SuretyBonds.com Privacy Policy

We take the privacy of our customers seriously and are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use and transfer your personal data, and your rights in relation to the personal data collected and stored by us when you use our website or otherwise engage with our services.

This policy sets out the following:

• What personal data we collect about you and how;
• How the data is used;
• Our legal basis for collecting your information; 
• Who we share your data with;
• Where we transfer your information; 
• How long we retain your information;
• Your rights and choices in relation to the data held by us;
• How to make a complaint in relation to the data held by us;
• How we use cookies on our website; and
• How to contact us with any queries in relation to this notice, or the personal data held by us.

Who is SuretyBonds.com?

SuretyBonds.com provides efficient, innovative, and informed contractor bond solutions nationwide.

For the purposes of European data protection laws, if you are visiting our website www.SuretyBonds.com (our "Website") or otherwise engaging with our services from the European Economic Area (or "EEA"), the data controller of your information is SuretyBonds.com.

What is personal data?

In this privacy policy, references to “personal information” or “personal data” are references to information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.  Some examples of personal data are your name, address and telephone number but it may also include information such as your IP address and location, in certain jurisdictions.

What personal data do we collect?

We collect personal data that you provide to us when you sign up for our services, such as your contact information and financial information.  We may also collect commercial information based on how you interact with our services, such as the products or services you’ve purchased or other Internet or network activity, such as your Website browsing history or mobile device information. 

Below are some more details on the type of personal data we collect.

INFORMATION THAT IS PROVIDED BY YOU

In order to provide services to you, we may ask you to provide personal information.  This may include, amongst other things, your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, gender, date of birth, passport number, bank account details, credit history and claims history, citizenship status, marital status depending on the service you are seeking.  The personal information that you are asked to provide, and the reasons why you are asked to provide it, will be made clear to you at the point at which we ask you for it.

Some of the information that you provide may be ‘Special category’ (or ‘sensitive’) personal data”.  Sensitive personal data relates to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation, and can sometimes be inferred from other, non-sensitive, information that you have provided.

Information that we collect on our website 

When you visit our Website, we will seek your consent to collect certain information from your device.  In some countries, including countries in the EEA, this information may be considered personal information under applicable data protection laws.

Specifically, the information we are seeking to collect includes information like your IP address, device type, unique device identification numbers, browser type, broad geographic location (e.g. country or city-level location) and other technical information.  We may also collect information about how your device has interacted with our Website, including the pages accessed and links clicked.  

Collecting this information enables us to better understand visitors to our Website, where they come from, and what content on our Website is of interest to them.  We use this information for our internal analytics purposes and to improve the quality and relevance of our Website to our visitors.

Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technology, as explained further under the heading “Cookies” below.

Information that we obtain from third party sources

From time to time, we may receive personal information about you from third party sources but only where we have checked that these third parties either have your consent or are otherwise legally permitted or required to disclose your personal information to us.

For example, if you are an individual who is obtaining insurance from us via an insurance broker, we may obtain data about you from your broker in order to help us prepare your quote and/or your insurance policy.  For information about how your broker uses and shares your personal data, please refer to the broker’s own privacy statement.

We may, where we are legally permitted to, also collect personal data from the following sources in order to provide services to you:

• Credit reference agencies;
• Anti-fraud and other databases;
• Government agencies;
• Electoral register;
• Court judgments; 
• Sanctions lists;
• Family members; and
• In the event of an insurance claim: the other party to the claim, witnesses, experts, loss adjusters, solicitors and claims handlers.

How is personal data used?

We may need to use your personal data in order to carry out the following activities:

• To set you up as a new client (including carrying out ‘know your customer’ checks);
• To provide you with an insurance quote;
• To provide our products and services to you;
• To respond to your enquiries;
• To accept payments from you;
• To communicate with you about your policy;
• To renew your policy;
• To obtain reinsurance for your policy;
• To process insurance and reinsurance claims;
• For general insurance administration purposes;
• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• To model our risks;
• To defend or prosecute legal claims;
• To investigate or prosecute fraud;
• To respond to your enquiries;
• When you sign up for an online account
• To secure our network and our Website, debug the Website and repair errors;
• To conduct audits related to our interactions with you;
• To make our products and services better and to develop new products and services; and
• To send you notices and information regarding our products or services, including notifying you about special promotions or offers, where we are legally permitted to do so.

Our legal basis for collecting your information

Our legal basis for collecting and using your personal data will depend on the personal data concerned and the specific context in which we collect it. 

We will normally collect personal data where we need the information to provide you with our services / perform a contract with you, where the processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms, or with your consent. 

In some cases, we may use your personal data for a legal obligation, e.g. in order to complete ‘know your customer’ and money laundering checks before taking you on as a new client. 

