By
explaining our privacy policy to you we
trust that this notice will allow you
to better understand how we keep
certain information private and secure
while using it to serve you better.
This notice is provided to you as
required by the Federal Privacy Law and
refers to our policies and practices
effective on and after July1, 2001.
The
notice explains the following:
- Protecting
the Confidentiality and Security of
Consumer Information
- Who
is Covered by the Privacy Policy;
Revisions to the Policy
- The
Types of Information We Have About
You and Where it Comes
From
- Sharing
Information with Affiliated
Companies
- Sharing
Information for Legal, Business, and
Joint Marketing Purposes
PROTECTING
CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY
OF CONSUMER INFORMATION
We
take seriously our responsibility to
respect the confidentiality and
security of nonpublic personal
information - called "Consumer
Information" in this notice. Our policy
calls for safeguards to protect
Consumer Information only by those who
need access to do their work. The same
holds true for our affiliated
companies, which are companies that,
now or in the future , we own (or
control), or are owned (or controlled)
by, or are under common ownership (or
control) with. We also may maintain, as
required by applicable federal
regulations, physical, electronic, and
procedural safeguards to guard your
nonpublic personal
information.
WHO
IS COVERED BY THE PRIVACY POLICY:
REVISIONS TO THE POLICY
Our
privacy policy applies to individuals
(and their legal representatives) who
are our consumers or customers in
connection with financial services
primarily for personal, family, or
household purposes, such as leases,
installment purchases of vehicles and
insurance. It covers both current
and former customers and treats them
the same.
This
notice also describes the privacy
policy of our affiliated companies,
except as stated in separate notices
they give you. Consumers who transact
financial services business with us but
who do not seek financial services from
us are not covered by our privacy
policy or this notice. We reserve the
option of revising this notice and our
privacy policy from time to time, but
we will give you notice of the revised
policy before disclosing Consumer
Information about you other than as
described in this notice.
Information
We Collect
We
collect and use information about you
from various sources. The amount and
nature of the information collected and
used varies from transaction to
transaction, but the information
described in the following five types:
1.
Information from you. Information
you provide to us on applications,
other forms, and by other means,
such as your name, address, social
security number, assets, income, and
debt;
2. Information from our experience
and our affiliated companies'
experiences. Information about your
transactions and account experience
with us or our affiliated companies,
such as parties to transactions,
contract or lease balances, payment
history, and communications and
correspondence;
3. Information from the experience
of other parties. Information from
other outside sources regarding
their employment, credit or other
relationships, account experience,
or transactions with you, or
verifying representations made by
you, such as your employment
history, credit balances, or your
property or liability insurance
coverage.
4. Information from credit reports.
Information supplied by consumer
reporting agencies, such as
information regarding your
creditworthiness or credit
history;
5. Other general information. Other
general information we obtain about
you (such as demographic
information) that is not assembled
for the purpose of determining your
eligibility for credit, insurance,
employment or other products or
services.
SHARING
INFORMATION WITH AFFILIATED COMPANIES
We
may disclose to our affiliated
companies all of the information we
collect about you as described in each
of the five categories above. Our
affiliated companies can be financial
service providers such as leasing
companies, insurance companies and
payment processing companies and
non-financial companies such as
automotive repair facilities and data
processing companies. This sharing
permits us to give you superior
service, make a wider range of products
available, and operate our business
more effectively. We do not share
information with nonaffiliated third
parties, other than described below
under "Sharing Information for Legal
and Routine Business Reasons and for
Joint Marketing." Where they apply, we
reserve limits and restrictions set by
law as to sharing certain kinds of
information with our affiliates. For
example, unless you authorize the
sharing, we do not disclosure credit
worthiness information about you from
credit reports.
SHARING
INFORMATION FOR LEGAL AND GENERAL
BUSINESS REASONS AND FOR JOINT
MARKETING
We
may disclose any of the above five
types of Consumer Information to credit
bureaus and similar organizations, and
otherwise when permitted by law. For
example, this may include a disclosure
in connection with a subpoena or
similar legal process, a fraud
investigation, recording motor vehicle
registration and other documents in
public records, an audit or
examination, or the sale of your
account to another financial
institution. We may also share any of
the above five types of Consumer
Information outside of our affiliated
companies if we have your consent, such
as when you're requested to be
contacted by other companies we work
with.
We
may also share all five types of
Consumer Information above with
companies that work for us, possibly
including some of our own affiliated
companies, to perform services for us
or functions on our behalf. These
companies may include financial service
providers such as banks, finance
companies, and non-financial companies
such as automobile manufacturers and
data processing companies, and other
organizations, such as nonprofit
organizations that might provide
educational, training, or certification
services to businesses such as ours. We
may also share the five types of
Consumer Information above with
companies that work for us to provide
marketing and other services of with
financial institutions with whom we
have joint marketing agreements, such
as banks or financing divisions of
motor vehicle manufacturers. These
companies act on our behalf and, within
the time required by law, will be
required by law, will be required by
our policy to be contractually
obligated to keep the information that
we provide to them confidential and to
use the information that we provide to
them confidential and to use the
information only to provide the
services we've asked them to perform
for us.