Privacy Policy

Effective Date: January 1, 2020
Last Updated: June 8, 2020

Rural 1^st® is the tradename and registered trademark of Farm Credit Mid-America, NMLS 407249. Rural 1^st® products are available to consumers within the territories of participating Farm Credit System Associations.

Rural 1^st® is committed to preserving the privacy and protecting the personal information of our customers while also complying with all applicable privacy and security laws and industry standards.

This Privacy Notice explains how Rural 1^st®

• collects your personal information,
• retains specific categories of personal information,
• with whom we might share it, and
• the choices you have as a customer regarding your personal 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, through the mail, or in any other way, all of these methods are covered by this Privacy Notice.

1. What 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. Examples of personal information that may be collected for our various lending and insurance products and services include:

• Contact information may include name, address, email address, and phone numbers
• Financial account information, depending on the lending products or services considered, may include bank statements, income tax returns, credit card and other loan account information, schedule of assets and liabilities, proof of income, etc.
• Real estate information may include property tax information, insurance information, legal description, location, appraisals, and photos of the subject property. Some of this information may be publicly available and is not considered personal information.
• Other information typically collected in consideration of lending products and services, such as government issued identification (social security number or Tax ID number), date of birth, marital status, education records, and employment information and history, etc.
• Website usage and technical information – see Section 1.3

The information collected on our website may be unique from the information collected for a different purpose in our branch offices.

1.1. Categories of information collected

Rural 1^st® has collected the following categories of personal information about consumers in the preceding 12 months:

1.2. Information collected on our website

Rural 1^st® conveniently offers online services for some of its products or services. The information we collect online may include the categories listed above.

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 your ID, password and other personal information. Additional information about securing your personal information is included in Section 3, How do we protect personal information?

Rural 1^st® collects data through voluntary forms online that you complete, from your submissions through email, and submissions in our offices. If you ever become uncomfortable submitting information electronically, you can call us at 1-855-273-4861 or visit your local branch office.

1.3. Information collected in our offices

Rural 1^st® also collects the personal information you disclose in our branch offices. This personal information will vary depending on the service you are requesting that we provide.

In addition to electronic protections, your information on paper is safeguarded through our internal handling procedures.

1.4. Cookies and similar technologies

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 access this link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

Our website places cookies (small text files) on your hard drive that allow us to track your usage of our site. This information is used to improve our services and the performance of the website. These cookies collect and store small amounts of information like:

• Internet Domain
• IP Address
• Browser Type
• Date/Time of visit
• Webpages visited within our site
• Links used to arrive at our site

You may also limit our use of cookies on your system by adjusting your browser settings.

1.5. Interest-based advertising

Rural 1^st® may 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(s), 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, Rural 1^st® engages with third-party advertising companies to assist us in serving ads specific to your interests; however, they do not collect or access information that directly identifies you.

Rural 1^st® has chosen to work with service providers associated with self-regulatory industry associations that allow consumers to better control interest-based advertising. 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 (http://www.aboutads.info/choices/). You may also control interest-based advertising by adjusting the settings of your browser(s), on your device(s), on the social media platform you’re using, or directly opting out at the providers’ websites listed below. While you may opt-out of this type of digital advertising, you may still receive advertising, but it may not be as relevant to you.

• Maxpoint/Valassis Digital: https://www.valassisdigital.com/optout/
• Quantcast: https://www.quantcast.com/opt-out/

Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list and may be updated by us from time to time.

1.6. Other personal information we may collect

Rural 1^st® may acquire commercially available information such as name, address, email address, preferences, interests, and certain demographic data for marketing purposes. Also, we may collect personal information when you access our applications through social media logins (i.e., logging in to our applications using your Facebook or other social media credentials). The basic details we receive may depend on your social network account privacy settings.

Rural 1^st® may obtain information about you from third parties, including credit reporting agencies and other financial institutions with whom we partner to provide services to customers.

1.7. 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 which 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 not respond to these signals or similar mechanisms.

2. How we use and share personal information

Rural 1^st® collects and stores your personal information to provide and improve the products and services offered, for security reasons, marketing, and for website analytics and enhancement.

