Legal, privacy, accessibility

Introduction

Foresters Financial (Foresters) maintains the privacy and security of individuals’ personal information while collecting, using and disclosing personal information in compliance with applicable laws. We support the rights of individuals or their authorized representatives to access, correct or delete information, subject to any restrictions in applicable laws. We will not collect, use or disclose personal information except as described to you in this privacy policy.

Your rights and choices

You have the right to make certain requests and choices regarding your personal information. For example, you may:

• Review or access the personal information we have about you or request a copy of it. Download our Access Request Form here.
• Ask us to update or correct personal information if it is inaccurate
• In certain circumstances, request a list of disclosures we have made of your personal information
• Request that we delete your personal information, subject to any restrictions in applicable laws
• Opt-out of sharing your personal information with third parties for some purposes
• Object to certain types of uses of your personal information
• Make choices about receiving marketing information and emails

These rights vary depending on where you reside, but we will make reasonable efforts to honor your request, even if we are not required by law to do so. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting your request.

In some cases, if you ask us to delete or stop using your personal information, we may not be able to honor that request if the information is required to maintain your products or services with Foresters or for us to comply with tax, audit, legal or regulatory obligations. Please contact us to exercise one or more of these rights.

If you are a resident of California click here to learn additional information that may be relevant to you or additional rights you may have. 

How long do we keep information?

We aim to keep your personal information only as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. When information is no longer needed, we will destroy, delete or de-identify in a manner that is appropriate for the sensitivity of the information, the media in which it is stored or retained, and as required by law.

Consumer Privacy Notice

This privacy notice applies to The Independent Order of Foresters (Foresters Financial^TM).

We are required by law to  provide this notice to help you understand our privacy practices and how we collect, share and protect your personal information. You may also print a copy of this Notice from our website.

Information we collect

We collect your personal information of from the following sources:

Directly from you, such as:

• Applications and other forms, such as when you apply for insurance or file a claim.
• Information from our telephone conversations with you, and information you provide us online. This information may include your name, address, social security number, financial data, health history and voiceprint biometric data should you choose that option when you call us.
  
  

Indirectly from you, such as:

• Through your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others. This may include information about your premiums or payment history
• From your use of our products and services including products and services provided through third parties. For example, your use of our member benefits
• When you interact with our websites, applications, or social media sites. This may include information about your device, your web browser and the pages you accessed
  
  

From third parties and other sources, such as:

• From your insurance agent or broker to service your insurance product
• From consumer reporting agencies to process or administer the products or services you requested
• Information we receive from health care providers, clinics, the Medical Information Bureau and others who have records about your health
• Other sources from whom we obtain information which may include insurance-support organizations, who may keep and disclose information as allowed by law
  
  

Why we collect your information

We collect your personal information to offer and deliver the products and services that you request and that are suited to your needs. Collecting your information helps us:

• Assess your eligibility for, market, administer, and improve our products and services
• Pay or assess claims, process payments and  respond to your inquiries or complaints
• Identify, detect or prevent fraud or security breaches including verifying your identity
• Hold and inform you of fraternal and community events and activities, and operate our branch system
• Support and optimize users’ experience on our websites and applications
• Conduct market comparisons, research and analytics
• Fulfill our legal and regulatory obligations
  
  

How we share your information

The law allows us to share certain information we collect. It also gives consumers the right to limit some, but not all, sharing. We do not share information about our customers or former customers with anyone, except as allowed by law or with your consent.

We may share your information as follows:

• With employees, agents, agencies and affiliates to provide or service your products or services
• With non-affiliates who help us with our everyday business or who perform services on our behalf
• With companies that perform marketing services on our behalf or for joint marketing with other financial institutions
• In response to court orders, or to comply with requests made by law enforcement and regulatory authorities, and to comply with and as permitted by law

We do not share information with non-affiliates other than as described above. When we share, we require all non-affiliates to keep your information confidential. We do not sell your personal information.

Confidentiality and security

We have administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect your information. We train our employees on how to properly handle your information.

Other important information

Generally, you have the right to review personal information we have about you. You may do so by contacting us by email or in writing. You may also review this information in person at our Head Office. We may charge a reasonable fee to cover the costs incurred to provide you with copies of any requested information. If. To correct, amend or delete information we have about you, write to us at the email or mailing address below. If we agree to your request, we will correct, amend, or delete your information, as applicable, and notify affected parties as required by law. If we do not agree to your request, we will let you know and will keep a copy of the correspondence in our files.. You may also request a list of disclosures we have made of your medical records and other personal information, with certain exceptions.

