Watermark Insurance Services, Inc. Privacy Policy
Last updated February 20, 2022
This Privacy Policy describes how Wavelength Insurance Consulting and Watermark Insurance Services, Inc. (“Watermark” “we”, or “our”) collects, uses, and shares personal information in connection with our website, mobile applications, and other digital platforms that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Watermark Sites” or “Site”). We provide online insurance brokerage, insurance coverage quotes and estimates, and related services (the “Services”) sometimes through our proprietary website and other intellectual property (the “Watermark Properties”).
By agreeing to our Terms of Service, you agree to the data handling practices described in this Privacy Policy. Capitalized terms that are used in this Privacy Policy, but not defined here shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Terms of Service.
This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date specified above. This Privacy Policy may change at any time, and we will notify you of any material changes by posting a message on our home page and emailing if you are an existing customer. Your continued use of the Watermark Sites and/or Services after any such change will constitute your acceptance of any modified Privacy Policy.
What we collect and how we use it
You can use some of the Sites by browsing without log in information or purchasing any Services (as a “Visitor”), or you may create an account to apply for insurance policies or related Services through us (as a “Member”). Visitors and Members are both referred to in this Privacy Policy by the terms “you” or “your.” Some of our Services are only available to Members.
Visitors
For Visitors that haven't created an account or logged in, “Usage Information” is automatically collected just by using our Sites, which may include information about your IP address, approximate geo-location, access dates and times, hardware and software information, device information, device event information, unique identifiers, crash data, cookie data, and the pages you viewed or engaged with before or after using our Sites.
Usage Information helps us provide, inspect, protect, analyze, and improve our Sites. They help us better understand how you navigate through and interact with the Sites, monitor, and analyze the performance, operation, and effectiveness of our Sites, and are for purposes of our own customer support, analytics, research, product development, and regulatory compliance.
Email and Chat
Visitors and Members may sign up for email newsletters, request more information and email or chat with us on the Sites by providing their name, email address and a message (https://watermarklife.com/contact-us). In connection with our marketing campaigns, we may also collect and use information about your engagement with our marketing emails (e.g., whether the email was opened) to ensure that the products and services we offer are relevant to you and other consumers. We also use digital information you provide to us to ensure you are happy with our Services and offer you other relevant Services.
Members
To become a member, you may create an account on the Sites by voluntarily providing your name, email address, and other information. The personal information you choose to provide to us when you fill in forms on our Sites and add information to your account is shared by you at your sole discretion. If we collect information about You from a third-party platform, we protect and use data in a way governed by the requirements of those third-party platforms often outlined in their relevant terms and conditions or privacy policies.
Insurance Information
To receive results related to specific insurance policies and/or quotes, you may choose to provide us with additional personal information which may include, and is not limited to your email address, phone number, gender, physical address, zip code, income, details about your living situation, and general details about your current insurance coverage. We use the data you choose to share with us to assist us with providing you with our Services.
Cookies
When you visit our Sites, we may place cookies on your device. Cookies are small text files that websites send to your computer or other Internet-connected device to uniquely identify your browser or to store information or settings in your browser. Cookies allow us to recognize you when you return. They also help us provide a customized experience and can enable us to detect certain kinds of fraud. In many cases the information we collect using cookies and other tools is only used in a non-identifiable manner without reference to personal information. For example, we may use information we collect to better understand website traffic patterns and to optimize our website experience. In many cases you can manage cookie preferences and opt-out of having cookies and other data collection technologies used by adjusting the settings on your browser. All browsers are different so visit the “help” section of your browser when to learn about cookie preferences and other privacy settings that may be available. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies or clear local storage this could affect the features, availability, and functionality of the Sites.
Financial information
If you choose to submit credit card or other payment and/or payee information to access our Services, the processing of of your payment details will be via encrypted transmission. This financial information you choose to share with us may be temporarily stored in encrypted form on our platforms’ servers but only for as long as necessary for the purpose of completing your purchase of our Services, and then it is permanently deleted.
Other uses of Information Used on Our Sites and Services
In addition to the above, we may use your personal information to:
· Provide, improve, maintain, or optimize our Services;
· Help underwrite and provide accurate insurance premium rate quotes;
· Provide insurers with the required information for applications;
· Provide or offer other financial and consumer products and services from partners with whom we have entered into a joint marketing agreement;
· Provide, maintain and improve customer service;
· Tailor your experience with the Services to your interests;
· Develop and improve our Sites and the Services;
· Respond to customer inquiries;
· Communicate with you regarding the insurance products that you purchased through the Sites and other products and services that may be of interest to you; and
· aggregate your personal information with our other users’ personal information and use that information for benchmarking and analysis purposes.
Use of personal information for compliance and protection
Along with the above, we may use your information to:
· Comply with applicable Federal and State laws, lawful requests, and legal processes. This includes complying with subpoenas from courts or requests from government authorities and regulators.
· Protecting our, your and other third party rights, privacy, safety and/or property. This includes the potential of making or defending any legal claims;
· Auditing our internal processes and policies for compliance with legal and contractual requirements;
· Enforcing the terms and conditions that govern our Sites, Services, and Privacy Policy and;
· Preventing and deterring fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft.
