PRIVACY POLICY

Our Policy Regarding Your Privacy

In order to provide insurance products and services that respond to our customers’ diverse needs, Emerling Floss Murphy & Associates (EFM). collects certain personal information.  EFM does not disclose any nonpublic personal information to any affiliated or nonaffiliated third party for marketing purposes.  At EFM, maintaining the confidentiality of our customers’ personal information is of the highest importance.  EFM’s personal information-handling practices are governed by this privacy policy and are further regulated by law.  This notice describes those practices and how they preserve your privacy in a way that permits EFM to provide you with the products and services you demand.

Collection of Personal Information

We get most of our information directly from you.  The application you complete, as well as any additional information you provide generally gives us most of the information we need to know.  Sometimes we may contact you by phone or mail to obtain additional information.  Depending on the nature of your insurance transaction, we may need additional information about you or other potential insureds from outside sources such as motor vehicle records, loss information reports, credit reports, court records or other public records.  For property insurance, we may send someone to inspect your property and verify information about its value and condition, and a photo of the property may be taken.

We also obtain information from third parties such as insurance companies or consumer reporting agencies.  A consumer report from such an agency may contain information as to creditworthiness and credit standing.  If we order any kind of consumer report, upon request, we will tell you how to get a copy of the report.  The agency preparing a consumer report for us may keep the information collected about you as permitted by law, and it may be disclosed to other persons.

Disclosure of Personal Information

The information which has been collected about you will be contained in the insurance company policy record or in our agency file.  We review this information when evaluating your request for insurance coverage and in determining your rates.  We will also use information in our policy records for purposes related to issuing and servicing insurance policies and settling claims.  EFM may disclose personal information to others in order to service, process, or administer business such as underwriting and claims operations.  In this context, EFM may disclose (i) information we receive from you on applications and other forms, including information such as assets, income, and identifying information such as name, address, and social security number; (ii) transaction information such as information about balances, payment history and parties to the transaction; and (iii) information from consumer reporting agencies such as a consumer’s creditworthiness and credit history.

If coverage is declined or the charge for coverage is increased because of information contained in a consumer report, we will tell you as required by state law and federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.  We will also give you the name and address of the consumer reporting agency making the report.

Parties to Whom Information May Be Disclosed

EFM will not disclose information about you to others without your written consent unless the disclosure is necessary to conduct our business.  By law, EFM is permitted to share information about you without prior permission under certain circumstances to certain persons and organizations such as:

-Your insurance company

-Parties who perform a business, professional or insurance function for our company, including reinsurance companies

-Claims adjusters, appraisers, investigators and attorneys who need the information to investigate, defend or settle a claim involving you

-Insurance support organizations which are established to collect information for the purpose of detecting and preventing insurance crimes and fraudulent claims

-Insurance regulatory agencies in connection with the regulation of our business

-Law enforcement or other governmental authorities to protect our legal interest, or in cases of suspected fraud or illegal activities

-Authorized persons as ordered by subpoena, warrant, or other court order or as required by law

-Lienholder, mortgage, assignee, lessor, or other person shown on our records as having a legal or beneficial interest in a policy of insurance

-Parties acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity to you (attorneys, accountants, and auditors)

-Parties administering transactions as requested or authorized by you

 

Confidentiality and Security of Personal Information

Our agency maintains appropriate standards and procedures to prevent unauthorized access to your information.  EFM limits employee access to personally identifiable information to those with a business reason for knowing such information.  We educate our employees so that they will understand the importance of confidentiality of personal information and take appropriate measures to enforce privacy policies.

 

Treatment of Personal Information of Former Customers

EFM follows this personal information privacy policy even when a customer relationship no longer exists.

If you have additional questions about the privacy of your personal information or about your insurance needs in general, feel free to contact our office at (716) 631-0190.