If we ask you to provide personal information to comply with a legal requirement or to perform a contract with you, we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise you whether the provision of your personal information is mandatory (as well as of the possible consequences if you do not provide your personal information).  You are under no obligation to provide personal data to us.  However, if you should choose to withhold requested data, we may not be able to provide you with certain services. 

Similarly, if we collect and use your personal information in reliance on our legitimate interests (or those of any third party), we will make clear to you at the relevant time what those legitimate interests are.

If you are a UK resident, we may collect and use your personal information, including sensitive personal information, on the basis of the insurance derogation in the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

If you are an EU resident, we may collect and use your personal information, including sensitive personal information, on the basis of the substantial public interest of insurance purposes, as regulated in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).   If you have questions about or need further information concerning the legal basis on which we collect and use your personal information, please contact us using the contact details provided under the “Contact Us” section below.

Who is your personal data shared with?

We may disclose your personal information with the following categories of recipients.  

• To our group companies, third party service providers and partners who provide data processing services (for example data hosting and storage companies, email marketing affiliates, and payment and claims processing companies) or who otherwise process personal information for purposes that are described in this Privacy Policy (see “How is personal data used?”).  A list of our current group companies is available at http://www.tokiomarinehd.com/en/group/ and a list of our current service providers and partners may be available upon request;
• To any competent law enforcement body, regulatory, government agency, court or other third party where we believe disclosure is necessary (i) as a matter of applicable law or regulation, (ii) to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights, or (iii) to protect your vital interests or those of any other person;
• To a potential buyer (and its agents and advisers) in connection with any proposed purchase, merger or acquisition of any part of our business, provided that we inform the buyer it must use your personal information only for the purposes disclosed in this privacy policy;
• to any other person with your consent to the disclosure.

We do not sell (or exchange) your personal information for monetary compensation. 

If you are a US resident, from time to time we may share your personal information with third parties for a third party’s own direct benefit and this type of sharing may be considered a sale under certain applicable laws.  For more information on the type of information we may share in this manner, please contact us.

International Transfers

Your personal data may be transferred to, and processed in, countries other than the country in which you are resident.  These countries may have data protection laws that are different to the laws of your country.

Specifically, the servers of SuretyBonds.com are located in the United States.  However, other TMHCC group companies are registered elsewhere, including in the EEA and operate around the world.  This means that when we collect your information we may process it in any of these countries.

We have taken appropriate safeguards to require that your personal data will remain protected in accordance with this privacy policy.  These include implementing the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers of personal information between our group companies, which require all group companies to protect personal information they process from the EEA in accordance with European Union data protection law.  

Our Standard Contractual Clauses can be provided on request.  We have implemented similar appropriate safeguards with our third party service providers and partners and further details can be provided upon request.

How long is personal information retained for?

We will keep your personal data on our records for as long as we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so.  This includes providing you with a service you have requested from us or to comply with applicable legal, tax or accounting requirements.  It also includes keeping your data for so long as there is any possibility that you or we may wish to bring a legal claim under your insurance contract, or where we are required to keep your data for legal or regulatory reasons.  Please contact us using the contact details provided under the “Contact Us” section below should you require further information on our record retention procedures.

We may also retain your personal data where such retention is necessary in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

Your Rights as a Data Subject

You have the right to opt-out of marketing communications we send you at any time.  You can exercise this right by clicking on the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” link in the marketing e-mails we send you or contacting us using the details provided under the “Marketing” heading below [email protected].

If you are an EU resident, you will need to opt-in to receive marketing from us. If you then wish to unsubscribe at any point you can do so by clicking on the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” link in the marketing e-mails we send you or contacting us using the details provided under the “Marketing” heading below.

Similarly, if we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time.  Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal information that was lawfully collected on grounds other than consent.

You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information.  For more information, please contact your local data protection authority. (Contact details for data protection authorities in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and certain non-European countries (including the US and Canada) are available here.)

We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by contacting us using the details set out in the “Contact us” section at the bottom of this page. 

If you are resident in the UK or EU, your principal rights under data protection law are as follows:

a) the right to access;

b) the right to rectification;

c) the right to erasure;

d) the right to restrict processing;

e) the right to object to processing;

f) the right to data portability;

g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority; and

h) the right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to access, correct, update or request deletion of your personal information, we will ask you to provide us with a copy of any two of the following documents:  Driver’s license; Passport; Birth certificate; Bank statement (from the last 3 months); or Utility bill (from the last 3 months).  With regards to your right of access, the first access request will be complied with free of charge, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.

In addition, you can object to processing of your personal information, ask us to restrict processing of your personal information or request portability of your personal information.

If we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time.  Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information.  For more information, please contact your local data protection authority. In the table below we have listed the contact details of the data protection authorities where we have local branches:

Contact details for other data protection authorities in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and certain non-European countries (including the US and Canada) are available here .

