MID-STATE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY’S

PRIVACY POLICIES AND PRACTICES

We value you as a customer and understand and share your desire to protect your privacy.  We are providing you with the privacy policy below to inform you about the ways in which we gather, use, and protect your personal information, and to apprise you of your related rights and responsibilities. 

Our Practices Regarding Information Confidentiality and Security:

We restrict access to your nonpublic personal information to those employees who need to know that information in order to provide you with products or services.  We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with state and federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

Types of Customer Information We Collect: 

We collect no customer information via this website. Our information about you comes from the following sources: 

1. Your insurance application: We gather most of our information about you from your application and use it to help us to decide whether or not to issue you a policy and for rating purposes.

2. Public records, consumer reporting agencies, other insurance companies or other individuals: To help us make good business decisions, we may need to obtain additional information about you and any other family members applying for insurance with us.  Personal information gathered from sources in addition to your application may include: the value and condition of your property, your employment history, information about other insurance coverages, and estimates of your general reputation.  If we obtain information from an independent agency, the agency may collect information by contacting you or your acquaintances or it may personally inspect your property.

If we order a report about you or your property from an independent agency, you have the right to be personally interviewed by the agency preparing the report.  The agency will include the information you disclose in the report it provides to us.  Should you wish to be interviewed, please let us know how the agency can contact you.  Even in a situation where you do not request an interview, you have the right to obtain a copy of the report by either contacting us or your agent.

How We Use Our Information about You:

We use the information we keep about you in our policy records primarily to assist us in issuing and maintaining insurance policies and for settling insurance-related claims.  As permitted by law, and as required in the course of business, we may share information, without seeking your prior authorization, with certain types of persons or organizations including:

1. Your agent or sales representative;

2. Adjusters, appraisers, investigators, and attorneys;

3. Persons or organizations who require your information to perform a business, professional or insurance function for us, such as businesses which assist us with data processing or persons or entities who conduct actuarial or underwriting studies for us;

4. Other insurance companies, agents, or consumer reporting agencies, as needed in connection with any application, policy, or claim involving you;

5. Organizations that collect information for the purpose of detecting, preventing, and prosecuting insurance-related crimes, such as fraudulent claims;

6. Governmental entities, as required by law.

Your Right to Access and Amend Your Personal Information: 

You have the right to request access to the personal information we record relating to you.  You are entitled to the following rights:

1. The right to know the source of our information regarding you;

2. The right to know the identity of the persons, institutions or types of entities to whom we have disclosed your personal information within the two (2) years prior to your request for disclosure of such information;

3. The right to view such information and copy it in person or to request that we mail you a copy of said information (for which service we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee to cover our costs); and

4. The right to request corrections or amendments to, or deletions of, any of your personal information that is in our possession.

How to Obtain Access to Your Personal Information:

The following are the requirements for requesting access to, or the amendment of, your personal information:

Accessing your information:

Submit a request in writing to: Steven I. Miller, President, Mid-State Mutual Insurance Company, 650 San Benito Street, Suite 250, P.O. Box 1326, Hollister, CA 95024. 

The request should include the following: 1) your name, 2) your address, 3) your social security number, 4) your telephone number, and 5) the recorded information to which you are requesting access.  The request should state whether you would prefer to obtain access to the information in person or would prefer for us provide you with a copy of the information by mail.  Upon receipt of your request, we will contact you within 30 business days to arrange the appropriate method for providing you with in-person access to your records or the copies that you have requested.

To correct, amend, or delete any of your information:

Submit a request in writing to: Steven I. Miller, President, Mid-State Mutual Insurance Company, 650 San Benito Street, Suite 250, P.O. Box 1326, Hollister, CA 95024

The request should include the following: 1) your name, 2) your address, 3) your social security number, 4) your telephone number, 5) the specific information in dispute, and 6) the identity of the document or record in which the disputed information is contained.  Upon receipt of your request, we will contact you within thirty (30) business days to notify you that we have either made the requested correction, amendment, or deletion; or that we refuse to do so and the reasons for our refusal, which you will have the opportunity to challenge.

Our Policy Regarding Dispute Resolution:

Any controversy or claim arising out of, or relating to, your privacy or the breach thereof shall be settled in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and judgment, upon the arbitrator(s) rendering an award, may be entered in any court having jurisdiction over the matter in dispute.  

Reservation of the Right to Disclose Information in Unforeseen Circumstances:

In connection with the potential sale or transfer of its interests, Mid-State Mutual Insurance Company and its affiliates (if any) reserve the right to sell or transfer your information including, but not limited to: your name, address, age, sex, zip code, state and country of residency, and other information that you provide through other communications to a third-party entity that conforms to the following requirements:

1. Concentrates its business in a similar practice, product, or service;

2. Agrees to be Mid-State Mutual Insurance Company’s successor in interest, with regard to maintenance and protection of the information collect; and

3. Agrees to the obligations contained in this privacy statement. 

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it, except for the reasons described above. Therefore, there is no need for an opt-out process at Mid-State Mutual Insurance Company.