Privacy Policy

Thank you for considering Founders Insurance Company for your insurance needs. Founders Insurance is a member company of the Utica National Insurance Group. We are committed to maintaining the privacy of consumer, customer and claimant information. The information set out below describes Founders’ privacy practices.

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION COLLECTED

We collect personally identifiable information from you or from third parties about you or about participants, beneficiaries or claimants under your insurance coverage as part of the insurance application, underwriting, claims, administration and servicing process. We collect such nonpublic personal information from the following sources:

• Information we receive from you on applications for insurance or other forms (such as name, address, telephone number, social security number, household information, vehicle and driver information, date of birth, medical information related to underwriting and claims, and insurance coverage information);
• Information about your transactions with us, or affiliates, or others (such as products purchased, account balances and payment history, previous claims or accidents, and medical information related to claims); and
• Information we receive from a consumer reporting agency (such as credit relationships and history), state motor vehicle departments, and inspection services.

HOW THE INFORMATION IS USED

The information we collect is used to provide policy and premium quotes, underwrite applications, administer claims, and to answer questions or concerns about our insurance products or services. We also use the information for accounts administration, reporting, investigating, or preventing fraud or material misrepresentation, processing premium billing payments, processing and defending insurance claims, administering insurance benefits (including utilization review activities), participating in insurance research projects, or as otherwise permitted by federal and state law.

We maintain paper copies or electronic archives of the information provided by you or by a third party for policy quoting and for processing and administering your application of claims made under your policy, and for improving our products and services. This information is kept internally, except when needed to verify the information provided, to service your policy or claim or as required or permitted by law. The information is not available to the general public. We retain the information collected when a claim is filed under your policy for as long as required by law or regulation, or as long as the claim is open and thereafter, for a period set by the appropriate Underwriting or Claims’ records retention policies.

SHARING INFORMATION GATHERED

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal financial information about consumers, customers or former customers to anyone except as permitted by law. You should know that permitted disclosures include information to process transactions on your behalf, information about you or about participants, beneficiaries or claimants under your insurance policy in the normal business of conducting the operations of our insurance companies, such as providing you with an insurance quote, processing, servicing, administering and enforcing your insurance policy and your claims, following your instructions, or protecting the security of our financial records.

We are permitted by law to share information about you when and if you become a customer or claimant, even without your authorization, with, for example:

• A third party (such as independent insurance agents who represent our companies, inspection services, independent claims adjusters, and attorneys), if it is reasonably necessary to enable the party to perform services for us, such as claims investigations, appraisals, or the detection of fraud or material misrepresentations;
• Any of our affiliated insurance companies who provide services to you;
• Insurance regulatory authorities, reporting agencies, or if applicable, involuntary market administrators;
• State Motor Vehicle Departments to obtain a report of any accidents or violations;
• Law enforcement agencies or other governmental authorities to protect our interest or to report illegal activities;
• Persons or organizations conducting insurance actuarial or research studies, subject to appropriate confidentiality agreements; and
• As otherwise permitted by law.

We also are permitted by law to disclose the following information to companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or with whom we have joint marketing agreements (such as independent insurance agencies that represent our companies), including:

• Information we receive on applications or other forms, such as policyholder or claimant name, address, social security number, insurance coverages, vehicle and driver information, and certain claims information;
• Information about transactions with us, our affiliates, or others, such as insurance coverages, vehicle and driver information, and claims information; and
• Information we receive from third parties, such as a consumer reporting agency, or state motor vehicle records and claims history.

We do not sell any consumer, customer or policyholder information to mailing list companies or mass marketing companies. We treat consumer, customer and policyholder information as confidential.

USE OF COOKIES

Founders Insurance uses cookies to track the usage of uticanational.com. By using this Site, you consent to the Company’s use of cookies.  Cookies are small files placed in your computer. These cookies do not gather or reveal personal information about visitors to our Site. The site usage information collected by cookies helps us improve uticanational.com to better serve your needs.

Founders Insurance may use both session cookies and persistent cookies (persistent cookie remains after you close your browser). Persistent cookies may be used by your browser on subsequent visits to the site. Persistent cookies can be removed by following your web browser instructions. A session cookie is temporary and disappears after you close your browser. You can reset your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some features of the Site may not function properly if the ability to accept cookies is disabled.

SECURITY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

We restrict access to nonpublic personal financial information about you or about participants, beneficiaries and claimants under your insurance policy to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with state and federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Privacy Disclosure Notice, you should contact us by sending an email to: Compliance.Officer@uticanational.com, or writing to us at:

Founders Insurance Company / Utica National Insurance Group, Attn: Compliance Officer, 180 Genesee Street, New Hartford, New York, 13413.

In addition to Founders Insurance Company, Utica National’s privacy policy practices apply to the following affiliated and subsidiary companies: