-standing essential principle of Univest Corporation. You have a right to financial privacy, and we respect this right. Univest is committed to protecting the information you share with us at all times. We value the trust you have placed in us.
This disclosure applies to individual consumers who have a relationship with one or more of the companies that are part of the Univest-owned family of companies listed below, called affiliates, all of which are financial service providers offering you a full range of financial products and services. These members of our corporate family offer full-service banking products and services, trust and employee-benefit plans, investment and insurance products, and financial planning...enabling us to be More Than A Bank...Financial Solutions For Life.
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania
Univest National Bank and Trust Co.
Univest Investments, Inc.
Univest Insurance, Inc.
Information We Collect
We limit the collection and use of information about our customers to what is required by law, and to administer our ongoing relationship with you. We may collect "nonpublic personal information" (personally identifiable information that is not available from public sources) as the result of information we receive from you on applications or account forms; information about your transactions with us, our affiliates and others; and information we receive from third parties, such as credit bureaus. Nonpublic personal information may include, for instance, information regarding your account balance, income, payment history, and overdraft history.
When you access our Internet web site, we collect only non-identifying information about visitors in the aggregate by placing a "cookie" (a small text file) on your computer hard drive that allows our server to collect information on the pages you visit, times of the day and days of the week accessed, and the location of your Internet service provider. This information is used to analyze system performance and helps us plan for enhancements to meet your needs. We do not collect information on any other sites you may visit except our own.
When you contact us by e-mail, your e-mail address is neither disseminated outside the bank nor sold to third parties. We do ask that you do not send confidential information to us via e-mail unless we advise you that it is secure prior to submitting your message. Information submitted on application forms to us through our Web site is encrypted and secure; however, other types of e-mail are not necessarily secure against interception.
Maintaining Accurate Information
Univest employs diligent measures to ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of customer information. We encourage you to routinely review and reconcile account statements. If you believe our records may be inaccurate or incomplete, you may call us at 1.800.660.4276, write to us at the address listed on your account statement or visit any of our offices. We will promptly investigate and make appropriate corrections.
Information We Disclose Externally
We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to "non-affiliated third parties" (third parties not members of our corporate family) except as permitted by law. You do not need to take any action to prevent disclosure. For example, we may disclose nonpublic personal information about you such as name, address, social security number, and income to government entities in response to subpoenas, to credit bureaus regarding your payment history, to service providers, and to other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements. These third parties assist us in servicing our relationship with you, and they are contractually obligated to keep your nonpublic, personal information confidential and in a secure environment. Third parties we contract with are never permitted to use our customer information for any purpose other than the specific service intended. Univest does not sell customer information to anyone.
Information We Disclose Internally
Internal use of information within our family of companies saves you time and money. It helps us spot and prevent fraud, enables us to suggest a more appropriate account or package of accounts, allows us to offer discounts based on your total relationship with us, and helps us conduct routine business transactions in an efficient and cost-effective manner. For instance, information we may share with affiliates includes: identification information, such as name and address; transaction or experience information, such as loan repayment history; and other personal information, such as information obtained from an application or consumer report. We do not share medical or health information among our family of companies except to process transactions or to provide services you have requested or initiated.
Fair Credit Reporting Act
Unlike transaction and experience information we may share among affiliates by law, you may direct that other personal information from your application, such as income or marital status; information from consumer reports, such as credit history; or information from other third parties, such as employment history, not be shared among our family of companies, and we will honor your request. By sharing this information, we can better understand your financial needs and enhance our long-term relationship with you. You may opt-out of this type of affiliate sharing at any time by calling 1.800.660.4276 or by stopping at any branch office. Your request will remain effective until you notify us otherwise and will apply to all products and services offered within the Univest companies. Please allow thirty (30) days for your request to be processed. For joint account holders, any owner may opt-out separately or on behalf of the other joint holders of that account. The opt-out election only applies to individual consumers who have obtained products or services for personal, family or household purposes. We do not treat information about former customers any differently than we do current customers; any opt-out election would continue.
