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Our Privacy Statement explains how we protect the privacy of your customer information and manage it carefully to provide financial products and services to you. Due to the unique nature of the Internet, there is some additional information you may wish to know when you visit http://wachoviasec.com. This section describes the Internet-specific privacy practices governing wachoviasec.com and supplements our corporate Privacy Statement.
How We Gather and Manage Information Online
Working with Other Companies
Linking to Other Websites
Aggregation Services
Security Standards
When you use online (Internet) products and services, we may collect application and/or service offering, site navigation, customer contact, optional survey and other information. We use this information to respond to your requests, personalize our online services and improve our site to make it more responsive to your needs. See the topics below for more detail on the tools we use to serve you better.
You'll notice this term used across the Internet to describe bits of information that some websites create when you visit their sites and are then stored on your computer. A cookie is uniquely yours and can only be read by the website that gave it to you. Cookies are a basic way to identify the computer you happen to be using at the time, and do not identify you personally. They cannot be used to obtain data from your hard drive, your email address or personal information stored on your computer.
We use cookies for various reasons specified below. We do not collect any personally identifiable information from, or store personal information in, cookies. Cookies do not contain viruses.
- To facilitate online transactions, we use session cookies. Session cookies are necessary if you want to conduct online transactions or use specific services, such as Online Brokerage. Session cookies do not remain active after you log off the service, which requires their use.
- We also use session cookies to help you navigate and interact with the content on our site more efficiently. These cookies may save you from having to enter the same information twice during an online session, for example. These cookies also help us keep track of how you arrived at certain content, so that we can adapt the presentation of subsequent content to ensure it is relevant to your situation.
- To personalize your website experience, we may create cookies that help our site remember your preferences when you return at a later time and present customized products and services that may be of special interest to you. Unlike session cookies, which do not remain active after you log off a site, these cookies remain on your computer after you log off. However, you can delete these cookies from your computer at any time.
- To evaluate our website, we may use cookies to facilitate online surveys or to track how visitors use our site, such as which pages are viewed the most. This information is used to improve the content, usability and functionality of our website. Although these cookies remain on your computer after you log off, you may delete them from your computer at any time.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of Wachovia advertising placed elsewhere on the Internet, we may use cookies or other related tracking technology to track responses to our advertisements or "banner ads." When you click on the ad at another web site, you may be taken to wachoviasec.com to obtain more information on the advertised product or service. The cookie or tracking technology used with the ad does not identify you personally or store any personally identifiable information but provides us with information such as the web site where the ad was placed, which specific ad was in use at the time, and the most common navigation paths on our site from the ad. Although these cookies remain on your computer after you log off, you may delete them from your computer at any time.
If you have set your browser options to allow cookies on your computer, Wachovia Securities will still treat the information supplied through these cookies, which do not contain any personal information, with the same security and privacy protections as any other client information we receive.
We may contract with other companies to assist us in setting cookies or tracking technology for the purposes described above, and compiling and analyzing anonymous ad or web site response information. These companies are prohibited by legal agreement from using the information they gather for their own purposes or from sharing this information with others.
No, you can disallow cookies by making the appropriate selection from your browser options to inform you when cookies are set or to prevent cookies from being set. You should understand, however, that certain services require cookies for effective delivery. Therefore, if you set your browser options to disallow cookies, you may limit the functionality we can provide when you visit our site.
We respect the privacy of your children, and we comply with the practices established under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. We do not knowingly collect or retain personally identifiable information from consumers under the age of thirteen.
We often use e-mail to inform customers about products, services or product enhancements that may be of interest. When you give us your e-mail address online, and we intend to use that e-mail address for such purpose, you will have an opportunity to tell us if you do not wish to receive these messages. You will also have the opportunity to opt out of future messages with each e-mail you receive from Wachovia. Of course, you can let us know your e-mail marketing contact preference at any time by completing this simple form on our website www.wachovia.com/email/unsubscribe.
Please note that your choice not to receive product messages will not affect preferences you may have previously set for your Wachovia Securities account and subscription based email services such as newsletters, rate notifications or account updates, nor will it affect important service messages regarding your online accounts that we may need to send you from time to time.
When you send us an email to make a comment or to ask a question, we will use your email address to reply to you and for a limited time we may store your email address, your message and our response for quality assurance. We may also do this to meet legal and regulatory requirements. If we collect your email address in this manner, we won't use it to let you know about Wachovia Securities products and services unless you have given us prior permission.
Wachovia Securities takes your email marketing preference seriously and will not send marketing messages if you tell us you do not want to receive them. Additionally, we will send you email servicing messages only when necessary or at your initiation to quickly deliver important product enrollment, account or service information potentially requiring action on your part. Rest assured, when you receive such messages, they will be clearly marked as coming from Wachovia and will not request confidential information such as an account number, Social Security number, permanent login name, and/or access code to be provided and sent back through unsecured email.
