Customer Privacy Policy

Since 1842, Harford Mutual Insurance Group, including all of its subsidiary entities (collectively referred to herein as the “Group” or “Harford Mutual”) has been committed to insuring opportunity for the mutual success of our policyholders, agencies and local community. It is because of this commitment that we are dedicated to protecting the confidentiality of our customers’ Nonpublic Personal Information (NPI). We take this opportunity to share our procedures and policies designed to safeguard your information, which may be obtained in the course of our business relationship with you.

This notice serves to explain: what type of information we collect; how we collect it; what we do with it after we collect it; how we safeguard your privacy; and how you may obtain information, if any, about your NPI. We will inform you concerning these policies in this notice and every year that you remain our customer.

Overview of Our Privacy Practices

We do not sell your NPI.
We do not share your NPI with nonaffiliated third parties other than as necessary to service your policy or claim.
We do not share your health or financial information, except as authorized by law.
We use your NPI only to service your policies, claims and to meet your needs as they have been described to us.
We will require that persons or organizations providing goods or services to you on our behalf protect the confidentiality of your NPI.
We protect your NPI regardless of whether you are a current or a former customer.
We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect your NPI from disclosure.

How We Collect Information

We collect and retain information about you to provide you with the coverage, product, or service you request, or to service your account as permitted by law, and as needed to conduct business. We collect your NPI from the following sources:

Your application for insurance or similar forms;
Consumer reporting agencies, motor vehicle records, credit reports, claims history, loss information reports, court records or other public records; property inspections to verify value and condition for property insurance;
Your insurance agent; or
When you register or create an account on our Website Customer Portal, available at https://www.harfordmutual.com/

Information We Collect About You

The Group gets most of its information from your application for insurance or from your insurance agent. This information can include, but is not always limited to: your name; address; Social Security number; financial account or credit card information; vehicle type; credit based insurance score; a report about your coverage and claims history with other companies and motor vehicle records.

For property and liability insurance, we may send someone to inspect your property and verify the value and condition of your property. A photo of any property to be insured may be taken and retained. We may also obtain reports concerning the square footage of your property from companies that collect such data.

For workers’ compensation insurance, we may send someone to perform an audit or accounting of your business records to ensure that you are getting the appropriate premium charge.

What We Do With the Information Collected

The Group uses your information only as permitted by law. We may use your information to: service products you have purchased; underwrite your policy; process claims; protect against fraud; and comply with legal requirements.

Information collected is maintained in either our policy records or in your agent’s files. We may review it to evaluate requests for insurance coverage or to determine your insurance rates. Your information may also be used to decide whether to issue a renewal policy or settle a claim.

If coverage is declined, or if your rates increase because of information we received from a consumer report, we will tell you as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

How We Share Your Information

We will not disclose information about you without your written consent unless the disclosure is necessary to conduct our business. By law, we can share information about you without your permission under certain circumstances to certain people and organizations. Examples include:

Our affiliated companies.
Independent claim adjusters, appraisers, contractors, auto repair shops, investigators and attorneys in order to investigate, defend or settle a claim involving you.
Your agent.
Mortgagees, lienholders, lessors, loss payees, or other persons shown on our records as having a legal or beneficial interest in your policy or claim proceeds.
Consultants or other service providers that perform business functions for us such as mailing or marketing services.
Our reinsurance companies.
Businesses that conduct research for us such as actuarial or underwriting studies.
Other insurance companies.
Consumer reporting agencies in connection with any application, policy or claim involving you.
Insurance support organizations that collect information to detect and prevent insurance crimes or fraud.
Medical care institutions or professionals to verify coverage or claims-related services.
Insurance regulatory agencies in connection with the regulation of our business.
Law enforcement or other governmental authorities.
By order of subpoena, warrant or other court order as required by law.

We do not otherwise give information about you to people or organizations that would use the information to contact you about their product or services.

How We Protect Your Information

The Group maintains administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect your NPI. Access to customer records is restricted to employees with a business reason for knowing such information in order to provide products and services to you. Employees are trained to protect customer privacy by adhering to the privacy responsibilities outlined by the Group. Should you cease being a customer, we will continue to protect your personal information in the same manner. At Harford Mutual, our employees are responsible for upholding a Code of Conduct and Confidentiality policy that requires them to keep confidential all NPI obtained in the course of our business.

Your Rights

You have the right to know what information we have about you and to receive a copy upon request. Despite your request, we may not be able to disclose certain types of information collected when evaluating claims or possible lawsuits. In this regard, we will not send you any medical information we have received about you from a doctor or other health care provider due to certain health information protection laws. Rather, you should contact the doctor or health care provider directly to obtain this information.

Also, we will not send you any reports provided by any consumer reporting agency. Instead, we will give you the name and address of any consumer reporting agency that prepared the report about you, so that you can contact them for a copy.

To submit your request for other types of information, please send your complete name, address and policy number to:

Harford Mutual Insurance Group
Office of the General Counsel
200 North Main Street
Bel Air, MD 21014
hmic_legal_notifications@hm1842.com

Within thirty (30) business days of receipt of your written request, we will disclose to you the NPI about you in our files. You may receive a copy at a reasonable charge. We will tell you with whom we have shared your NPI within the past two (2) years, or for the time period required by state law. If you believe your file should be corrected, please contact us in writing with the request. We will make the change or provide an explanation of our refusal to do so.

Thank you for choosing Harford Mutual Insurance Group for your insurance protection. We work hard to preserve the confidentiality of your nonpublic personal information.

Our longstanding commitment to preserving your privacy continues, as does our dedication to providing personal service aimed at ensuring our mutual success. We have been in business to accomplish this goal since 1842.