Security Procedures
Our physical, electronic, and procedural security safeguards comply with federal standards, including contingency planning in the event of power outages or other business interruptions. We constantly evaluate our security architecture to assure the highest level of integrity in our systems and procedures. All employees are governed by a Code of Conduct, requiring confidential treatment of customer information. All current and former customer information may not be revealed to unauthorized persons and may only be communicated internally or externally if the recipient has a legitimate business need to know. Internal controls strictly enforce our Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy, which include possible termination of any employee failing to comply to policy. Our security procedures also extend to disposing of customer information in a secure manner to prevent subsequent unauthorized access.
Web Site Security
Univest has also taken measures to protect your privacy in the Internet environment. We employ an industry standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol that provides encrypted browsers when you access your account information (represented by an unbroken key icon or lock icon at the bottom of your browser window). We also encrypt your NetTeller ID and PIN before they are transmitted to us. In the encryption process, data is scrambled during transmission so that no one else can read it. As soon as you move to a public area of our site, the icon will change to an open lock or broken key.
Our start page offers a "Test Browser" button which leads to instructions for testing your browser's SSL compatibility. If upgrades are available for your browser's security, we will provide you with site information to download the latest versions. We recommend you close out your browser after completing your banking transactions to clear those secure pages from its memory.
Through the use of filters and firewalls, the structure of our internal networks is invisible to the outside. Filtering routers verify the source and destination of each transaction, while the firewalls shield our network from outside sources. Univest constantly evaluates and tests its security architecture to assure the integrity of our systems and the highest level of privacy for our customers.
E-Mail Communications
Inquiries sent to us through our "Contact Us" e-mail or through other regular e-mail communications are not secure, and we ask you not to send personal, confidential information in this manner. However, our online applications, such as when applying for a loan online, are maintained on a secure site. The information you submit on the application is encrypted during transit.
Children's Online Privacy
We respect the privacy of your children and do not knowingly solicit or collect personally identifiable information from children. Understanding that children may access our web site, we request that minors (defined in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act as under the age of 13) do not submit any personal information to us online.
External Links
Univest is not responsible for third party sites hyperlinked from our web site to other Internet sites. Such hyperlinks are provided for information purposes only and Univest does not provide any endorsement or warranty to the content or information practices of such sites.
You Can Help to Protect Your Privacy
A very important security measure is you, our customer. We encourage you to be just as diligent in protecting your confidential information from unauthorized access; this includes your social security number, account numbers, passwords, and PINs, for example. Do not allow anyone else access to such information, including unknown callers. You should take reasonable precautions to protect your computer access, just as you would protect your ATM card. These precautions extend to third-party aggregation services which you may contract with to consolidate your financial information from several sources. You should ensure such third parties have strong controls in place to ensure the privacy and security of your information; consumer protections in such instances may vary depending on the nature and identity of the "screen scraper."
We also provide information to help educate customers about how to protect themselves from criminal misuse of their information. Identity theft is a growing form of fraud that involves criminals obtaining personal information about an individual. You can take several steps to avoid becoming a victim of Identity Theft. These easy educational tips are available on the FTC web site at www.ftc.gov, or you may pick up a copy at any Univest branch office.
Questions You May Have
We want you to feel confident about your relationship with us. If you have any questions about our privacy policy, please call us at 1.800.660.4276. Univest's Privacy Policy will be provided annually as long as you maintain an ongoing relationship with us. Our policy is subject to change, but we will communicate any material changes prior to implementation.
Reducing Unwanted Solicitations from Companies Independent of Univest
Some third parties may have access to information that has been obtained independently of Univest, and these solicitations are not within our control. You may reduce the number of offers for credit cards and other financial products by calling toll-free 888-567-8688. You may also reduce mailings and phone calls from national advertisers by contacting the Direct Marketing Association at: DMA, Consumer Affairs, 1111 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, or on the Internet at: www.dmaconsumers.org.
May 2008
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