We may share your personal information with service providers and partners engaged to assist us with the services we provide, such as appraisal services, loan origination, closing and servicing, brokerage services, customer service and marketing-related services, crop insurance services, employment-related services, information technology services, payment processing, and fraud detection as examples. This list is not exhaustive and is subject to change from time to time. These service providers undergo a thorough assessment process and are contractually obligated to protect your information.

2.1. Third party websites

Please be advised that third party websites, to which we link from our website, are not under our control. They operate independently and maintain their own privacy notices and practices. We recommend you review the privacy notices or policies for these websites, social media platforms, plugins or widgets to ensure your privacy outside of our ecosystem.

3. How do we protect personal information?

In security enabled browsers, the information you provide electronically is protected during transmission using recognized industry-standard practices. These safeguards protect your most sensitive information such as your Social Security number or the account number you maintain with Rural 1^st®. We also monitor traffic on our site to identify unauthorized attempts to alter or upload records.

Rural 1^st® uses rigorous handling protocols that protect your personal information both in electronic and in paper form. If you feel that your records have been accessed without your authorization, please contact us immediately.

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 using 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

4. Your choices about your personal information

You have the following rights as a consumer:

• You may correct and change the personal information that we have stored in our system for you if such change or correction does not conflict with a legitimate business need.
• You may request that we make notations that provide explanations or context for the personal information that we have collected.
• You may opt-out of promotional emails by using the “unsubscribe” link within our emails. Rural 1^st® may still send you emails that are administrative in nature or regarding a particular transaction or service.
• You may also opt-out of text messages by simply replying STOP to the text message.

We will always seek to accommodate your request in a timely manner. However, we may be unable to make the requested changes if those changes require a disproportionate technical or practical cost or if the request conflicts with our legal or contractual obligations or business requirements.

In order to contact us you may call 1-855-273-4861 if you become uncomfortable providing information electronically through emails or web forms, or you may also visit our nearby offices.

5. If changes are made to our privacy notice

Rural 1^st® may revise this Privacy Notice as needed and at least annually. You can find the effective date at the top of the Notice. Any changes or updates are indicated on our website.

6. How to contact us

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
Webform: https://www.rural1st.com/contact
Postal Mail:

7. For California residents and residents of other states

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.

7.1. Your California privacy rights

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), effective January 1, 2020, grants California residents several rights regarding their personal information.

Your right to “opt-out” of the selling of your personal information

The CCPA grants you the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information.

Your right to request what personal information has been collected

You have the right to request that Rural 1^st® disclose to you:

• The categories of personal information we have collected about you.
• The categories of sources from which your personal information is collected.
• The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling the personal information, as applicable.
• The categories of service providers with whom personal information was shared.
• The specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about you.
• Whether or not your personal information has been sold.

Any disclosure we provide will cover personal information that has been collected from or about you in the 12-month period immediately preceding the date your request is received. We will attempt to provide a response to your request within forty-five (45) days. If we need additional time to respond to your request, we will notify you of the additional time needed (up to an additional 45 days).

How to submit your request to access your personal information

If you wish to exercise your right to access your personal information, you may submit a data access request. We will only be able to process your data access request once we have positively verified your identity or authority to make the request. To submit your access request, you may complete the Contact Us form on our website at https://rural1st.com/contact. Please include “CCPA Consumer Information Access Request” in the Additional Comments section. You may also submit your request via email to [email protected] or by calling us at (855) 273-4861. Please include “CCPA Consumer Information Access Request” in the subject line of any request submitted via email.

Your right to request deletion of your personal information

You have the right to request that your Personal Information be deleted. We will evaluate your request upon receipt and process your request subject to exceptions as outlined by law. To submit your deletion request, you may complete the Contact Us form on our website at https://www.rural1st.com/contact. Please include “CCPA Consumer Information Deletion Request” in the Additional Comments section. You may also submit your request via email to [email protected] or by calling us at (855) 273-4861. Please include “CCPA Consumer Information Access Request” in the subject line of any request submitted via email.

Non-discrimination disclaimer

Rural 1^st® will not discriminate against a consumer because the consumer exercised any of their rights under Title 1.81.5 to Part 4 of Division 3 of the California Civil Code, relating to privacy.