How we share your information
We share your information with third parties only as described in this Privacy Policy. In addition to the usages described above, we may share:
· Insurance Information, Application Information, Quote Information and other information with insurance carriers to obtain relevant and accurate quotes and submit and process insurance applications.
· For Life Insurance shoppers working with life insurance partners, we may also share information with such partners to facilitate completion of the insurance and/or mortgage transactions.
How we secure your information
Information related to customers and your information is stored using encryption and we use additional encryption to secure certain sensitive fields on our databases. Our Sites use HTTPS and SSL protocols, and transmissions from the Sites to our servers use TLS standard encryption or better. Vendors who receive personal information from us are contractually obligated to impose no less than reasonable security measures when handling customer data, and in any case no lesser measures than they use for their own data.
No internet based service can guarantee perfect security. It is your responsibility to be careful about who you share data with, do not share passwords with anyone, do not use unsecure internet connections such as public Wi-Fi to transmit sensitive information or fall for phishing attempts. Though we take commercially reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction, we cannot guarantee perfect security. Despite our security measures, we cannot guarantee the security of our databases or computers, nor can we guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to and from us over the Internet.
California residents
Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, California residents who have established business relationships with us may choose to opt out of our sharing personal information with third parties for direct marketing purposes. If you are a California resident and you wish to opt out or you wish to request certain information regarding our transmission of your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please send an email to privacy@watermarklife.com.
Visitors from outside the U.S.
Watermark only offers its Sites and Services for use by U.S. residents. U.S. law and not the laws of other countries, govern these Sites and Services. By default, we disable the submission of personal information to our Sites from Visitors outside of the United States, including any European Union IP addresses, regardless of whether the user is an E.U. citizen or using a VPN device. If you need access to your account and are using an E.U. IP address, please email privacy@watermarklife.com with (1) your name and account number (2) a description of the help you need, and (3) an express consent to use any personal information in our possession to respond to your request. Note we may also verify your request via two factor authentication or a subsequent phone call. We may also have to deny such a request if we cannot verify your identity or determine transferring data may impose too much liability.
Children
We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 or 18. We also comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you are under 13 or 18, please do not give us any personal information and do not use our Sites or Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided personal information to us, please contact us immediately, and we will delete that information from our databases. You may contact us at privacy@watermarklife.com to process such requests.
External sites
Our Sites may contain links to third party websites, including, websites of insurance carriers offering third party insurance products made available to you through our Services (“External Sites”). Note we do not necessarily endorse, and we are not responsible for the content of any linked External Sites or for the privacy policies and/or practices of the third parties that own and operate External Sites. Before using any External Site, please refer to the terms of use, privacy policies, or other governing procedures of the External Sites for more information. By using our Sites and Services, you agree to hold us not liable for any data breaches resulting from External Sites or third parties.
How to opt-out
If you wish to opt-out of the use of your personal information by our Services, please email us at privacy@watermarklife.com and let us know that you wish to opt-out. You may be required to provide identifying information such as your name, policy number, and specific services you wish to opt out of. Please be aware that certain insurance products require the storage and sharing of your information. If you opt out of allowing us to use certain personal information, we may be unable to offer certain Services to you. You will not be entitled to any refund if your removal of personal information or use of our Sites and Services will make certain prepaid plans unavailable to you.
Questions or concerns
If you have additional questions or want more information regarding our information collection and use, please feel free to contact us at privacy@watermarklife.com.
California Consumer Privacy Act (California residents only)
We are required by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) to provide California residents with an explanation of how we collect, use, and share their personal information, and of the rights and choices we offer California residents regarding our handling of personal information.
Under the CCPA, this Notice to California Residents, the privacy practices, and rights it describes does not apply to the information we collect, use, or disclose about Visitors and Members when they initiate the process of applying for our financial products or services (i.e., applying for insurance). This is because this information is subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”), and implementing regulations, and/or the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“FIPA”), and/or to information related to our business contacts. The GLBA and/or FIPA governs the information of Visitors and Members who initiate the process of applying for our financial products or services.
We Do Not Sell Personal Information
We do not sell personal information.
California Residents’ Privacy Rights. Except as excluded above, under the CCPA you may request from us:
Personal Information. You may request information about how we have collected, used and shared your Personal Information during the past 12 months. If you wish to formally request access to this information you may email us at privacy@watermarklife.com
Deletion of Information. You may request that we delete the personal information we collected about you.
Please note the CCPA does mandate certain limits to these rights. For example, we may be prohibited from providing certain sensitive information in response to an access request and limiting the circumstances in which we must comply with a deletion request. If we deny your request, we will communicate our decision to you.
You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination.
How to Submit a Request. To request access to or deletion of personal information, please provide a formal request in writing to the email address: privacy@watermarklife.com. Please note the CCPA requires us to verify the identity of the individual submitting a request to access or delete personal information before providing a substantive response to the request. If an “authorized agent” is used to submit a request on behalf of a user, we may require proof of the authorization be included in the submitted request.