Privacy Statement
All HSBC Products
We're Dedicated To Keeping Your Personal Information Private
At HSBC Bank USA, National Association (HSBC), we are committed to protecting your privacy. To keep your personal, non-public information both personal and private, we have established the following policies:
- We never sell your personal information to other companies for their independent marketing purposes.
- We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information, and to protect you against the criminal misuse of that information.
- All HSBC employees are required to keep your personal information confidential.
- We honor your preferences about the information we share within the HSBC family of companies for marketing purposes.
If you have already notified us of your privacy preferences, you don't need to contact us again unless you want to change your preferences.
Why Do We Collect Information?
We collect information about you for two important reasons:
- To identify you when you are conducting financial transactions, so we can help prevent unauthorized access to your personal and financial information.
- To offer you preferred interest rates, special discounts and other services that can help you achieve your financial goals.
What Kind Of Information Do We Collect?
When meeting your financial needs, we collect the following non-public personal information about you:
- When you fill out forms and applications for HSBC products and services, we may collect information such as your name, address, social security number, e-mail address, age, income, and assets.
- When you make transactions with the HSBC family of companies or others, or through online services such as Bill Pay, we may collect information on your account balances, payment history, account usage and employment history.
- When you apply for credit, we may collect account information, credit history and tax return information from third parties such as credit bureaus and electronic tax return originators.
Why Do We Share Information Within The HSBC Family Of Companies?
To help us offer you valuable financial services, HSBC may share the types of information described above in "What Kind Of Information Do We Collect?" within the HSBC family of companies. The HSBC family includes banking, consumer finance, insurance, mortgage, and brokerage companies. Some examples include companies doing business under the names HSBC or Household. If you don't want us to share application and third party credit-related information within the HSBC family of companies, please call us toll-free at
If you ask us not to share your information it will prevent you from receiving certain offers and discounts from HSBC and the HSBC family of companies. It will not prevent unwanted solicitations from other companies that received your information from other sources. Within the HSBC family of companies, we may continue to share information relating to your account transactions and our experiences with you.
We may also use the other companies in the HSBC family as service providers to perform services relating to the operations of your accounts (such as data processing). These HSBC companies may be located in countries other than where you reside, including but not limited to the United Kingdom and India.
If your accounts are held jointly with other individuals, we treat a do-not-share request by one accountholder as applying to that accountholder only, unless you notify us you're acting on behalf of the other accountholder(s).
If you would like HSBC to limit its mail and telephone contacts with you for marketing purposes, please call us at
How Do We Share Information Outside the HSBC Family Of Companies?
We may share the kinds of information described above in "What Kind Of Information Do We Collect?" with non-affiliated third parties contracted to perform services necessary for the routine operation of your account(s), such as check printing, data processing and loan servicing.
We may also share this information with service providers performing marketing services on our behalf, for fraud protection, or collections, and with other financial institutions with whom we have joint marketing agreements, or as permitted by law or with your consent.
Whenever we share information outside the HSBC family of companies, all non-affiliated third parties are required to maintain the confidentiality of that information.
In some cases, we are required or permitted by law to provide information about you to third parties without your consent. Examples include responding to a subpoena or similar legal process, providing information to consumer reporting agencies, or providing information in connection with a proposed or actual sale of your account to another financial institution.
How Do We Protect Your Privacy Online?
To help us learn which products, services and sections of our Web site interest you, and to improve your experience, we sometimes use "cookies." A cookie is a small file that our web server places on your hard drive to track activity on the site during a browsing session, and across multiple sessions. We also use a cookie to "remember" which online service you last logged into, so that we can pre-select that service on your next visit. The cookies we set contain no personal information and are not shared with anyone. They can only track activity on our Web site, and cannot be read by any non-HSBC Web sites. We may also use online profiling to help us better understand your individual financial needs. This information does not identify you personally unless you voluntarily give us personal information while online.
We also work with other third parties to learn more about activity on our Web site. These vendors use "web beacons," "tracking pixels," "third party cookies" and other similar technologies to gather user demographics and usage patterns, which help us improve the effectiveness of our marketing and of our Web site design. These vendors do not share any personally identifiable information about you. If you prefer that your Web site visits are not tracked or analyzed in these ways, please visit web tracking to learn more about these technologies, and about ways to opt-out.
