Great Plains Federal Credit Union Privacy Policies

Great Plains Federal Credit Union (GPFCU) Privacy Statement (click to read)

Internet Privacy Policy

Encryption

Upon entering the Member Connect Web portion of our website, your browser establishes a secure session with our server. The secure session is established using a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Encryption. This protocol requires the exchange of what are called public and private keys. Keys are random numbers chosen for that session and are only known between your browser and our server. After the keys are exchanged, your browser will use the numbers to scramble (encrypt) the messages and transactions sent between your browser and our server. Both sides require the keys because they need to de-scramble (decrypt) the messages when they are received. The SSL protocol, not only ensures privacy, but also ensures that no other browser can "impersonate" your browser, nor alter any of the information sent. You can tell whether your browser is in secure mode by looking for the secured lock symbol at the bottom of your browser window. 

The numbers used as encryption keys are analogous to combination locks. The strength of encryption is based on the number of possible combinations that a lock can have. As the number of possible combinations grows, it becomes less likely that anyone would be able to guess the combination in order to decrypt the message. Today's browsers offer 40-bit encryption or 128-bit encryption. Both result in a large number of possible combinations, 2 to the 40th and 2 to the 128th, respectively. Our servers are compatible with both, however we recommend the use of 128-bit capable browsers. 

Authorization 

It is also important to verify that only authorized persons log into Member Connect Web. This is achieved by verifying your password. When you set up your Great Plains password, it is compared with the password we have stored in our mainframe computer. We allow you to enter your password incorrectly five (5) times. If you enter your password incorrectly five times, your online banking account will be locked until you call us to reinitialize the account. We monitor and record "bad-login" attempts to detect any suspicious activity (i.e., someone trying to guess your password). You play a crucial role in preventing others from logging on to your account. Never use passwords that are easy to guess. Examples of bad passwords are: Birth dates, first names, pet names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, etc. Never reveal your password to another person. You should periodically change your password using the "Change Access Code" link in Member Connect Web. 

We provide a number of additional security features in Member Connect Web. Member Connect Web will "timeout" after a specified period of inactivity. This prevents curious persons from continuing your Member Connect Web session in case you have left your PC unattended without logging out. We strongly recommend that you always sign-off (end session) when you are done with your online banking session. The network architecture used to provide the online banking service was designed with security in mind. While the architecture is too complex to explain here, it is important to point out that the computers that store your actual account information are not hooked up to the Internet. The requests you make through the Internet are handled by our home banking servers, which retrieve the information you requested from our mainframe via proxy-based firewall servers. These servers act as the go-between you and our mainframe computer. 

Internet Links

Great Plains Federal Credit Union is not responsible for the privacy practices, content or availability of the linked websites. We also encourage users to read the privacy statement of all linked websites to become acquainted with their specific privacy practices. 

Cookies 

Member Connect Web uses seven different cookies to keep track of a member's Member Connect Web session. All of these cookies are encrypted using 128-bit encryption. The seven cookies are used to store information about a members account number, user code, password, session ID, language, unit number and last menu accessed. All of these cookies are temporary and will be removed from your hard drive once you have properly logged out of Member Connect Web, by selecting the "End Session" link. If a member has not properly logged out, the cookies will still expire, but will remain in encrypted form on the member's hard drive until they either clear their cookies or logon to Member Connect Web again. Member connect Web will always remove any old cookies at the beginning of each new session. 

Unlike many Internet sites, Great Plains Federal Credit Union does not use cookies to gather statistical information about its website visitors. Cookies are used strictly to enhance performance of Member Connect Web. 

Protection of Personal Information 

Protecting your privacy is an ongoing process. We will continue to review the measures we take to safeguard your personal information. These reviews will result in new measures to protect member records, as the Credit Union makes changes to its information security practices and other internal control systems to take advantage of new technology 

Privacy Policy

GPFCU is owned by its members and run by a Board of Directors you elect. You can be confident that your financial privacy is top priority of this credit union. We are required by law to give you this notice to explain how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal information. If you have any questions, please contact any member of our privacy team/committee at (800) 388-1318, or (417) 626-8500.

We are committed to provide you with competitive products and services to meet your financial needs, which necessitates that we share information about you to complete your transactions and to provide you with certain financial opportunities. In order to do so, we have entered into agreement with other companies that provide either service to us or additional financial products for you to consider. Under these arrangements we may disclose all or part of the information we collect as described below to companies that perform marketing or other services on our and to other institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements. To protect our members' privacy we only work with companies that agree to maintain strong confidentiality controls and limit the use of information we provide. We do not permit these companies to sell to other third parties that information we provide to them.

Information We Collect and Disclose About You 

We collect and may disclose nonpublic information about you from the following sources: Information we receive from you on membership/loan applications and other forms; Information about your transactions with us or others; Information we receive from a consumer-reporting agency; Information obtained upon verification from applications such as from a past employer or from other institutions where you conduct financial transactions. We may also disclose information we collect about you under other circumstances as permitted/required by law. These disclosures typically include information necessary to process transactions on your behalf; conduct the operations of our credit union; to follow instructions via member authorization; or to protect the security of our financial records. If you terminate your membership with Great Plains Federal Credit Union we will not share information we have collected on you except as permitted by law. 

How We Protect Your Information

We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who have a specific business purpose in utilizing your data. Our staff is trained in the importance of maintaining confidentiality and member privacy. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations and industry practices to protect your nonpublic information. 

If you have any questions or comments about our Privacy Policies, please send an email to gpfcu@greatplainsfcu.com