Privacy Policy

Date last updated: June 2024

If you apply to use our services, you entrust us with some personal information about yourself. At Fremont Bank, we recognize and respect the personal privacy of our customers. Therefore, we want you to know about the policies and procedures that we have developed to help protect the confidentiality of nonpublic personal information about consumers who are customers of Fremont Bank. Our privacy policy applies to our traditional banking customers who use services provided in person, at our branches or by telephone, and to our customers that use our online services, provided through a personal computer, tablet, or mobile device via the Internet.

Our Privacy Policy and Privacy Notice are current as of the date above. Our Privacy Policy, like the other policies at our Bank, is used by us as a guideline and a business-planning tool. It is not a contract or standard that we are obligated to follow in all cases or in all manners, and we may change it in accordance with our internal policy-setting procedures, from time to time. If you would like to verify that this is or is not a current version of our Privacy Policy, please contact us at (800) 359-BANK (2265) or by e-mail to compliance@fremontbank.com.

Privacy Notice

Our Privacy Notice contains important privacy information. It forms a part of our Privacy Policy, a copy of which is available at any branch, on our web site, or by calling (800) 359-BANK (2265). This Privacy Notice describes how we may now or may in the future handle nonpublic personal information about you as our customer. We may amend (add to, delete or change) these terms, with such prior notice as is required by law.

Review our Privacy Notice.

Mobile Privacy Policy

Mobile Privacy Policy forms a part of our Privacy Policy, a copy of which is available at any branch, on our web site, or by calling (800) 359-BANK (2265). This Policy describes how we may now or may in the future handle nonpublic personal information about you as a user of a mobile device and the Fremont Bank Mobile app. We may amend (add to, delete or change) these terms, with such prior notice as is required by law.

Review our Mobile Privacy Policy.

What Kind of Information is Collected about You?

At Fremont Bank, we collect most of our information directly from you. How much we collect depends on you.

If you are a visitor at one of our branches, no information is collected about you unless you make a request that requires us to obtain information (such as, you ask that something be sent to you or that you want a telephone call from us) or you otherwise provide the information to us. If you are a visitor to our website, www.fremontbank.com, our Web server automatically recognizes your Internet Service Provider’s domain name and aggregates information about what pages are visited. We use this information to improve the content of our Web pages and to better target our online advertising. But unless you make a request when you visit our Web pages, we do not collect e-mail addresses or postal addresses, or telephone numbers, to contact visitors.

If you are, or become, a customer of Fremont Bank, nonpublic personal information about you is collected from the following sources:

  • From you on applications or other forms (such as your name, address, social security number, assets and income);
  • From your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others (such as your account balance, payment history, parties to transactions, and credit usage); and
  • From consumer reporting agencies (such as your creditworthiness and credit history) or other third parties.

What We do With Information About You

In most cases, any nonpublic personal information about you that we collect is used by us in our efforts to serve your financial needs and administer your personal accounts and transactions. All nonpublic personal information collected and retained by Fremont Bank is used for specific business purposes. Thus, we may use the information to protect and administer your personal accounts and transactions, to comply with state and federal banking regulations, to help improve or design our products and services, or for similar purposes.

Disclosure of Information to Others

With limited exceptions, we do not currently sell or share personally identifiable information about you with others. If we change this policy, we will let you know beforehand and give you an opportunity to "opt out." As exceptions to this policy, we may from time to time provide personally identifiable information about you to others:

  • To help assure the accuracy and security of the information. For example, we may provide information to consumer reporting agencies.
  • In connection with the acquisition or sale of loans, or all or a portion of our business, or other businesses.
  • In connection with inquiries made by merchants or others, where the other party represents to us that the inquiry is made as a result of a transaction with you. For example, merchants will from time to time ask us to verify the status of a check you have given them.
  • As part of our marketing of our financial products or services. We may, for example, use another party to mail materials to you, or to help us identify products and services we offer that may appeal to you.
  • As part of any legal or regulatory requirements imposed on us.

Our "Privacy Notice" includes further information on the circumstances where we disclose information to others. As a general rule, we do not share information with others under programs where the other person will use the information to market their products or services to you. If we decide to change this policy, we will inform you of the change and give you an opportunity to prevent the sharing by "opting out."

California Consumer Privacy Act

Our California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Policy explains how we collect, use, and disclose personal information about California residents. It also provides information about how California residents can exercise rights under the CCPA. For more information, please refer to our California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Policy.

California Financial Privacy Act

In accordance with the California Financial Information Privacy Act ("Division 1.4") we will not share information we collect about you with companies outside of our corporate family, except as permitted by law, including, for example, we may share information with your consent or to service your account.

Maintenance of Accurate Information

We will do our best to keep the information collected complete, current and accurate. When customers notify us that the information is inaccurate, we will research the matter and make any necessary corrections.

Employee and Vendor Access to Information

Only authorized Fremont Bank employees and vendors who have a legitimate business need to know the information are authorized to access personally identifiable information. Each employee and vendor has responsibility for maintaining the confidentiality of customer information. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information, and take appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce employee responsibility.

The Bank is selective in choosing the companies with which we have these arrangements. We share information about you only to the extent that they need the information to fulfill the purpose of their contracts with us. We require them to comply with strict standards of security and confidentiality, and they are not permitted to release, use or transfer customer information to non-affiliated third parties for their own purposes.

Privacy Principles for Customers

Fremont Bank is committed to ensuring the privacy of our customers’ personal information. Customers who are concerned about financial privacy and want to tell us not to call or send direct mail for additional products or services, or want to know more about this important issue may contact their Fremont Bank representative, or write us at 2580 Shea Center Dr., Livermore CA 94551 (Attn: Compliance Director), call us at (800) 359-BANK (2265) or click here to manage your communication preferences.