We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

If you are based in the UK, you may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by contacting us using the email [email protected].

If you are based in the EU, you may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by contacting us using the email [email protected].

Alternatively you can use the details set out in the “Contact us” section at the bottom of this page.

If you are resident in the US, applicable law may entitle you, upon verifiable request, to receive disclosures relating to:

• The categories and specific pieces of information we have collected;
• The categories of sources from which the personal information is collected;
• The business or commercial purpose for collecting personal information; and
• The categories of third parties with whom we share personal information.

If you are based in the EU, you may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by contacting us here or by calling us toll free at 1 (888) 688-0775.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights described above, we will ask you to verify your identity.  We generally will not charge to reply to your request, but we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse your request if the request is unjustified or excessive. 

Automated Decision Making

In some instances, our use of your personal information may result in automated decisions being taken (including profiling) that legally affect you or similarly significantly affect you.  

Automated decisions mean that a decision concerning you is made automatically on the basis of a computer determination (using software algorithms), without our human review.  For example, in certain instances we may use automated decisions to establish whether we will offer insurance coverage to a prospective insured.  We have implemented measures to safeguard the rights and interests of individuals whose personal information is subject to automated decision-making.

When we make an automated decision about you, you have the right to contest the decision, to express your point of view, and to require a human review of the decision.

Marketing

As mentioned above, we may use your personal data to send you marketing materials. 

If you are a UK or EU resident, you will need to opt-in to receive marketing from us. If you then wish to unsubscribe at any point you can do so by clicking on the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” link in the marketing e-mails we send you or contacting us using the details provided under the “Marketing” heading below, or at [email protected].

If you are resident in the US, you do not need to opt-in to receive marketing materials from us, and you have the right to opt-out of receiving such communications. If you would like to stop receiving marketing information from us, please unsubscribe by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the relevant marketing email, email us at [email protected] or write to us at:

SuretyBonds.com
Attn: Customer Care
803 E Walnut Street
5th Floor
Columbia, MO 65201

Telephone: 1(800)308-4358

Security

SuretyBonds.com is committed to keeping our customers’ data safe.  We have security measures in place designed to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal data under our control. For example, our security and technology policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized personnel have access to user information.  We use Secured Socket Layer (SSL) to encrypt financial information you input before it is sent to us.  The servers we use to store personal data are kept in a secure environment.

Although we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of data will not occur, we use our best efforts to prevent this.  If you have any concerns that your SuretyBonds.com account or personal data has been put at risk, please contact us.

Cookies

Our sites use cookies (a small piece of information that is placed on your computer when you visit certain websites) to distinguish you from other users, to track your browsing pattern and to build a profile of how you and other users use our sites. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse any of our sites and also allows us to improve our sites. If you have an online account with us, SuretyBonds.com also uses cookies to recognize you to pre-fill forms to save you time. TMHCC does not mandate Cookies for you to access our sites and you may freely set your browser to reject all Cookies or prompt you to accept or reject them. Some of the cookies we use are session cookies and only last until you close your browser, others are persistent cookies which are stored on your computer for longer. We may collect information through web beacons about your web browsing activities such as the address of the page you are visiting, the address of the referrer page you had previously visited, the time you are viewing the page, your browsing environment and your display settings. We do this in order to optimize your browsing experience, the use of web-based services and provide you with relevant information on SuretyBonds.com products and services when you have opted-in to receiving such correspondence.  For further information about the SuretyBonds.com use of cookies, see the SuretyBonds.com Cookie Policy. 

Tracking

SuretyBonds.com will not respond to Web browser “do not track” signals.  If you would like additional information about online tracking and various opt-out mechanisms, please see https://youradchoices.com  

Because we link to social media sites, and from time to time may include third-party advertisements, other parties may collect your personally identifiable information about your online activities over time and across different web sites when you visit this Site.

Please note that not all tracking will stop even if you delete cookies.

Children’s Data

Our websites and applications are not directed to children under 16 and we do not knowingly collect any personal information directly from children under 16. If you believe that we are processing personal information pertaining to a child inappropriately, we ask you to contact us using the information provided under the “Contact Us” section.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time in response to changing legal, technical or business developments. When we update our Privacy Policy, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make.  We will obtain your consent to any material Privacy Policy changes if and where this is required by applicable data protection laws.

You can see when this Privacy Policy was last updated by checking the “effective date” displayed at the top of this Privacy Policy. 

Any changes will be effective only after the effective date of the change and will not affect any dispute arising prior to the effective date of the change.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the following contact details.

SuretyBonds.com
Attn: Customer Care
803 E Walnut Street
5th Floor
Columbia, MO 65201

U.S. residents can call us toll free at: 1(800)308-4358