Phoenixville Residents Shred 11,100 Pounds of Documents in Fight Against Identity Theft

Shred More than 250 Phoenixville area residents recently shredded 11,100 pounds of unwanted personal and confidential documents during a free Community Shred Day event sponsored by National Penn.

On Saturday, October 3, 2009, National Penn’s Phoenixville Community Office hosted an event at which residents safely shredded sensitive documents like old tax returns, mortgage papers, billing statements, deposit slips and cashed checks. Participants also learned about identity theft, received giveaways and entered a drawing to win a $50 gift card.

“With identity theft continuing to plague consumers, we must continue to work to raise awareness of the different kinds of fraud and to demonstrate to people how to be more diligent with their personal information,” said Robert Marino, president of National Penn’s Southern Region. “Shredding sensitive material is smart for all consumers. National Penn and its divisions are proud to offer these shred events as a value added service to our customers.”

Documents were shredded on site by a certified mobile shredding company that specializes in cross-cut shredding, which creates a non-readable, particle-size paper, and is safer and more thorough than conventional shredding.

Shred Day participants were allowed to bring up to four boxes of personal documents for shredding. In return for their documents, participants received a National Penn brochure on preventing identity theft.

Jaime Sanchez, of Phoenixville, won the drawing for the $50 gift card courtesy of National Penn.

For five years, National Penn’s Community Shred Days have helped residents safeguard against identity theft, the fastest-growing crime in the United States. In 2008, nearly 1,750 people shredded 86,000 pounds of personal documents. The Federal Trade Commission reported that approximately 1,200,000 people filed complaints related to fraud, identity theft and other consumer complaints in 2008, that’s an increase of approximately 50 percent over the previous year.

National Penn and its divisions have held 19 Community Shred Day events to date and will be holding 3 more through the end of October. These events will be held at the National Penn Community Offices located in Royersford and Chestnut Hill as well as one in Reading at the St. Peter the Apostle Church. For a full calendar of this year’s Shred events, please visit www.nationalpenn.com.

About National Penn Bancshares, Inc.:

National Penn Bancshares, Inc., with $9.8 billion in assets, is the fourth largest bank holding company based in Pennsylvania. In addition, wealth assets under administration or management amount to $8.1 billion.

Headquartered in Boyertown, National Penn operates 127 offices. It has 124 community banking offices in Pennsylvania and one office in Maryland through National Penn Bank and its HomeTowne Heritage Bank, KNBT and Nittany Bank divisions. National Penn also has two offices in Delaware through its wholly-owned subsidiary Christiana Bank & Trust Company.

National Penn’s financial services affiliates consist of National Penn Wealth Management, N.A., including its National Penn Investors Trust Company division; National Penn Capital Advisors, Inc.; Vantage Investment Advisors, LLC; Institutional Advisors LLC; National Penn Leasing Company; National Penn Insurance Services Group, Inc., including its Higgins Insurance division; and Caruso Benefits Group, Inc.

National Penn Bancshares, Inc. common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “NPBC”. Please visit our Web site at www.nationalpennbancshares.com to see our regularly posted material information.

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