Online Privacy & Security Statement

Our commitment to protecting your privacy

At COUNTRY Financial®1, your privacy has always been important to us. We understand how important your privacy is to you, and we believe protecting your confidential information is a fundamental part of doing business. Thatʼs why at COUNTRY we take steps to ensure:

  • We will restrict our employees' access to your information to only those who need to know information to provide products or services to you and for other reasons permitted by law.
  • We will never sell your personal information.
  • Reasonable and appropriate safeguards are employed to protect your confidential information.
  • We will share your information (name, address, and email address) with non-affiliated third parties to market their products and services that may be of interest to you, only if you have not opted out of such sharing.

Categories of information we collect


This Privacy Policy Statement governs your use of our website and use of COUNTRY applications on mobile devices. In an effort to provide the highest quality client service and to help ensure we are meeting your insurance and financial services needs, we may collect certain information about you through our website. The information we gather about you when you use our website or one of our mobile applications may include information:

COUNTRY Financial website

Personal Information: Name, address, birthdate or age, Social Security Number, gender, marital status, telephone number, email address, driver’s license number, bank account or credit card information, accident and moving violation history, lien or lease holders information, college or school information, information related to your mobile device or mobile device carrier, other identifiers that permit physical or online contacting, and other personally identifiable information in combination with one or more identifiers mentioned above. However, when you visit our website, you control the nonpublic personal information provided to us.

 

Additional information: Type of web browser, type of device, computer operating system, internet service provider, identification of any referring website, date, time, and length of access.

COUNTRY Financial mobile application

Name, address, date of birth, telephone number, email address, last four of Social Security Number, bank account number and routing number, policy number, information related to your mobile device or mobile device carrier, other identifiers that might permit physical or online contacting, and information you provide which is maintained in personally identifiable form in combination with one of the other identifiers previously mentioned.

DriverIQ mobile application

Name, address, date of birth, telephone number, email address, policy number information related to your mobile device or mobile device carrier, other identifiers that might permit physical or online contacting, and information you provide which is maintained in personally identifiable form in combination with one of the other identifiers previously mentioned.

From your Mobile Device

COUNTRY Financial mobile application: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates to determine your geographical location and enhance your mobile application experience. This information can also be used in aggregate to generate reports on how visitors find and use the Application, and other information.

 

DriverIQ application: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, trip tracking information, and certain mobile device enabled features whenever a trip is in progress to determine your geographical location, your driving experience, and enhance your mobile application experience. This information can also be used in aggregate to generate reports on how visitors find and use the Application, and other information.

 

How we share your information

COUNTRY considers the types of information listed above to be confidential.  However, from time to time and as allowed by law we may share that information:

  • Within our family of affiliated companies and with our business partners for everyday business purposes such as to service your transactions, fulfill your claims, and maintain your account(s). For example, we may provide your name, address, phone number, and certain claims information to a service provider for the purposes of servicing your claim.
  • As required or permitted by law to others, such as in response to court orders and legal investigations, or to consumer reporting agencies. Information sharing is limited to only that permitted or required by law.
  • Within our family of affiliated companies, or with your COUNTRY Financial representative, to provide you with outstanding products and services. For example, we may share information to provide better service to you in presenting products and services that meet your needs.
  • With companies that perform marketing services on our behalf. If we have joint marketing agreements, we may share information to offer financial products that might be of interest to you. We would limit the information shared to that which is needed to perform the transaction, such as name and address for a mailing.
  • We will share your information (name, address, and email address) with non-affiliated third parties to market their products and services that may be of interest to you, only if you have not opted out of such sharing.

How we obtain information from your online and mobile application use

  • COUNTRY may collect information from you automatically using  Internet cookies, analytics, logs, web beacons, tags, scripts, local storage, or other technologies to help provide you with an enhanced online experience. Cookies are small text files sent to your browser from our web server.
  • COUNTRY collects statistical information to determine how users are using our website. We use this information to evaluate the usage of our website and to develop and improve our website content and functionality.

Cookies do not provide your name, address, email address or other personally identifiable information. We may link non-personally identifiable information that we collect with personally identifiable information that you provide to us through the use of our website.

How your information is used

COUNTRY wants your online experience to be the best it can be. Our main purpose for collecting information is to provide you with outstanding products and services.

On our website:

We may use the information to provide quotes or cost comparisons, answer your questions or concerns and provide you information in a timely manner. We also may use this information to contact you about other products and services from us or our affiliates, in which you might be interested. By learning more about you, we can deliver more relevant information about products and improve our client service.

If you no longer want to receive COUNTRY Financial marketing emails, you can click the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of the email.

We may use general geographic location information and information about your Internet carrier, as well as information you provide us, to improve and customize our websiteʼs content, layout, and services. For instance, if you provide us with your age and/or gender, we may place a cookie on your machine and on your next visit, personalize the message displayed.

If you login to the secured portions of our website, we use a cookie for session management and collecting analytics. This helps us to avoid asking you to login again as you move from page to page and allows us to evaluate and manage our marketing campaigns.

