Introduction

Farm Credit Bank of Texas (“FCBT,” “The Bank,” or “we,” etc.) has been a trusted name in rural communities for more than a century. Farm Credit Bank of Texas is part of the U.S Federal Farm Credit System. It facilitates lending and provides support to 13 Farm Credit Associations (“Associations”) within its district. The Associations we work with are listed below. We're proud to be a leading source of credit and financial services for agricultural producers, rural landowners and agribusiness. Other lenders may lend to agriculture only when it’s easy, but financing rural communities is all we do.

Our District Associations

AgTexas Farm Credit Services | AgTrust, ACA | Alabama Ag Credit, ACA
Alabama Farm Credit, ACA | Capital Farm Credit, ACA
Central Texas Farm Credit, ACA | Heritage Land Bank, ACA
Legacy Ag Credit, ACA | Louisiana Land Bank, ACA | Mississippi Land Bank, ACA
Plains Land Bank FLCA | Southern AgCredit, ACA | Texas Farm Credit Services, ACA

Empowering Rural America with Ethics and Integrity

The Bank and its directors, officers, and employees have committed to conduct business in accordance with the highest ethical standards and compliance with the law (learn more about our ethics and compliance policy and practices). As part of meeting these ethical standards, we have implemented the practices detailed in this Privacy Notice, which describe how we handle your personal information.

Our Websites

This Privacy Notice describes the types of personal information the Bank may collect about you through our websites, https://www.farmcreditbank.com/ and https://www.findfarmcredit.com/ (collectively the “Websites”), through the website(s) operated by third-parties to post open positions at the Bank or the Associations and to collect job applicant information (as described below), or offline, and how we may use or share it. This Privacy Notice also does not apply to the privacy practices of any of the Associations nor does it apply to any website, mobile app, service or product that does not display or link to this Privacy Notice or that contains its own privacy statement. For information about the privacy practices of a particular Association, please visit its website.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your personal information and how we secure it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Websites or services. By accessing or using our Websites or services, you agree to this Privacy Notice and you consent that we will collect, use and share your personal information as disclosed in this Privacy Notice. We will review and update this Privacy Notice, as needed, at least once every 12 months. Your continued use of our Websites or services after we make changes is deemed to be your acceptance of those changes, so please be sure to check this Privacy Notice periodically for updates.

Please note that we may act as a service provider to the Associations. Where we do, we follow the instructions of the relevant Association and its privacy practices will govern the collection, use, sharing and security of your personal information entrusted to that Association. We encourage you to review the privacy practices of the relevant Association for more information on their data handling practices.

Collecting Personal Information

We collect personal information in different ways. One way is directly through the Websites, such as when you complete our “Contact Us” form. We also use automated technologies that collect certain data (including personal information) as you use the Websites. Except as noted in this Privacy Notice, we do not collect personal information directly from individual borrowers – that information is collected directly by the applicable Association and may be shared with us in accordance with the Association’s privacy notice.

We collect personal information when you provide it.

You may provide personal information when making an inquiry through the Websites, using a form (like “Contact Us”) or otherwise interacting online and offline with us (via social media, email, phone, and even postal mail).

During the Course of Business. The Bank’s team members may receive personal information directly from you when you provide it, such as when we meet you at an event and you provide the team member with your business card or contact details. The type of information we collect during the course of business may include information such as your name, email, phone number and job title.

Finding a Lender. If you use our Websites to locate a lender near you, we may collect personal information about you, including your address, county, or postal code. This personal information is only used to provide you with contact details for a local lender and is not retained by the Bank.

Webforms. If you have a question or wish to contact us, and you complete a webform, we may receive the personal information you provide, such as name, company name, phone, email address, and mailing address. We will use this information to respond to your question or to address your concern.

Filing an Ethics and Compliance Report. Ethics and compliance are very important to us and essential to maintaining the integrity of our business. Questions or concerns related to ethics or compliance may be filed through our third-party provider. Any personal information submitted through our compliance line – which may include name, phone number, email address, and substantive report information – will be provided to us.

Careers. At Farm Credit Bank of Texas, we believe that people make the difference. We welcome diversity and encourage innovation. We reward hard work, excellent performance, and outstanding service. And we value every employee's contribution to reach our goals. If you would like to apply for a job with the Bank, you can access open opportunities on the Websites. As part of the services we provide to our Associations, we also include a list of open positions at each one. Please note that we use third-party providers to display information about open positions and to collect applicant information on our behalf. Information that may be provided to these third parties includes name, email, mailing address, level of education, age and professional qualifications, including, where you choose, a copy of your resume.

Social Media. We may collect information about you from other third parties, such as social networks, when you “share” information via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, or use other social media “like” buttons or plug-ins. Please note that when you share information, you are doing so subject to the privacy practices of those social media providers.

Software Applications. The Bank also provides Associations with certain software technologies, such as software applications (“Apps”) that may be used by an Association’s borrowers. Any personal information collected within any App is governed by and subject to the privacy practices of the applicable Association, rather than the Bank.

We will not collect information from individuals under 16 without parental consent.