Should you receive a suspicious message that appears as if it may be coming from Wachovia, please let us know by calling (888) 521-5114 or emailing us at osm@wachovia.com. You may also wish to contact your Internet Service Provider for support in blocking emails or subscribing to a spam filter they may offer.
When you enter http://wachoviasec.com, you pass through a "firewall" we use for security purposes. As you pass through it, we may identify the Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the device you are using, such as a personal computer or handheld device. The IP address does not identify you personally, but it may allow us to identify the device you're using. We store IP addresses in case we ever need to track a connection to its point of origin for security reasons.
If you are an Online Services customer, you may update some of your personal information quickly and easily online, including mailing address, access information (e.g. change or reset your User Identification or Password) and email addresses for alert services. Login to your online account and visit the Online Services Home Page.
Some websites may provide a Platform for Privacy Preferences ("P3P") privacy policy. P3P is an optional way for a website to present a summary of its privacy practices in a machine-readable format. P3P-enabled browsers can read this summary and compare a website's privacy practices with the privacy preferences you've set in your browser. Therefore, for P3P to operate effectively, both your browser and the website you visit need to be P3P-enabled. Current versions of P3P-enabled browsers focus primarily on the use of cookies and allow a user to refuse unwanted cookies. As described above, disallowing cookies may limit functionality on certain web pages.
Although Wachovia Securities does not currently present its privacy policy in the P3P format, we continue to evaluate this emerging privacy technology and will implement a P3P policy at such time it proves to be a beneficial and useful complement to our existing website privacy protection tools. Regardless of the format in which our privacy practices are presented, we are committed to the promises we've made in our Privacy Statement.
To learn more about P3P developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, please visit their website.
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We work with a number of other companies to ensure that we're providing the value and service you expect from a leader in financial and Internet services.
Service Providers on the Internet
Occasionally you will notice on wachoviasec.com that services are "Powered by" or "Provided by" content providers or technology service partners. We contract with these specialists to help us serve you better. We're highly selective in choosing these companies, and they are only allowed to use your information for the purpose of providing the services we've contracted with them to provide.
Co-branded and Alliance Relationships
Wachovia Securities has established relationships with other parties on the Internet to bring you the benefit of products and services we may not offer. We offer you access to these other companies either through the use of hyperlinks to their sites from our site, or by offering "co-branded" sites in which both Wachovia Securities and the other company share the same URL, domain name or pages within a domain name on the Internet and the names or logos of both companies are displayed. Generally, we do not own the co-branded sites and alliance companies and therefore do not control how those companies use any information you supply them. It's important that you review their privacy policy to understand how they manage any information you supply them. However, if you are providing information to Wachovia Securities, we will always adhere to our Privacy Statement.
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Links to third-party sites are provided for your convenience. Such sites are not within our control and may not follow the same privacy, security, or accessibility standards as ours. Wachovia Securities is not responsible for the products or services offered by, or the practices, content or availability of third-party sites, their partners, or advertisers. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of third parties before providing information on their sites.
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What is Aggregation?
Account aggregation is a service that allows you to gather information from many websites and present that information in a consolidated format on one site. The information gathered can range from public information to more personal account information (such as credit card and banking data). For aggregation to work, you may have to provide the aggregation provider personal account information such as your usernames and passwords ("access information") that you would normally use yourself to access your data.
Aggregation Offered Through wachoviasec.com
Wachovia offers aggregation services through service providers, allowing you convenient access to the accounts you have with us as well as information stored at other websites with which you hold accounts. You may, for example, consolidate financial, credit card, insurance and news information into one place. The service providers we use to bring you this service will act as your agent when accessing your accounts. As such, we require that they agree to and abide by our Privacy Statement and Security Statement, including encryption of your data, to protect your information.
To use our aggregation service, you must provide the following information:
- Information to help us service your account (such as your email address)
- Information to access accounts you have with other institutions or companies (such as the name of the company, account number, user name, passwords, or codewords)
In addition, the information we gather about your accounts and relationships with the companies and institutions you specify in your aggregation profile may also be used by Wachovia and its affiliates to provide you with more efficient and personalized service. For example, we may use this information to enhance your online aggregation experience, customize product and service offerings to suit your financial needs and provide targeted advice designed to help you achieve your personal financial goals. You may choose to limit the use of information gathered through the aggregation service or how we may contact you as described in the section of our Privacy Statement entitled, "Your Choices as a Client."
Aggregation Offered by Other Companies
There are a number of other companies that currently offer aggregation services to consolidate your online account information from multiple sources. While we recognize that you may want to use these services, you should note a potential risk. Providing an aggregator your access information (such as user names and passwords) may result in unauthorized access and use of your confidential account information by the aggregator or a third party if adequate controls are not in place. Therefore, you should ensure that the aggregation service provider has appropriate processes in place to ensure the privacy and security of your information. If you provide information about your Wachovia Securities accounts, including your access information, to an aggregation service provider, we will consider that you have authorized all transactions initiated by an aggregation site.
