Privacy Policy


We work hard to safeguard your information and have no intention, now or in the future, of selling your personal information to third-party businesses, except as described below. You provide important information about yourself to a variety of businesses and organizations. As our customer you also provide us with important information about yourself. This information helps us give you better service, offer you better products, and complete your transactions more effectively.

We are proud to make that commitment to you because your trust is the foundation of our business. In fact, we developed the following privacy policy to explain how we use and protect information about you. We ask that you read it carefully.

Notice of Your Financial Privacy Rights

We first define some terms.

We, our, and us, when used in this notice, mean Tri Counties Bank and all other members of the TCB family of companies.

This is our privacy notice for our customers. When we use the words "you" and "your" we mean our consumer customers who have a continuing relationship with us by purchasing or holding financial products or services such as a:

  • Deposit Account
  • Loan account
  • Safe Deposit box
  • Retail installment contract we service

We will tell you the sources of the information we collect about you. We will tell you what measures we take to secure that information.

Nonpublic personal information means information about you that we collect in connection with providing a financial product or service to you. Nonpublic personal information does not usually include information that is available from public sources, such as telephone directories or government records. In this Notice, we will use the term "information" to mean non-public personal information as defined in this section.

An affiliate is a member of our corporate family.

A nonaffiliated third party is a person we do not employ or a company that is not an affiliate of ours. This is also known as nonaffiliated third party, or simply, an "other party." Please note that nonaffiliated third parties may have access to information about you that has been obtained independently, such as through credit bureaus or public records.

Collecting Information to Conduct Your Business

We collect information about you from the following sources:

  • Information you give us on applications or other forms
  • Information about your transactions with us
  • Information about your transactions with our affiliates
  • Information about your transactions with other parties
  • Information from a consumer reporting agency
  • Information we receive through our Customer Identification Program

Security Practices to Protect Your Information

We restrict access to information about you to those employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services to you. Employees who have access to your information are required to protect and keep it confidential. Additionally, we use technology designed to keep your information and transactions private and secure, including when you use our Internet Banking service for your on-line banking and bill payment transactions.

How We Use Your Personal Information

We will not share information about you to anyone outside of our corporate family except as disclosed in this policy or as permitted by law. For example, customer information on loan applications helps us make loans that meet federal banking regulations. Information on your signature card enables us to order your checks from a check printer when you request them. Your information can help protect your accounts from fraud, help resolve customer disputes, or protect property you have pledged as collateral for a loan.

We may also share all of your information that we collect with companies that perform marketing services on our behalf, and to certain of our own employees, who are also authorized representatives of other financial service providers, such as Raymond James Financial Services with whom we have carefully structured arrangements. These companies work jointly with us to provide a service or product we are unable to provide for you solely within our own company. We are allowed to do this only if they have entered into a joint marketing contract with us, which prohibits the sharing of your information for their own unrelated marketing purposes. Examples of such products and services include alternative investment products, such as mutual funds or annuities, or life and casualty insurance products that protect life and property. In these instances, employees have access to information such as your name, address, social security number, assets, income, telephone number, and your transaction activity with us, such as account balances, payment and deposit history. We will utilize only the information that we deem appropriate to offer you these special products and services.

Your Opt-Out rights appear in a separate document titled “Important Privacy Choices for Consumers.” You may obtain this document by visiting any one of our branch locations, by writing to us at Tri Counties Bank, P.O. Box 909, Attn: Direct Banking, Chico, California 95973, or by calling Customer Service at 800-922-8742. Note: If you exercise any Opt-out rights, please allow two weeks for your opt-out request to be activated.

Collecting Information About Former Customers

We do not disclose information about former customers, except as permitted or required by law.

Changing Our Privacy Policy in the Future

We reserve the right to amend or change our policy at any time, but if we do this, we will mail a new policy to our current customers at least 30 days prior to implementing the change, allowing you time to review and act on the new changes.

Internet Privacy Practices

Tri Counties Bank is very concerned about your comfort level when it comes to Internet security and safety issues. We are committed to providing you with superior customer service and the convenience of "Banking with the service you deserve."

To that end, we want you to know how we will handle the information we learn about you from your visit to our website. The information we receive depends entirely upon what you do when visiting our site. We want to be very clear: We will not obtain personally identifying information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide such information.

If you visit our website to read or download information, such as our brochures, use our financial calculators, or access information about our Bank, unless you identify yourself so that we can respond to an inquiry or request from you, we collect and store only the following information:

  • The name of the domain from which you are accessing the Internet, (for example America Online (AOL) or California State University, Chico);
  • The date and time you accessed our site;
  • The Internet Service Provider, for example, www.yahoo.com, if you are using the Yahoo search engine, and the type of web browsing software you are using, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape.

We use the above information to collect and measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our website, and to help us stay abreast of technical upgrades that can make our site more accessible and innovative for our visitors.

