Protecting clients' personal information
Protecting your personal information
The relationship between you and Edward Jones is built on trust. We realize that a critical part of this trust involves protecting your personal information. Edward Jones takes this responsibility seriously – and you play an important role in protecting your information, too.
What Edward Jones does
- Personal service – Your financial advisor and branch office administrator know you and the activity taking place in your Edward Jones accounts. This personal service helps to protect your financial information.
- Privacy – We share your personal information only with companies with which we have a relationship, in order to better enhance your Edward Jones experience. We do not sell or provide your information to allow other companies to market their products to you. For more information on our privacy practices, visit www.edwardjones.com/privacy.
- Screening process – We perform extensive evaluations of companies with which we share our clients’ personal information.
- Fraud prevention – We implement industry standard firewalls, encryption and detection capabilities.
- System tests – We test our security systems regularly and take necessary steps to address potential issues.
- Expert assistance – We consult with security firms to identify potential vulnerabilities.
- Security training – Our employees train continually on how to safeguard client information.
Steps you should take
- Passwords – Don’t use the same password for all your online accounts. Choose hard-to-guess passwords, and change them periodically. Don’t share them with others or post them where others can see.
- Anti-virus software – Make sure you have anti-virus and anti-malware software, and keep it up-to-date.
- Websites – Scam artists are very good at creating authentic-looking websites. Make sure the site you visit is legitimate – check to see that contact information is present and the phone number actually goes to the company in question. Before sharing personal information online, look for “https” at the beginning of the URL to ensure the site is secure.
- Public computers – Be wary of accessing your financial information from a computer in a public place, such as the library. Someone may have installed malicious software that can capture the websites you visit as well as any user IDs or passwords.
- Unprotected networks – You should also avoid accessing sensitive information when using unprotected or unsecured Wi-Fi networks – such as those available in public places – even when using your own computer, tablet or mobile device.
- Awareness – Staying informed about your accounts and investments is key to identifying possible breaches. Be sure to read your statements and other communication from Edward Jones and log on to Online Access regularly.
- If you're enrolled in online access, consider using two-step authentication. Each time you log in, your identity will be verified with a unique code sent by text or by answering security questions.
- You can also choose to enable security alerts. Each time you change your password, email, or User ID, you will be notified via text. If your User ID ever gets locked after too many password attempts, you'll also receive an alert.
- With online access, you can receive email alerts for account balance minimums, check deposits and transfers. You set the parameters, and you'll receive an alert when your account falls outside them.
If you think your information may have been compromised
If you have a concern about potential identity theft related to your Edward Jones account, please promptly contact your financial advisor. We will work together with you to help resolve any issues, and we ask for your cooperation in any investigations.