Please note that if you make this choice, we will still call you and send you mail to service your existing relationships, or provide account related information (and, when doing so, the mail we send may include pre-printed marketing materials in those mailings).

Protecting Children’s Privacy Online

From our web sites, we do not knowingly collect or use personal information from children under 13 without containing verifiable consent from their parents. Should a child whom we know to be under 13 send personal information to us, we will only use that information to respond directly to that child, seek parental consent, or provide parental notice. We are not responsible for the data collection and use practices of nonaffiliated third parties to which our web sites may link.

For more information about the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), visit the FTC web site: www.ftc.gov.

Online Privacy

You can browse our website anonymously without identifying yourself during your visit, unless you register for a service or otherwise choose to disclose your identity to us. Although we do not collect personal information that identifies people who simply visit our site, we may collect certain limited information about our visitors, such as their IP address (a numeric address assigned automatically to computers and mobile devices when they access the Internet), type of device, type and version of web browser and Operating System used, etc. We will only obtain and use information where we reasonably believe it would be useful and allowed by law to administer our business and to provide products, services, and other opportunities to our customers.

Information gathered through the use of cookies may be used in conjunction with service providers, to help determine which online advertisements or offers to present to you. This means we will continue to show ads to you across the internet, specifically on the Google Content Network (GCN) and Facebook social media website. We respect your privacy and are not collecting any personal identifiable information through the use of Google, Facebook, or any other third-party remarketing system. If you receive an ad on a third-party site in part based on information gathered through the use of cookies, you may opt out of receiving such ads. You can opt-out of the Google Analytics Advertising Features we use, including through Ads Settings, Ad Settings for mobile apps, or any other available means. This opt-out covers internet-based advertising via cookies only, so if you delete cookies, change web browsers, or use a different device, you will need to opt-out again. Please note that even if you opt-out, you may still receive online advertising from us, however it will not be based on your preferences or behavior.

Information We Collect

You may interact with us in a variety of ways online, including through a mobile device. We may collect information regarding your mobile device such as device settings, unique device identifiers, information about your location, and analytical information that may assist with diagnostics and performance. For your convenience, you may be asked to grant permission for access to your mobile device's geolocation data. This information may be collected when you use certain services that are dependent on your mobile device’s location (such as the location of an ATM or in store transactions).

Services and Advertisements

Fremont Bank advertises on webpages within the Bank’s websites, including mobile downloadable apps, as well as on other websites and mobile applications (collectively "Sites") not affiliated with Fremont Bank. We may use third parties to provide services on our behalf, such as website analytics, hosting of microsites, or social media moderation services. Information collected by us or our advertising service providers through cookies and other technologies includes the number of people who look at each of the pages on the Sites, search engine referrals, browsing patterns within the Sites, and responses to advertisements and promotions on the Sites and on websites where we advertise. If you provide these third parties with information, their use of that information will be subject to their privacy policies, if any, and will not be subject to Fremont Bank’s policy.

Links to Other Websites

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. When you click on one of these links, you will leave our site and will no longer be subject to Fremont Bank’s Privacy Policy and privacy practices. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you follow links to websites not affiliated or controlled by Fremont Bank, you should review their privacy and security policies and other terms and conditions, before you provide them with any personally identifiable information. Fremont Bank does not guarantee and is not responsible for the privacy or security of these websites, including the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of their information.

Social Media Sites

When you engage with Fremont Bank on social media platforms including, but not limited to, LinkedIn®, Facebook®, Instagram®, Twitter®, Yelp®, YouTube®, you make certain information from your social media profile available to Fremont Bank and other platform users. Any content you post such as pictures, information, opinions, or any Personal Information that you make available to other participants on these social platforms, is subject to the privacy policies and terms of use of those respective platforms. Please refer to them to better understand your rights and obligations with regard to such content.

Security Statement

Fremont Bank’s Online Banking service requires the use of an Access ID and a password. To deter attempts at unauthorized access, the system will lock out the account after three unsuccessful tries. It is your responsibility to keep your password, user access identification number, account numbers, and other personal information confidential. Here are some tips on how to do this.

  • Do not reveal your password to anyone and do not write it down. You can use a secure password manager to keep track of passwords. Fremont Bank will NEVER ask for your online banking password.
  • Change your password regularly. Choose a long password, such as two words separated by a number or punctuation.
  • Do not leave your computer unattended while you are logged in and sign off and close the web browser or web application when you are finished with your session.
  • In addition, you should run up to date anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software. Often, all of these are available within a single commercial product. Always install security updates when you are prompted by your system.
  • If possible, use a single, trusted computer to perform online banking, and don’t use that computer for any other Internet activity.

Our web site digital certificate issued from a Certificate Authority (CA) validates the identity of the Bank to your web browser, which ensures that you are communicating with Fremont Bank’s web site and not an imposter. While using online banking all communications are encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which requires that you use a web browser with at least 2048 bit (4096 is highly recommended) encryption. Most modern web browsers support this.

Protecting Your Privacy

Learn ways to protect your personal information from identity theft, and what you can do if you suspect someone has used your personal information. Please visit the Federal Trade Commission website on Identity Theft at: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ and http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0272-how-keep-your-personal-information-secure.

To learn ways to protect your personal computer and mobile device, visit the US-CERT and the NSA web sites at:
https://www.us-cert.gov
https://www.nsa.gov