• Introduction
• Anonymous Browsing
• Password Protection
• Use of Information
• Information Collection
• Cookies
• Information Sharing
• Surveys
• Online Promotions
• Our Security Practices
• Your Member Security Practices
• Accuracy of Information
• Privacy Policy Modification
• Links
• Public Forums
• Community Profiles
• Cancellations

At MerchantBanc, protecting your privacy is of utmost importance to us. Our goal is to treat any information provided with respect and integrity. To demonstrate this commitment, we have established the following Privacy Policy outlining our information-gathering and dissemination practices for all areas of our site in accordance with federal law. State laws may restrict the disclosure of nonpublic personal information in a manner that differs from federal law. Whenever a state has a more restrictive law, we will fully comply with its requirements if we are required to do so by federal law.

You may browse the portions of our site that do not require you to register to gain access without divulging any personal information about yourself. When you browse in this manner, we record only the name of the domain you used to log on to the Internet (such as "aol.com") and the previous and subsequent sites you visit during the session when you visited our site. Such information is used to measure the number of visits, average time spent, page views, and other statistics about visitors to our site. The data collected is also used to monitor site performance and to make the site more convenient and user friendly.

In order to access the Member Privileges located on the secure areas of our site, you will need a password. Passwords will be issued only to persons who meet our eligibility requirements, who have applied for and been approved for access to our Member Privileges, and who have logged on to those services using their log-in ID and password. To help ensure your privacy, we recommend that you choose a password that contains a mixture of at least six alphabetical and numerical characters.

The information we gather from visitors to our site is used in the following ways:

• Contact information is used to send registered users notices about upcoming events, changes to our policies, and relevant promotions. Our Members and other registered users can unsubscribe to these notices by emailing us at info@merchantbanc.com
• Financial information is used to confirm applicant eligibility requirements.
• Demographic information is used to help develop member services and to evaluate potential investment opportunities based on member portfolio goals.

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

• Information we receive from you on applications or other registration and account forms;
• Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates or others; and
• Information we receive from third parties such as credit bureaus.

   

Information collected may include, among other things, your name, street and mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, social security number or taxpayer I.D. number, experience and financial data. We will gather this information in order to:

• Register you as a user of our site;
• Determine if you meet the eligibility requirements to gain access to our Member Privileges available on the secure areas of our site;
• Provide products or services you have requested;
• Learn how to improve our site offerings;
• Develop and/or inform you of additional products or services we think will be of interest to you; and
• Answer your inquiries or questions.

If you are browsing our site, a technology called "cookies" is used to help measure the number of visits, average time spent, page views, and other statistics relating to our site. If you decide to apply for access to the services available on our site, "cookies" will be used to recognize you on subsequent visits and make your online experience more convenient. "Cookies" are defined as small pieces of data that can be sent to your computer, which then may be stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. They cannot be used to get data from your hard drive, your e-mail address or personally identifying information about you. No other company or entity has access to any personal information recorded through cookies used by us. Most web browsers have features that can notify you when you receive a "cookie" or prevent "cookies" from being sent. Please note, however, that by not accepting cookies, you will limit the functionality we can provide you when you visit our site.

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information to any third party, except as permitted by this Privacy Policy.

Any account and personal data gathered is used to fulfill legal and regulatory requirements, verify the identity and eligibility requirements of applicants, help determine the kinds of offerings and services our members want, and deliver the services promised. We may disclose nonpublic personal information with your consent.

We may also disclose nonpublic personal information about you to third parties to assist us in servicing your loan or account with us or in other circumstances permitted by law. For example, we may disclose nonpublic personal information about you to government entities in response to subpoenas and to credit bureaus.

We may also disclose information about our experiences or transactions with you or your account (such as your account balance and your payment history with us) with companies related to us by common control or ownership (“affiliated third parties”). We also may share additional information about you or your account (such as information we receive from you in applications and information from credit reporting agencies) with our affiliates. You may direct us not to disclose to our affiliates information that does not relate solely to our or our affiliates’ experiences or transactions with you or your account (such as the application information and credit bureau information) by calling us at 1-603-623-5500.

