Cookie Policy

 

We use cookies to give you a better experience. This cookie policy outlines what cookies we use, why they are used and how to block their use.

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that contain data, and are placed on your computer, Smartphone (or whatever device you choose to access the internet with), by the websites that you visit.

We use cookies when you visit our website for the following reasons:

  • To keep the website and the details you enter into it secure;
  • To make our site as easy as possible for you to use;
  • To help us understand how you use the site; and
  • To help us understand performance of campaigns.

What are the different types of cookies?

There are a number of different cookie types. They can be categorised by the length of time they are stored on your device, who manages the cookie and also their purpose.

Session cookies: These are cookies that are automatically deleted when you leave the website or close your browser. We use them to ensure that your online banking sessions are secure and also to analyse online customer journeys. They do not store personal information on your device beyond your current visit. The majority of cookies on our website are Session Cookies.

Persistent cookies: These are cookies that either stay on your device until you choose to remove them or until they reach a pre-set expiry date. We use them for analysis purposes. They enable us to understand whether you have visited our website before. No personally identifiable information is stored.

First party cookies: These are cookies that are created by and placed on your device by the owner of the website. This type of cookie is usually essential to the running of the web site. About half of our cookies fall into this category.

Third party cookies: These are cookies that are managed by a third party but are placed on your device by the owner of the website. This type of cookie is often used to help monitor activity on the website or to record how visitors to the site got there.

Our Google Analytics and Smart Money People cookies fall into this category. We use Google Analytics to analyse the effectiveness of our website and the performance of marketing campaigns – no personally identifiable information is stored.

Smart Money People use a Necessary Cookie and Customisation Cookie which are required to display our feedback rating. No personally identifiable information is stored.

Necessary cookies: These are cookies that are critical for the website to function. Our online banking facility relies on these cookies to keep your session secure. These do not collect or store personally identifiable information.

Performance cookies: We use these cookies to analyse website activity and campaign performance and therefore help us to understand how we can improve your customer experience and the effectiveness of our marketing. No personally identifiable information is stored.

Customisation cookies: These cookies typically store preferences that you select. Because we use an externally embedded webpage (iframe) to display our independent Smart Money People rating, a Customisation Cookie from SmartMoneyPeople.com is downloaded as a result. This cookie detects whether a user is logged in to their website. No personally identifiable information is stored and this cookie is deleted as soon as you close your web browser.

Targeting cookies: These are used to provide you with information and adverts that are more relevant to you when you visit a website. These can be used to develop a profile of you and help advertisers to understand your age, location, gender, interests and online behaviours. These may store personally identifiable information. The Vernon does not use targeting cookies.

How can I block cookies?

If you want to block cookies from this site you'll need to change the 'cookie settings' in your browser. For more information about cookies and how to block them in your specific browser, visit www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies

Unfortunately, if you block cookies from this website you will not be able to use many of the services we offer, for example you will not be able to use our Online Services to manage your Vernon accounts.

We occasionally link to trusted third-party websites and partners who rely on cookies. These websites apply their own cookie policies. Trusted websites include but are not limited to:

  • HM Government: www.gov.uk
  • RSA Insurance: www.rsagroup.co.uk
  • Smart Money People – Independent Financial Reviews: www.smartmoneypeople.com

These are the First-Party cookies we currently use

PHPSESSID Session Cookies -
Our website uses PHP session cookies to help you to navigate it. These cookies expire once you shut the browser window or end the browser session.

