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Valley Strong Credit Union (Valley Strong) is dedicated to fostering financial inclusion and community development. This plan focuses on providing equitable access to financial resources for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Introduction
Acknowledging the potential diversity of the linguistic landscape, Valley Strongunderscores the significance of linguistic accessibility. This plan emphasizes our commitment to serving all members of our community, irrespective of language proficiency. The purpose of this Language Access Plan is to make reasonable efforts to eliminate or reduce English proficiency as a barrier to accessing Valley Strong products, services, and programs.

Language Assistance Policy
Valley Strong affirms its commitment to language assistance, ensuring that LEP individuals have equal access to financial services. This commitment aligns with the principles of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, emphasizing nondiscrimination in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

Valley Strong employees shall take reasonable steps to provide LEP individuals with meaningful access to all products, services, and programs offered by Valley Strong.

This procedure is based on the principle that it is the responsibility of Valley Strong and not the LEP person to take reasonable steps to ensure that communications between Valley Strong and the LEP person are not impaired as a result of the limited English proficiency of the individual.

Valley Strong staff shall take reasonable steps to effectively inform the public of the availability of language accessible programs and activities.

Identification of Language Needs
To identify language needs, Valley Strong reviews census data, and reviews our communities and our membership to track language preferences of members. This proactive approach enables us to tailor our language assistance services to the unique needs of our communities.

Language Assistance Services
Valley Strong will provide the following language assistance services, with a primary focus on Spanish:

Translation Services
• ATM transactions are offered in English and Spanish.
• Key development services documents such as financial education materials are primarily in English but can be translated as needed.
• Key documents, such as applications, disclosures, and marketing materials will be translated as needed

Implementation Plan
To seamlessly integrate language assistance services into our operations, Valley Strong will:

Staff Responsibilities
• Designate specific staff members responsible for language assistance services.
• Management will oversee the implementation and maintenance of language services.

Feedback Mechanism
• Establish a system for collecting feedback on language services.
• Regularly assess and improve language assistance efforts based on community input.

Monitoring and Evaluation
Valley Strong will employ regular assessments and feedback analysis to monitor the effectiveness of language assistance services. The results will inform adjustments to the plan to better meet the needs of any LEP persons.

Compliance and Reporting
To ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, Valley Strong will maintain thorough records of language assistance activities and provide timely reports to the CDFI Fund and other regulatory bodies.

Valley Strong is dedicated to promoting financial inclusion through linguistic accessibility, primarily for the Spanish-speaking community. We believe that the successful implementation of this Language Assistance Plan will contribute to building a more inclusive and thriving community.

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Last Updated and Effective: Aug 27, 2026

This Online Privacy and Cookie Notice (“Online Privacy Notice”) describes Valley Strong Credit Union’s online and mobile privacy practices and applies to websites, mobile applications that run on smartphones, tablets, and other devices (“app”), and additional services that we offer which link to this Online Privacy Notice.  

By using this website or our app, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Online Privacy Notice and consent to our online data collection activities as described in this Online Privacy Notice.

The terms “personal information” or “personally identifiable information” used in this Online Privacy Notice refers to information such as your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, Social Security number, or other information that identifies you.  This information may be collected when you voluntarily provide it to us on our website or in our app.  

INFORMATION WE COLLECT ONLINE – AND HOW WE COLLECT IT

You may visit our website to find out about products and services and check rates, without giving us any personal information. We may use software tools and/or "cookies" to track and gather information about your browsing activities in order to analyze usage, target areas for improvement, and create marketing programs to benefit our members or potential members that visit our site. Tracking includes the date and time of visits, pages viewed, time spent on our site, browser types, IP address, and the site visited just before and just after our site. We may also track browsing activities of members who have accounts with us and who use online banking services. As part of our security procedures for members using our online banking to conduct account inquiries and transactions, we require personally identifiable information such as a login identification (login ID) and password.  We may use a cookie to authenticate your request.

1) Use of Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies

The use of cookies and similar tracking technologies (including pixels or clear GIFs, tags, and web beacons) is a common internet practice.  Cookies are small text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer, smartphone, tablet or other mobile device when you visit a website.  Cookies are useful in a number of ways, including allowing a site or mobile app you use to recognize your device, save your settings on a site or mobile app, facilitate navigation, display information more effectively and to personalize the user’s experience. Cookies are also used to gather statistical information about how sites and mobile apps are used in order to continually improve design and functionality and assist with resolving questions regarding the sites and mobile apps.

a. Attributes of Cookies

Cookies set by us are called first-party cookies. We may also have third-party cookies, which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting, for our advertising and marketing efforts. There can be first-party and/or third-party cookies within any of the below Categories of Cookies. 