For Massachusetts residents. You may write to us to ask for the reasons for an adverse underwriting decision. An adverse underwriting decision is where we decline your application for insurance, offer to insure you at a higher than standard rate or terminate your coverage.

For Vermont residents. We will not share information about your creditworthiness with our affiliates, other than as allowed by law, unless you authorize us to do so.

Contacting us

If you have a question about this privacy notice, you may contact us:

By mail:

Foresters Financial

Attn: Assistant Chief Privacy Officer
P.O. Box 179

Buffalo, NY – 14201

Email address: privacy@foresters.com

Toll free: 800-828-1540

Effective: May 1, 2022

Online Privacy Notice for California Residents

Effective Date: January 1, 2020

Last Updated: May 2022.

This Online Privacy Notice for California Residents (“Notice”) supplements the information contained in Foresters Enterprise Privacy Statement, US Privacy Policy and Online Privacy Statement and our California Privacy Notice and applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California (“consumers” or “you”).

Information we collect

We use several technologies to collect information for business purposes about visitors to Foresters Sites. This may include information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly with an individual or with a device (“personal information”).

Personal information does not include:

• Publicly available information from government records.
• Deidentified or aggregated consumer information.
• Information that is specifically excluded from the scope of the California Consumer Protection Act including:
  • Personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, or the California Financial Information Privacy Act.
  • Health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

Over the last 12 months, we may have collected and/or disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:

• Online identifiers, such as a name, alias, address, date of birth, Internet Protocol (IP) address or other unique identifiers.
• Internet or other similar network activity, such as browsing history, search history, information about a consumer’s interaction with our Sites, or advertisement.
• Geolocation data, such as information about the location of consumers or their device(s).
• Professional or employment related information, such as when applying for a job opportunity, including current or past job history.
• Non-public education information, such as education records provided when applying for a Foresters Scholarship, including grades, transcripts.
  
  

Your rights and choices

The California Consumer Protection Act (“CCPA”) provides California residents with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:

• The categories of personal information we collected about you
• The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you
• Our business or commercial purpose for collecting that personal information
• The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information
• The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you
• If we disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained

Deletion Request Rights

You have the right to request us to delete any of your personal information that we hold, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.

We may not be able to honor your request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s), such as to:

• Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a product or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
• Identify errors, repair or maintain systems, including errors that impair existing intended functionality.
• Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
• Enable internal and lawful uses of that information that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us and compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise any of the rights described above, you can submit a consumer request in one of the following ways:

1. Submit a Personal Information Access Request Form.
   Download and fill out the Form. Return the completed form to us in one of 3 ways:

   via email at privacy@foresters.com
   
   via fax at 877-329-4631

   via regular mail: 
   Foresters Financial 
   Attn: AVP North America Compliance and Privacy Officer 
   PO Box 179 
   Buffalo, NY 14201
   
   

2. Call us toll free at 800-828-1540
   
   
3. Visit www.foresters.com

To respond to a consumer request, we will need to verify your, or your authorized representative’s, identity or authority to make the request. Only you, or your authorized representative, may make a consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a consumer request on behalf of your minor child. We will not be able to respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you.

You may make a consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The consumer request must:

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative; and
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

Making a consumer request does not require you to create an account with us.

We will only use personal information provided in a consumer request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request.

Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to respond to a consumer request within thirty days (30) days of receiving it. If we need more time, we will inform you, in writing, of the reason and extension period.

We will deliver our written response by regular mail or electronically, at your option.

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding receipt of the consumer request. If applicable, our response will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We generally do not charge a fee to process or respond to your request unless it is excessive or repetitive. If we determine that a fee is necessary, we will tell you why and provide you with a cost estimate before we complete your request.

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights under this Notice unless permitted by law.

Changes to our Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to amend this Notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes, we will post the updated Notice on our Sites and update the effective date. Your continued use of our Sites after any changes to this Notice constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

Online Privacy

Foresters understands that you care about how we collect, use and share information when you interact with us online through our websites, social media platforms, online services and mobile applications (collectively “Sites”). It outlines the types of personal information we collect through our Sites, how we use it, with whom we share it, and some of the choices you can make about our use of the information.

Some of our Sites may use online data collection tools and/or cookies to improve functionality, enhance security, evaluate the effectiveness of our Sites and advertising campaigns, or provide visitors with a customized online experience.

