Privacy Code

Columbia Valley Credit Union (CVCU) is a part of the co-operative financial system. CVCU is a provincially regulated financial institution and has a responsibility to be open and accessible while protecting the personal privacy of our members.

 Principles

These principles are the foundation of CVCU's Code for the Protection of Personal Information.

1. Accountability
   CVCU is responsible for personal information under its control and shall designate an individual who is accountable for CVCU's compliance with the principles of the code.
   
   
2. Identifying Purposes
   When establishing a new or enhanced client relationship, the purposes for which personal information is collected shall be identified at or before the time the information is collected.
   
   
3. Consent
   The knowledge and consent of the individual are required for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information, except as otherwise required or permitted by law.
   With respect to personal information collected before publication of this Code, CVCU will make reasonable efforts to ensure that individual members have the opportunity to expressly indicate their withdrawal of consent.
   An individual may withdraw his/her consent to the collection, use or disclosure of information at any time subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.
   
   
4. Limiting Collection
   The collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by CVCU. Information shall be collected by fair and lawful means.
   CVCU may collect information from external sources, such as credit reporting agencies and income sources, identified to CVCU for these purposes.
   
   
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention
   Personal information shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.
   
   
6. Accuracy
   Personal information shall be as accurate, complete, and up to date as is necessary for the purpose for which it is to be used. CVCU will generally rely on individual members to provide updated information such as changes to the addresses and other contact information.
   
   
7. Safeguards
   Personal information shall be protected by the security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. CVCU will take the same standard of care as it takes to safeguard its own confidential information of a similar nature.
   Employees are individually required to sign an Oath of Ethical Conduct, including a commitment to keep an individual's personal information in strict confidence.
   
   
8. Openness
   CVCU shall make readily available to members specific, understandable information about its policies and practices relating to the management of personal information.
   
   
9. Individual Access
   Upon request in writing, a member shall be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of his/her personal information, and shall be given access to that information, except where the law requires or permits CVCU to deny access. A member is entitled to question the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate. A member may incur a cost for his/her request only if CVCU has informed the individual of the cost and the individual agrees to proceed with the request.
   
   
10. Compliance
    A member shall be able to question CVCU's compliance with the above principles. Such inquiries shall be directed to:
    
    Columbia Valley Credit Union
    Attention: Privacy Officer
    Box 720
    Golden, BC V0A 1H0
    
    Telephone: 1-250-344-2282
    Fax: 1-250-344-2117
    Email: reception@cvcu.bc.ca

 

Privacy Online

This information page describes in general terms how your personal information is collected and used within the online banking section of our site. The online banking area of the site is the area of our website that requires you to use your Member ID and Personal Access Code (PAC) to enter.

Controlled Access to your Information

To ensure that you are the only person accessing your personal financial information, we restrict access to the online banking section of the site by requiring that you enter your Member ID and PAC to login. Only you know your PAC. Our employees do not have access to your PAC, and they will not ask you to reveal it. If someone does ask you to provide your PAC to them, we ask that you refuse to do so and contact us immediately.

Transactional Services

By nature, our Internet banking site has many transactional functions such as transfers between accounts and bill payment functions. These transactions are all logged to ensure that your accounts are debited or credited appropriately, and a history of each transaction is available to verify your account information. We store and use your transactional information in the same fashion as if you performed the transaction at a branch or through any other service channel.

We may also use transactional information for servicing your account — for example, billing you for the particular transactions that you perform, or for the services that you use.

Creating a Secure Channel

We create a secure channel between your browser and our server to protect your information when you use the site. To learn more about how we do this, please review our information on Internet Security.

Application Forms

To provide you with a convenient method for applying for loans and mortgages, or for purchasing other financial services products such as Registered Savings Plans, we may provide secure online application forms. These forms capture personal information that we use to provide you with the products and services you request. This information is processed in a similar way to application forms received through our other channels.

Website Usage Statistics

To continually improve our site, we often collect statistics about how our members are using it. These usage statistics are only viewed in the aggregate and are not associated with you as an individual. We use this information to improve the online experience for our members.

The information collected may include your IP address, your browser type and your operating system, as well as data such as the number and types of pages visited, and the length of time spent per page and on the site overall.

Our use of Cookies

We also use a key web technology called cookies. A cookie is a small information token that sits on your computer. As you use this site, cookies are passed back and forth between our server and your browser.

Specifically, we use two kinds of cookies — session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie exists only for the length of your browsing session and is deleted when you close your browser. A persistent cookie is a cookie that stays on your computer after you close your browser. A persistent cookie may or may not expire on a given date.

We use a session cookie to maintain the integrity of your online banking session. With each page that you visit, the cookie is passed back and forth between our server and your browser. We use the cookie to distinguish your session from the many others that may be happening at the same time. Our session cookies never store any personal information, such as your name, or date of birth, or financial information, such as your accounts and balances.

We may use persistent cookies to (i) provide you with a customized experience by recording your preferences; (ii) gather statistical information such as average time spent on a page; and (iii) to show you targeted marketing information about us when you visit other websites. The data gathered provides us with information on how we can improve the design, content and navigation of our website.

Most recent browser versions allow you to set some level of control over which cookies are accepted and how your browser uses them. For example, it may be set to notify you when it is receiving a cookie so that you accept cookies from only known, reliable sites such as this one. If you are concerned about cookies, we encourage you to upgrade your browser to a recent version and review the Help section of your browser to learn more about its specific control features.

Memorized Accounts Feature

We use a persistent cookie to store information to help you personalize the site and to make it easier to use. For example, we allow you to make the login easier by remembering your login information within our Memorized Accounts feature. Since the Memorized Accounts feature is optional, this cookie only contains information that you have entered into it. We never store your Personal Access Code (PAC) in a cookie.

Logout Button

To ensure that no-one else can access your personal information, always use the logout button to end an online banking session. It is located at the top of every page. When you exit using the logout button, we delete your session cookie so that your session cannot be resumed unless your Member ID and PAC are re-entered.

Automatic Session Time-outs

In the event that you leave your computer without logging out, the online banking feature of this site has been designed to end your session automatically if our system detects that you haven't provided any instructions or used the browser buttons to navigate for several minutes. To restart the session, you will need to provide your PAC again and complete the 2-Step Verification

Email

To communicate with us electronically, we strongly recommend that you use our Contact Us feature. This feature provides a secure channel for sending us comments, questions or instructions.

General email is not secure since it passes through many points on its route from you to us. If you are using general email to communicate with us, we strongly recommend that you do not include personal financial information (such as account numbers) within the email as we cannot guarantee its confidentiality en route to us.

When you email us your comments, questions or instructions, you provide us your email address and we use it to correspond with you. We store your email and our replies to you to ensure the most effective and efficient communications with you.

Links to Other Sites

Our site may also contain links to other websites or Internet resources. We have no control over these other websites or Internet resources and do not control their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. Always review the Privacy Statements of the sites that you are viewing.

Contact Us

We welcome any questions or concerns about your privacy relating to use of our website. Please use the Contact Us form to submit your questions or comments.

As we continue to expand our online banking service to serve you better, we will update the information on this page.