Cookies have a duration period. Cookies that expire at the end of a browser session are called “session” cookies. Cookies that are stored longer are called “persistent” cookies. There can be session and/or persistent cookies within any of the below Categories of Cookies.  Persistent cookies are stored on your system and can be accessed again for multiple visits. Persistent cookies usually have an expiration date and will be automatically deleted from your system at that time. 

b. Categories of Cookies

Below is a list of the types of cookies that may be used on our website and mobile app. We classify cookies into the following categories:

Essential Cookies. These cookies are necessary for our website and mobile app to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. Without these cookies, the website and mobile app will not work properly. As the name implies, they are essential to the functionality of our website and mobile app.  For example, an essential cookie may be used to prevent users from having to log in each time they visit a new page in the same session.  You may be able to set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but that will cause some parts of the site or app to not work.

Preferences and Function Cookies.  These cookies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of a website but are not essential to its use.  However, without these cookies, certain functions (like videos) may become unavailable.  

Analytics Cookies. Analytics cookies enable us to measure and improve the performance of our website and mobile app. These cookies collect information about how visitors use a site and mobile app, for instance, which pages visitors go to most often and if they get error messages. 

Advertising. Marketing cookies are used to deliver advertisements that may be relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They are usually placed through our sites and mobile app by our advertising partners and remember that you have visited a site or mobile app. This information may be shared with other organizations such as advertisers.

Unclassified.  Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies. 

c. How to Control and Delete Cookies 

1. Using Your Browser 

Many of the cookies used on our website can be enabled or disabled through our consent tool or by disabling the cookies through your browser. To disable cookies through your browser, follow the instructions usually located within the “Help,” “Tools” or “Edit” menus in your browser. Please note that disabling a cookie or category of cookies does not delete the cookie from your browser unless manually completed through your browser function.

A growing number of browsers are adopting Global Privacy Control (“GPC”), which is a technical specification for transmitting universal opt-out signal that communicates a consumer’s choice to opt-out of the sale or sharing of their personal information for behavioral advertising.  Where required to do so under applicable law, our website will honor GPC signals.

2. Using Your Mobile Device

Some mobile devices come with a non-permanent advertising identifier or ID which gives companies the ability to serve targeted ads to a specific mobile device. In many cases, you can turn off mobile device ad tracking or you can reset the advertising identifier at any time within your mobile device privacy settings. You may also choose to turn off location tracking on your mobile device. By turning off ad tracking or location tracking on your mobile device, you may still see the same number of ads as before, but they may be less relevant because they will not be based on your interests. 

3. Online Advertising & Cross Context Behavioral Advertising

You may see advertisements when you use many of our online services. These advertisements may be for our own products or services (including pre-screened offers of credit) or for products and services offered by third parties. Which advertisements you see is often determined using the information we or our affiliates, service providers and other companies that we work with have about you, including information about your relationships with us (e.g., types of accounts held, transactional information, location of banking activity). To that end, where permitted by applicable law, we may share with others the information we collect from and about you.

Cross-context behavioral advertising refers to the targeting of advertising to a consumer based on the consumer’s personal information obtained from the consumer’s activity across businesses, distinctly branded websites, applications, or services, other than the business, distinctly branded website, application, or service with which the consumer intentionally interacts. Through this type of advertising, we hope to deliver advertisements that are most likely to be of interest to you using information about your other web-browsing activities (e.g., the web pages you visit, search terms you enter, and the way you move through our online services on your computer or device) or your personal profile (e.g., demographic or location information). Certain companies we work with may set cookies and use related tracking technologies, such as the clear GIFs discussed above, throughout our online services or in our communications to support these advertising efforts.

If you do not want us to share your information with companies we work with for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes, you can opt-out by:

• Clicking on the following links: Google Ad Center, Facebook Ad Preferences.

• If you are a California resident, you may also opt-out through the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link on the homepage of our website.

Please note that even if you opt out, you may still receive advertisements from us; they just won’t be customized based on your web-browsing activities on third-party websites.

4. Third Party Website Cookies That We Cannot Control

When using our website, you may be directed to other websites for such activities as surveys, completing job applications, and to view content hosted on those sites such as an embedded video or news article.  These websites may use their own cookies.  We do not have control over the placement of cookies by other websites you visit, even if you are directed to them from our website.  

2) Location Data

When allowed by you, our app collects your location data to provide you with location-based services, such as identifying branches and ATMs near you, and location-based messages and offers.  We also collect location data to help with fraud detection.