Our Websites are not intended for individuals under 16 years of age. We support members of 4-H and FFA, but we require parental consent before collecting personal information from anyone younger than 16. If you are younger than 16, do not provide any information on the Websites or through any of their features. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from anyone younger than 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16 without parental consent, please contact us by email to privacy@FarmCreditBank.com or by mail to Farm Credit Bank of Texas, Attention: Privacy Office, P.O. Box 202590, Austin, TX 78720-2590.

We use automated collection mechanisms.

We use automated technologies to collect information from visitors to our Websites. This sometimes includes personal information.

We use automated collection technologies – such as cookies, beacons, tags, pixels and scripts – to analyze trends, understand the effectiveness of our communications to the District, administer the Websites, and track users’ movements around the Websites. We use these technologies to gather demographic information about our user base as individuals and in the aggregate. In some cases we may use service providers to help us gather and analyze this information for us. Please visit our Cookie Notice to learn more about the Cookies we use.

We may collect personal information from third parties.

We may receive information about you from other sources, including from the Associations, third-party contractors, or vendors. This helps us comply with our legal obligations, update, expand, and analyze our records, identify borrowers, and provide information about products and services that may be of interest to you. The information external sources provide may include name, contact details (email and phone number), loan information and credit reporting information.

We also contract with certain vendors to provide us with Web-based services that include email delivery; these services may collect click through data including whether you opened an email and clicked on any content in that email and then share that information with us. These vendors may only use the directly identifying information (for example, email address) for the service they are providing and not for their own marketing purposes.

Do-not-track requests.

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” setting. Generally, when a user turns on the Do Not Track Signal, their browser sends a message to websites requesting that the user not be tracked. Our websites and services currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals.

Using Personal Information

Being transparent about how we use personal information is important to us because we know it’s important to you. We do not and will not sell, rent, lease, or trade your personal information. In addition, we do not disclose your personal information, other than as outlined in this Privacy Notice.

Here are ways we use personal information at Farm Credit Bank of Texas:

• To provide access to our Websites, including maintaining its security and integrity.
• To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information.
• To facilitate future communications with you.
• To process your requests and transactions and prevent fraud.
• To provide you with support and respond to inquiries, questions, feedback, or other content you have elected to provide.
• To provide marketing information regarding Website and product updates, special promotions, etc.
• To conduct reviews of our Websites and to help us understand how you use it. That way, we can tailor our product offerings and marketing promotions to make your experience more enjoyable and convenient.
• To comply with legal and regulatory requirements applicable to our business and internal policies for maintaining records.
• To comply with court orders and legal process, and to enforce our terms of use and this Privacy Notice.
• For the purpose of facilitating lending in the ordinary course of Bank business.
• For any other legal, business, or marketing purposes that comply with the practices described in this Privacy Notice.
• As described to you when collecting your personal information.

Sharing Personal Information

We understand you may want to know more about how and when we share your personal information. This section provides detail on how we share information once we collect it based on our collection practices explained above. Please note that we require any third party we share your personal information with, to protect that information consistent with this policy and applicable law, and to limit their use of that information to performing the service they provide to us.

We will not sell your personal information.

The personal information we collect is not and will not be sold. In addition, the personal information we collect will not be rented or traded to third parties for their own marketing purposes. When you trust us with your personal information, we intend to honor that by adhering to the practices and protections detailed in this Privacy Notice.

We may share your personal information with Associations or other financial institutions with which we do business.

We may share your personal information with the Associations or other financial institutions in three ways. First, when you ask us to – for example, by submitting a webform asking us to provide information to an Association in your region. Second, we may share personal information with Associations where we are engaged as a service provider for that Association. Third, we may share your information with the Associations or other financial institutions in order to facilitate funding. In each case we share personal information as is necessary to achieve the business transaction. Typically, the categories of information we share are your contact details, financial information, commercial information and professional details.

We may share your personal information with our vendors.

We may share certain personal information with third-party service providers who help us operate and support the Websites, perform Website analytics, design marketing or consulting services, process employment applications, or help us prepare and distribute business and marketing communications. As noted previously, in some cases we provide support services to the Associations. Where we do, we may share personal information collected by an Association and disclosed to the Bank (pursuant to the Association’s privacy policy) with other third-party service providers in order to fulfil our legal obligations to that Association. Should you have questions about a particular Association’s data handling practices, please review their privacy policy.

Our vendors help with Website analytics.

As many companies do, Farm Credit Bank uses Google Analytics to study how people interact with our Websites. To learn more about Google's privacy practices, visit Google's Privacy & Terms at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. Farm Credit Bank occasionally may use other analytics providers. These third parties may combine your information with the information of other individuals for analytics purposes. Some analytics providers use cookies, and you may opt out of those cookies by visiting https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout to manage your cookie preferences.

If you make a public post, others may see it.

