Our Philosophy on Privacy

Credit Unions in Canada have a long history of respecting the privacy of their customers. As a co-operative financial institution, we are committed to developing policies, procedures and service offerings that address privacy concerns.

We continue to protect your privacy and your right to control the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We have procedures in place that guide our employees and directors in maintaining confidentiality. What has been our ongoing business practice has become our documented commitment to you.

Affinity Credit Union Board of Directors has adopted the Credit Union Code for the Protection of Personal Information, established related Policies and Procedures and appointed a Privacy Officer. Our employees understand the importance of the policies and procedures and follow them carefully.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. This includes, for example, an individual’s race, ethnic origin, colour, age, marital status, religion, education, medical information, criminal record, employment history, financial records, address, telephone number, e-mail address and Social Insurance Number.

Why do we collect it?

We hold personal information about members to help us meet and maintain the highest standards of financial service. This information can include your name, address, age, income, use of accounts and credit history.

We obtain this information from you directly, and from the product and service arrangements you have made with or through us. Information is also obtained with your permission from credit bureaus, other financial institutions and from the references you provide us.

Your personal information is collected for one or more of the following purposes:

• To understand your needs and eligibility for products and services;
• To open, maintain and administer your accounts and provide financial services that meet your needs;
• To obtain credit reports and evaluate your credit rating and credit worthiness;
• To administer and manage security and risk in relation to your accounts and the financial services provided to you;
• To comply with legal and regulatory requirements;
• To assist in dispute resolution;
• To offer and provide you with other products and services of the Credit Union and of its affiliates and service suppliers

The law requires us to ask for your Social Insurance Number (SIN) when you open an interest bearing account. We also ask for your SIN to identify you with credit bureaus and other financial institutions for credit matching purposes. Using the SIN is the best way to ensure the credit information actually refers to you. Giving us your SIN is not a condition on service.

Who do we share your personal information with?

We use trusted and reputable suppliers to provide cheque and statement printing, data processing, research and payment clearing services. We provide them with only that information which is necessary to perform the required services. They are not allowed to use this information for any other purpose than what we contract them for. Our suppliers and their employees are required to protect your information in a manner that is consistent with our Privacy Code.

Your information is sometimes shared within the Co-operative Financial Services Group™ of companies so we can offer you a full range of financial products and services. These affiliates include: Credit Union Members Insurance Society (CUMIS), Credential Asset Management Inc., Credential Securities Inc., Concentra Financial, The Co-operators Insurance, Credit Union Payment Services (CUPS), CUETS and Celero Solutions. Any product or service offering that is derived from this sharing of information comes directly from us and not from our affiliates.

Below is a list of service supplier categories:

a. Regulators – Government institutions that regulate a credit union
b. Law Firms/Auditors – Organizations retained by a Credit Union to provide legal or accounting services, but who may receive disclosure of personal information in the course of their retainer
c. Processors – Organizations that perform an information processing function for a Credit Union under contract
d. Payees – Organizations to whom a Credit Union may make payment on behalf of a member
e. Government – Government institutions to whom personal information may be disclosed
f. Employee Organizations – Organizations in respect of which employees of a Credit Union may belong or be otherwise associated
g. Affiliates – Organizations that are affiliated with a Credit Union as part of the Canadian Credit Union System
h. Exempt – Organizations to whom disclosure of personal information is exempt under PIPEDA are the regulations passed under PIPEDA
i. Third Parties – Organizations that do not specifically fall within any of the foregoing categories but to whom a Credit Union may disclose personal information in the course of the Credit Union’s business activities

The 10 Principles:

How can you access and verify your personal information?

You have the right to review your personal information held by Affinity Credit Union and to verify its accuracy. To gain access to this information, contact our Privacy Officer, 130 1st Ave N, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0G1, or e-mail info@affinity.cu.sk.ca. You can expect that it may take up to 30 days for us to gather the information.

The following is a summary of the 10 Principles of the Credit Union Code for the Protection of Personal Information:

1. Accountability: We have designated a Privacy Officer who is accountable for our compliance with the principles of this Code
2. Identifying Purposes: When we ask you for personal information, we will identify the purposes for which is will be used or disclosed
3. Consent: We require your knowledge and express or complied consent for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information
4. Limiting Collection: The collection of personal information is limited to the purposes we have identified for you
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention: We will use or disclose your personal information only with your express or implied consent, or as required by law. We will retain your information for only as long as is necessary to fulfill identified purposes
6. Accuracy: We will keep your information accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used
7. Safeguards: We will protect your personal information with appropriate security safeguards
8. Openness: We will make specific, understandable information readily available to you about our personal information policies and practices
9. Individual Access: When you request it, we will give you access to your personal information, how we use it and who we disclose it to. You are entitled to question its accuracy, its completeness and the uses
10. Challenging Compliance: You are entitled to question the Privacy Officer about our compliance with any of these principles

Privacy Code:

Confidentiality

At Affinity Credit Union, our goal is to serve members as efficiently and conveniently as possible. In order to provide you with this high level of service and extensive range of products, it may be necessary for us to obtain certain personal information in addition to your name and address. Please be assured that Affinity Credit Union is dedicated to protecting your privacy and the security of any information you provide.

We do not disclose, sell or lend any information about you to any other source for any reason with the exception of that required by law or third party related agencies requiring information for the purposes of such things as cheque printing, data processing, credit collection, credit bureaus, card production, etc. If you have any concerns with respect to how your information will be used, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Privacy Statement

Affinity Credit Union is committed to protecting the personal information of credit union members, employees and other individuals. In order to protect all personal information collected, used or disclosed by Affinity Credit Union, we have adopted the Credit Union Code for the Protection of Personal Information.

