Privacy and Security Policy

We recognize the importance of protecting the privacy of personal information that may be submitted to us when you visit our website.

The information we receive depends on what you do when you visit our site. This is how we handle the information we learn about you from your visit to our website.

If you visit our site to read or download information on our web pages such as press releases and checking and savings account information:

We collect and store only the following information about you: name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account, or a similar domain corresponding to your Internet Service Provider "ISP"); date and time you access our website; pages you may have visited on our site; and Internet address of the website from where you came to visit our website.

We use the information we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different pages and sections of our site, and to help us make our site more useful to visitors.

If you visit our website to use interactive banking tools such as financial calculators and self-tests:

You may be asked for personal information in order to complete the requested analysis or evaluation. This information is NOT retained.

If you identify yourself by sending an e-mail or filling out forms such as check reorder forms or contact forms:

You may be asked for personal information in order to process your e-mail or form. This information may be retained by us and our business partners for processing. Information you submit to us is treated no differently than any information you might provide in a written format such as a brochure application, reorder slip to order checks, or a letter.

We protect and safeguard the privacy of users of our on-line services, just as we do throughout the rest of our business. We will use personal information to identify you, to communicate with you, and to help us answer your questions.

We will NOT sell personally-identifying information to a third party for the purpose of solicitation or provide personal information to a third party for its own use.

Sometimes we send our customers information about our products and services. If you do not wish to receive this information, or if you believe that your personal information is incorrect please contact us. We will investigate the situation and if appropriate update our records.

If you close your account with us, we will continue to adhere to these privacy policies.

If you have any questions that are not answered in this section please contact us.

At the Farmers & Merchants State Bank, we know that the basis of each and every customer relationship, many of which span generations, is trust. Protecting the customers privacy, along with their financial assets, is at the core of our business. Customers have chosen to do business with Farmers & Merchants State Bank, and we recognize our obligation to consider all personal information they supply us with as confidential. Farmers & Merchants State Bank collects their personal information to administer our business and uses personal information to make products, services, and other opportunities available to them.

Collection and Use of Information
Information about consumers is accumulated from a variety of sources. Some information is provided to Farmers and Merchants State Bank by customers themselves. Other data is developed by Farmers and Merchants State Bank as a function of providing a product or service to a customer. Still other information is obtained from outside sources. We limit the use and collection of information about our customers to that, which is necessary to administer our business, provide superior service, and offer opportunities that we think will be of interest to them. Farmers and Merchants State Bank is committed fully to complying with the laws and regulations, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Right to Financial Privacy Act that have been established to protect the confidentiality of customer information.

Maintenance of Accurate Information
We continually strive to maintain complete and accurate information about our customer accounts. Should a customer believe that our records contain inaccurate or incomplete information about them, they can notify us in person, by telephone, or in writing. We will investigate their concerns and correct any inaccuracies or erroneous information in a timely manner.

Employee Access to Information and Enforcement
Each employee of Farmers and Merchants State Bank is required to follow our strict confidentiality policy, which is, that confidential information is to be discussed with no one outside the organization and only discussed within the organization on a “need to know” basis. Employee access is limited to those with a business reason to know such information. Employees are also provided training on the confidentiality of customer information and on the privacy policy and other compliance issues on a regular basis. Because of the importance of these issues, all Farmers and Merchants State Bank employees who violate these privacy principals will be subject to disciplinary measures.

Safeguarding the Security of Customer Information
All of our operational and data processing systems are in a secure environment that protects our customer account information from being accessed by third parties. We maintain and grant access to customer information only in accordance with our internal security standards and procedures. Our employees are trained to understand and comply with these standards and procedures.

Restrictions on Disclosure of Account Information
We do not reveal specific information about our customer accounts or other personally identifiable data to parties outside our affiliated banks and companies for their independent use unless: (1) the customer requests or authorizes it; (2) the information is provided to help complete a transaction initiated by the customer; (3) the information is provided to a reputable credit bureau; or (4) the disclosure is lawfully permitted or required; (5) as necessary to effect, administer or enforce a transaction or service an account; (6) for asset securitization; (7) to protect against fraud or illegal activity; (8) to the Bank’s attorneys, accountants, and auditors.

We do not provide account or personal information to companies for the purpose of independent telemarketing or direct mail marketing of any non-financial products or services of those companies. Customers who have questions about the sharing of their information should contact Farmers and Merchants State Bank in person, by telephone, or in writing.

Disclosure of Privacy Principals to Customers
It is the policy of the Bank to communicate the contents of our privacy policy with our customers through the Privacy Disclosure. We will periodically review the methods available for communicating the Bank’s privacy policy and determine whether the Bank’s current practices are meeting the needs of the Bank and our customers.

If you close your account with us, we will continue to adhere to these privacy policies.

Our website brings together a combination of industry-approved security technologies to protect data for the bank and for you, our customer. It features a VeriSign-issued Digital ID for the bank's Internet Service Provider hosting our website, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for data encryption, and a router and firewall to regulate the inflow and outflow of server traffic.

Secure Data Transfer

Once a server session is established on an https secure page, the user and the server are in a secured environment. Because the server has been certified as a 128-bit secure server by VeriSign, data traveling between the user and the server is encrypted with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. With SSL, data that travels between the bank and customer is encrypted and can only be decrypted with the public and private key pair. In short, the bank's server issues a public key to the end user's browser and creates a temporary private key. These two keys are the only combination possible for that session. When the session is complete, the keys expire and the whole process starts over when a new end user makes a server session.

Router and Firewall

Secure forms must filter through a router and firewall before they are permitted to reach the server. A router, a piece of hardware, works in conjunction with the firewall to block and direct traffic coming to the server. The configuration begins by disallowing ALL traffic and then opens holes only when necessary to process acceptable data requests, such as retrieving web pages or sending customer requests to the bank.

These technologies help to make your connection with our website secure.

Farmers and Merchants State Bank
125 E James Street P.O. Box 137
Paynesville,MN 56362
(320)-243-3702