Notice of Privacy Policy

 

UNIVERSAL INSURANCE HOLDINGS

Universal Group (Universal Insurance Holdings of North America, Inc., Universal Insurance Company,  Universal North America Insurance Company, Universal Insurance Managers, Inc.) values you as a customer and takes our responsibility of maintaining the privacy of our customers’ nonpublic personal information very seriously. Nonpublic personal information is financial information that identifies you and is not available to the public.  We do not sell your nonpublic personal information or share it with any entity apart from our affiliated companies.

UNIVERSAL GROUP PROTECTS CUSTOMER INFORMATION

In order to ensure the safety of our customers’ nonpublic personal information, we continually:

  • Maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards;
  • Review and adjust our policies and practices;
  • Monitor our computer networks for vulnerability and security; and
  • Test the strength of our security.

HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

Universal Group uses customer information to underwrite your policies, process your claims, ensure proper billing, and service your accounts.

INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT

Universal Group may collect information from you that may include your name; address; telephone number; social security number; information about your home, business, or vehicle; employment history; financial status; and consumer report and claims history (as permitted by law), including claims made to other insurance companies. This information may be collected from the following sources:

  • Information we receive from you on applications and other forms, such as your name, address, and telephone number;
  • Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others, such as payment history, underwriting, and claim records; and
  • Information we receive from nonaffiliated companies, including consumer reporting agencies, such as claim history, or credit history, where applicable and where permitted by law.

If your relationship with us ends, your personal information will remain protected, as required by local, state, and federal laws and according to our practices, as described in this notice.

For customers visiting, our website, My Universal

We may collect information from internet transactions with you.  This information may include the website that linked you to our website, your computer operating system, and the pages you viewed on our website. Our website may store "cookies" on your computer or smartphone. Cookies collect technical data, like your internet protocol address, operating system, and other similar data.  They also save certain information entered by you, such as your Universal Insurance website preferences. You may disable "cookies" on your internet browser and still successfully access your policy information online; however, if "cookies" are disabled, My Universal will not remember your preferences and will not display customized views of the website.

INFORMATION WE MAY DISCLOSE

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law.  We do not share nonpublic personal information with other companies, other than our affiliated companies and companies when necessary to effect, administer, or enforce a transaction that a customer requests or authorizes, or in connection with servicing or maintaining a customer’s policy or account (as more specifically described below). Information that we may disclose about you may include the following:

  • Information we receive from you on applications or other forms, such as your name, address, social security number, financial information, and claims history;
  • Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others, such as your policy coverage, premiums, and payment history; and
  • Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies, such as your creditworthiness and creditor history (as permitted by law).

Information about our former customers and about individuals who have obtained quotes from us is safeguarded to the same extent as nonpublic personal information about our current customers.

We will only share your personal information in the strictest confidence. As permitted by law and without previous authorization, we may provide information about you from our records to people or organizations including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Our agents, investigators, appraisers, attorneys, and other persons who are or will become involved in processing your application and servicing your policy or any claims you may make;
  • Third parties that are related to the transaction, including financial services providers, such as banks, mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, agencies that offer consumer information, insurance companies, investment consultant and similar companies, and real estate agents, brokers, and appraisers;
  • Agencies that offer support related to insurance;
  • Agencies that perform actuarial or other studies;
  • Our reinsurers;
  • Insurance-support organizations that detect and prevent fraud;
  • State insurance departments or other governmental or law enforcement authorities if required by law or to protect our legal interests or in cases of suspected fraud or illegal activities; or
  • Financial institutions with which we have a joint-marketing agreement, as permitted by law.

In such cases, we will only share information necessary to accomplish the purposes mentioned above. In addition to this, we also demand from such agencies that they maintain the confidentiality of the information and are prohibited from disclosing or using the information other than to carry out the purposes for which we disclosed the information.

YOUR RIGHT TO OPT-OUT

When applicable and as permitted by law, you have the right to opt-out of any information sharing process among affiliates related to your consumer report and credit history. For example, we may share information related to your consumer report and credit history among our affiliated companies in order to market products and services to you. We may also use information related to your consumer report to verify information provided by you, such as your claims history, where availability and law permit.

Unless you tell us not to, we may share this information among our family of companies. We do not share information related to your consumer report or credit history with nonaffiliated parties, except as otherwise permitted by law.

If you prefer that Universal Group not share your personal information related to your consumer report and credit history among our family of companies, write to:  

Universal Insurance Customer Service Department

P.O. Box 71338

San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00936-8436.


You may opt-out of this information sharing process at any time.  If you are an existing customer and have already told us your sharing preference, no action is needed unless you want to change your information sharing preference. To change your preference at any time, please write Universal Group at the address listed above.

Your choice to opt-out does not limit Universal Insurance from sharing certain non-consumer report or credit history information with our affiliated companies and with nonaffiliated parties as more specifically described above. Your opt-out right will only apply to the insurance number or specific account that you provide to us in your opt-out request. Your opt-out right will only apply to you and any co-signor.

REVIEW OF YOUR INFORMATION

You can request to review your personal information contained in our records at any time. To do this, please send a letter to the address above requesting to see your information for the previous two years. Please note we may not be able to provide information relating to investigations, claims, litigation, and other matters.

CORRECTION OF INFORMATION

It is important that the information we maintain about you is complete and accurate. Please contact your local insurance agent or write to us at the address provided above and we will update your information as needed. Any correspondence with our office should include reference to your policy number.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY

We take our responsibility to protect the confidentiality and security of nonpublic personal information very seriously. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with state and federal standards to guard your nonpublic person information. Access to customer information is restricted to individuals who need to know the information to provide products or services to you.

CALIFORNIA CONSUMER PRIVACY ACT (CCPA) NOTICE

View our CCPA Notice.

NEW YORK VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE POLICY

Universal North America complies with New York Regulation 168- Confidentiality Protocols for Victims of Domestic Violence. View our full policy.

Thank you for choosing Universal Group. We value you as a customer and appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

 

rev. September 2020