Our Online Privacy Policy explains the types of information we collect through our Sites, how we use and protect that information, and the choices you have regarding our collection, use and sharing practices. You can also learn more about how we use cookies in our Cookies Policy.

Information we collect online

Using various technologies, Foresters or our service providers may collect various information from or about visitors to our Sites. Information we collect online may include:

• Personal information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly with an individual or with a device. This may include information about your browser, IP address, device type or how long a visitor used the site and the pages they visited. Click here to learn more about how we use cookies.

Anonymous data about visitors to our Sites, such as browsing history or geolocation data.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics, Web Trends and similar analytics service providers (“analytics services”) to collect various types of data about use of our Sites. We use this data to monitor and improve our Sites, measure the effectiveness of our marketing and engagement campaigns and to offer you content, products or services that may be of interest to you.

Advertising

Foresters may contract with advertising and marketing service providers to promote our brand, products and services, across different media, including on third party websites that are not affiliated with us. They and third parties, including Facebook and LinkedIn, may use cookies, web beacons and similar tracking technologies to gather information about your online activities, including your interactions with our Sites and the pages you visit. We may use this information to deliver advertisements to you, both online and offline, that are customized to meet your specific interests. For example, we may send a marketing email based on a consumer’s interaction with a specific Site. We may combine aggregated and de-identified data, along with other personal information we have about you and your relationship with Foresters to determine which advertisements, products or services may be of interest to you, display them to you, monitor responses, and help us measure customer engagement.

To learn more about your choices relating to the collection and use of data for analytics or targeted advertising, visit https://youradchoices.com/control.

Social media

We use social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube (“social platforms”) to provide product and service information, articles, news, community events and career opportunities. These social platforms facilitate online sharing and collaboration among users who have registered to use them. Any content you post on social platforms, such as pictures, videos, information, “Likes”, or any personal information you choose to make available on these platforms is subject to the terms of use and privacy policies of those platforms. We may receive personal information about you when you use such social platforms, for example your profile picture.

Some of our Sites may include social media buttons or icons (“plug-ins”) that enable users to easily share information on a social platform. These plug-ins may log certain information such as your IP address, browser type and language, and the web pages you have viewed. If you are logged into a social platform while using our Sites, they may also link information collected with your profile on that social platform. Foresters does not control these third-party tracking technologies. We encourage you to review the privacy policies on social platforms where you have an account to better understand how they collect and treat such information. Foresters is not responsible for the privacy or security practices of the social platforms we use.

How do we use and share your online information?

We use and share personal information only for disclosed purposes related to the products and services we offer, with your consent or as required or permitted by law. We may also use the information we obtain through our Sites in a way that does not directly identify you. For example, we may combine information about the nature or frequency of visits to our Sites and use or share aggregated information for statistical research or analysis, to optimize user experience and diagnose technical problems on our Sites, or other business purposes. We may share your information with our affiliates and licensed agents and agencies to provide you with a full range of our products and services. We may share your information with non-affiliated third-parties who help us conduct our business or who perform services on our behalf. They are contractually obligated to use, protect and secure your information in accordance with our policies and standards or as permitted or required by law. They only have access to the information necessary to perform these services on our behalf and are prohibited from using the information for any purposes except performing the contract.

Foresters does not sell your Personal Information.

How do we protect your information?

We strive to protect your personal information from the risk of loss, unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or misuse. We comply with applicable laws and regulations and have implemented reasonable physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information that are appropriate for its sensitivity. For example, we encrypt your personal information and we use advanced firewall technology and layered security tools to protect our environment. We restrict access to your personal information to those employees who need to know the information to provide or administer our products or services. We regularly train employees to keep your information safe.

Contact us

If you have questions or wish to contact us about this policy please contact us:

Toll-free: 800-828-1540

Email: privacy@foresters.com

Regular mail:

Foresters Financial

Attn: Assistant Chief Privacy Officer

PO Box 179

Buffalo, NY 14201

Complaints

If you have a concern regarding our handling of your personal information you may contact us at privacy@foresters.com or call us at 800-828-1540. We will explain our complaint procedure to you and investigate all complaints. If a complaint is justified, we will take all appropriate steps to set the situation right, including changing our policies and practices if necessary. We will also let you know what other complaint procedures may be available to you.

Changes to this policy

We may change this policy at any time at our discretion and as required by applicable laws. If we make material changes, we will post those changes on our Sites.