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Protecting your personal information online is vital. We go to great lengths to see that your transactions and personally identifiable information are confidential, secure, and protected from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. To read about the technology that keeps your personal information private and how you can help protect your personal information, visit our Site Security Statement.
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Wachovia Securities is your partner in helping you achieve your financial goals. We are dedicated to providing you with the highest level of service and protecting your privacy. As technology continues to transform the way information is collected and distributed, we want to make sure you know that we have implemented a number of important practices for safeguarding the privacy and security of financial information about you.
- We employ safeguards to protect client information and to prevent fraud.
- We carefully manage information about you among the companies that make up Wachovia. By understanding your complete relationship with us, we can provide you with more personalized and efficient service.
- We do not sell client information to other companies for marketing purposes.
You Have Choices
- You may direct us not to contact you for marketing purposes by:
- Telephone,
- Direct mail or
- E-mail.
- You may direct us not to share, within Wachovia, non-transactional information about you (such as credit or employment history) that we receive from others.
How to Reach Us to Exercise Your Choices
- Contact your Wachovia Securities Financial Advisor or visit a Wachovia Securities office.
- Call us at 877-358-1114 to speak to a representative.
How You Can Help Protect Your Privacy
- Do not share your account information, passwords or code words with others.
- Do not provide confidential information by telephone to unknown callers.
- Do not provide confidential information online unless you initiated the contact, know the party with whom you are dealing, and provide the information through a secure channel.
- When conducting business over the Internet, always use a secure browser and exit online applications as soon as you finish using them.
- Protect your account records.
- If you believe you are a victim of fraud or identity theft, please contact us at 888-647-3648 for assistance, such as to put holds on your accounts. Also, see the Identity Theft Assistance section of our Privacy Statement below.
Since this section is a summary, it is important that you read the rest of this statement below.
About This Statement
How We Secure Your Assets and Protect Information About You
How We Protect Your Privacy Online
How We Gather Information to Understand Your Financial Needs
How We Manage Information to Serve Your Needs
Your Choices as a Client
Identity Theft Assistance
How to Limit Direct Marketing from Other Companies
We Strive to Maintain Accurate Information
If You Have Questions, Contact Us
This Privacy Statement explains how Wachovia handles and protects customer information. Wachovia Corporation, or Wachovia, includes multiple companies, such as Wachovia Bank, N.A., Wachovia Mortgage Corporation and Wachovia Securities, LLC. This statement applies to consumers who are customers or former customers of the Wachovia companies. Customers of certain Wachovia Corporation businesses, such as Wachovia Mortgage Corporation, will be separately notified of the specific privacy policies that are applicable to those businesses.
We may change this statement from time to time based on our need to accurately reflect how we gather and manage customer information. All changes to this statement will be effective upon posting on http://wachoviasec.com. This statement was last updated on May 28, 2003, and replaces the Privacy Statement previously provided on this website.
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- We train our employees to protect client information.
- We continually enhance our security tools and processes.
- We protect client data and accounts by asking you for information that only you should know when you contact us. We follow these procedures in our offices, on the phone and via the Internet.
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Protecting client information online is an essential part of our service to you.
- Our systems use technologies such as firewalls (which protect systems from intrusion) and encryption (scrambling of information) to protect client information.
- We validate your identity through confidential access codes before we allow online access to your accounts.
For more information on our Internet security measures, please visit our Site Security Statement.
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The information we gather about you helps us to better understand your financial needs and to provide more personalized, efficient service to you. For example, this information may prompt us to recommend an investment product that has the potential to pay you higher earnings.
The information we gather comes from a variety of sources, including:
- Information you provide to us (such as information on applications about assets and income)
- Information related to your transactions with us and our affiliates (such as account balance and payment history)
- Information we receive from credit reporting agencies and other companies when you apply for a service (such as your credit history)
- Information we obtain from others at your request (such as information about assets held at another institution for inclusion in a financial plan)
- Information obtained when you use Internet products and services (such as application and transaction information and information contained in e-mails you send us)
We carefully manage all the information gathered about you as described in the following section.
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Within Wachovia Corporation
We consolidate information about clients within the companies that make up Wachovia Corporation, including:
- Information based on your transactions with us (for example, information that we would consolidate from your accounts if you wished to make an automatic mortgage payment from your checking account) and contact information (such as your name and address)
- Non-transactional information received from others (such as credit or employment history) to evaluate your eligibility for various financial services (for example, a line of credit at a special rate)
You may tell us not to share non-transactional information with other Wachovia companies*. For more information, see the section below entitled, Your Choices as a Client.
