Account Logins :

Trust Online Account

Online Banking Accounts

Investment Products:

Not FDIC Insured
No Bank Guaranty
May Lose Value

Mortgage Closing Cost Rebate, click for details >

Privacy Policy Notice

Protecting the privacy of all of our customers is important to Merchants Trust Company and our employees. We want you to understand what information we collect and how we use it. In order to provide our customers with a broad range of financial products and services as effectively and conveniently as possible, we use technology to manage and maintain customer information. The following policy serves as a standard for all Merchants Trust Company employees for collection, use, retention, and security of nonpublic personal information about all of our customers, including consumers, businesses, governmental units, and nonprofit organizations.

"Customer" means one who has a continuing relationship with Merchants Trust Company under which Merchants Trust Company provides one or more financial products or services to the customer.

What Information We Collect

We may collect "nonpublic personal information" about you from the following sources:

Information we receive from you on applications or other forms;
Information about your transactions with us or others;
Information we obtain from third parties, for example, when transferring accounts from other institutions where you conduct financial transactions.

"Nonpublic personal information" is nonpublic information about you that we obtain in connection with providing a financial product or service to you. For example, nonpublic personal information includes information regarding your account balance, payment history, and transaction history.

What Information We Disclose

We may, and are permitted under law to, share information about our experiences or transactions with you or your account (such as your account balance and your payment history with us) with companies related to us by common control or ownership ("affiliates"). Merchants Trust Company is a subsidiary of Merchants Bank and Merchants Bancshares, Inc. is the parent corporation of Merchants Bank. We are permitted under law to disclose nonpublic personal information about you to "non-affiliated third parties" (i.e., third parties that are not members of our corporate family) in certain circumstances. For example, we may disclose nonpublic personal information about you to government entities in response to subpoenas. We may also disclose nonpublic personal information about you to third parties to assist us in servicing your account with us. It is Merchants Trust Company's policy to require such non-affiliated third parties to agree to maintain confidentiality protections and to limit the use of information we provide to authorized purposes. We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about you to anyone else without your authorization, except as permitted by law. If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive customer, we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this notice.

Our Security Procedures

We also take steps to safeguard customer information. We maintain policies that require restrictions on access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. Our policies provide that employees who violate these standards are subject to disciplinary measures. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to guard your nonpublic personal information.

Use of Cookies on Our Site

A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on your computer's hard disk so that the website can remember who you are. A cookie will typically contain the name of the domain from which the cookie has come, the "lifetime" of the cookie, and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number.

Two types of cookies may be used on this website, session cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you leave the site, and persistent cookies, which remain in the cookie file of your browser for a stated period of time.

When you visit the Merchants Trust website we send you a cookie. Cookies may be used in the following ways:

To help us recognize you as a unique visitor (just a number) when you return to our website.
To compile anonymous, aggregated statistics that allow us to understand how users use our site and to help us improve the structure of our website. We cannot identify you personally in this way.

Browsers that support cookies include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and most other available Internet browsers. If your browser supports this function, you can enable the acceptance of cookies under the Internet Options category in Internet Explorer. In Netscape this option is found under the preferences category.

How Collected Information Is Used

Merchants Trust Company may use the data collected from e-mails to process your business and to provide you with information on our products, services and other opportunities.

Who Has Access To The Information

Merchants Trust Company uses a password system to limit the access to the collected information to only those employees who need the information to conduct bank business. Merchants Trust Company does not share information about our customers with other companies unless the law requires it. Except when the law requires it, Merchants Trust Company does not provide personal information, names, addresses, e-mail addresses or any other information to outside vendors. Any person accessing this information unlawfully will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Confidential Information

Please do not send confidential information to us via e-mail. E-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication contains sensitive, personal or confidential information like account numbers, credit card numbers, or social security numbers, please call us or use a postal service instead.

If you have questions or concerns with this Privacy Notice or your privacy rights, please stop by or call us toll free: Merchants Trust Company at 800-322-2351.

Customer Safeguarding of Information and Information Privacy Tips

Don't give your social security number or personal credit information over the phone unless you initiate the call.
Tear up receipts, bank statements and unused credit card offers before throwing them away. · Keep an eye out for any missing mail.
Don't mail bills from your own mailbox.
Review your monthly account statements regularly for any unauthorized charges.
Order copies of your credit bureau report once a year to ensure accuracy In Vermont, contact Experian (TRW) Consumer Assistance @ 1-888-397-3742
Choose to do business with companies you know are reputable, particularly online.
When conducting business online make sure your browser's padlock or key icon is active.
Don't open e-mail from unknown sources and use virus detection software.
Protect your PINs (don't carry them in your wallet!) and passwords - use a combination of letters and numbers for your passwords and change periodically.

Report any suspected fraud to your bank and the fraud units of the three credit reporting agencies immediately. The fraud unit numbers are:

Trans Union	(800) 916-8800
Experian (TRW)	(888) 397-3742; Option 2, then Option 3
Equifax	(800) 525-6285

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PREVENT INFORMATION SHARING WITH THIRD PARTIES?

You may request that the Direct Marketing Association delete your name from telephone, mailing and e-mail lists used by their members in marketing products and services to you. Information on these lists is normally obtained from public sources. Your requests last for five years and include all versions of your name in which you currently receive information, your address and your telephone number.

Mail Preference Service at https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/
Or mail to:
Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association,
Attn: Dept 27069984
P.O. Box 282
Carmel, NY 10512, o
Or call 1-888-567-8688, option 2
Phone Preference Service at https://www.dmachoice.org/TPS/
Or contact the Federal Trade Commission’s “Do Not Call” list at 888-382-1222, toll free,
or the web site at http://www.donotcall.gov/

E-mail Preference Service at https://www.dmachoice.org/EMPS/

(rev 02/08)

^ Top ^