Revised December 12, 2006

At SMI Agency, we value you as a customer.  We share your concerns about privacy. We are providing this notice to explain how we treat personal information (“customer information”) that is not public.  This is information we obtain from you or other sources when we provide you with products and services.

We want you to know that we respect your privacy; and we protect your information.

• We do not sell customer information.  
• We do not share your information with persons, companies, or organizations outside of SMI Agency that would use that information to contact you about their products and services.    
• We expect persons or organizations that provide services on our behalf to keep your information confidential.  We also expect those persons or organizations to use your information only to provide the services we have asked them to perform.
•  We convey to our employees about the need to protect your information.  We have established safeguards (these are physical, electronic and procedural) to protect this information.                                                   

• Logging on and our use of online data collecting devices known as “cookies;”
• Our collection of data such as IP address (the number assigned to your computer when you use the Internet).  This also includes browser and platform types, domain names, access times, referral data, and your activity while using our site;        
• Who should use our web site;      
• The security of data transmitted over the Internet; and Links and co-branded sites

What do we do with your information?
We do not sell your customer or medical information to anyone. We do not share this information with companies or organizations outside of SMI Agency that would use it to contact you about their products and services. If that practice were to change, we would offer you the means to opt out of this type of information sharing.  Also, we would obtain your consent before sharing your medical information for marketing purposes.

Your agent or broker may use your information to help you with your insurance needs. We may also contact you about products, features, and options in which you have expressed an interest.   Without your consent, we may provide your information to persons or organizations in and out of SMI Agency.  This would be done as permitted or required by law.  We may do this to: 

• Fulfill a transaction you have requested.
• Service your policy.
• Investigate or handle claims.
• Detect or prevent fraud.
• Participate in insurance support organizations. The information in a report prepared by an insurance organization may be retained by that organization and distributed to other persons
• Comply with lawful requests from regulatory and law enforcement authorities.

• Our affiliated companies.
• Companies that perform services, such as marketing, on our behalf.
• Other financial institutions with which we have an agreement for the sale of financial products
• Other insurance companies.  This would be done so they could perform their role in an insurance transaction involving you.    
•  Independent claims adjusters.   
• A business or businesses that conduct actuarial or research studies.
• People who request information pursuant to a subpoena or court order.
• Repair shops and recommended claims vendors.
• Your agent or broker.

• Loss information reports.
• Motor vehicle reports.
• Credit reports.
• Medical information.

We expect any company with whom we share your information to use it only to provide the service we have asked them to perform. Information about you is also available within SMI Agency.  It is available to those people who may need to use it to meet and service the needs of our customers. We communicate the need to protect your information to all employees and agents.  We especially communicate this need to people who have access to it. Plus, we have established physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your information.

Note that if your relationship with us ends, your information will remain protected. This protection will be provided according to our privacy practices outlined in this notice.

You may request to see, or obtain by mail, the information about you in our records. If you believe that our information is incomplete or inaccurate, you may request that we correct, add to, or delete from the disputed information.   To fulfill your request, we may make arrangements to copy and disclose your information to you on our behalf.  This may be done with an insurance support organization or a consumer reporting agency.  You may also request a more complete description of the entities to which we disclose your information, or the conditions that might warrant such disclosures. Please send any of the requests listed above in writing to:

SMI Agency Insurance Company
Customer Privacy Inquiries
1802 Broadway Suite 118
Galveston, Texas 77550

During the period you are logged in our site, we log IP addresses (a number assigned to your computer when you use the Internet), browser and platform types, domain names, access times, referral data (the last site or URL you visited before logging into our site and the first site or URL you visit after leaving our site), and your activity while using or reviewing our site.

As part of our services, we also use cookies. A cookie is a message sent to your browser from a Web server that is stored on your computer’s hard drive. The message is sent back to the Web server whenever the browser requests a page from that server. Many commercial Internet sites use cookies. While a code in the cookie file enables the site to label you as a particular user, it does not identify you by name or address unless you have provided us with such information (over the Internet or otherwise) or set up preferences in your browser to do so automatically, in which case it may identify you by name, address or other personal information. You may opt out of accepting cookies by changing the settings on your browser. However, rejecting cookies may prevent you from using certain functions and you may have to repeatedly enter information to take advantage of services or promotions.

In general, cookies allow us to identify you as a particular user and thus provide you with a more customized service. We may also use cookies to track and measure customer or user requests, inquiries, preferences, interests, demographics, traffic patterns and Web site usage, and to determine audience size and repeated usage.  This information may also be used to manage and customize our Web site’s content, layout, and services in order to improve our site, enhance customer service, and provide tailored messages.

As indicated above, we may also use customer information to send you promotional communications about products, features, and options that we believe may be of interest to you.  If we have your e-mail address, we may do this by e-mail.  If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, you can inform us of your desire to be removed from our mailing lists by writing us at SMI Agency Insurance Company, Customer Privacy Inquiries, 1802 Broadway Suite 118, Galveston, Texas 77550

We use the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, secure servers and security protocol to safeguard the information you submit.

To help ensure the security of your personal and financial information that you submit to us (other than via an e-mail message), we use security software to encrypt the information before and during its transmission through the Internet. We only allow information to be submitted for transmission if your browser is compatible with our security software. If your browser is not compatible, you will receive a message indicating your transaction can be completed but at a lower level of security.

E-mail messages are not secure. Our security software does not encrypt e-mail messages. E-mail messages traveling through the Internet are subject to viewing, alteration, and copying by potentially anyone on the Internet.

We take seriously the issue of safeguarding your privacy online. However, please note that you should exercise discretion with respect to the submission of any personal or financial information via e-mail. Please keep in mind that transmitting information via e-mail over the Internet is never completely secure and thus any information submitted may be intercepted, collected, used or disclosed by others. If you are concerned about the security of your communication, we encourage you to send your correspondence through the postal service or use the telephone to speak directly to us.  We are not responsible for the security or confidentiality of communications you send to us through the Internet using e-mail messages.