On our mobile applications:

We may use general geographic location information as well as information about your mobile device carrier to customize the messages and layout of the Application to provide information that may be important to you. We may also use analytics to help us measure driving experience and to understand more about the demographics and behaviors of our users.

Both website and mobile applications:

Currently, COUNTRY does not support the necessary technology to respond to “do not track” signals provided by major browsers, which are designed to provide you options regarding the collection of personally identifiable information about your online activities over time and across different websites or online services.  We do not allow our business partners to collect your personally identifiable information for their own marketing purposes when you use our Application.

How we protect your information

COUNTRY is concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your information. We use physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to help protect your confidential information that we process and maintain.

Our operational and data processing systems are contained in a secure environment and that environment is access-controlled.

To secure sensitive communications between your computer and our web servers, we have implemented Entrust.net digital certificates and enabled strong, RSA1024-bit, encryption. We use the secure sockets layer (SSL) security protocol to protect all exchanges of information via our web pages that are considered private or confidential.

We use various authentication technologies, including passwords, to authenticate visitors to the portions of our website that may allow access to confidential information. We have implemented other security controls such as firewalls, intrusion detection and intrusion prevention to protect our systems and networks and your confidential information. Our security systems constantly monitor the web server to help ensure your accounts are safe and secure.

We limit access of contractors to those who need to know information we process and maintain in order to operate, develop or improve our Application.

We consider the security of your information a priority. Please be aware that, although we endeavor to provide reasonable security for information we process and maintain, no security system can prevent all potential security threats.

Data retention policy, managing your information

COUNTRY may collect user provided data from your use of our website (“User Provided Data”) and retain this data for a reasonable time thereafter. If youʼd like us to correct User Provided Data, please call us at 866-COUNTRY (866-268-6879) and we will respond in a reasonable time. Please note that some or all User Provided Data may be required to be retained by law.

Children

We do not use our website to knowingly solicit data from children under the age of 13. For more information about childrenʼs privacy and the Childrenʼs Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), please visit the Federal Trade Commission website at www.ftc.gov.

If you are a minor under the age of 18 and you have directly posted content on our website which you would like to have deleted or hidden, please call us at 866-COUNTRY (866-268-6879). We will respond to your request within a reasonable time and will take steps to ensure that content is either deleted or hidden. Please be aware that certain information may need to remain on our servers, as we may be required to retain certain information by law or where the information may have been provided by persons other than you.

Email

Email messages without encryption are not secure. We are not responsible for the security or confidentiality of communications sent to us via unencrypted Internet email messages. Unencrypted email messages traveling through the Internet are potentially subject to viewing, alteration and copying by anyone on the Internet. Be cautious when submitting personal or financial information via unencrypted email. Send confidential information through encrypted email or the U.S. Postal Service, or use the telephone to speak directly to our employees.

Internet fraud

COUNTRY wants to protect clients by warning them about a growing form of Internet fraud called “phishing.” Fake email messages are disguised to look like requests from real businesses. These emails request private information. The information is then used to access financial records and steal identities. Be cautious when receiving emails from unknown or suspicious sources. If you receive an email message prompting you to login to read a message and you did not request any information, do not reply or click on the link, and contact us at 866-COUNTRY (866-268-6879) immediately.

Changes to this Privacy & Security Statement

Since Internet technology is quickly evolving, COUNTRY may make changes to this Privacy & Security Statement from time to time. We reserve the right to modify or amend this Privacy & Security Statement. When we make a change to this Privacy & Security Statement, we will post a new Privacy & Security Statement on our website. It is your obligation to periodically review this Privacy & Security Statement. You may also request a copy of this Privacy & Security Statement at any time.

Opt-in (Acceptance)

By using our website, you consent to our processing of User Provided Data and automatically collected information as described in this Privacy & Security Statement now and as amended by us. “Processing” means using cookies on a computer/hand held device or using or touching information in any way, including, but not limited to, collecting, storing, deleting, using, combining and disclosing information, all of which activities will take place in the United States. If you reside outside the U.S., your information will be transferred to the U.S. and processed and stored there under applicable U.S. privacy standards. By using our website and providing information to us, you consent to such transfer to, and processing in, the U.S.

Opt-out (Declination) for mobile applications

There is a single opt-out option for users of this Application:

Opt–out of all information collection by uninstalling the Application – You can stop all collection of information by the Application easily by uninstalling the Application. You may use the standard uninstall processes as may be available as part of your mobile device or via the mobile application marketplace or network.

Termination of relationship

In the future if you terminate your relationship with COUNTRY, we will adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this Privacy & Security Statement as amended from time to time.

Contact us

If you have questions about privacy or our practices while using our website, please call us at 866-COUNTRY (866-268-6879).

COUNTRY Financial® is a family of affiliated companies (collectively, COUNTRY) located in Bloomington, IL. Learn more about who we are.

1This Privacy Statement covers the following companies: COUNTRY Mutual Insurance Company®, COUNTRY Casualty Insurance Company®, COUNTRY Preferred Insurance Company®, COUNTRY Life Insurance Company®, COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company®, COUNTRY® Capital Management Company, COUNTRY Trust Bank®, Cotton States Life Insurance CompanySM, and CC Services, Inc. 101071-04-201212