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Wells Fargo Advantage Funds® Privacy Policy

This policy is effective as of February 2011.


Each of the mutual funds that comprise Wells Fargo Advantage Funds (the “funds”) is a separate legal entity, owned by its respective shareholders. The funds are advised and administered by Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company. The funds’ privacy policy applies to customer information of all current and former fund shareholders whose account records are maintained by the funds’ transfer agent and who did not invest through a sales intermediary. Shareholders who have purchased fund shares through sales intermediaries (for example, brokers, 401(k) accounts, and variable insurance products) will be covered by privacy policies adopted by those intermediaries.

a. We collect and maintain customer information as part of servicing your account and administering your customer relationship. In the course of serving you, we collect information about you from:

  • Information you provide to us on applications or forms, such as your income, Social Security number, risk preferences, and investment goals.
  • Information about your transactions in your fund accounts.
  • Information that we receive from companies that assist us in servicing your account and marketing financial products to you to better serve your financial needs.

b. The customer information we collect is used to service your accounts and help you achieve your financial goals. Information may be used or shared with other Wells Fargo Advantage Funds and with banks and companies that are directly or indirectly owned or controlled by Wells Fargo & Company (the “Wells Fargo family”), as well as with authorized third parties, for a number of purposes, such as:

  • To protect your accounts from unauthorized access or identity theft and to verify your identity.
  • To process your requests, such as share purchases and sale transactions.
  • To service your accounts by issuing account and confirmation statements and tax documents.
  • To keep you informed about the funds’ services that can meet your needs now and in the future.

c. We may disclose all of the information we collect, as described above, with nonaffiliated third parties outside the Wells Fargo family that are acting on our behalf or are acting jointly with us, including:

  • Companies that perform support services for us, such as data processors, technical systems consultants, and programmers, or companies that help us market our own products to you.
  • Others as permitted or required by law such as government entities, in responding to subpoenas and other legal processes, and those with whom you have requested us to share information.

It is important to note that we do not share customer information with nonaffiliated companies for the purpose of marketing their own products or services unless you specifically permit us to do so.

Some state laws may impose additional restrictions on disclosure of information about customers in those states for certain purposes.

d. We share information within the Wells Fargo family so that our affiliates can work together to meet your financial needs.

We may disclose all of the information we collect, as described above, with our affiliates that provide financial products and services, such as consumer bankers, mortgage lenders, consumer lenders, securities broker/dealers, insurance agencies, and real estate brokerage companies, so they can offer you other financial products and services. By law, information that helps us to identify you or is derived from your transactions and experiences with us may be shared within the Wells Fargo family (a) for purposes other than direct marketing, and (b) unless you instruct us otherwise, for direct marketing purposes. You can instruct us not to share other personal financial information about you with the Wells Fargo family. In addition, if you select that option, we will not share any information about you with our affiliates for direct marketing purposes. You may also direct us not to contact you for marketing purposes by certain channels, or at all. We may disclose any of this information to administrative and service units within the Wells Fargo family for purposes such as servicing your accounts and preparing your account statements.

e. We are committed to protecting customer information.

We are committed to protecting the security and integrity of customer information through procedures and technology designed for this purpose. For example:

  • We limit employee access to customer information to those who we believe need to know this information in order to service customer relationships.
  • We maintain policies and procedures covering the proper physical security of workplaces and records.
  • Our physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards comply with federal standards regarding the protection of customer information.
  • We require independent contractors and outside companies who work with us to adhere to strict security standards.
  • We use technological means (such as backup files, virus detection and eradication software, firewalls, and other computer software and hardware) to protect against unauthorized access or alterations to customer data.

The policies and practices described in this disclosure are subject to change, but we will communicate any significant changes to you as required by applicable law. The policies and practices described in this disclosure replace all previous notices or statements regarding this subject.

You have choices regarding how information about you may be shared. If you would like to opt out of information sharing within the Wells Fargo family, your preferences will be honored and will apply to all Wells Fargo Advantage Funds accounts linked to your Social Security number.

