In a nutshell...
We collect only the minimum necessary information from Web users who ask questions, pay bills, report claims, or enter contests.
We encrypt and otherwise protect Webpay data.
We put limited personal information online (through Webpay).
We share only what we must to provide the services you need.
When you interact with us in a public online forum (here or on a third-party site like Facebook), you may make information about yourself publicly available.
Privacy and security at Co-op
general company policy | Web-specific policy
social media: interacting with us online
Company Privacy Policy
Co-operative Insurance Companies values our relationship with you, our customer. Your trust is a most valued asset and will always be respected. Therefore, we want you to know how we treat non-public personal information about you that is provided to us.
To provide the insurance you request, we collect non-public personal information about you from your application and conversations with us or our agents; your past transactions with us or our affiliates; non-affiliated third parties; and if necessary, consumer reporting agencies. The sole purpose of obtaining this information is to provide insurance for you.
We disclose no non-public personal information about current or former customers to anyone except as permitted by law, and restrict such information about you and your family to those who need it to provide products or services you request. We have procedural, electronic and physical safeguards compliant with federal and state regulations regarding privacy of such information.
We are safeguarding your personal information and your privacy is being protected. We truly appreciate your business. If you have questions concerning this, please contact Brad Fortier at (802) 388-7917 or (800) 639-4017.
Web site privacy policy
The following outlines how Co-operative Insurance Companies collects, uses, protects, and displays information about and to our clients and visitors through this site.
Our privacy policy only applies to our site. Once visitors leave our site by following a link onto an external site, they are obviously subject to that site's privacy policy.
Information collection and use
We do not collect personally identifying information about individual visitors as a matter of course.
We analyze overall site traffic with Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site and improve it accordingly. (Google privacy policy) Rarely, we may share aggregate data reports with technical, industry and professional organizations.
We occasionally set cookies to understand how the site is used or to limit views of certain content. Again, we do not collect personally identifying information in this way.
We do collect limited personally identifying information when site visitors take any of the following actions:
a. enter our monthly contest
We collect name, email address, phone number.
b. report a claim
We collect name, email address, phone numbers, city and state, date and description of loss, and agent's name.
c. request information from an agent
We collect name, address, email address, phone numbers, property type and location, and comments.
In each above case, when a visitor chooses to provide information, it is submitted by email to the company and/or agent, is used only for the purpose it is submitted, is not shared with other parties except as required to fulfill the request, and is deleted when no longer needed.
d. pay Co-op bill online using Webpay service
To confirm identity and log onto Webpay, a Co-op customer must provide policy number, name, and ZIP/postal code from his or her bill.
To make a payment, the customer must provide phone number, account number, name on account, and amount to be paid, plus card type and expiration date for a credit card, or bank name and routing number for a checking account. The customer must provide an email address only if s/he chooses to receive a confirmation email.
Information protection
During transmission: Using SSL certificates from Thawte, we strongly encrypt information users send to and receive from Webpay. Different browsers use different ways to show users that they're on a secured site; the most common is a small padlock displayed at the bottom of a browser window.
After collection: We encrypt Webpay information and store it on secure servers until we no longer need it and delete it. Credit card numbers are never stored on our servers at all; we pass them directly and securely to our processing partner.
Information display
Very little identifying information about our customers and their policies can be accessed through our Web site, and only by logging in to the Webpay service.
Beyond policyholder name, policy number, and effective dates, we display limited information about balances due, previous payment amount and date, and occasionally payment play or policy status.
No individual policyholder contact or financial information is available through our site.
Social media: interacting with us online
Like many other companies, Co-op has a presence on third-party social media sites and services such as Facebook. We do this to offer you more and easier ways to communicate with us.
This kind of communication takes place in public, and comes with special privacy and conduct concerns, which we address below.
Privacy in dealing with Co-op through social media
What we're responsible for:
Our information collection and use: Obviously, when you interact with us through social media, we see some minimal information about you: your name, your profile picture, anything you say to us, and anything you tag or share of ours. That information may be publicly visible on our business profile page as part of the normal flow of social media interaction.
Co-op doesn't make any effort to otherwise collect or store individually identifying information about you when you interact with us through social media. Individual exceptions to this are when we follow up on an exchange to provide customer service or to award a contest prize. But any requests for contact or confidential information are made in private, and information collected is kept private and used only for the purpose requested.
We occasionally review any aggregate demographic and activity data that social media sites make available to us, so we can understand how our social media presence is working and how we can improve it.
Our information display: In compliance with federal privacy laws and our own respect for our customers, Co-op doesn't publish information about its individual policyholders through social media or any other means. Occasional exceptions are for marketing or educational purposes, when we have the policyholder's permission and co-operation.
What we can't be responsible for:
Information you choose to share: Simply by interacting with us in a public forum (by posting, commenting, or sharing content), you may reveal a certain amount of personal information about yourself. That depends on what you say in your posting, and on the privacy settings you have chosen for your account on that site.
Though we will usually try to remove a post or contact you if we perceive a potential privacy issue, ultimately, this is beyond Co-op's control: You are responsible for information you make public. We encourage you to regularly review your social media account privacy settings so you are comfortable with what information you reveal to whom.
Information collected or shared by social media site owners: We cannot be responsible for any information that a third-party social media site, like Facebook, collects from you when you use that site. We encourage you to regularly review the terms of service for all your social media sites, so that you know how your information us used.
Posting guidelines: "house rules" for participation
Co-op encourages readers to post comments wherever we offer the capability to do so, whether on Co-op's site or in our space on a third-party site like Facebook. Please note, however, that we will delete comments or postings that contain vulgar language or attacks on any person or group.
In order to preserve the quality of discussions, we may also remove postings that we recognize to contain spam or promote products, services, or political organizations; that infringe on copyrights or advocate illegal activity; that contain certain identifying information about our policyholders; or that are clearly off the topic being discussed.
Please remember that when you post in a public forum, whether it’s one that we provide on our site or through a third-party site, you take responsibility for the information you post and how it might be used or repeated. We encourage you to participate in the conversation, but want you to remain aware that you are sharing your comments with the general public. Please do not post anything you would not want shared widely.
