Privacy Policy

The financial services industry has a long history of using customer information responsibly, however, safeguarding information in the age of technology presents new challenges for all of us. And, because your trust is our greatest asset, we have strong privacy guidelines in place to ensure that any private financial information you share with us is protected and held in the strictest confidence. At Mercantile Bancorp, Inc. we use a combination of safeguards to protect your information which include highly trained employees held to the highest standards of conduct, strict privacy policies, rigorous security standards, encryption and fraud detection procedures.

When we do use customer information, it is to help serve you better. For example, we use information to detect and stop fraud and criminal activity. Sharing information internally or with business partners is also necessary to deliver everyday conveniences, like ATM access and streamlined customer service. It also helps us to appreciate all the business you have with our bank and to identify affordable products and services that might serve you better.

Thank you for your business and your trust in Mercantile Bancorp. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns about the protection of your personal financial information.

Financial Privacy Policy and Security Standards for Customer Information

Privacy
At Brown County State Bank, we know how important personal privacy is to you. We understand that you expect your financial affairs to be kept private and secure. We also understand the need to protect information that you have provided. Therefore, we maintain procedures and guidelines to properly handle this information.

We gather information regarding users of our web site through the use of on-line forms, e-mail, and “cookie” files. Cookies are used to estimate our audience size. Each browser accessing our site is given a unique cookie, which is then used to determine whether a user is a first-time visitor or a return visitor. This information helps us deliver better service. User ID's and Passwords must be used each time to access account information. During Internet correspondence with our bank, some information will be gathered to administer the session for the customer. We collect, retain, and use information about you only where we believe it will be useful to administer our business or provide products, services, or opportunities for you. We will use this information to constantly improve our products and service for our customers.

Security
Security such as access procedures and levels are in place that limit access to personally identifiable information to only those employees with a business reason to know such information about you. We maintain appropriate security standards and procedures regarding unauthorized access to customer information. We educate our employees about the importance of confidentiality and customer privacy through standard operating procedures and our Standards of Conduct Policy.

This Internet Banking System brings together a combination of industry-approved security technologies to protect data for the bank and for you, our customer. Some features include password-controlled system entry, an identification system for the bank's server, data encryption, and a firewall to regulate the inflow and outflow of server traffic. By implementing these methods of security, your Internet banking transactions should be protected.

Our procedures provide assurance that your financial information is accurate, current, and complete in accordance with commercial industry standards. You may inform us in writing or through our web site, of any inaccurate information. We will quickly respond to your requests to correct inaccurate information. These changes, after verification, will be made in a timely manner. We also have internal procedures to update and correct inaccurate information.

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time by posting a new privacy policy. For more information about our privacy policy, please contact us at bcsb@mercbanx.com

Notice of Your Financial Privacy Rights

Our Privacy Disclosure Policy
This is our privacy notice for our customers. We are committed to respecting the individual privacy of consumers. In accordance with federal regulations, we are giving you this notice to tell you how we use information about you or your account. We will not share nonpublic personal information about you with nonaffiliated third parties, except as permitted by law and we will continue to protect your privacy. We intend to comply with Federal law, but if State law provides you with greater protection, we will follow State law.

Categories of Information That We May Collect
We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:
· Information we receive from you on applications or other forms, including, but not limited to: your name, address, social security number, assets, and income.
· Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others, including, but not limited to: your account balance, payment history, parties to transactions, and credit card usage.
· Information we receive from a consumer reporting agency, including, but not limited to: your creditworthiness and credit history.

Categories of Information That We Disclose
We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to nonaffiliated third parties, except as permitted by law.

Disclosure As Permitted By Law
We may disclose all of the information we collect, as described above to service providers and companies that perform marketing services on our behalf.

Confidentiality and Security
We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those bank employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with FDIC standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

As required by Federal law, we will notify you of our Privacy Policy annually. We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time. If you have questions or concerns about the integrity of your account information, please contact us.

NOTE : The contents of external links within Brown County State Bank's website do not represent the bank, and the bank may not be held liable for any content in those links.