If you visit our website and use the e-mail function and your e-mail contains your name and address or other personally identifying information, you should know various Tri Counties Bank employees could see your information. We retain and record this information for legal and regulatory reasons as well to better service your financial needs. We adhere to the following principles in handling the information you provide:

  • We use your personally identifying information only for the purpose for which it is originally collected. If you make an inquiry or request a return correspondence from us, we may enter your information into one of our databases that we use for follow up and/or tracking purposes.
  • We maintain your personally identifying information using a secure encryption program called Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and we limit employee access to those with a business reason to see it. For more information on SSL or the computer system we use for our On-line Banking services, click on "Accessing your Accounts" located in the menu bar on our web site.
  • We do not disclosure your information to any one outside of Tri Counties Bank unless we are required by law to do so, or in connection with a criminal investigation.

Note: If you are sending electronic mail (e-mail) to us, please be reminded that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception and could be read by others outside of Tri Counties Bank. If you are sending us information that is very sensitive or includes personal or confidential information, (such as your bank account number, a charge card or ATM number, social security number, or Personal Identification Number), unless you are accessing us though our On-Line Banking Service or another secured area of our website, you may want to send your correspondence to us via postal mail to Tri Counties Bank, Direct Banking Center, 63 Constitution Dr., Chico, CA 95973.

On-Line Banking Privacy Practices

While information is critical to providing quality service, we recognize that one of our most important assets is our customer's trust and want to alleviate any concerns you may have so that you may confidently enjoy the expediency of high technology convenience. Strict internal procedures are in place controlling every aspect of Bank administration, including but not limited to, the training of our employees to ensure they deliver accurate information as well as the technical support necessary to prevent unnecessary service interruptions.

Important Notice: We do not knowingly solicit data from children, and we do not knowingly market to children. We recognize that protecting children's identities and privacy online is important and that the responsibility to do so rests with both the online industry and with parents.

We want you to know how we will handle the information we learn about you from your visit to our On-line banking site. The information we receive depends upon what you do when visiting our site.

  • We use your personally identifying information only for the purpose for which it is originally collected. If you make an inquiry or request a return correspondence from us, we may enter your information into one of our databases that we use for follow up and/or tracking purposes.
  • We maintain your personally identifying information in a secure computer system and we limit employee access to those with a business reason to see it. For your security our On-line banking system is validated and protected using Security Socket Layer (SSL) and all communication through this program is encrypted, or "scrambled," using VeriSign. We reserve the option to view, monitor and record activity on this system without notice or permission. You should know that any information obtained by us might be subject to review by law enforcement organizations in connection with the investigation or prosecution of possible criminal activity on the system. For more information on VeriSign, click here or call our Customer Service Department at 800-922-8742.
  • By visiting our On-Line Banking site, we also record and track various non-personal information, such as the name of the domain from which you are accessing the Internet, (for example AOL), the date and time you accessed our site, and the Internet Service Provider you are using which linked you directly to our website. This information is collected so that we can analyze the usefulness and interest generated by our various products and services.

Keeping information accurate and up to date is very important to us and to you. Tri Counties Bank continually strives to maintain complete and accurate information about our customers and their accounts. In keeping with reasonable commercial standards, we have established procedures to ensure the maintenance of current and factual financial information. We also pledge to investigate and respond to all concerns or requests in a timely manner and to correct any inaccuracies.

If you believe our information about you is inaccurate, or if you want to change your personal information such as your e-mail address, you may contact us by accessing our contact us page or by calling our Tri Counties Telephone Banking Center at (800) 922-8742 or by writing us at Tri Counties Bank, Direct Banking, 63 Constitution Drive, Chico, CA 95973.

You can count on Tri Counties Bank to keep you informed about how we protect your privacy and will limit the sharing of information you provide to us, whether it's at our Direct Banking Center, one of our branches, over the phone, or through the Internet.

NOTE: Since we cannot control information on other Internet sites, we are not responsible for the content of sites that are linked to and from us.

Tri Counties Bank reserves the option to alter or amend this policy statement or any of the policies or procedures described above at any time and without prior notice. These principles and practices are for general guidance and do not constitute a contract and do not modify or amend any agreement we currently have with our customers.

Responsibilities of Online Banking Customers

There are some things we cannot prevent, and therefore will not be responsible for the reimbursement of damages or losses caused by:

  • Customer input errors.
  • Customer's negligence by sharing or handling of personal ID's and passwords, which result in unauthorized access to accounts. Customer passwords must be kept secret.
  • Customer's neglect to report thefts of passwords or ID's.
  • Customer's failure to complete banking sessions by clicking the EXIT button before leaving the computer unattended. Security Tip: When you begin a session of online banking, your User ID and password are stored on our computer from the moment you log on to the moment you click EXIT. If the PC is left unattended with the browser still running and your online banking session still active, anyone can gain access to your accounts from that PC! Be sure to completely end the session before leaving your computer.
  • Known incidents of theft or loss of debit cards not reported to one of our Representatives either by phone, e-mail, or in person, within 2 business days. Remember...Our 24-Hour Customer Service Center is available to you 365 days a year at 1-800-922-8742.

Security Tip: Be sure to keep your computer free from viruses that could be used to capture password keystrokes!

We take pride in the service we deliver to our customers and believe that you will find Tri Counties Bank is attentive to any concerns that you may have about conducting online banking transactions. However, if you have any thoughts or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-922-8742

More Information

Contact us for additional information on our Privacy Policy.