Credit unions in Canada have a long history of respecting the privacy of their members. As a co-operative financial institution, we are committed to developing policies, procedures and service offerings that address privacy concerns. We continue to protect your privacy and your right to control the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We have procedures in place that guide our employees and directors in maintaining confidentiality. What has been our ongoing business practice has become our documented commitment to you.
Your credit union Board of Directors has adopted the Credit Union Code for the Protection of Personal Information, established related Policies and Procedures and appointed a Privacy Officer. Our employees understand the importance of the policies and procedures and follow them carefully.
To access our Privacy Code
Protecting Your Privacy
What You Need to Know about Protecting your Privacy
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. This includes, for example, an individual’s race, ethnic origin, colour, age, marital status, religion, education, medical information, criminal record, employment history, financial records, address, telephone number, e-mail address, Social Insurance Number, fingerprints, blood type, and tissue or biological sample.
We hold personal information about members to help us meet and maintain the highest standards of financial service. This information can include your name, address, age, income, use of accounts and credit history. We obtain this information from you directly, and from the product and service arrangements you have made with or through us. Information is also obtained with your permission from credit bureaus, other financial institutions and from the references you provide us.
Your personal information is collected for one or more of the following purposes:
The law requires us to ask for your Social Insurance Number (SIN) when you open an interest bearing account. We also ask for your SIN to identify you with credit bureaus and other financial institutions for credit matching purposes. Using the SIN is the best way to ensure the credit information actually refers to you. Giving us your SIN is not a condition on service.
We use trusted and reputable suppliers to provide cheque and statement printing, data processing, research and payment clearing services. We provide them with only that information which is necessary to perform the required services. They are not allowed to use this information for any other purpose than what we contract them for. Our suppliers and their employees are required to protect your information in a a manner that is consistent with our Privacy Code.
Your information is sometimes shared within the Co-operative Financial Services GroupTM of companies so we can offer you a full range of financial products and services. These affiliates include:
Any product or service offering that is derived from this sharing of information comes directly from us and not from our affiliates.
You have the right to review your personal information held by Accent Credit Union and to verify its accuracy. To gain access to this information, contact us at any Accent Credit Union branch. We will respond to your request within 30 days or advise you if additional time is required to gather the information. You will be charged a fee of $50 per hour + the cost of item (minimum $25) to cover the expense of providing you with the information.
Should you discover upon review of your personal information that changes are required, please inform us.
The following is a summary of the 10 Principles of the Credit Union Code for the Protection of Personal Information.
To view Accent Credit Union Privacy Code
The Privacy Officer is your point of contact if you wish to raise any matters regarding the use of your personal information. The Privacy Officer is responsible for monitoring information collection and data security, and ensures that other credit union employees receive appropriate training on privacy issues and their responsibilities under the Code. The Privacy Officer also handles all privacy inquiries and personal information access requests under the Code.
Depending upon the sensitivity of the information, you can provide us with your consent in writing, electronically or verbally. We will obtain your consent in writing when you become a credit union member or when you apply for a new credit union service offering. We may possess personal information about you that we collected prior to implementation of our Privacy Code, for which we do not have your express consent to use. We will continue to use that information for the purposes listed in this brochure, unless you ask us to stop using that information. This is considered implied consent.
We obtain or use your information only with your consent. We do not sell it to third parties or use it in any way we have not told you about. We obtain your consent before we:
The following withdrawal of consent form provides you with an opportunity to limit the uses and disclosures of your personal information should you choose to do so. You may limit or withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations. For example, your credit union is required by law to provide a record of your interest earning information to the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.
To withdraw your consent, print and fill out the attached form and send it in to the Accent Credit Union’s Privacy Officer at:
Privacy Officer
Accent Credit Union
Box 520
Quill Lake, SK
S0A 3E0
Restriction of Consent Form
On our website, we collect only personal information that is required to improve the services we offer, to improve our site content and, with your permission, to contact you with information about our services. We will not share any personal information obtained on this web site with any other organization without your express knowledge and consent.
You can visit all public areas of our site without providing any personal information. Our site collects only non-personal information based on a visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address (this is not personally identifiable). Information collected includes the date and time of visit, the type of Internet browser used to access the site, the referring address (the link a visitor uses to access the site). This data is used to create statistics on site usage and improve online services.
If you send us an e-mail or complete on line requests, any information provided by you will be used only for the purposes of responding to your inquiry or acting on your request. We will not use your name or e-mail address for any other purposes without additional consent.
Your privacy and security is our priority, which is why our mobile banking app uses the same level of security as our full online banking website. Your PAC prevents unauthorized access and we will advise that you do not save your secure passcode details anywhere on this device.The use of this mobile app is subject to the privacy and legal terms and conditions that can be found on our main website.
Our web site contains links to other web sites that are part of, affiliated with, or have a business relationship with Accent Credit Union. When you leave our site to visit one of these other sites, the only information transferred to the new site is the fact that you came from the Accent Credit Union web site www.accentcu.ca. Transmission of this referring address allows other sites to monitor their own web traffic, but does not disclose any personal information about you.
If you have any concerns about how your personal information is handled or distributed, please contact us. Our Privacy Officer will be pleased to discuss your concerns with you.
If, for any reason, you feel your concerns were not appropriately addressed, you may then take the matter to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Ottawa.
Complaint Form
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