Privacy Practices
Disclosure of Privacy Practices
Whether you have applied for, purchased a policy, bond or service from one of our agencies, we believe that information personal to you should be respected and protected with the highest degree of confidentiality. For this reason, we are committed to protecting your personal information and using it only as appropriate to provide you with the best possible opportunities, products and services. This privacy disclosure summarizes our information practices and our policies. It applies to our relationship with you if you are someone who inquires about or obtains products or services from us for any purpose; be it family, personal, organizational or business purposes. Information and the analysis of information is essential to the business of insurance and is critical to our ability to provide to you excellent, cost-effective service and products. We understand that gaining and keeping your trust depends upon the security and integrity of our records concerning you.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT
We may collect information about you from a variety of sources in order to attempt to provide products or services. These sources may include:
- Both written and oral information that comes from you during the application process
- Information about you from our other agency offices, our affiliated insurance companies, governmental entities or agencies, consumer reporting agencies and other sources
- A medical professional who has treated you or members of your family, but only after having received your prior written consent
The type of information that we collect depends on the particular product or service requested or recommended, but may include:
- Motor vehicle reports
- Claims history
- Credit history
- Inspections of your property/premises
- Information about your previous insurance policies
- Information required to adequately investigate and resolve insurance claims
INFORMATION WE DISCLOSE TO OTHERS
We do not sell your personal information to anyone. We do not disclose your personal information to third parties (people or organizations that are not affiliated with us) for their own marketing purposes. For this reason, we are not required to ask you whether you wish (or do not wish) to be contacted by such parties. If we share some personal information about you with third parties without your specific authorization, it is in order to provide you with products or services that you request or expect from us, and as otherwise permitted by law.
Following are examples of reasons to disclose personal information to others:
- To investigate and pay claims
- To comply with state and federal regulatory requests or requirements
- To service your policy, bond or account
- To process other transactions that you request
We may make such disclosures, depending upon products and services we provide, to certain common sources. The most common sources are, but are not limited to:
- Insurance company underwriters from whom we attempt to receive an offer of coverage for you
- Insurance agents from whom we attempt to receive coverage for you from an insurer not represented by our agency group
- Insurance regulators
- Reinsurance companies
- Consumer reporting agencies
- The Medical Information Bureau
- Your mortgage or premium finance company
- Your bank or lender
- Insurance adjusters
We also may disclose personal information about you to companies that perform marketing or billing services for us or for your insurer. If information is disclosed, it will not result in telemarketing or direct mail marketing.
INFORMATION SECURITY AND ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION
Information about you or your firm is kept primarily in secure electronic files. Any important paper documents are filed by date and are generally inaccessible unless your electronic file can be accessed and a file date obtained. Our electronic system is secure and cannot be “hacked” into by outsiders and is only available to our agency associates, each of whom are under a strict obligation to query files only if and when necessary to service your account on your behalf or the behalf of an insurance company request. Our associates are not permitted to discuss your information or your insurance account with others outside the agency for any purpose other than to service your account or to satisfy the query of an insurance company representative. We restrict access to personal information about you to those employees and other affiliates who need to know that information to properly service your account. Certain information we agree in advance in writing to keep restricted to certain persons you identify – will be kept so. As disclosed above, we may also share information about you to certain other affiliated sources from time to time as needed. You may request in writing, and receive, any of your information from your file at any time. Your written request should be directed to the associate(s) responsible for the service of your account or an agency principal (owner). Your request will be honored as quickly as circumstances permit and as often as may be practical.
THE WHITAKER-MYERS INSURANCE GROUP
This privacy disclosure applies to and is provided on behalf of all the companies in The Whitaker-Myers Insurance Group of agencies. These agencies are solely providers of insurance policies, bonds, leases and risk transfer programs. They include:
- Whitaker-Myers Insurance Agency Inc.
- Whitaker-Myers Insurance Agency
- Ingmand Insurance Agency
- Aten & Mennetti Insurance Agency
VIOLATION OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Any person violating this Whitaker-Myers Insurance Group policy will be subject to discipline, up to and including termination.