2009 Synovus Privacy Policy

Protecting your privacy…our privacy policy.

We care about your privacy, and it’s important to us that you understand what information we collect about you and how it is shared.  The Synovus privacy policy and your choices regarding the disclosure of personal information about you apply to the following companies*:

Athena Service Corporation (Athens, GA)
AFB&T (Athens, GA)
Bank of Coweta (Newnan, GA)
The Bank of Nashville (Nashville, TN)
Bank of North Georgia (Alpharetta, GA)
The Bank of Tuscaloosa (Tuscaloosa, AL)
CB&T Bank of East Alabama (Phenix City, AL)
CB&T Bank of Middle Georgia (Warner Robins, GA)
Citizens First Bank (Rome, GA)
The Coastal Bank of Georgia (Brunswick, GA)
Coastal Bank and Trust, a division of CB&T of Southeast Alabama (Mobile, AL)
Coastal Bank and Trust of Florida (Pensacola, FL)
Cohutta Banking Company (Chattanooga, TN)
Columbus Bank and Trust Company (Columbus, GA)
Columbus Bank and Trust Company dba Synovus Banker’s Bank
Commercial Bank (Thomasville, GA)
Commercial Bank & Trust Company of Troup County (LaGrange, GA)
Community Bank and Trust of Southeast Alabama (Dothan, AL)
First Coast Community Bank (Fernandina Beach, FL)
First Commercial Bank (Birmingham, AL)
First Commercial Bank of Huntsville (Huntsville, AL)
First Community Bank of Tifton (Tifton, GA)
First National Bank of Jasper (Jasper, AL)
First State Bank and Trust Company (Valdosta, GA)
Georgia Bank & Trust (Calhoun, GA)
The National Bank of South Carolina (Columbia, SC)
SB&T Bank (Albany, GA)
Sea Island Bank (Statesboro, GA)
Sterling Bank (Montgomery, AL)
Synovus Bank of Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL)
Synovus Bank (St. Petersburg, FL)
Tallahassee State Bank (Tallahassee, FL)
Trust One Bank (Memphis, TN)
Creative Financial Group, LTD.
GLOBALT, Inc.
Synovus Insurance Services of Alabama, Inc.
Synovus Insurance Services of Florida, Inc.
Synovus Insurance Services of Georgia, Inc.
Synovus Insurance Services of South Carolina, Inc.
Synovus Mortgage Corp.
Synovus Securities, Inc.
Synovus Title, LLC
Synovus Title II, LLC

*Some products and services offered by these companies may be subject to separate privacy policies. This policy will apply to your relationships with the companies unless you are notified otherwise.  

Collecting Information: Categories of Non-Public Information

In the process of serving you, we obtain certain “non-public personal information” -- information about you that is not available publicly.  This information comes to us from a variety of sources:

  • You or someone acting on your behalf, on forms, via the Internet, by telephone or otherwise. Examples of this type of information include your name, address, Social Security number, credit history and other financial information.
  • Transactions with us, our affiliates or with others. For example, your payment histories, account balances, and other transaction records.
  • Credit reporting agencies. For example, information relating to your creditworthiness, your credit score and credit usage.
  • Third parties. For example, to verify information you have given us.


Safeguarding Information

We have incorporated policies and procedures designed to keep any information you provide us safe.  We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that we believe comply with applicable legal and regulatory standards to keep this information private and secure. Whenever we hire other organizations to provide support services that will have access to customer information, we require them to conform to our privacy requirements and to allow us to audit them for compliance. We restrict access to personal information about you to those employees we believe need to know that information to provide products and services to you. 

Sharing Information

We want you to know that we limit the collection and sharing of information to what we believe is necessary to serve you and administer our business. We may share all the information that we collect as described above in the categories of non-public information:

  • As permitted or required by law
  • With companies that perform marketing services on our behalf
  • With related companies listed in this notice for servicing purposes or to meet your needs or deliver added savings or convenience to you 
  • With unrelated companies that may provide you with special offers related to their products and services. 
  • For identification purposes to protect your accounts and guard against unauthorized access 

You may have other privacy rights in some states, such as Vermont and California.  To the extent state laws apply, we will comply with them when we share information about you. 

If at any time you become an inactive customer or close your account(s), we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this notice.  However, we will not send you an annual notice. 

Your Privacy Preferences

If you wish to direct Synovus to stop sharing certain non-public personal information about you with non-affiliated third parties or among our affiliates, please call 1-800-695-0987 (toll free) to opt-out. You will be prompted to select one of the options listed below.

The toll-free telephone number is the only authorized means to inform us of your decision not to share information. Your selection will apply to all Synovus companies listed in this notice. If a joint account customer chooses not to allow disclosure of this information, the decision will apply to the entire joint account. 

If you are comfortable with the Synovus Privacy Policy and your current privacy preferences, you do not need to contact us unless you are establishing a new customer relationship with us. Your previous choice will remain in force until you tell us otherwise.


Option 1:  Directs Synovus not to share non-public personal information with non-affiliated third parties, except as permitted by law.

Choosing this option directs Synovus not to share non-public personal information about you with non-affiliated third parties, except as permitted by law. These exceptions include sharing information within the Synovus family of companies, with companies that perform marketing services on our behalf, other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements, other non-affiliated service providers, and credit reporting agencies to whom we report information on your transactions with us. We will continue to share information in order to service your account.

Option 2:  Directs Synovus not to share certain non-public information about you within the Synovus family of companies, except as permitted by law.

Choosing this option directs Synovus not to share credit information about you within the Synovus family of companies, except as permitted by law. You will continue to receive mailings and advertisements from the Synovus companies with which you do business. Banks and other financial service providers within our Synovus family may share among ourselves the information we collect about your identity, your transactions, or other information within our affiliated family. 

Option 3:  Directs Synovus not to share non-public personal information with non-affiliated third parties or among its affiliates, except as permitted by law.

Choosing this option directs Synovus to limit disclosure of information with outside companies and within the Synovus family of companies as outlined in Options 1 and 2, respectively. 

Option 4:  Allows disclosure of information within the Synovus family and unrelated companies.

Choosing this option allows Synovus to disclose information about you within the Synovus family and with unrelated companies. This will reverse any previous elections you have made to limit disclosure. If you are currently allowing disclosure, there is nothing you need to do.

If you have any questions regarding our privacy policies or procedures, please contact the compliance officer of the Synovus company where you are a customer. 

If you are a customer of more than one Synovus company or if you have multiple accounts with us, you may receive more than one notice.  

*       *       *       *       *

Your Choice to Limit Use of Information for Marketing

The Synovus companies listed in this policy are providing this notice.

You may limit Synovus companies, such as Synovus banking and other affiliates, from marketing their products or services to you based on credit or transaction information about you that they receive from other Synovus companies.  This information includes your account balance, payment history, and your credit history.

However, when you choose this option to limit the use of this information by other Synovus companies to market their products and services to you, your choice does not apply to any Synovus company that has an existing business relationship with you or where the use is otherwise permitted by law.

Your choice to limit such marketing offers from Synovus companies will apply until you tell us to change your choice. If a joint account customer chooses not to allow disclosure of this information, the decision will apply to the entire joint account.

If you have already made a choice to limit such marketing offers from Synovus companies, you do not need to act again.

To limit such marketing offers please call 1-800-695-0987 (toll free).

Effective June 2009. This notice supersedes any previous privacy statement issued. We reserve the right to modify or add to the policy at any time.