  • You may notify us of your preferences at any time.
  • If you have a joint account, any account holder can opt out on behalf of the other joint account holders.

How to Notify Us

To opt out of sharing of account information, as described in section d of this Privacy Policy, please contact us at 1-800-222-8222 and instruct us to carry out one or both of the following:

1. Do not share other personal information (as that term is defined in section d of this Privacy Policy, above) within the Wells Fargo family.
2. Do not contact me for marketing purposes by (a) telephone, (b) mail, or (c) any type of solicitation.

Online Privacy Policy

In the information age, Wells Fargo's commitment to protect your information and your privacy extends to your business with the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. While our privacy policies are the same whether you are online or not, we have extra measures in place to protect your privacy when you do business online.

The Wells Fargo Advantage Funds Web sites provide information to a wide audience including clients who hold funds directly with Wells Fargo as well as investment professionals and institutional sales professionals.

Are you a visitor or a registered user?

Our Web sites provide you with comprehensive information about our mutual funds and investment products. When you are just browsing the unregistered portion of our site, we do not collect, capture, or retain your personal information.

Only clients who choose to register for online access to their accounts will be asked to supply personal information to verify their identity. This information will be collected on a secure server and may include items such as name, Social Security number, account number, and e-mail address. Collecting this information allows us to provide access only to authorized users and clients. A unique login ID and password that you create are used to protect your account information.

Only Investment Professionals (financial advisors and registered investment professionals) who chose to register for additional product information and specific tools will be asked to supply personal information (name, address, e-mail address, etc.) on our site through the registration form. This information allows us to identify you so that we can present you with Investment Professional approved content and tools. In these cases, we collect only the information necessary to interact with you.

If you do not interact with us as you browse our Web site anonymously, any personal information, such as your e-mail address, is not collected. We gather data that allows us to track Web site usage, such as number of hits, pages visited, and the length of user sessions in order to evaluate the usefulness of our sites. We also use this information to personalize areas of the Web sites.

About cookies

Cookies are pieces of data assigned by a Web server to the browser on your PC. Cookies help Web sites recognize return visitors. So, when you return to a Web site you've visited before, your browser gives this data back to the server. Contrary to reports about cookies and online privacy, cookies do not contain viruses and most cannot reveal any personally identifiable information about you unless you willingly provide it as a user on a site.

Wells Fargo uses cookies to make your online experience with Wells Fargo richer and more personalized. As a matter of security, we do not embed your social security number, password, or other personal information in our cookies.

You cannot access all areas of the Web sites without cookies. You can set your browser to reject cookies. However, if you choose to reject cookies, you cannot access many areas of the Web sites. Browsers that reject cookies may not be able to Log on to your favorite sites or use the features you like most within those sites.

The latest versions of Microsoft and Netscape's browsers allow you to reject cookies automatically. With this feature it may not be necessary for you to set your browser to reject cookies.

Earlier versions of Microsoft or Netscape's browsers may require you to set your browser to reject cookies when you are just browsing and accept cookies when you want to conduct online transactions.

Netscape Communicator® or Navigator®: Choose Preferences from the Edit menu. From the Preferences menu, select Advanced, and several cookie options will be listed in the lower right of the menu. There will be options that allow you to accept cookies, request permission before accepting, or disallow cookies completely.

Microsoft Internet Explorer®: Choose Options from the View menu. Choose the Advanced menu and scroll to the "Cookies" section. You will have several options - accept cookies, ask permission before accepting cookies, or disallow cookies. If you have Internet Explorer 6.0, you also have the option to reject third party cookies.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the Web sites you visit before you accept cookies from them.

Links to non-Wells Fargo sites

We are not responsible for the information collection practices of the non-Wells Fargo links you click to from our Web pages. We cannot guarantee how these third parties use cookies or whether they place on your computer cookies that may identify you personally. We urge you to review the privacy policies of each of the linked Web sites you visit - before you provide them with any personally identifiable information.