State Farm Insurance Customer Information Privacy Policy

The following is a series of entries that I will continue to post to until I get closure or I reach a stale mate.  If you are interested in the item I suggest you bookmark this page and check back on my progress.  I will remove this message when the post has gone to its logical conclusion.

10/30/12

State Farm Insurance

 In a letter I received today from State Farm entitled "Notice of Privacy Policy" it states, in part:

"State Farm may collect personal information from sources other than the individual applying for coverage or opening an account with State Farm.  Such personal information may, in certain cases, be disclosed to third parties without your authorization as permitted by law.  If you would like additional information about the collection and disclosure of information, please contact your State Farm agent.  You may also act upon your right to see and correct any personal information in your State Farm files by writing your State Farm agent to request this access."

I would like to know what personal information State Farm has on me in my file, including information obtained from sources other than me or my wife.

Additionally, I would like to know to which third parties this information has been disclosed.

Thank you.

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11/1/12

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I hope this email finds you well... I sent out an email inquiry when I received your email and contacted State Farm Corporate. My hope was to receive something back by tomorrow/Friday at the latest. I haven’t heard back in an email or call as of yet. I will track this down and have something by early next week. My sense is this is the boilerplate I see with Credit Card Companies, Banks etc. I was alarmed to see State Farm join in on such collaborations. There has to be an opt-out for sharing information. I will find out how to get you on the opt-out do not share list as well.    

Best Regards,

Your State Farm Agent

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11/7/12
Well, tomorrow leads to tomorrow which leads to tomorrow. I guess this is more incidious a problem for them than they anticipated. Time to start digging into this and write a few more emails to get to the bottom of it.
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Email from State Farm Agent of 11/7/12

Good Morning

I contacted a few connections in Corporate and everyone directed me back to the following link http://www.statefarm.com/about/privacy/privacy.asp

According to my contacts this is State Farm policy. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Best Regards,

State Farm Agent

11/7/12 My email response to the Agent.

Dear State Farm Agent:

If you would look closely at the email I sent you on October 30, 2012, I said:

"I would like to know what personal information State Farm has on me in my file, including information obtained from sources other than me or my wife.

Additionally, I would like to know to which third parties this information has been disclosed."

This is what I am looking for from State Farm

It is my understanding, under the law, that State Farm is obligated to answer this question in a timely manner.

I, again, ask that I get a firm outside date by which I might expect that information.

Regards,

XXXXXXXXXX

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11/9/12
Email from State Farm Agent
Good Morning,

I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for checking with with me. I have someone from corporate compliance who is going to contact you with specifics as per your request. Also, I have added you to our Do Not Share database.

Best Regards

Your State Farm Agent

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11/13/12

State Farm

Dear XXXXXXXX

We are in receipt of your request for personal information within the files containing information collected and maintained in connection with insurance transactions (underwriting information) for your policies. In accordance with State regulations, we have reviewed your files(s) and identified the following information that has been collected from persons or organizations other than the individuals applying for coverage:
Fire Policy:
Fire Loss History Report (LHR) Ran in Jan 2011 - No incidents were reported.
Dataquick: No report ran
Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) Ran 1/5/11 on both you and your wife - No incidents were reported
Auto Loss History Report (LHR) 1/15/11  ran on you and your wife
5/1/10 claim for you from Travelers Insurance

Unless you have told us not to, we may share information about you within State Farm that was obtained from your application or information obtained from consumer reports, such as those listed above.

While we do not sell any customer information or allow those doing business on our behalf to use our customer information for their marketing purposes, there are situations in which your personal information may be provided to other organizations. We may disclose personal information collected in connection with your insurance without your written authorization. Such disclosures may be made as described in the enclosed "Insurance Information and Privacy Protection" notice.

If you discover the above information is incorrect, you have the right to submit a written request to correct your personal information. Please refer to the enclosed brochure notice for additional details regarding such a request.

Sincerely,

Your State Farm Agent.

encl: Notice of Privacy Policy (same as http://www.statefarm.com/about/privacy/privacy.asp
with the notable exception of the section "Other Important Information")

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11/16/12

To State Farm Agent,

We hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving this coming week. We have so much to be thankful for.

I received your letter today with your response to the request for the disclosure of personal information on us that State Farm maintains.  Thank you very much for putting up with my request.  I do want to follow up on a few items. If, for any reason, you do not understand any of the comments below I would be happy to elaborate for you.

First, in your letter's last paragraph you refer to my right to submit a written request to correct my personal information. You refer to the enclosed "Insurance Information and Privacy Protection" notice for additional details regarding such a request.

The "Insurance Information and Privacy Protection" notice is identical to the original notice that I received from State Farm and also the document that can be found at http://www.statefarm.com/about/privacy/privacy.asp with one very important and notable exception.  The last section in the other documents I mention has a section entitled "Other Important Information."  To be clear, this section is omitted in the brochure that you sent me.  

It is only in that omitted section that the issue of correcting personal information is addressed: "You may also act upon your right to see and correct any personal information in your State Farm files by writing your State Farm agent to request this access."

It seems almost like a self referencial statement, since there is actually more information in the letter than the brochure and neither gives "additional details regarding such a request."

Be that is it may, I will note here the concerns that I have about the information you provided and assume that this notice is sufficient to get the ball rolling on correcting them.

Next, while the information you provided in the letter may be all the information maintained by State Farm in its files on myself and my wife obtained from third parties, it certainly is deficient in that it does not contain the information in the files obtained from us.  Note, however, that while I had expected to see that information also, I am not requesting that you provide that information at this time.

