Principality is committed to protecting your privacy and keeping
your personal information secure. This policy does not extend to
external websites accessed from this site —including those of other
members of the Principality Building Society Group. Please read the
terms and conditions of any other sites separately.
It is equally important that you take steps to
protect yourself against all forms of financial crime. Please take
some time to read the rest of this section for some helpful advice
on what you can do to protect yourself.
Keeping your personal information secure
- Ensure that the equipment you are using to access our online
services cannot be overlooked by another person (much as you would
do whilst entering your PIN into an ATM).
- When you have completed your transaction or wish to take a
break, log-off the service and close down your Internet
browser.
- It is best not to use a public computer to access your online
accounts because you cannot be certain that the public computer is
secure for example - it may be infected with a virus that will try
to collect your password or other personal information.
- Using an email account that is not shared with other family
members will help keep your communications confidential.
How to protect yourself
- Personal firewall software can detect and
block abnormal network activity directed at your computer. This
activity is usually automated, and as soon as an insecure computer
is found it will become a target. “Always-on” Internet connections
(Broadband) are most at risk from malicious scanning.
- Anti-virus software can help to detect
viruses. There are 2 main varieties - one type is dependent on the
updating of its database of known viruses and the other type (known
as "heuristic") is not. If you do not keep anti-virus software
up-to-date then it will soon become useless; update it every time
you go on-line.
- E-mail content filters can help reduce
malicious software, in the form of infected file attachments. Do
not open or reply to any e-mail unless you are certain of its
source, and you trust it. The Delete key is the best way to deal
with suspicious e-mail, once deleted empty your waste bin to help
totally remove it from your computer system.
- Internet website filters can help to block
access to offensive web sites and prevent spyware from being
installed. Viruses can be downloaded from web sites often
accidentally and unknowingly, these have been known to change a
dial-up modem's telephone number so that your Internet connection
becomes premium-rate.
Using passwords
Never use the same passwords for your online accounts that you
use elsewhere. Do not disclose your password to anyone else or
write it down.
Cookies
The popular rumours about web cookies describe them as programs
that can scan your hard drive and gather information about you
including: passwords, credit card numbers, and a list of the
software on your computer. None of this is close to the truth. A
cookie is a short piece of data, not code, which is sent from a web
server to a web browser when that browser visits the server's
site.
When you visit our website we send you a cookie. Cookies may be
used in the following ways:
- to help us recognise you as a unique visitor (just a
number) when you return to our website and;
- 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.
The cookie is stored on the user's machine, but it is not an
executable program and cannot do anything to your machine.
How internet cookies work an how to delete them; watch how to do
this at About.com by clicking on the following link:
How cookies work and how to delete them
Email Phishing Scams
You should note that ordinary email is not secure. Please do not
send us any confidential information via email.
You may well receive emails that look like they've come from
Principality and ask you to disclose all of your security
information. Don't: These are probably from criminals
looking to steal your money
The people responsible for these 'Phishing' emails send the same
message to as many email addresses as they can find. They don't
know your personal security details - the aim of the email is to
get them.
From time to time Principality may communicate with you by
email. Where we can, we'll include some more information about you,
such as your name to prove our email is a genuine communication. If
you receive an email asking you to 'verify your account, 'confirm
your sign-in details', or a similarly worded request, it's
certainly a scam.
Usually the links contained in these 'Phishing' emails will
direct you to a site that asks you to'update' or 'verify' your
details on the page. Be Warned- these can appear
to be genuine. Don't click on these links or provide any of your
security details.
Genuine emails from Principality may contain links, but
they'll never take you directly to the Online banking log-in
page
If you're ever in doubt about whether an email is genuine, don't
click on its link or open any attachments. Please forward it to us
at Phishing@Principality.co.uk
We will investigate every email and ensure that bogus websites
are closed down as quickly as possible.
We will never ask you to disclose any of your
personal information or security details by email
Trojans
A trojan is a malicious file, usually disguised as something
useful, but when activated, can cause loss, damage or even theft of
data.
The critical difference between a Trojan and a virus is that a
Trojan cannot replicate itself. The only way that it can spread is
if you help it, typically by opening an email attachment or
downloading from the internet.
Once you open this file, the Trojan goes to work destroying your
computer's functionality - possibly recording your logging-in
details. A good line of defence is not to accept files from someone
you don't know, and if you have any doubts, then do not open the
file.
Identity Theft
Identity theft occurs when someone's personal information is
used by someone else without their permission or knowledge
A person's identity is a valuable commodity and criminals have
become ever more ingenious in their quest to get hold of a
convincing false identity. A criminal does not need to obtain a
person's whole identity to commit fraud; they may only need the key
elements such as name, address and date of birth. This may then be
used to support criminal activity, involving fraud, deception, or
obtaining benefits and services in the person's name.
CIFAS - Protective Registration Service
If you have been the victim of identity theft or your personal
identification documents have been stolen, there is a risk they
could be used by a criminal to obtain credit or other products and
services fraudulently in your name. For an administration fee of
£14.10 (£12 plus £2.10 VAT) CIFAS offers a service, provided on
their behalf by Equifax, to protect your name and address from
being misused in this way.
To register or for more information write to:
CIFAS Protective Registration,
Capital House,
e-State,
Bankhead Crossway South,
Edinburgh,
EH11 4EP
Alternatively you can telephone: 0330 1000 180, email: Protective.registration@cifas.org.uk
or download a form from www.cifas.org.uk
More advice
The following links may be useful, but Principality does not
specifically endorse any of the advice offered, or products offered
or sold on these sites:
Your Queries
If you have any queries regarding privacy issues, then email us
at: enquiries@principality.co.uk.
To ensure that we carry out your instructions accurately, to help
Principality to continually improve its service and in the interest
of security, we monitor and record your telephone calls.
Call us Direct
Customer Contact Centre
0845 045 0006
Lines open 8am-8pm weekdays (9.30am-8pm Wednesdays) and 9am-1pm
Saturdays.
Postal Address
Customer Contact Centre
Principality Building Society
PO Box 89, Queen Street
Cardiff CF10 1UA
Disclaimer
Principality is not responsible for the accuracy or content of web
sites of other providers which may have links from this website. In
creating hypertext links to any other website, Principality is not
recommending these websites or giving any assurances as to their
standing