Privacy Notice

Updated: December 11, 2023

What does this Privacy Notice cover?

This Privacy Notice describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.rural1st.com (our “Website”) or otherwise engage with us offline, and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. This Privacy Notice applies to the personal information collected by Rural 1^st® regardless of the method in which it is collected. We strive to make it easy for you to do business with us, so whether you’re providing your personal information to one of our representatives on the phone, in a branch office, via email, via fax, via the internet, through the mail, or in any other way, all of these methods are covered by this Privacy Notice.

Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website, products, or services. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice may change from time to time (see If changes are made to our privacy notice). Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

What categories of personal information do we collect?

Any information that may be used to identify you as an individual or information that is related to you is considered personal information. We may collect or receive the categories of personal information listed below for our various lending and insurance products and services:

• Identifiers, such as name, address, email address, phone number, government-issued ID numbers, and signature
• Financial and account information, such as bank statements, income tax returns, schedule of assets and liabilities, proof of income, etc.
• Device and online identifiers, such as device information, IP address, cookie IDs, mobile ad IDs, and social media information
• Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as browsing or search information, interactions with our Website and other websites, advertisements, and mobile applications
• Commercial information, such as records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies
• Communication information, such as emails, texts messages, call logs, and other communications
• Demographic information, such as age, date of birth, gender, professional and employment information, ethnicity, religion, marital status, veteran or military status
• Geolocation information, such as device location
• Background information, such as background checks and criminal conviction histories
• Inferences, such as individual preferences and characteristics, predispositions, and behavior

How do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information from various sources, such as

• Directly from you or a member of your household when provided to us by you or a member of your household
• Automatically as you navigate through our Website or click on links in emails or other communications you receive from us. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies
• From third parties, for example, our affiliates, business partners, advertising partners, credit reporting agencies, data analytics providers, government entities, operating systems and platforms, and social networks
• When you speak with a customer services representative, we may utilize call recording technology in accordance with applicable law

Information we collect through automated technologies

The information we collect online may include the categories listed above. Additionally, if you are a visitor to our Website, we may collect information on your use of our website, such as pages visited, links clicked, non-sensitive text entered, and mouse movements, as well as information more commonly collected such as the referring URL, browser, operating system, cookie information, and Internet Service Provider (“Usage Information”). Rural 1^st®’s purpose in collecting Usage Information is to better understand how visitors use the Website. We may use the Usage Information to identify visitors to the Website if a visitor’s IP address is associated with an existing customer profile. We do not disclose the Usage Information other than under the circumstances described in this Privacy Notice.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.

Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

Local Storage. Certain features of our Website may use local storage to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Website. Local storage is not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.

We collect and store demographic and general interest data through Google Analytics and other tracking service providers. This information is reported to us and maintained in the aggregate and not as individual information. We collect this aggregate information to better understand our users and consistently improve our online services for our customers. To opt-out of Google Analytics, please install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

As with any website, no security controls are 100% effective; we cannot guarantee the prevention of breaches. We encourage our visitors to use common sense in protecting their ID, password, and other personal information. Additional information about securing your personal information is included in How can you tell us your preferences?

We collect data through voluntary forms online that you complete, from your submissions through email, and submissions in our offices and at trade shows and other in-person events. If you ever become uncomfortable about submitting information electronically, you can call us at 1-855-273-4861 or visit your local branch office.

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information to operate our business and to provide and improve the products and services that we offer. Some examples of the ways we use personal information are:

• Performing services, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing advertising or marketing services, providing analytics services, facilitating event management and execution, managing our real estate portfolio, or providing similar services reasonably expected of customers who request those services
• Helping to ensure the security, integrity, availability, authenticity, or confidentiality of our information, systems, and operations, and to prevent or address deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal actions
• Performing and providing advertising and marketing services, including targeted advertising
• To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us and to service your accounts with us
• To present our Website and its contents to you
• To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection
• To conduct auditing and monitoring of transactions and advertising engagement
• To analyze our business and conduct research to improve our sales and operations
• To fulfill legal and regulatory obligations
• Debugging to identify and repair errors
• Short-term, transient use, such as non-personalized advertising shown as part of your current interaction with us
• To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it

Interest-based advertising

We do not sell personal information but may share personal information in order to participate in interest-based advertising using cookies, beacons, and pixels, which are tracking technologies. The use of these technologies allows us to improve your user experience by personalizing advertising and content based on your actual or presumed interests and your browsing behavior across the internet, including both on and off our Website, over time, and across multiple devices. The information does not usually identify you (such as by name or email address) but may include assigning IDs to your devices. Additionally, we engage with third-party advertising companies to assist us in serving ads specific to your interests and these third parties may collect personally identifiable information from consumer’s online activities over time and across different websites when a consumer uses our Website.

With whom do we share personal information?