419742 US (05/22)

A Special Notice about My Foresters

Foresters Financial members are currently only those insured under a life insurance certificate issued by The Independent Order of Foresters. If you are a Foresters Financial member, you may be eligible to register for My Foresters, an online member information service that allows you to view your member benefits package, to register for member events, and to receive other information or services related to your Foresters membership. You will need to meet the eligibility requirements on that site; for example, you must be at least 16 years of age.

To use the My Foresters site, you will need a user name and password, and any additional security measures that Foresters may require. By obtaining a user name and password, you agree that:

• You are responsible for keeping your user name and passwords safe
• If someone signs in to the My Foresters site using your user name and password, we can treat that person as if they are you
• We cannot, and are not required, to confirm the identity or authority of anyone who uses our online services, except by ensuring their password matches their user name
• We can rely on this user name and password as electronic identification, to accept instructions given online as if you had given us written signed instructions

418297 US (12/19) 

The following is applicable to The Independent Order of Foresters.

Accessibility

Foresters is committed to supporting people with disabilities. Our commitment in fulfilling our mission is to strive at all times to provide our products and services in ways that respect the dignity and independence of people with disabilities. We are also committed to giving people with disabilities the same opportunity to access our products and services and allowing them to benefit from the same services, in the same place and in a similar way as other customers. As we move toward this goal, we expect that our services, benefits and facilities will be more and more responsive to the needs of people with disabilities.

Foresters Multi-Year Accessibility Plan

Foresters fully supports the standards of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and has developed plans to implement them in our organization. Our Multi-Year Accessibility Plan outlines what we will do to remove and prevent accessibility barriers in our organization for customers and-or employees.

Alternate format

Providing information in an accessible or alternate format is a way to help remove potential barriers to accessing and understanding information. Foresters is committed to striving to provide accessible information and communication to its customers and recognizes that persons with disabilities may use methods other than standard print to access information. For more information on available accessible formats or to request an available accessible format document, please contact us.

Website accessibility

Website accessibility refers to the practice of designing websites so that people with disabilities and those with different or diverse abilities can understand content, navigate and interact online and have equal access to information and functionality. We are actively working to improve our website to provide a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience. We are striving to ensure our website is consistent with the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and is usable with assistive technology.

Communication

We are committed to communicating with customers with disabilities in ways that take into account their disabilities. This means that employees communicate in a manner that enables customers to communicate effectively, and to use and receive information about our products and services.

Assistive devices

We are committed to helping our customers with disabilities who use assistive devices, and ensuring our staff is familiar with various assistive devices that may be used while accessing our products or services.

Service animals and support persons

Customers with disabilities may be accompanied and assisted by a support person, and may bring their service animal on the parts of our premises that are open to the public, subject to any other applicable laws. We strive to ensure that people involved in dealing with customers are appropriately trained in how to interact with customers in these cases.

Sometimes, we may determine that a service animal cannot enter a certain area, or a customer may need a support person to provide the necessary assistance but not have one available. In these circumstances, we will use our best efforts to suggest reasonable and appropriate alternatives to provide assistance.

Notice of temporary disruptions

We will notify our customers promptly in the event of a planned or unexpected disruption to services or facilities for people with disabilities. Our notification will include information about accessible alternatives for accessing our products, services or facilities, as well as the expected length of the disruption. We will provide notification in an accessible format which may include, but is not limited to, outgoing telephone messages or by posting on this website.

Training

Our training for employees, volunteers, others who interact with the public on our behalf, and people who develop our customer service policies will comply with applicable accessibility laws, and may include:

• How to interact and communicate with customers with various types of disabilities
• How to interact with customers with disabilities who use an assistive device or rely on the assistance of a service animal or support person
• How to use available equipment or devices that may assist with the provision of products or services to customers with disabilities
• What to do if a customer with a disability is having difficulty in accessing our products and services
• Our policies, practices and procedures relating to the provision of products or services to customers with disabilities
• A review of the purpose and requirements of any applicable laws or regulations, including the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005

Feedback

We are committed to continually learning about our customers, their priorities and needs and to improving access to our products and services. We welcome comments and feedback as we strive to meet our customers’ needs and expectations. Customers who wish to provide feedback on how we meet their accessibility needs can contact us using their TTY service, by telephone or in writing by regular or electronic mail. Please click here for our contact information. We will use our best efforts to address or respond to a customer’s feedback immediately. However, it may sometimes be necessary to refer feedback to another Foresters representative for response or to be handled through our regular complaint handling procedures.