On our web site, we only collect personal information required to improve the services we offer, to improve our site content and, with your permission, to contact you with information about our services. We will not share any personal information obtained on this website with any other organization without your express knowledge and consent.

For more information on our web site Privacy Statement, please read below:

Information we collect on our Site:

You can visit all public areas of our site without providing any personal information about yourself. Our web site collects only non-personal information based on a visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address (this is not personally identifiable). Information collected includes the date and time of visit, the type of internet browser used to access the site, the referring address (the link a visitor uses to access the site). This data is used to create statistics on site usage and improve online services.

Affinity Credit Union’s internal web site is solely for the use of authorized members of Boards, Committees, Management and Staff of the Credit Union. Access requires a special “User Name” and “Password”. Personal information that is collected on this internal website is used solely for security and site management purposes and to facilitate business functions of Affinity Credit Union.
Will a cookie be set on my computer when I visit this site?

To help us manage our website, we set a cookie on your computer that expires when you close your web browser.

If you send us an e-mail, any information provided by you will only be used for the purposes of responding to your inquiry or acting on your request. We will not use your name or e-mail address for any other purposes without additional consent.

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites that are part of, affiliated with, or have a business relationship with Affinity Credit Union. When you leave our site to visit one of these other sites, the only information transferred to the new site is the fact that you came from the Affinity Credit Union website (the referring address). Transmission of this referring address allows other sites to monitor their own web traffic, but does not disclose any personal information about you.

How do I contact Affinity Credit Union with questions or concerns?

We welcome any questions or concerns about our Internet Privacy Statement, or the practices of this site. Please contact us by e-mail or in writing at the following address:

Privacy Officer
Affinity Credit Union
130 1st Ave N
Saskatoon, SK S7K 0G1
Canada

Notice:

Affinity Credit Union reserves the right to amend its Internet Privacy Statement and its Privacy Code at any time with or without notice. Please check this page periodically for changes.

The Privacy Officer:

The Privacy Officer is responsible for monitoring information collection and data security, and ensures that other credit union employees receive appropriate training on privacy issues and their responsibilities under the Code. The Privacy Officer also handles all privacy inquiries and personal information access requests under the Code.

Your Consent:

Depending upon the sensitivity of the information, you can provide us with your consent in writing, electronically or verbally.

We will obtain your consent in writing when you become a credit union member or when you apply for a new credit union service offering.

We may possess personal information about you that we collected prior to implementation of our Privacy Code, for which we do not have your express consent to use. We will continue to use that information for the purposes listed here, unless you ask us to stop using that information. This is considered implied consent.

We obtain or use your information only with your consent. We do not sell it to third parties or use it in any way we have not told you about. We obtain your consent before we:

• obtain credit reports or check references;
• contact you about other products or services of the credit union by direct mail, e-mail or telephone;
• share your information with our affiliates so that we can offer their products and services to you;
• disclose your information to third parties unless we are obligated to do so by law or it is required for us to provide our financial services to you.

The following withdrawal of consent form provides you with an opportunity to omit the use and disclosures of your personal information should you choose to do so. You may limit or withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual obligations. For example, your credit union is required by law to provide a record of your interest earning information to the Canada Revenue Agency.

To withdraw your consent, please contact Affinity Credit Union's Privacy Officer at:

Privacy Officer
Affinity Credit Union
130 1st Ave N
Saskatoon, SK S7K 0G1
p: 306.653.9600
f: 306.657.0761
e: info@affinity.cu.sk.ca
Website: www.affinitycu.com

Website Privacy Policy:

On our website, we collect only personal information that is required to improve the services we offer, to improve our site content and, with your permission, to contact you with information about our services. We will not share any personal information obtained on this website with any other organization without your express knowledge and consent.

You can visit all public areas of our site without providing any personal information. Our site collects only non-personal information based on a visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address (this is not personally identifiable). Information collected includes the date and time of visit, the type of internet browser used to access the site, the referring address (the link a visitor uses to access the site). This data is used to create statistics on site usage and improve online services.

If you sent us an e-mail, any information provided by you will be used only for the purposes of responding to your inquiry or acting on your request. We will not use your name or e-mail address for any other purposes without additional consent.

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites that provide general information or are part of, affiliated with, or have a business relationship, with Affinity Credit Union. When you leave our site to visit one of these other sites, the only information transferring to the new site is the fact that you came from Affinity Credit Union’s website (the referring address). Transmission of this referring address allows other sites to monitor their own web traffic, but does not disclose any personal information about you.

Challenging Compliance:

If you have any concerns about how your personal information is handled or distributed, please contact us. Our Privacy Officer will be pleased to discuss your concerns with you.

For inquiries or complaints, please provide the following in a dated and signed letter:

• the nature of the inquiry or complaint (please be as specific as possible);
• include the name, address and a telephone number where you can be reached during the daytime.

Please contact us in writing at:

Privacy Officer
Affinity Credit Union
130 1st Ave N
Saskatoon, SK S7K 0G1
p: 306.653.9600
f: 306.657.0761
e: info@affinity.cu.sk.ca
Website: www.affinitycu.com

If, for any reason, you feel your concerns were not appropriately addressed, you may then take the matter to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Ottawa.