We may disclose personal information that we collect or that you provide:

• To our affiliates
• To contractors, suppliers, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business
• To other financial institutions that partner with Rural 1^st® to offer our consumer loan products
• To companies with whom we sometimes work that provide services to you pursuant to your request
• To advertising, marketing and other related technology partners so that we can market our products to you, such as:
  • Publishers that operate websites that you may visit. We share personal information with publishers to help us serve ads to you on their websites and to help us understand how those ads perform
  • Social media platforms that help us serve ads to you on those platforms
  • Advertising technology partners that use cookies, pixels, beacons and similar technologies to tailor the ads you see, such as ad servers, advertising agencies, technology vendors supporting media buying and selling, and research firms
  • Data technology vendors that help us manage and automate the use of data we collect
  • Analytics vendors that provide reporting on our website performance and the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns
• To law enforcement, courts, and other legal or governmental bodies when required by law or legal process, or when we believe doing so will prevent fraud or help protect the safety, property, or rights of individuals or our Association
• To other parties when necessary to fulfill the purpose for which you provided it
• To third parties engaged by us to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements, including for billing and collection of amounts owed to us
• To other parties with your consent
• With third parties as authorized pursuant to Farm Credit System statutes and regulations

Links to third-party services and features

We may provide you with links to other online services (such as companies that serve video content) and may include third-party features on our website such as apps, tools, widgets, and plug ins. We may not own or control these linked online services or third-party features, and we are not responsible for the information practices of the third parties having ownership or control over them. These third parties may operate independently from us, which means their privacy practices are not covered in this Notice. We recommend that you review their privacy statements to learn more about your privacy outside of our ecosystem.

How can you tell us your preferences?

We do not sell your personal information, but we may share it with third parties for our own advertising purposes. We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. Here are some mechanisms to provide you with control over your information:

• Tracking Technologies and Advertising. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly. Your mobile devices or social media platforms may also offer settings and tools for opting in or out of interest-based advertising.
• Promotional Offers from the Company. If you do not wish to have your email address used by the Company to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, you can opt-out by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in the marketing emails that we send you. You can also opt-out by sending us an email stating your request to [email protected].
• Targeted Advertising. If you do not want us to use information that we collect or that you provide to us to deliver advertisements according to our advertisers’ target-audience preferences, you can opt-out by submitting a Do Not Share request. You may also opt out by sending us an email stating your request to [email protected].

In order to opt out of interest-based advertising, you must have cookies enabled in your web browser (review your browser’s instructions on cookies and how to enable). If you opt out it will only apply to your current web browser on your current computer. If you use multiple computers or multiple web browsers, you must opt out of each one. If you delete your browser’s saved cookies, you will need to opt out again. While you may opt out of interest-based advertising, you may still receive advertising, but it may not be as relevant to you. Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list and may be updated by us from time to time.

We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. To learn more or to opt out of receiving interest-based ads from third parties who follow the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, visit the opt-out pages on the DAA website. You can opt out of receiving interest-based ads from members of the Networking Advertising Initiative on the NAI Opt Out page.

Responding to Do Not Track signals

Some browsers provide the ability to send a Do Not Track signal to websites. Do Not Track signals are features of browsers that allow consumers to communicate that they do not want to have their activities tracked by ad networks, analytics services and social media platforms. Our websites do respond to these signals or similar mechanisms. Our website is designed to respond to the Global Privacy Control signal.

Children under the age of 16

Our Website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on this Website or through any of its features, initiate any transactions through the Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at [email protected].

How can you access and correct your information?

You may request to review and change your personal information by sending us an email at [email protected]. We may not provide you with information that we are regulatorily prohibited from providing outside of our organization. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect. Residents of certain states may have additional rights. Please see State privacy rights.

State privacy rights

Rural 1^st® recognizes that the privacy landscape continues to change in many states, resulting in new laws that may impact us. We remain committed to preserving the privacy and protecting the personal information of all our customers regardless of their geographical location. As new privacy-related laws or regulations are passed, we will update our practices and this Privacy Notice as applicable. You may find more information here:

California Privacy Rights

How do we protect your personal information?

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. Information stored electronically is stored on our secure servers behind firewalls.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website or our services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. Rural 1^st® believes that data security is a partnership. Tips for our customers to help keep personal information safe include:

• Keep your equipment and software updated and use anti-virus and anti-spyware software
• Log out of your account when you are not actively using it
• Be cautious when using public Wi-Fi networks
• Use strong login credentials and passwords

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the website.

If changes are made to our privacy notice

Rural 1^st® may change or update this Privacy Notice as needed. When this Privacy Notice is updated we will post the updated Privacy Notice on this page with a “Last Updated” date. You can find the effective date at the top of the Notice.

Contact information

You may contact us using any of the following contact options or by visiting our nearest office location.

Email: [email protected]

Toll-free in the U.S.: 855-273-4861

Web form: Contact Form

Postal mail:

Rural 1^st®
12501 Lakefront Place
Louisville, KY 40299