These are the Third-Party cookies we use

Google Analytics
_gat
_gid
_ga
These cookies are managed by Google. We use them to collect information about how many visitors we have, where they have come from, their demographics and interests and how they use the site. These cookies are Performance Cookies. _ga and _gid are Persistent Cookies which are set when you first visit the site. _ga will automatically expire after 2 years, _gid expires after 1 day. _gat is a Session Cookie which is set when you first visit the site and is removed when you close your browser.
Smart Money People
bigbite_session
XSRF-TOKEN
_bigbite_session and _XSRF-TOKEN are Session Cookies which are set when you first visit the site and are removed when you close your browser. Because we use an externally embedded webpage (iframe) to display our independent Smart Money People rating, a Customisation Cookie called bigbite_session is downloaded as a result. This cookie detects whether a user is logged in to the smartmoneypeople.com website. No personally identifiable information is stored and this cookie is deleted as soon as you close your web browser. XSRF-TOKEN is a cookie which allows the Vernon site to access content in an externally embedded webpage (iframe) that is on the Smart Money People site - without this cookie the content would be empty/blocked for cross site forgery protection. This cookie is a Necessary Cookie.
HotJar Cookie Name Description
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit.
_hjSession_xxxxxx A cookie that holds the current session data. This ensues that subsequent requests within the session window will be attributed to the same Hotjar session.
_hjTLDTest When the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress This cookie is used by HotJar to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.
_hjIncludedInSessionSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the data sampling defined by your site's daily session limit.
_hjFirstSeen Identifies a new user's first session on a website, indicating whether or not Hotjar's seeing this user for the first time.
_hjSessionUser_xxxxxx Hotjar cookie that is set when a user first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
Host Cookie Name Description
youtube.com CONSENT YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites.
youtube.com VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE This cookie is used as a unique identifier to track viewing of videos
youtube.com YSC YouTube is a Google owned platform for hosting and sharing videos. YouTube collects user data through videos embedded in websites, which is aggregated with profile data from other Google services in order to display targeted advertising to web visitors across a broad range of their own and other websites.
adnxs.com uuid2 This domain is owned by AppNexus Inc. The company provides a range of online advertising technology and services.
adnxs.com anj This domain is owned by AppNexus Inc. The company provides a range of online advertising technology and services.
Office 365 Cookie Names Cookie Name
outlook.office365.com OIDC
outlook.office365.com OutlookSession
outlook.office365.com ClientId

FAQs

Are cookies a security risk?


Cookies are files that cannot execute code, spread viruses or extract personal information from your computer. They will sit on your device until they expire or are deleted.

 

Why is the Vernon sending my data to other companies?


Some cookies are not set by the Vernon website, as they are used to provide services on our behalf. For example, we work closely with Smart Money People who provide services around customer feedback and also Google Analytics who offer insight into web visitor behavior. The information transmitted to these services is not personally identifiable.

 

What happens if I disable cookies?


This depends on which cookies you disable, but in general the site may not operate properly if cookies are switched off. If you disable all cookies you will be unable to use online banking.

 

Do cookies mean I could get cold calls or junk mail?


We never use the information collected by cookies to contact you by post, email or phone.

 

Do cookies compromise my security when I’m signed in to Internet Banking?


The cookies we use are completely safe and secure. In fact, many of them are used to provide important security features such as protecting your personal details and your accounts.

 

Can cookies give other people access to my computer’s hard drive?


The cookies we use can’t go into your computer, smartphone or any other web-enabled device and obtain information about you or your family, or read any material kept on your hard drive.

 

If I use a public computer, will someone be able to get my details from the cookies?


Our cookies can’t be used by anyone else who has access to the computer you’ve used – so they can’t find out anything about you, other than the fact that you’ve visited our website. If you use a public computer to sign in to Internet Banking, our cookies won’t compromise the security of your personal details and accounts in any way.

 

You can read more about cookies at allaboutcookies.org.

Glossary

Cookies: This refers to any data that websites store on a user's device and covers the following technologies: HTML cookies, JavaScript files, web beacons and Flash cookies (Local Stored Objects).
Persistent cookies: Cookies are 'persistent' if they cover more than one browser session. They remain on your device until they expire. This time will vary from cookie to cookie.
Session cookies: Session cookies only last for the duration of an individual visit and are removed when you close your browser.
Visit: A visit is from the point you first open the website to when you close your browser down. This may also be referred to as a session.
Third-Party: Cookies dropped by a company other than the website owner.
First-Party: Cookies dropped by the website owner.
Cache: Your browser stores certain files in a cache, including cookies (persistent and session), to save you time when using the internet.
Devices: A device could be a desktop computer; laptop; tablet; mobile; web-enabled television; or gaming console.
Browsers: The software used to browse the Internet – e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari.
IP Addresses: This is the address from which your device accesses the Internet and will be registered to the network provider of your home, mobile or work Internet browsing.
Iframe: An iframe (short for inline frame) is a HTML element that allows an external webpage to be embedded in a HTML document.