Privacy Statement

Benton County State Bank recognizes and respects our responsibility to protect our customers’ private information. The success of a financial institution, like ours, depends heavily on the level of trust and confidence it enjoys with its depositors, borrowers, and shareholders. In continuing our commitment to provide quality service to our customers, Benton County State Bank has adopted the following privacy statement for officers, directors, and employees. This privacy statement applies to individuals (consumers) and Benton County State Bank reserves the right to amend it at any time.

We collect, use and retain information about our customers only where we reasonably believe it would be useful in administering our business, and providing products, services, and other opportunities to our customers. We collect and retain information available from public records and credit reports, as well as information you provide to us, only for specific business purposes. We use information to protect and administer our customers’ records, accounts, and funds; to comply with certain laws and regulations, to help design or improve our products and services, and to understand your financial needs and provide you quality products and outstanding service. If you send us e-mail, we may retain the content of the e-mail and your e-mail address in order to respond to questions or concerns you may have expressed.

We have the same policy about disclosing information about former customers as we do about current customers.

Our Maintenance of Accurate Information

We have implemented procedures to help assure that our customers’ financial information is accurate, current and complete in accordance with commercially reasonable standards. While some procedures are required by federal or state law, we also have procedures for responding to requests to correct inaccurate information in a timely manner and to update information and remove old information. Customers should notify us immediately at (319) 454-6230 if they receive information regarding their relationship with us that they believe to be inaccurate.

We have procedures and security levels that limit employee access to personally identifiable information to those with a business reason to know such information. The importance of confidentiality is addressed in our institution’s personnel policy. Appropriate disciplinary measures are taken to enforce employee privacy responsibilities.

We do not reveal specific information about our customers’ accounts or other personally identifiable data unless (1) our customer has requested or authorized it; (2) the information is provided to help complete a transaction initiated by our customer; (3) the information is provided to a reputable credit bureau or similar information reporting agency; or (4) disclosure is lawfully permitted or required.

At times it is necessary to provide personally identifiable information about our customers to a third party, such as a vendor or service company we hire to provide support or services for one or more of our products. These vendors and service companies agree to safeguard our confidential customer information and must abide by applicable law.

Visitors to the Benton County State Bank Web site remain anonymous. We do not collect personal identifying information about site users, unless you choose to provide such information to us. Visitors may elect to provide us with personal information via e-mail. This information is used internally, as appropriate, to handle the sender’s request, and manage the Benton County State Bank Web site. It is not disseminated or sold to other organizations. If you do not agree with the use of this information, or are not comfortable with the level of privacy, please cancel the e-mail before it is sent. Visitors should call us directly at (319) 454-6230 if requests or statements include sensitive or private information, such as your account numbers, credit card numbers, or social security number. Benton County State Bank will NEVER ask you for your Personal Identification Number (PIN) for your Benton County State Bank ATM card or Shazamchek Debit card. If you are asked for this information, please call (319) 454-6230 and report it to a customer service representative immediately.

The information we learn about you from your visit to our Web site depends on what you do when visiting our site. If you read or download information, we collect and store only the following: the name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account); the date and time; and the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our site (if applicable). We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site and to help us make our site more useful. If you identify yourself by sending e-mail, we will use your identifying information in various ways to further our consumer protection and competitive activities, but we will not disclose any information to a third party. We want to be very clear: We will not obtain personal identification information about you when you visit our site unless you choose to provide it. Any information collected will not be disclosed to a third party.

Please note: If you are sending electronic mail to the bank, we want to remind you that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your information is very sensitive, or includes personal or confidential information -- such as your bank account, charge card, or social security number -- you may want to send it by postal mail to the bank

Benton County State Bank does not knowingly solicit data from children, and we do not knowingly conduct on-line marketing to children. We recognize that protecting children’s identities and privacy on-line is important and that the responsibility to do so rests with both the on-line industry and with parents.

If you believe Benton County State Bank has misused information obtained through our relationships with you or through our Web site, or if you have questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy, please contact James E. Kullmer, Executive Vice President at (319) 454-6230 to resolve any disputes.