To Equity Policy Holders

Equity Insurance Company (“Equity”), a member of the Home State Insurance Group, Inc. values you as a customer and respects your right of privacy. We want to assure you that we have taken steps and will continue to take steps to maintain and safeguard your information. This Privacy Statement summarizes and describes our efforts to meet this objective. In this Statement you will learn what information we collect, how we use it, and how we protect it from unauthorized access.

Security

Equity recognizes the importance of respecting the privacy of our policyholders and applicants. We have established physical, electronic and procedural protections to ensure that your personal information is kept confidential in accordance with this Privacy Statement. Any personal information that we gather from you is used only to affect, administer, or enforce a transaction requested or authorized by you. Furthermore, we also restrict access to your personal information within our organization to those employees who need the information to service your account.

Information We Collect

We collect personal information about you and all policyholders from the following sources:

• Information you gave us or your agent when submitting an application for one or more policies of insurance; this includes any information you provided electronically when you made an application through our website.
• Information from companies within the Equity insurance group.
• Depending on the product requested and in order to verify your information and properly underwrite your request, we may obtain information from consumer reporting agencies (including credit information), medical providers, and/or others, as allowed by law.

How We Use Your Information.

We use your information for the following purposes:

• To protect you. The information we maintain about you and your policies of insurance helps us to identify you and protect you against unauthorized access to your information.
• To provide service. Your information helps us respond to your inquiries more efficiently.
• To improve and develop our products and services. Every policy we offer is designed to protect you and/or your property. The information we gather is analyzed and processed in order to provide you with a superior product at a reasonable price.

Information We Disclose

When we disclose your information to companies outside our group, we do so only for specific purposes as permitted by law. Accordingly, when we disclose information, we require companies to which we disclose your information to maintain and protect its confidentiality. We may disclose information to the following types of outside companies or entities, or as otherwise permitted by law:

• Independent contractors, such as technical system consultants, who program our software or maintain our systems to help us administer our products for you.
• Governmental or quasi-governmental entities, such as state insurance departments, guaranty funds or rate advisory organizations.
• Companies whom we have retained to provide services on our behalf or companies we have retained to administer your policy or account. For instance, we may provide a body shop or contractor your name and address to hasten the repair process.

Some insurers release personal information to non-affiliated third parties that provide marketing support for products and services other than those offered by that insurer. Equity does not. If we change our policy, we will give you a supplemental notice with instructions on how you may opt out of this information sharing.

Disclaimer

The Equity website has been compiled in good faith. To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law, the materials on this website are provided as is and without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, and Equity and its subsidiaries and affiliates disclaim all warranties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Equity does not warrant that the functions contained in the materials or on the website will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this website or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or other harmful components. You (and not Equity) assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction. Equity does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of the materials on this website in terms of their correctness, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise. The information and descriptions contained herein are not necessarily intended to be complete descriptions of all terms, exclusions and conditions applicable to the products and services, but are provided solely for general informational purposes; please refer to the actual policy or the relevant product or services agreement. This website may be linked to other websites, which are not maintained by Equity. Equity is not responsible for the content of those websites. The inclusion of any link to such websites does not imply approval of or endorsement by Equity of such websites or the content thereof.

Password Registration

If a User ID and Password are required for access to any portion of the Equity website, you agree to the following: Equity is entitled to act on instructions received under your User ID and Password. Equity is not liable for any unauthorized access to your personal information that is not the direct result of gross negligence or intentional misconduct on the part of Equity. You will keep your Password confidential and you will notify Equity immediately if you believe that someone else has obtained your User ID and Password or any unauthorized access to Equity’s website has occurred or may occur. Equity may block access to its website without prior notice if we believe your User ID and Password are being used by someone other than you, if any unauthorized access to your personal information has occurred or may occur, or for other reasons.

Equity Communications

As an Equity policyholder, Equity will contact you regarding your policy and our products and services, such as billing notices, confirmations of changes, changes to our products, and other Equity-specific communications.

In addition, prior to purchasing a policy or after canceling your policy, Equity may contact you to confirm your quote or invite you to come back and get a new quote or to purchase a policy.

Our Use of “Non-Personal” Information

As you navigate within the Equity website, we may be collecting non-personally identifiable information which tells us what parts of the website you or other users of your computer have browsed. We will also be collecting information about activities in our website on an aggregate (i.e., group) basis, so that we may keep track of what users may be interested in, to help us in our marketing efforts. When we share such information with our affiliates, it is not traceable to any particular user and will not be used to contact you again.

Permitted Use

All of the content on the Equity website is made available only for your personal, lawful, non-commercial use in connection with seeking insurance. Use of this website by a competitor company or other non-consumer third party is prohibited.

Except as expressly mandated by law, you may not, without our prior written permission: (i) link from another website to the Equity website; (ii) post, transmit, copy, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, sell, or republish anything you obtain or download from this website; or (iii) engage in systematic retrieval of data or other content from this website.

Trademarks and Copyrights

All trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, and icons are strictly proprietary to Equity. Nothing contained on this website should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any trademark displayed on this website without the written permission of an officer of Equity. Your use of the trademarks displayed on this website, or any other content on this website, except as provided herein, is strictly prohibited. Images displayed on this website are either the property of, or used with permission by, Equity. The use of these images by you, or anyone else authorized by you, is prohibited unless specifically permitted by Equity in writing. Any unauthorized use of Equity’s images or information may violate copyright laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity, and communications regulations and statutes.

Our Use of “Cookies”

When you view the Equity website, we may store some information on your computer. This information will be in the form of a “cookie” or similar file. Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your computer, not on our site. Cookies do not spy on you or otherwise invade your privacy, and they cannot invade your hard drive and steal information. Rather, they help you navigate the Equity website as easily as possible. We use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests and to prevent you from having to re-enter all your registration data at each connection.

Location Services for Mobile Applications (or “Apps”)

Your current location is only determined if you choose to use a function on our apps to determine your current location. If you allow your location to be obtained using an Equity app, we will use this information to return your estimated location. We use this information solely to distinguish your current location and not to identify you. We do not save this data nor disclose it to any third parties. Equity does not automatically track your location when you use our apps.

Terms and Conditions of Use

By using this website in any manner (whether browsing, following a link, sending an e-mail to an Equity e-mail address, obtaining or saving or retrieving policy information, making a purchase or policy payment, or using any other content or materials on the website), you agree to all terms and conditions of use contained or referenced in this Privacy Statement. These terms and conditions of use apply only to your use of this website and do not change or alter any other agreement or contract between you and Equity. Equity reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify or change these terms and conditions of use at any time without prior notice to you. Your continued use of the Equity website following the posting of any changes to the terms and conditions of use constitutes acceptance of those changes. If at any time, you choose not to accept these terms and conditions of use, please do not use this website or send e-mail to any Equity e-mail address.

Questions?

We value you as a customer and policyholder. If you have any concerns about this Privacy Statement, you are entitled to access your personal information that we possess or can reasonably retrieve. This information can be obtained from your agent or directly from us. However, before we respond to a request by or through your agent, you must provide a signed and notarized request indicating that we can provide such information to your agent. All information requests must contain your policy number.

This Privacy Statement describes our privacy practices for both current and former policyholders. We will provide one copy of this Statement to policyholders. Please share the Statement with everyone covered by your policy.