STG Privacy Notice

STEWART TITLE GUARANTY COMPANY
PRIVACY NOTICE

This Stewart Title Guaranty Company Privacy Notice (“Notice”) explains how Stewart Title Guaranty Company and its subsidiary title insurance companies (collectively, “Stewart”) collect, use, and protect personal

information, when and to whom we disclose such information, and the choices you have about the use and disclosure of your information.  Pursuant to Title V of the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and other Federal and state laws and regulations applicable to financial institutions, consumers have the right to limit some, but not all sharing of their personal information.  Please read this Notice carefully to understand how Stewart uses your personal information.

The types of personal information Stewart collects, and shares depends on the product or service you have requested.

Stewart may collect the following categories of personal and financial information from you throughout your transaction:

1.       Identifiers: Real name, alias, online IP address if accessing company websites, email address, account name, unique online identifier, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers;

2.       Demographic Information: Marital status, gender, date of birth.

3.       Personal Information and Personal Financial Information: Name, signature, social security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, credit reports, or any other information necessary to complete the transaction.

Stewart may collect personal information about you from:

1.       Publicly available information from government records.

2.       Information we receive directly from you or your agent(s), such as your lender or real estate broker;

3.       Information about your transactions with Stewart, our affiliates, or others; and

4.       Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies and/or governmental entities, either directly from these entities or through others.

Stewart may use your personal information for the following purposes:

1.       To provide products and services to you or in connection with a transaction.

2.       To improve our products and services.

3.       To communicate with you about our, our affiliates’, and others’ products and services, jointly or independently.

Stewart may use or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more of the following purposes:

a.  To fulfill or meet the reason for which the information is provided.

b.  To provide, support, personalize, and develop our website, products, and services.

c.  To create, maintain, customize, and secure your account with Stewart.

d.  To process your requests, purchases, transactions, and payments and prevent transactional fraud.

e.  To prevent and/or process claims.

f.  To assist third party vendors/service providers who complete transactions or perform services on Stewart’s behalf pursuant to valid service provider agreements.

g.  As necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of Stewart, our customers or others.

h.  To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses.

i.  To help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our website, products and services, databases and other technology-based assets, and business.

j.  To respond to law enforcement or regulator requests as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.

k.  Auditing for compliance with federal and state laws, rules and regulations.

l.  Performing services including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments.

m.  To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us is among the assets transferred.  

Stewart will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

Disclosure of Personal Information to Affiliated Companies and Nonaffiliated Third Parties

Stewart does not sell your personal information to nonaffiliated third parties.  Stewart may share your information with those you have designated as your agent throughout the course of your transaction (for example, a realtor, broker, or a lender).  Stewart may disclose your personal information to a non-affiliated third party for a business purpose.  Typically, when we disclose personal information for a business purpose, we enter in a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract.

We share your personal information with the following categories of third parties:

a.        Non-affiliated service providers and vendors we contract with to render specific services (For example, search companies, mobile notaries, and companies providing credit/debit card processing, billing, shipping, repair, customer service, auditing, marketing, etc.)

b.       To enable Stewart to prevent criminal activity, fraud, material misrepresentation, or nondisclosure.

c.        Stewart’s affiliated and subsidiary companies.

d.       Non-affiliated third-party service providers with whom we perform joint marketing, pursuant to an agreement with them to jointly market financial products or services to you.

e.        Parties involved in litigation and attorneys, as required by law.

f.        Financial rating organizations, rating bureaus and trade associations.

g.       Federal and State Regulators, law enforcement and other government entities to law enforcement or authorities in connection with an investigation, or in response to a subpoena or court order.

The law does not require your prior authorization or consent and does not allow you to restrict the disclosures described above.  Additionally, we may disclose your information to third parties for whom you have given us authorization or consent to make such disclosure. We do not otherwise share your Personal Information or Browsing Information with non-affiliated third parties, except as required or permitted by law.

Right to Limit Use of Your Personal Information

You have the right to opt-out of sharing of your personal information among our affiliates to directly market to you.  To opt-out of sharing to our affiliates for direct marketing, you may send an “opt out” request to Privacyrequest@stewart.com, or contact us through other available methods provided under “Contact Information” in this Notice. We do not share your Personal Information with nonaffiliates for their use to direct market to you without your consent.

How Stewart Protects Your Personal Information

Stewart maintains physical, technical and administrative safeguards and policies to protect your personal information.

Contact Information

If you have questions or comments about this Notice, the ways in which Stewart collects and uses your information described herein, your choices and rights regarding such use, or wish to exercise your rights under law, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Phone:                               Toll Free at 1-866-571-9270

Email:                                 Privacyrequest@stewart.com

Postal Address:                Stewart Information Services Corporation
                                            Attn:  Mary Thomas, Chief Compliance and Regulatory Officer
                                            1360 Post Oak Blvd., Ste. 100, MC #14-1
                                            Houston, TX  77056