Security and Privacy Policy

BANK OF GRANITE
GRANITE MORTGAGE, INC.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNET FRAUD 

Law enforcement officials use the term “phishing” to describe a type of identity theft by which scammers use fake web sites and emails to “fish” for your personal information. Bank of Granite is concerned about this type of fraud and wants you to know how to protect yourself. If you fall victim to identity thieves you are likely to spend considerable time and money to correct your credit files or otherwise defend yourself. Please to be on guard for phishing scams and other types of Internet fraud.

 
The following excerpts from a consumer alert issued by the Federal Trade Commission include information that will help you to protect your personal and financial information:
 
How does phishing happen? 
You receive an e-mail supposedly from a company that you do business with or from your bank or perhaps a government agency such as IRS. The e-mail describes a reason that you must verify or re-submit confidential personal information such as your Social Security number, bank account number, credit card numbers, passwords or PINS using a return e-mail. The e-mail instructs you to use a form on a linked web site or a pop-up message with the name and perhaps even a very convincing company logo. The e-mail may inform you that account information has been lost or stolen or that your account may be restricted unless you provide additional information. If you respond, the thieves hiding behind what appears to be a legitimate web site or e-mail can obtain sufficient information to access your bank account, make online purchases or even sell your personal information to other identity thieves. If you receive email claiming to be from Bank of Granite requesting confidential information, delete it immediately and notify us. We will never request confidential information using email.
 
How do I protect my personal information?
Never provide your personal or financial information in response to an unsolicited e-mail or Internet advertisement. The same caution applies to unsolicited telephone calls, fax communications or letters. “ If you did not initiate the communication, do not give this information, regardless of how legitimate or genuine these people or entities may appear to be,” says William Henley, Jr., an FDIC electronic banking specialist.
 
Take appropriate precautions. Don’t provide personal information on a web site using a link from an e-mail or Internet advertisement no matter how legitimate if appears to be. Donald Saxinger, another FDIC electronic banking specialist warns, “Clicking on a link in an email or an Internet ad is very risky. You’re always safer typing in the URL (web address) from scratch, assuming you type it in correctly.” Be careful when typing in the URL and don’t guess about a web address. Copycat sites deliberately use URLs that are very similar to, but not exactly the same as, those for well-known companies or government agencies. When contacting your bank use the web address and phone number listed on your monthly statements or other literature you received directly from your bank.
 
Quickly report suspicious e-mails
Report any questionable e-mail messages or web site to the real bank, company or government agency using a phone number or e-mail address obtained directly from the bank, company or government agency. If the web page looks different or unusual, contact the institution directly to confirm that you haven’t landed on a copycat web site intended to fish for your personal information. Customer inquiries about changes to a web site are one of the best ways that banks and other organizations find out about unauthorized sites containing the look of a legitimate web site. 
 
What should I do if I am a victim?
Immediately contact Bank of Granite by calling 828-496-2000. It may be necessary to close your existing account and open a new one. Also contact police and keep a copy of any police report that may be filed. Call the three major credit bureaus* to request that a fraud alert be placed on your credit file. You may also file a complaint by going to the Federal Trade Commission Web site at www.ftc.gov or by calling 877-382-4357.
 
* Three major credit bureaus
  • Equifax 800-525-6285
  •  Experian 888-397-3742
  • TransUnion 800-680-7289


IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT PRIVACY
 
This notice contains important information about privacy of personal information that we collect about our customers and how that information may be used.   In this privacy notice “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Bank of Granite and Granite Mortgage, Inc., which are part of Bank of Granite Corporation.  This notice is meant to inform you of how we safeguard your nonpublic personal financial information.

We believe that protecting each customer’s privacy is the cornerstone of a strong business relationship.  The privacy of your information is protected not only by state and federal laws, but more importantly, by our commitment to you.  We recognize and respect your expectation of the privacy of your information and will use strict security standards to safeguard it.  We collect only information about you that is needed to serve you and administer our business and carefully limit and control the sharing of your information.  We strive to ensure that any information we collect about you is accurate, complete and secure.

We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:

  • information we receive from you on applications or other forms such as your name, address, social security number, assets and income
  • information (such as account balance and payment history) related to your transactions with us, our affiliate, or with others
  • information that we receive in response to requests we make to nonaffiliated third parties about our customers, particularly in the process of evaluating loan applications
  • information that we receive from consumer credit reporting agencies, commonly known as credit bureaus

We may disclose the following kinds of nonpublic personal information about you:

  • information we receive from you on applications or other forms such as your name, address, social security number, assets and income
  • information about your transactions with us, our affiliate, or others such as your account balance, payment history and parties to transactions
  • information we receive from a consumer reporting agency, such as your creditworthiness or credit history

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law.  We are permitted by law to disclose nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to the following types of companies:

  • Financial services providers such as mortgage bankers, securities broker-dealers and insurance agents
  • nonfinancial companies who we request to verify the accuracy of information that a customer has provided to us
  • other financial institutions who inquire whether our relationship with a customer is satisfactory
  • nonaffiliated third parties as permitted by law.

We may disclose the following information to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or to other financial institutions with which we have joint-marketing agreements:

  • information we receive from you on applications or other forms such as your name, address, social security number, assets and income
  • information (such as account balance and payment history) related to your transactions with us, our affiliate or with others
  • information that we receive in response to requests we make to nonaffiliated third parties about our customers, particularly in the process of evaluating loan applications
  • information that we receive from consumer credit reporting agencies, commonly known as credit bureaus

We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you.  We hold our employees to the highest standard of conduct in ensuring the confidentiality of customer information.  We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act permits us by law to share within the Bank of Granite organization information concerning a customer’s account history and experiences with us.  Unless you tell us not to, we also may share within our organization:

  • Information we receive from you on an application such as your name, address, social security number, assets and income
  • information we received from a consumer reporting agency or other third party

If you do not want us to share information within our organization about you as permitted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, please notify us in writing at:
Bank of Granite
Account Services
PO Box 128
Granite Falls, NC 28630-0128

We provide our customers a copy of our privacy policy annually.
If you have previously notified us of your preference, it is not necessary to notify us again.