Outside of Wachovia Corporation
With limited exceptions like those below, we do not provide client information to companies outside of Wachovia Corporation. You do not need to request this confidentiality; it is our standard practice.
In order to serve your needs, we may provide all of the information we gather to:
- specialists that perform business operations for us (such as check printing)
- companies that act on our behalf to market our services, or companies with whom we have entered into a joint marketing agreement in order to provide you with valuable financial services that we do not offer (such as annuities) (see "Other Applicable Laws")
- others only as permitted or required by law (such as to protect against fraud or in response to a subpoena)
We select very carefully the companies that provide services on our behalf, or offer you financial services that we do not provide. Also, we only provide them with information that we believe is necessary to fulfill their responsibilities or to provide a financial service to you. These companies are prevented by legal agreement from using this information for their own purposes or selling this information to others.
The practices described above are in accordance with federal law. We may also be subject to other privacy requirements under applicable state law. For example, Vermont law places additional limits on sharing information about Vermont residents. So long as they remain residents of Vermont, we will not share information we collect about Vermont residents to companies outside of Wachovia, except:
- To companies that perform marketing or other services on our behalf;
- Contact information (like name and address), and transaction information (such as your payment history) to other financial institutions with which we have joint marketing agreements;
- With the authorization or consent of the Vermont resident; or
- As permitted by law.
We also will not share non-transactional information about Vermont residents received from others within Wachovia except with the authorization or consent of the Vermont resident.
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We are committed to helping you manage your finances effectively and enhance the returns on your financial investments. For these reasons, we may contact you to offer financial advice and inform you of different options that may be of value to you. If you are comfortable with the ways in which we contact you currently, there is no need to indicate your preferences. We recognize, however, that you may wish to limit the ways in which we contact you for marketing purposes and we offer the options listed below:
- Please do not contact me by telephone for marketing purposes.
- Please do not contact me by mail for marketing purposes.
- Please do not contact me by e-mail for marketing purposes.
You also have a choice about how information about you is managed within Wachovia. If you prefer that we not share non-transactional information about you with other Wachovia companies, you may choose the following option:
- Please do not share, among Wachovia companies, non-transactional information about me that you receive from others.
Whatever your preferences, we will honor your wishes and respect your privacy. Your preferences will remain in effect until you tell us otherwise. You do not need to notify us if you have already indicated your preferences to us.
To discuss your options, inform us of a preference, or provide us with feedback, contact your Wachovia Securities Financial Advisor, visit a Wachovia Securities Office or call us at 877-358-1114.
If you contact us, we will assume your preferences apply to you only - unless you tell us that they also apply to other individuals listed on your accounts.
Please note that we are committed to providing you with superior service. Occasionally, we may need to contact you to resolve a problem or to service your accounts. For example, if we observe unusual activity on your debit card, we may contact you to verify your purchases and confirm that they are authorized.
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If you believe you may be a victim of identity theft:
- Contact us at 888-647-3648 to place holds on your accounts and obtain a free copy of Wachovia's Customer Fraud Assistance Package.
- Contact the Social Security Administration's Fraud Hotline at 800-269-0271 to report fraudulent use of your identification information.
- Report the incident as quickly as possible to each of the credit reporting agencies:
Experian: 888-397-3742
Equifax: 800-525-6285
Trans Union: 800-680-7289
- File a police report in your local jurisdiction and retain the report number and the name of the officer who took the report.
- File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by contacting the FTC's Identity Theft Hotline: 877-IDTHEFT.
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To limit the instances in which credit reporting agencies share your information with companies wishing to offer you pre-approved credit solicitations, you can call 888-567-8688 (the Credit Reporting Industry Pre-screening Opt Out Number). To limit the marketing you receive from companies outside of Wachovia, you may contact the Direct Marketing Association at the addresses below and have your name removed from their contact lists. You must include your name, address, telephone number and signature with your request.
DMA Mail Preference Service
PO Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
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DMA Telephone Preference Service
PO Box 1559
Carmel, NY 10512
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Email Preference Service
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We strive to maintain complete and accurate information about you and your accounts. If you ever believe that our records contain inaccurate or incomplete information about you, please let us know immediately. We are committed to resolving any inaccuracies as quickly as possible.
Credit Reporting Agencies
If you believe we have reported inaccurate information about your account to any credit reporting agency, please let us know in writing. Be sure to include your complete name, current address, Social Security Number, telephone number, account number, type of account, specific item of dispute and the reason you believe the information is wrong. Send your notice to: Wachovia Bank, N.A., P.O. Box 3117, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. We will investigate your concern and correct any inaccuracies we find. We will inform you of any actions we take.
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We welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have about this statement or the safeguarding and confidentiality of your information. For more information, please read our Internet Privacy section, contact your Wachovia Securities Financial Advisor, visit a Wachovia Securities office, or call us at 877-358-1114 to speak to a representative.
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