Finally, on the section entitled Auto Policy it states "05/10/2010 claim for XXXXXXXX from Travelers Insurance"

I do not believe that technically this was a claim for the following reasons:

The issue at hand was a manufacturer's defect that resulted in the interior of the car being damaged.  The manufacturer, in settlement of a class action lawsuit, paid 100% of the costs associated with the damage, including the cause and effect of the defect.  In other words, Travelers Insurance paid no claim. Hence no claim was made and paid or denied.

Since I have only been made privy to the few words in your letter with regard to this issue, I can only assume that it is being treated by State Farm as a "claim" like other typical claims.

Perhaps you could clarify for me the detail information with regard to this point and the implications that that information has had and may continue to have upon our State Farm insurance premiums and what we may do to remedy the situation.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXX

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November 13. 2012

To State Farm Agent

Just following up on my email of two weeks ago (copy above). Since I did not get any response I thought I might just touch base with you to see how it is going.

Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXX

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November 30, 2012

Happy Holidays and I hope this email finds you well. My apologies for not replying to you in a timely fashion. I was waiting to get something back from State Farm, or preferably have someone contact you directly, to provide answers to your specific questions.  I do not have answers to your questions yet. I have asked for the direct contact person so that I can speak with them. Once I have that contact person I will pass his/her contact information on to you. Your questions are valid and I would like answers to them as well. Please do not feel that you are not a priority. The slow response to your question is uncharacteristic for my agency. State Farm corporate is the only avenue to getting the answer you are looking for. Hopefully the slow response is not a poor reflection on my office.  

Best Regards,

Your State Farm Agent

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Dec. 14, 2012

I am dropping you a quick reminder that I am still waiting for a meaningful response from State Farm.

Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXX

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Dec. 14, 2012

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas to you. My family is doing well and truly excited about Christmas.  I remember your Christmas tree from last year – awesome for sure. Thank you for checking in with me regarding the questions you have on State Farm’s privacy policy. I have copied everyone in State Farm who I have contacted regarding your questions. I do not have answers to your questions yet. My hope is that I will have something in writing that I can provide to you by end of year. Corporate may choose to contact you directly as well with a response.  

Merry Christmas & Many Blessings ,

State Farm Agent

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Jan. 2, 2013

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that the New Year is already here.

Based upon your latest email of Dec. 14, I had expected to have gotten a response from State Farm by now to the question I posed in my email of Nov. 16.  The bulk of the personal insurance policies we have are up for renewal in January and I would hate to have to redo them if the information upon which they are based is incorrect.

Surely State Farm can be more responsive than a two month turn around time to my question.

I look forward to getting closure on this item very shortly.

Hoping you and your family have enjoyed your holiday.

Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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1/2/2013

Happy New Year!

I am glad to hear that you did not sustain damages due to Sandy.

I am very surprised that you have not received any notice and/or contact from State Farm corporate directly. The lack of response is not characteristic of the company. I have CC'd everyone in the loop on this issue and my hope is you will be contacted post haste. My apologies for this issue dragging on so long. I am sure you would agree that the experience is far from remarkable. 

Best Regards & Many Blessings in the New Year,

Your State Farm Agent

"Providing Insurance and Financial Services" 

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1/5/2013
Today i received a letter dated 12/28/2012 from State Farm

12/28/2012

Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

In accordance with State regulations, enclosed you will find a copy of your Customer Profile and copies of the applications for your Fire and Auto policies, which contains the personal information we have in our records for you.  Also, your social security number is in our records for you, but for information security purposes, and your protection, the Customer Profile report doesn't print social security numbers.

If you need to make corrections to any of the personal information, you have the right to submit a written request to correct your personal information.

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1/5/2013

My response to State Farm.

I have received today your letter dated Dec. 28, 2012 with additional information possessed by State Farm on my wife and myself.

Thank you for all your help here. I know that this has been a long and arduous process. At least that is what it seems like from our point of view.

I think we will wrap this up and call it quits at this point on the issue of getting information being held by State Farm..

However, I do want to make three points.

First, I specifically said in my last inquiry that I did not want to receive the personal information provided by myself and my wife, and that is precisely what we did receive.

Next, I did raise a question about the alleged auto claim that was made in 2010 that might have been a factor affecting the rate that we were paying for our auto insurance.  There was no response to that in your letter.

Finally, I do not understand how, on Jan. 2, 2013, you sent me an email not understanding what happened to my request, when, in fact, you signed a letter to me on Dec. 28 2012 with all the information that you sent me.

In conclusion, I am going to be taking the following steps:

With regard to the incorrect information on the personal files associated with the applications for insurance at the various locations, I am going to address those specific points to the individual agents that incorrectly reported minor errors in the applications.  I have no idea where they got that information from.  It certainly wasn't from us.

With regard to the alleged claim on the auto insurance history, I have taken the liberty of speaking with the agent who wrote that policy in Nevada and she has assured me that it did not affect the rates since there was no monetary claim filed.

Finally, I have just had my auto insurance rates corrected for the second, or possibly third time with regard to the multiline discount that we were eligible for but did not receive.  I just wish that there was a way of getting all these policies under one true roof so that we could resolve the issues without having to talk to five different agents.

Looking forward to a healthy New Year.

Regards,

XXXXXXXXX

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1/7/13
Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for checking in with me. I am happy that you received the company letter. The letter I signed was dated for December 28th, 2012. That letter was generated by State Farm and mailed to me. I signed the letter and forwarded it to you as soon as I received it. The postmarking will be dated for January 3rd or later. State Farm has offered it's explanation but wanted me, the independent agent, to sign the document. I wish we could consolidate all of your policies in my agency.  Unfortunately some of your coverage is for assets outside the state. Please contact me at any time regarding any of your policies. I will work with State Farm corporate, and your other agents, to facilitate any issue you may have. 

I hope 2013 will be a great year for you and your family.   I will contact you to see if we can get together.      

State Farm Agent