To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. What this means for you: When you open an account, we will ask for your name, physical address, date of birth, tax payer identification number and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver’s license or other identifying documents. We will let you know if additional information is required.

OUR PRIVACY POLICY

From the time it was founded PeoplesSouth Bank has always highly valued its customers’ privacy. We have protected your confidential information in many ways over the years, and will continue to do so. We never lose sight of the fact that our customers’ trust is our most treasured asset. You are assured that our corporate focus is the protection of your privacy in your dealings with us. When the new privacy law took effect, we did not have to make any changes to our practices to be fully in compliance. This notice describes our privacy policy and describes how we treat the information we receive about you. You will also receive updates in the future, so you can continue to stay informed about this important issue. If you ever have any question about the confidentiality of your information in our hands, please call us.

THIS IS OUR PLEDGE TO YOU: We are committed to protecting your privacy at all times. We do not share customer information with outside companies for purposes of selling their product and services to you. We are committed to bringing you the services you need to succeed financially. We maintain security standards and procedures designed to protect customer information, even after you are no longer a customer of this bank. We will continue to test and update our technology to improve the protection of our information about you.

How we collect information: We get most information directly from you. The information that you give us when applying for our products or services generally provide the information we need. If we need to verify information or need additional information, we may obtain information from third parties such as consumer reporting agencies. Information collected may relate to your finances and transactions with us, with our affiliates or others.

How we protect information: We treat information in a confidential manner. Our employees are required to protect the confidentiality of information. Employees may access information only when there is an appropriate reason to do so, such as to administer or offer our products or services. We also maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect information; these safeguards comply with all applicable laws. Employees are required to comply with our established policies.

If we do not offer a financial service, such as credit cards or some insurance products, we may establish a joint marketing program with an outside company to offer that service to you. These programs include confidentiality agreements to protect customer information. We do not share medical information provided as part of insurance applications or claims, except for the purpose you have authorized.

When the Bank conducts business with third parties, it requires its vendors and suppliers to maintain similar standards of conduct regarding the privacy of personally identifiable customer information provided to them.

Information disclosure: It is the bank’s policy NOT to reveal specific information about customers’ accounts or other personally identifiable data to third parties for their independent use. We may disclose any information when we believe it is necessary for the conduct of our business or where disclosure is allowed by law. For example, information may be disclosed to others to enable them to assist us in processing a transaction requested by you. Information may also be disclosed for audit or research purposes or to law enforcement and regulatory agencies, for example, to help us prevent fraud. Information may be disclosed to companies that process data for us, companies that provide general administrative services for us, and consumer reporting agencies. We may make other disclosures of information as permitted or required by law or when authorized by you.

We do NOT share nonpublic personal information with our affiliates except as it relates to your transactions with us or our experience with you. We do NOT provide account or personal information to any companies for the purpose of independent telemarketing or direct mail marketing of any products or services of those companies.

Correction of information: We continually strive to maintain complete and accurate information about you and your accounts with us. Should you ever believe that our records contain inaccurate information about you, please notify us. We will investigate your concerns and correct any inaccuracies.

Further information: At PeoplesSouth Bank, we value our customers and recognize and respect their privacy expectations. We want our customers to understand our commitment to privacy in our use of customer information. Because of our commitment, we have developed this privacy notice, which is made readily available to our customers. Customers who have questions about this policy or about the privacy of their customer information should call us at 229-758-9871 or contact us at P.O. Box 218 Colquitt, GA 39837-0218