Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

This Policy explains what we do to keep information about you private and secure. We want you to know how we manage that information to serve you and that you have choices about how it is shared.

This Customer Privacy Notice applies to individual customers for each of the following:

  • The State Bank
  • Fentura Mortgage Company, Inc
  • Livingston Community Bank (a division of The State Bank)
  • West Michigan Community Bank
  • West Michigan Mortgage LLC

and their subsidiaries, which are collectively referred to as "we" or "our family" in this privacy notice.

This notice applies to individuals (and their legal representatives) who obtain from us financial products or services that are to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. Although this notice does not apply to our business customers or customers that operate as an organization, our policy and practices include the safekeeping and confidentiality of all customer information. If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive customer, we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this notice.

CUSTOMER ACCOUNT SECURITY PROCEDURES

We take steps to safeguard customer information. We restrict access to your personal and account information to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

We use proven technology and established procedures for keeping your information secure. Whenever we ask for personal information on our Website or Internet banking, we use Secure Socket Layer (SSL technology) to keep it confidential.

You may visit our website to find out about products and services, marketing information, and other opportunities without providing any information about yourself. We do gather data regarding visits to our Website, including domain name, pages visited, length of user session, etc., to evaluate the usefulness of our site.

The bank may use a software "cookie" when accessing our Website. No "cookie" will contain any information that would enable anyone to contact you via telephone, email, or U.S. Mail. (A "cookie" is a small piece of information that a Website stores in the web browser of your computer and can later retrieve. A "cookie" cannot be read by a web site other than the one that set the "cookie". You can set your web browser to inform you when "cookie" are sent or to prevent "cookie" from being sent). We do not knowingly solicit data from children. We recognize that protecting children's identities and privacy online is important and that the responsibility to do so rests with both the online industry and with parents.

MAINTAINING PRIVACY IN BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS WITH THIRD PARTIES

When our family conducts business with third parties, we require our vendors and suppliers to maintain similar standards of conduct regarding the privacy of personally identifiable customer information provided to them.

Q. How do you safeguard information about me?

A. We take a number of steps to protect the privacy of information about you. Here are some examples:

  • We keep information under physical, electronic or procedural controls that comply with or exceed governmental standards.
  • We authorize our employees, agents and contractors to get information about you only when they need it to do their work for us.
  • We require companies working for us to protect information. They agree to use it only to provide the services we ask them to perform for us.
MAINTENANCE OF ACCURATE INFORMATION

We have established procedures to ensure that your financial information is accurate, current and complete, in keeping with reasonable, commercial standards. We also pledge to respond to requests to correct inaccurate information in a timely manner

CUSTOMER BENEFITS OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

*We want you to understand what nonpublic personal information we collect and how we use it. In order to provide our customers with a broad range of financial products and services as effectively and conveniently as possible, we use technology to manage and maintain customer information. We obtain information about our customers from many sources, including:

  • Information provided by you (such as your income and work history);
  • Information created by us or companies within our family in the course of providing you with products and services (such as your account balance and payment history); and
  • Information from outside sources, such as a consumer reporting agency (such as your credit history with other financial service providers).

We gather, use, and keep information about you only if we believe:

  • It is necessary or useful as part of our relationship with you;
  • It will help us provide you with products and services to meet your needs; or It is required by law or regulation.
Information Shared Outside of Our Family

We do not share any nonpublic personal information as define above* outside of our family except in the following limited circumstances, which are specifically required or permitted by law:

Joint Marketing. We may disclose nonpublic personal information that we collect (as described above) to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or to other financial institutions with which we have joint marketing agreements. A "joint marketing agreement" is a written contract we have with another financial institution by which we partner with that institution to market either or both of the institutions' products or services.

The information that we may share includes:

  • Information provided by you (such as your income and work history), and
  • Information created by us or companies within our family in the course of providing you with products and services (such as your account balance and payment history).

Our agreements with these parties require them to use your information responsibly and limit their ability to share your information with other parties, as required by law.

In this business, we have relationships with consumers who are potential customers who are considering us or existing customers who have chosen us as their financial institution. We collect and share nonpublic personal information necessary for us to provide the services customers have requested or selected, to administer their accounts, and to offer them additional or related products. We believe the confidentiality and protection of customer information is one of our fundamental responsibilities. And while information is critical to providing quality service, we recognize that one of our most important assets is our customers' trust. Thus, the safekeeping of customer information is a priority for our family.

That is why we have opted out for you as a matter of corporate policy. We do not share information about you outside of our families unless permitted by law.

Q. Is information about me shared in any other ways?

A. Yes. We may also share information about you in other ways, as required or permitted by law. Here are some examples of ways that we share information.

  • To protect against fraud.
  • To respond to a subpoena.
  • To service your account.
  • To report to a credit bureau.
  • With your consent.

Information Shared Within our Family

Q. Is information about me shared within your family of companies?

A. Yes. We may share information about you within our family as required or permitted by law. This helps us to offer you financial products and services, such as loans, deposits, and investments.

Fair Credit Reporting Act Disclosure:

We also may share additional information about you or your account (such as information we receive from you in applications and information from credit reporting agencies) with our family. As long as this additional information (that is, information that does not relate solely to our family's experiences or transactions with you or your account) is not used to help us provide products and services you have authorized.

Federal law gives you the right to limit some but not all marketing from our family. You may limit the Fentura Financial, Inc group of companies, such as the mortgage company from marketing their products or services to you based on your personal information that they receive from other Fentura Financial, Inc companies. This information may include your name, address, and account history.

Option #1. Affiliate sharing: You may tell us not to share the following information about you within our family of companies:

  • Information from your applications to be used to determine your eligibility, such as your income.
  • Information from consumer credit reports, such as your credit history.
  • Information from sources used to verify information you provide us, such as outstanding loans or employment history.

and

Option #2. Affiliate marketing. You may tell us to limit our family of companies, such as our credit card, and securities affiliates, from marketing their products and services to you if you do not have an account or business relationship with them. These marketing offers are based on your personal information that our affiliates receive from each other; and may include your income, your account history with us and your credit history with us. Your choice to limit these marketing offers will apply for five years from when you tell us your choice. After five years, you will receive a renewal notice from us that will allow you to continue to limit our affiliate marketing.

Q. How do I tell you about my privacy choices?

A. You may contact us by:

  • emailing leilah@fentura.com or
  • Writing to us at PO Box 725 Fenton MI 48430 (please provide your name, complete address and last 4 digits of social security number along with the option number(s) you wish)
  • Or calling 1-800-535-0517 or 1-810-629-2263

(NOTE: If you have previously requested that we restrict such sharing, you do not need to make another request.)

If there are two or more people whose names are on an account or to whom we provide products or services, and one person exercises his or her right to opt out as described above, we will treat all persons on the account as having opted out of the disclosures described above.

You do not need to contact us unless you want to make one of the privacy choices listed above.

PROVIDING PRIVACY INFORMATION TO CUSTOMERS AND RESPONDING TO INQUIRIES

We recognize and respect the privacy expectations of our customers. We want our customers to understand our commitment to privacy in our use of customer information. Customers who have questions about this Privacy Notice or have a question or complaint about the privacy of their customer nonpublic personal information should call our Privacy Officer at 1-800-535-0517 or 1-810-629-2263.