We may also disclose the following information to third parties that perform services on our behalf or with third parties 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 about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others, such as your account balance, payment history, parties to transactions, and credit card usage; and
• Information we receive from a consumer reporting agency, such as your creditworthiness and credit history.

Such parties are required to adhere to our privacy policy and are prohibited from disclosing your nonpublic personal to other third parties.

If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive customer, we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices as described in this notice.

We may occasionally ask Members or other registered users to complete online or telephone surveys that supply more information about the quality of our services. You may choose not to participate in surveys by checking a box at the end of the application or registration form you complete for us, or through our Contact area on the website.

We occasionally use online promotions to attract new applicants for our Member Privileges. While the promotions or contests do not specifically ask for personal information, applying for access to Member Privileges is often a pre-requisite for participating in the promotion or contest. As mentioned above, our application process gathers contact, financial, demographic, and other information from applicants.

To protect information provided on membership applications for Members, such information is transmitted from the applicant's browser to us in encrypted form using the industry standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. SSL is also used to protect the confidentiality of log-in IDs and passwords of our Members. As a result, we require our Members to use an SSL-compatible browser, as denoted by the key icon in Netscape Navigator and the lock icon in Microsoft Internet Explorer (also used as the basis for the AOL browser).

We maintain physical, electronic, ad procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic person information. We restrict access to your personal and account information to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We instruct our employees with access to your information that such information is to be used only in adherence to the principles set forth in this Privacy Policy and laws applicable to us and our business units. Employees who misuse customer information will be subject to disciplinary action.

To protect your privacy and security, it is important that you are cautious when using the Internet. You are responsible for protecting the confidentiality of your nonpublic personal information. Please do not give out passwords, account information or other nonpublic information.

In addition, please note that e-mails sent us are not secure when they are transmitted. To protect your nonpublic personal information, you should send sensitive information by regular mail or by calling us at 1-603-623-5500.

To make your use of our site as productive as possible, it is important that you can update your information and bring any errors about your account or personal information to our attention. To review the information you provided when you applied for access to our Member Privileges, please log in and review your profile page. If you believe any of the information we have is inaccurate, please contact us at the telephone number or address below:

Call Member Relations at 603-623-5500
Contact us by email: info@merchantbanc.com
Send mail to: MerchantBanc
Two Wall Street
Manchester, NH 03101

We reserve the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy statement at any time, and will notify you of those changes as required by law. Any material change will be signified by notice on our home page with a link to the updated policy statement. Continued use of this site after the notice has been posted to our site’s home page will constitute acceptance of the new terms and their application to your use of our site and the information disclosed for such use, including information previously furnished to us, as if they were the initial terms.

This site may contain links to other sites, including those of our business affiliates, vendors and advertisers. We are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by other sites.

There are no chat rooms, forums, message boards, or news groups available to visitors on our public site. In the certain secure areas of our site, members can participate in online discussions through forums and/or e-mails to the authors of individual messages. Your e-mails and forum postings may be stored electronically and are subject to review to ensure compliance with our Code of Acceptable Conduct and applicable law.

In certain areas of our site you can prepare community profiles to allow others to learn more about you. Community profiles ask for your place of residence, professional background, and investment experience and preferences. Profiles are completely voluntary, and those persons who choose to prepare a profile can edit or delete it at any time. Because profiles may be changed at any time, we cannot verify the information provided by site users to each other. You should use caution when relying upon information or statements provided by other users. We assume no responsibility for the statements or postings made by visitors to our site.

Our Members and Private Clients can cancel their access to our Services at any time by contacting us through the following:

• Calling Member Relations at 603-623-5500
• Send email to info@merchantbanc.com
• Send mail to: MerchantBanc, Two Wall Street, Manchester, NH 03101

The personal information of inactive members remains in our databases and is subject to all of our policies.