Opting out of location tracking.  If you do not want us to collect location services, you may decline the collection of your location when prompted or adjust the location services settings on your device.  Please note, however, that if you withdraw your consent to our collection of location information, you may no longer be able to use some features of the app.

3) IP Addresses

If you log on to online banking, you pass through a "firewall" used for security purposes and the Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the computer you are using may be identified. The IP address does not identify you personally. In certain instances, it may also obtain other information about your computer to better identify you as an online user. This information may be retained in case it is needed for security or protection of member information.

4) Social Media.  

We may collect information, such as your likes, interests, feedback, and preferences when you interact with our official pages on social media websites such as Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn or from our social media partners (but only if you choose to share with them and they, in turn, share that information with us). Please refer to the policies of those companies to better understand your rights and obligations with regard to your activity on those websites.

5) Contact Information and Images

With your permission, our app may be granted access to your phonebook or contact information in your mobile device to provide various features like Zelle Payments.  We will only disclose this information as necessary to enable such features and to comply with federal, state, or local laws, or other legal requirements.

Our app may request access to your camera for you to be able to use our remote deposit capture service.  The front and back pictures of the checks you sent will only be used for our remote deposit capture service.  Such images will only be accessible by us and our service providers that help enable our remote deposit capture service.  We will only disclose the check photos to third parties if necessary to process your remote deposit and to comply with federal, state, or local laws, or other legal requirements.

Additionally, if you are applying for membership on our website, we may ask you to upload a copy of your government issued identification card for us to comply with our regulatory requirements.   We will only use this information to open your account and disclose this information to third parties as necessary to process your membership application and to comply with federal, state, or local laws, or other legal requirements.

HOW WE USE AND SHARE INFORMATION WE COLLECT 

We do not and will not sell your personal information. We share your information as required to meet legal and regulatory obligations. We share your personal information that you have provide to us in connection with applying for membership and/or financial products with us (“personally identifiable financial information”) with affiliates and third parties in accordance with the practices set forth in the U.S. Consumer Privacy Notice.  

With respect to other information that we collect from you online, which includes personal information as well as online activity data that does not personally identify you or your household, we use such information for a variety of reasons, including:

• to present our website and its contents to you;

• to enable you to use online tools or perform certain online transactions;

• to service and manage your account, including responding to or updating you on inquiries, or to contact you about your accounts or feedback;

• to offer you special products and services and deliver advertisements to you in the form of banner ads, interstitial pages (ads that appear as you sign in or sign out of your online accounts) or other promotions;

• to analyze whether our ads, promotions, and offers are effective;

• to help us determine whether you might be interested in new products or services, and to improve existing products and services;

• to verify your identity and/or location to allow access to your accounts and conduct online transactions;

• to manage fraud and data security risk;

• to personalize and optimize your website browsing and app experiences by examining which parts of our website you visit or which aspect of our apps you find most useful;

• to comply with federal, state or local laws; civil, criminal or regulatory investigations; or other legal requirements;

• to share with trusted third parties who are contractually obligated to keep such information confidential; and 

• to use it only to provide the services we have asked them to perform.  

We disclose your personal information and non-personally identifiable online activity data to third parties for our business purposes.  The general categories of third parties that we share with are as follows:  

• our third-party service providers;

• other companies to bring you co-branded services, products or programs;

• third parties that help us advertise our products or services;

• third parties to whom you or your agents authorize us to disclose your personal information in connection with products or services we provide to you;

• third parties or affiliates in connection with a corporate transaction, such as a sale, consolidation or merger of our company or affiliated business; and

• other third parties to comply with legal requirements such as the demands of applicable subpoenas and court orders; to verify or enforce our terms of use, our other rights, or other applicable policies; to address fraud, security or technical issues; to respond to an emergency; or otherwise, to protect the rights, property or security of our customers or third parties.

MISCELLANEOUS

Communicating Via Chat Features

We have partnered with Salesforce to offer a Chat feature on online banking, mobile banking, online account opening application and on our website. All content and data provided during your Chat session, including interactions, communications, images, videos and audio may be monitored, recorded, transcribed, and/or received by us, Salesforce, and its respective service providers for training, quality control, analytics, and other lawful purposes. Your use of the Chat feature constitutes your consent to such monitoring, recording and transcription. We will use your information in ways that are described in this Consumer Privacy Policy. We have contractually limited Salesforce’s use of information they receive from us that identifies you to only those purposes necessary to perform their services under our agreement with them. However, we are not responsible for Salesforce’s privacy policy and practices. Salesforce’s privacy policy is available at (Salesforce Privacy Information | Salesforce). If such link does not work, please contact us for assistance, or you may contact Salesforce directly for assistance.

