Online Privacy Statement
We do not collect personal identifying information about visitors to our site. Our servers collect standard non-identifying information about visits to the site, such as date and time visited, IP address, city, state, and country. This information is used to compile standard statistics on site usage. If you have provided personal identifying information via e-mail (e.g. name and address), the information will only be used to communicate with you to handle your request. It is not sold or transferred to other parties. Redwood Merchant Services is committed to protecting your privacy. As a division of Westamerica Bank (member FDIC), RMS's corporate privacy policy is the same as Westamerica Bank's (member FDIC).
At Westamerica (member FDIC), our primary goal is to offer our customers superior service. The foundation of this superior service is trust. Our customers have elected to do business with us and we have an obligation to safeguard that relationship by protecting their private information. Our customers have given us private information expecting that we will protect this information and at the same time offer them financial products and services that they may need to meet their financial goals. We recognize this important responsibility and we will accomplish both goals by adopting the following policies.
Summary of Laws Regarding Consumer Privacy Opt Outs:
There are a number of state and federal laws that address the privacy of consumer financial information. Three of the most important to banks and their affiliated companies are:
Regulation P generally restricts the sharing of consumer information with non-affiliated third parties. Sharing of information with non-financial companies or to jointly market non-financial products was made subject to a consumer's right to opt out. SB 1 restricts sharing with both affiliates and non-affiliated third parties and makes most sharing for marketing purposes subject to a consumer opt out. Section 624 makes the sharing of most information with affiliates for purposes of making a solicitation for marketing purposes subject to a consumer right to opt out. (Section 624 is to be implemented by regulations that are expected by September 4, 2004 and are expected to be effective by March 4, 2005.)
Both Regulation P and SB 1 permit the sharing of information for a wide variety of purposes, sometimes referred to as the "Exceptions". The Exceptions are summarized below under "Restriction on Disclosing Information to Parties Outside Our Affiliated Companies". There is no right under any law currently to opt out of sharing under the Exceptions. Likewise, sharing under the Exceptions does not trigger any opt out under Section 624.
Sharing of information for marketing purposes without the consumer's consent is not generally covered by the Exceptions. One of the Exceptions, however, allows sharing of information with the consumer's consent. In other words, sharing with the consumer's consent is generally permissible. (Other provisions of the FCRA not covered here would restrict the sharing of "consumer report" information irrespective of whether the consumer had consented.) Section 624 contains a similar consent exception.
SB 1 also permits the sharing of information with service providers who perform marketing services for the Bank, even without the consumer's consent, so long as the provider meets certain confidentiality standards, provides only services the Bank could perform itself, receives only the information necessary to perform its task and does not compensate the Bank for the information. Such sharing triggers no opt out under SB 1, nor under Regulation P or Section 624.
Our Collection of Information About Customers:
This policy covers customer information, which means personally identifiable information about a consumer or a consumer's current or former relationship with us. When customers transact or establish a relationship with us, we collect their personal private information. We receive this information directly from the customers, from our affiliates and from other sources such as other financial institutions, employers and credit reporting agencies. We will use this information to help us administer and process the customer's transactions and provide products, services and other opportunities they may need. It is our policy to collect only that information we need for legitimate business purposes.
Sharing Information with Our Affiliated Companies:
In order to administer their various transactions, we will share our customer's personal information among the affiliated companies of Westamerica Bancorporation (member FDIC) to the extent allowed under the law. If a customer provides their oral, written or electronic consent we may share that customer's information among our affiliated companies for the purposes of marketing other financial products. If a customer does not provide their consent we will not share that customer's information with our affiliated companies for the purpose of marketing additional financial products.
Westamerica Bancorporation (member FDIC) and its affiliates may share private information in order to perform transactional assistance for our customers and other services as allowed by law.
Restriction on Disclosing Information to Parties Outside our Affiliated Companies:
We will not disclose our customer's private personal information we have collected to other companies unless:
We will not share customer information with unaffiliated companies for marketing purposes unless we first obtain the oral, written or electronic consent of the customer.
Disclosing Information to Other Outside Companies (Service Providers):
Periodically, we will need to share our customer's private information with outside companies. For example, companies that we hire to maintain our computer systems and companies that perform check card data processing. We will communicate our privacy commitment to these companies and require that these companies agree to safeguard customer information, use the information only for its intended purpose, and not distribute it to other companies unless it is necessary to complete the customer's transaction or other requested services. Such companies may also perform mailing or marketing analysis for us.
Providing Privacy Information to Customers and Responding to Inquiries:
Customers have the right to receive, and we have a responsibility to inform customers of, our privacy policies and practices. We will therefore provide notice of our privacy policies in the form of a Privacy Notice. The Notice will summarize the privacy practices of the Bank. At a minimum, this Notice will be available at any bank branch location, will be provided to a customer at the time the customer establishes a customer relationship with us, and yearly thereafter.
Protecting Private Information:
We will diligently protect our customer's private information by establishing operational safeguards that will create standards and procedures for the security of computer systems that house private information to help prevent unauthorized access. We will also periodically update and test the data processing systems and assure the integrity of the information. We will allow access to our customer's private information by only those employees who have a legitimate business reason to access such information and will establish operational procedures to safeguard private information from being released accidentally or released to individuals that fraudulently attempt to obtain the information. Also, we will train and educate all employees on the importance of confidentiality and protecting customer privacy. We will take appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce employee privacy responsibilities.