Privacy & Security

Protecting your privacy is important to Golden Coast Bank and our employees. We want you to understand what 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.

The following policy serves as a standard for all Golden Coast Bank’s employees for collection, use, retention, and security of non-public personal information.

Collection and Retention of Non-Public Personal Information
We collect and retain information about you to identify and communicate with you, to help us to respond to your questions and to inform you about financial services that may be of interest to you.

We collect the following types of non-public information about you from the following sources:

• Information we receive about your identity, such as your name, address, social security number or driver’s license number;
• Information about your transactions with us, or others, such as your account balance, loan payment history, or ATM/Debit card usage;
• Information that we receive from you on applications or other forms, such as information about your income and assets;
• Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies, such as your credit  history and creditworthiness; and
• Information we receive from marketing analysis companies for marketing purposes, such as economic and demographic data.

Disclosure of Non-Public Personal Information to Non-Affiliated Third Parties
We do not disclose non-public personal information about you or our former customers to non-affiliated third parties, except as permitted or required by law. We may disclose all of the information we collect, as described in the Collection and Retention of Non-Public Personal Information section above, to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or to other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements to offer financial products and service to you.

Disclosure of Non-Public Personal Information in Other Circumstances
We may also disclose non-public information about you, as necessary, to effect, administer, or enforce transactions that you have requested or authorized, or in connection with servicing or processing a financial product or service that you have requested or authorized, or to maintain or service your accounts with us, or as otherwise described below. Normally, we disclose information on the following instances:

• When the customer gives authorization to us;
• When it is necessary or helpful in completing a transaction;
• To verify the existence and condition of your account for a third party, such as a merchant, another financial institution or a credit reporting agency;
• To an account verification service, in addition to a credit reporting agency, if  we close your account due to unsatisfactory handling, fraud, attempted fraud or criminal activity;
• To comply with a law, regulation, legal process or court order which applied to us or to an affiliate;
• In response to an inquiry about sufficient funds to cover a check you have written;
• To other companies, financial institutions and networks which may be involved in processing your transactions;
• To local, state or federal authorities, if we believe a crime may have been committed;
• To paying agencies after the death or incapacity of a recipient or beneficiary of recurring direct deposit payments;
• To third parties who perform services or functions on our behalf to facilitate the delivery of information related to your accounts or to other financial services that may be of interest to you; and
• In response to requests by our regulatory companies, such as independent auditors, consultants or attorneys.

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.

Our Employees’ Access to and Use of Customer Information

Each of our employees has the responsibility for maintaining the confidentiality of customer information. We require all of our employees to agree in writing to protect the confidentiality of customer information and to use it only for our business purposes. We restrict access to your personal and account information to those employees who need to know that information to provide the products and services to you. We train our employees to recognize the importance of customer confidentiality and any violation of these standards will be subject to disciplinary action.

Our Security Procedures

We take also other steps to safeguard customer information by maintaining physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your non-public information.

Maintaining the Accuracy of Customer Information

We have procedures to ensure that customer information is maintained in a manner that it is accurate, complete and current. We have also procedures in processing the requests to correct inaccurate or incomplete information to ensure that these requests are acted on a timely basis. We maintain security standards and procedures to help prevent unauthorized access to confidential customer information and this technology is tested to improve the security and accuracy of the information. We investigate your inquiries about information received from us (or from a credit bureau reflecting information we have provided) that you believe to be inaccurate and we take steps to correct the information we determine to be incorrect.

Maintaining Confidentiality in Our Business Relationships with Other Companies

From time to time to meet business needs, we contract with other businesses to perform specific services to support our products. When it is necessary to provide confidential customer information to a third party, we require each business that we choose to adhere to the same privacy standards, laws and regulations that apply to us. We require such third parties to agree to safeguard non-public personal information regarding our customers in accordance with our own privacy policies.

On-line Banking Security

At Golden Coast Bank, we take security very seriously. From time to time, Internet technology used is upgraded to enhance the monitoring of the integrity and the security of the system. Users are reminded to treat their User ID and passwords with the same care as for their ATM/Debit Card or Credit card and PIN.

California State Privacy Protection

Golden Coast Bank will comply with the provisions of the California Financial Information Privacy Act requirements prior to sharing non-public personal information of customers with third parties and unrelated companies.

Availability of Disclosure of Privacy Policy

This disclosure is available in our banking office located at:
 Golden Coast Bank
 850 Long Beach Blvd.
 Long Beach, Ca. 90813
 Tel: (562) 216-6388.

Golden Coast Bank may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any material change to this Statement or in how we use your personally identifiable information, we will prominently post such change prior to implementing it. The above information represents the Bank's Privacy Policies Statement effective as of May 26, 2010. These Privacy Policies apply to individuals, and we reserve the right to change them, along with related provisions, at any time.

INTERNET INFORMATION

Golden Coast Bank recognizes the trust customers have placed in us and our responsibility regarding their financial privacy. It is our responsibility to keep sensitive financial and personal information confidential. We are committed to the protection of our customers’ privacy.

Web Site Security

Golden Coast Bank has implemented technology to ensure that any sensitive personal information provided or any account information received on-line is transmitted in a safe and secure manner. Special secure-connection hardware and software (commonly called “firewalls”) are in place to ensure the security of online communication of information.

We require customers to utilize specific passwords for access to confidential and private information. Golden Coast Bank reminds customers of their responsibility to safeguard Login IDs and passwords. In addition, commercial customers should carefully screen those employees to whom Login IDs and passwords are granted.

Protecting our Children

At Golden Coast Bank we do not knowingly solicit data from children and we do not knowingly market to 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.

Copyright

The Bank or a third party vendor owns the copyright to the pages and the screens displaying the pages that appear on this website.

Web Site Privacy

Our Web Site includes sections that are public (not password protected) and areas that are password protected (for example, individual customer banking areas). When any person visits the public areas of our Web Site, we may collect certain basic information, such as how many people visited our site and what pages were visited. Unlike the personal information that a customer provides and views with respect to his/her personal banking relationship (which is subject to the security procedures described above), all of the information gathered in the public areas of the Web Site is general. We use this general information to determine which parts of the Web Site are most popular, how people access the site, how we can change the content of the Web pages to make them more helpful and how we can improve customer service. Also included in Golden Coast Bank’s Web Site is the capability for a customer to correspond with the Bank. This correspondence, via e-mail, may be for the purpose of asking general questions, requesting literature, or responding to bank promotions. These activities may include sharing some personal information with Golden Coast Bank. We preserve e-mail addresses, the content of your e-mail and any information provided (for example site registration or survey information) in order to more efficiently handle any follow-up questions you may have. We also do this to meet legal and regulatory requirements. E-mail is not a secure connection. In responding to customer inquiries we will not include confidential account information. For your protection, never send any nonpublic information such as your social security number or account number via e-mail. You may contact Golden Coast Bank by phone, U.S.mail, or by a visit to your nearest banking office.