Privacy Policy

Southeastern Trust Company’s most important asset is our customers’ trust. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect customer information, and limit access to customer information for business purposes only to appropriate employees. Our privacy policy and client choices regarding the disclosure of this information are outlined below.

Privacy Commitment to Our Customers

1)              We will safeguard, according to strict standards of security and confidentially, any information our customers share with us.

2)              We do not sell customer information to others.

3)              We will limit the collection and use of customer information to the minimum we believe is required to deliver superior service to our customers, which includes advising our customers about our products, services, and other opportunities, and to administer our business.

4)              We will limit use of information about clients to authorized team members, trained in the proper handling of customer information. This means only team members whom we determine need to know information to provide products and services to clients will be allowed access.

5)              In addition to restricting access to information about clients, we also maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable legal and regulatory standards to keep this information private and secure.

6)              Whenever we hire other organizations to provide support services that will have access to customer information, we will require them to conform to our privacy requirements and to allow us to audit them for compliance.

7)              We will tell clients in plain language, initially and at least once every year while they are a customer, what information we collect from them, where we obtain that information and how we plan to use it.

Our Policies and Practices Designed to Protect Our Customers

We protect the personal information we collect about clients by maintaining physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that meet or exceed applicable law. It is important to us that clients understand what information we collect about clients and how it is used. We want clients to know that we limit the collection and disclosure of information to what we believe is necessary to serve them and administer our business.

Collecting Information

In the process of serving clients, we obtain certain “non-public personal information” – information about them that is not available publicly. This information comes to us from a variety of sources, including:

•       Information they give directly to us (or is given to us on their behalf) on agreements, other forms or otherwise (such as their name, telephone number, Social Security Number, assets and income).
•       Information about their transactions with us or others (such as account balance, payment history, and credit card usage).
•       Information we receive from third parties (such as consumer reporting agencies or credit or employment references).
•       Information obtained at their request (such as aggregated information from multiple financial providers in order to develop a financial profile or plan for them).

Using that Information

We do not disclose personal information about our customers to any company who is not under common control of Southeastern Trust Company, except as required or permitted by law. In some cases, and as permitted by law, client personal information must be shared with nonaffiliated third parties in order for us to administer our business, provide superior service, and offer opportunities that we think will be of interest to customers. We may disclose the information we collect about clients as described above to these third party firms for the purposes of performing marketing services on our behalf or for jointly offering financial products and services to them. These third party firms are required to maintain the confidentiality of clients’ personal information to the same extent as required by Southeastern Trust Company and are not allowed to disclose their information to anyone else, except as required or permitted by law, without our permission. Other examples of instances where we might share their personal information with non-affiliated third parties as permitted by law are:

• To assist us in servicing or processing a financial product or service that clients request or authorize;
• To protect against or prevent actual or potential fraud, unauthorized transactions, claims, or other liability;
• To comply with a properly authorized civil, criminal, or regulatory investigation, or subpoena or summons.

The examples set out above are illustrative of the occasions on which we may disclose the various categories of information described. They are not intended to describe every situation in which we may provide customer information to a non-affiliated third party as permitted by law.

Medical Information

We will not disclose any medical information clients provide to us, unless:

• The client consents to the disclosure of such information; or
• Otherwise required or permitted by law.

We recognize that, when clients provide medical information for a specific purpose, they do not wish it to be disclosed to others.

Additional information

If at any time someone becomes an inactive customer or close their account(s), we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this notice. However, we will not send them an annual notice.

Privacy Notice—Federal law requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your personal information. Our privacy policy has not changed and you may review our policy and practices with respect to your personal information at www.setrustco.com or we will mail you a free copy upon request if you call your account administrator.