Information Collected While Using Zelle: While using Zelle®, to use the QR Code feature, with your prior permission, Valley Strong Credit Union may collect or access pictures and other information from your device’s Contacts, Camera, and Photos. Any information collected is used to provide features of the Zelle® service and/or to improve and customize the user experience. The information may be uploaded to our servers, or it may be simply stored on your device. You can enable or disable access to this information at any time through your device settings. 

Security: Protecting the confidentiality and security of your personal and financial information is our highest priority. We value your trust, and we understand that handling your financial information with care is one of our most important responsibilities. Our policies, procedures, and protections are always evolving to adapt to new strategies used by fraudsters. Our security measures include ensuring that our websites, online services, online banking, mobile banking, and online applications are hosted on secure servers, have SSL certificates, device safeguards, and secured files and buildings, as well as oversight of our third-party service providers that have access to your personal information and limiting our employees’ access to your personal information on a need to know basis. 

Updating Your Personal Information: Keeping your account information up-to-date is important.  You can access and/or update your personal information in connection with your account or application by logging on to your account online or by contacting us.

Service Providers on the Internet: Occasionally you will notice on our website that services are "Powered by" or "Provided by" content providers or technology service partners. We contract with these vendors to help serve you better. Please note that your personal information collected on such sites will be subject to the privacy practices and policies of such content or service providers.  You should review their privacy policies and practices before deciding to disclose your personal information on such sites.  

Co-branded and Alliance Relationships - We have established relationships with other parties on the internet. These other companies are accessed either through the use of, or by offering "co-branded" sites in which both Valley Strong Credit Union and the other company share the same URL, domain name or pages within a domain name on the internet and the names or logos of both companies are displayed. Generally, we do not own the co-branded sites and therefore do not control how those companies use any information supplied to them. It's important that you review their privacy policy to understand how they manage any information you supply them. 

Protecting Children's Privacy - We respect the privacy of children and comply with the practices established under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We do not knowingly collect or retain personally identifiable information from consumers under the age of thirteen. For more information about COPPA please visit the Federal Trade Commission website.

What You Can Do to Help Protect Your Information - We are committed to protecting your privacy. We suggest you follow these guidelines:

• Protect your account numbers, card numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), and Passwords. Never keep your PIN with your debit or credit card which would provide freeaccess to your accounts if your card is lost or stolen.

• Use caution when disclosing your account numbers, social security numbers, and other confidential information to other persons. If someone calls you, explains the call is on behalf of Valley Strong Credit Union and asks for your account number, you should beware. Valley Strong Credit Union staff will have access to your information and will not need to ask for it.

• It is important that we have your current information so we may reach you. If we detectpotentially fraudulent or unauthorized activity or use of any account, we will attempt to contact you immediately. If your address, phone number or email changes, please let usknow.

Linking to Other Websites: Our websites, online services, online or mobile banking may contain links to third party websites. Although these links were established to provide you with access to useful information, we do not control and are not responsible for any of these websites or their contents. We do not know or control what information third-party websites may collect regarding your personal information. We provide these links to you only as a convenience, and we do not endorse or make any representations about using such third-party websites or any information, software or other products or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from our websites so that you can understand how those websites collect, use, and share your information. We are not responsible for the security or privacy practices of the linked websites.

Data Retention: We may retain your personal information and online activity data even if you decide to terminate your membership with us, close your accounts with us, and/or delete our app or cease use of our websites based on the following: 

• Laws and regulations. We are a regulated financial institution that is subject to laws and regulations governing our retention of information pertaining to our members, applicants for credit union membership, loans and other financial products and services. We are also an employer and, thus, we are subject to labor laws governing how long we must retain information about applicants for employment and current and former employees. Therefore, applicable laws and regulations will govern how long we retain information pertaining to you. 

• Fraud Prevention and Security. We will retain information that we need for fraud prevention and security purposes. 

• Contracts We will retain information for as long as necessary to comply with our contractual obligations to you, our service providers, and other third parties, as permitted by law. 

• Legal Claims and Defenses. We may retain information for such a period as necessary or advisable to preserve legal claims and defenses.

Updates to this Policy: From time to time, we may change this Online Privacy Notice. The effective date of this Policy, as indicated above, reflects the last time this Online Privacy Notice was revised. Any changes to this Online Privacy Notice will become effective when we post the revised Policy on our website. Your use of our websites, online services, or online or mobile banking following these changes means that you accept the revised Policy.

Contact Information: If you have any questions or comments about this Online Privacy Notice, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Phone: (800) 221-3311
Website: www.valleystrong.com
Mail: Valley Strong Credit Union
Attn: Central Operations
P. O. Box 9506
Bakersfield, CA 93389-9506

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