Your personal information may be publicly available if you identify us in your social media pages or on various social media platforms by tagging us using a hashtag (#) or “at” (@) indicator. Your personal information also may be publicly available if you make a post on a social media site on a page we maintain. We maintain Farm Credit Bank social media pages on the following sites:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FarmCreditBankOfTexas/
• Twitter at https://twitter.com/FindFarmCredit
• LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/farmcreditbankoftexas
• Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/farmcreditbankoftexas/
• Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/farmcreditbank/

When you use a social media site, your personal information is subject to the privacy policies of those sites. However, once your personal information is in our possession, we will treat it in accordance with this Privacy Notice. We strongly recommend you review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit to understand the data collection and use practices of that third party.

Business successors may access information.

This paragraph describes what may happen to your personal information if our business structure or ownership changes. In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or other sale of all or a portion of our assets, any customer information owned or controlled by us may be among the assets transferred to third parties as successors in interest. As part of these types of transactions, we reserve the right to transfer or assign your personal information to third parties. Other than to the extent ordered by a bankruptcy or other court, or as otherwise agreed to by you, the use and disclosure of all transferred customer information will be subject to this Privacy Notice.

We need to comply with legal requirements.

We may disclose your information to government authorities or other third parties if any lawful circumstance arises, including when:

• You have given us permission to share your information;
• We are required to do so by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order;
• We believe in our sole discretion that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect against fraud, or to protect our property or other rights, or those of other individuals visiting the Websites, third parties or the public at large; or
• We believe that you have misused the Website by using it to attack or gain unauthorized access to a system or to engage in spamming or other conduct that violates applicable laws or any terms of use.

Security

Securing your personal information is essential. We have implemented reasonable, appropriate, industry-accepted administrative, physical, and technology-based security measures to protect against loss, misuse, and alteration of personal information in our systems. We also ensure that any employee, contractor, or vendor who has access to personal information in our systems is subject to contractual and professional obligations to safeguard that personal information.

As part of our commitment to securing the information provided by Website visitors and customers, we will store personal information for so long as we have a legal reason to hold it. We use firewalls and encryption to restrict access from third parties unless explicitly authorized by us.

We are also committed to protecting your information off-line. Only personnel who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. We have policies and procedures in place to govern the proper handling of information and train our employees on their responsibility to protect personal information.

While we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or form of electronic storage is 100 percent secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Security questions or concerns.

If you have questions or concerns about the security details in this Privacy Notice, please send an email to privacy@FarmCreditBank.com.

How to manage your personal information

This section provides information on how you can manage your personal information.

Accessing, correcting or updating your personal information.

If you want to review or update personal information you have provided to an Association, please contact that Association directly. If you want to access, update or correct personal information you have provided directly to Farm Credit Bank of Texas, please email us at privacy@FarmCreditBank.com. Please put “Update My Information” in the subject line and include details related to your request. Where we have collected your personal information as a service provider to an Association, we will direct you to the particular Association to submit your request. Otherwise, we will respond directly.

Opting out.

If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, including our e-newsletters, you may follow the unsubscribe process at the bottom of the promotional e-mail you receive or by emailing us at privacy@FarmCreditBank.com with “Opt Me Out” in the subject line. You may still receive transactional e-mails from us (e.g., e-mails related to webforms you have submitted, correction of your personal information, password reset requests, or any other similar communications essential to your transactions on the Websites or use of our products) that may be necessary to make the Websites available to you, or for us to respond to your inquiries.

Your opt-out will be managed through the use of cookies, so if you delete these cookies or use a different Internet browser or computer, you will have to make this same election again.

California Consumer Rights.

California Civil Code § 1798.83 permits users of our website who are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure, if any, of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to privacy@farmcreditbank.com.

Identity Verification Requirement.

The law requires us to verify that any request for access to personal information, or any other right legally granted in relation to personal information, is made by someone with the legal authority to make the request or access the information. Before accessing or disclosing information to an individual, we may request additional information so we can verify your identity and legal authority.

To make a request, please contact us at privacy@FarmCreditBank.com with “Personal Information Request” in the subject line and provide full details relevant to your request, including your contact information. Please note that in either instance, we may need additional information from you or require that you take additional steps to validate your identity. We will provide a response to an access request within the timeframe required by applicable law. If we cannot substantively respond in a timely manner, we will notify you with the reason for the delay.

Under certain circumstances (depending on applicable law), we may not be able to fulfill your request, such as when doing so would interfere with our regulatory or legal obligations, when we cannot verify your identity, if your request involves disproportionate cost or effort, or we have a legal right to do so. But we will respond within a reasonable time and as required by law, and provide an explanation.

Updates to this Privacy Notice

Any updates or changes to this Privacy Notice will be posted to this Privacy Notice, the home page, or any other places we feel are appropriate, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under which circumstances we share it. We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Notice at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by e-mail, or by means of a notice on our home page before the change becomes effective.

Contact Us

If you have questions about the way we handle personal information, please contact us:

Farm Credit Bank of Texas

HEADQUARTERS
4801 Plaza on the Lake Drive
Austin, TX 78731

MAILING ADDRESS
P.O. Box 202590
Austin, TX 78720-2590
Attention: Privacy Office

Email: privacy@FarmCreditBank.com
Phone: (512) 465-0400

Last reviewed: April 2023