If you use our EasyView service or other online aggregation services, we collect information about the accounts and relationships included in your EasyView service, including registration information such as your name and e-mail address. We also collect information about the accounts you have designated for the EasyView service, such as account balances, transactions, transaction histories, e-mail information, bills, payment history and other account activity.
We will not disclose any information about you we obtain solely through EasyView to any third party outside the HSBC family of companies, except as needed to provide your EasyView service, or as required or permitted by law.
This Privacy Policy is also available online at us.hsbc.com. It does not apply to other sites you may access through us.hsbc.com. You should review any privacy policies posted on those Web sites before you sign up or use them.
Special Notice For Private Banking Customers
Non-public personal information is closely guarded when we act as trustee or fiduciary. Please contact your Private Banking relationship manager for more information.
Special Notice For Residents Of Vermont
HSBC does not share your information within the HSBC family of companies, other than information relating to your account transactions and our experiences with you.
Special notice for residents of Nevada
At any time, you may request to be placed on HSBC's internal do not call list by following the instructions in the "Why do we share information within the HSBC family of companies?" section above. Nevada law also requires that we provide you with the following contact information:
HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
P.O. Box 2013
Buffalo, NY 14240
Phone: (800) 975-4722
us.hsbc.com
Bureau of Consumer Protection
Office of the Nevada
Attorney General
555 E. Washington Street
Suite 3900
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
Phone: (702) 486-3132
Email: BCPINFO@ag.state.nv.us
This Privacy Policy has been adopted by HSBC Bank USA, National Association (including Domestic Private Banking and excluding HSBC Tax Payer Financial Services Division and credit cards), HSBC National Bank USA, HSBC Mortgage Corporation (USA), HSBC Insurance Agency (USA) Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., HSBC Motor Credit (USA) Inc., HSBC Investments (USA) Inc., and Halbis Capital Management (USA) Inc. It covers your current or former consumer banking and financial services relationships with these HSBC companies.
Special Notice For Residents Of California
Click here for California Privacy Opt-Out Preferences
Revised: September, 2007
HSBC Bank - Privacy Statement
Our Commitment to You
HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. and HSBC Bank USA, National Association ("HSBC Bank") are proud to be part of a financial services organization that has been providing superior products and services to its customers for more than a century. We greatly appreciate the trust that you and millions of other customers have placed in us, and we protect that trust by respecting your privacy, even if our relationship with you ends.
This Privacy Statement illustrates our commitment to your privacy and explains our privacy practices so you can make an informed decision about whom you allow us to share your information with in order to offer you additional products and services. Although most customers enjoy receiving offers and information about additional products and services, if you prefer that we don't share your information for marketing purposes, we will respect your choice. If you have selected a credit insurance product, the privacy statement applicable to that credit insurance product is set forth at the end of this Privacy Statement.
Types of Information We Collect
It is important for you to know that in order to ensure that our customers get the very best service and the highest quality products, HSBC Bank collects demographic information (such as your name and address) and credit information (such as information related to your Accounts with us and others). This information comes either directly from you, for instance, from your application and transactions on your Account; or, it may come from an outside source such as your credit bureau report. In addition, when you visit our Internet website, we may collect certain information about your Internet usage. Gathering this information helps us to identify our customers and manage our customer relationships. It also assists us in the development of products and services to meet the continuing needs of our customers.
We Respect Your Privacy
Since some of the information we gather is not publicly available, we take great care to ensure that this information is kept safe from unauthorized access. Because HSBC Bank respects your privacy and values your trust, the only employees or companies who can access your non-public personal information are those who use it to service your Account or provide services to you or to us. HSBC Bank diligently maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable federal standards to guard your non-public personal information and to assist us in preventing unauthorized access to that information.
How We Share Information with Our Affiliates*
From time to time, for general business purposes such as fraud control, or when we think it may benefit you, we share certain information with other companies within our corporate family (i.e., Affiliates). These companies all provide financial services such as banking, consumer finance, insurance, mortgage, and brokerage services. Some examples include companies doing business under the names Household, Beneficial, or HSBC. We may also share certain information with non-financial service providers that become our Affiliates in the future (such as travel, auto and shopping clubs). The information we share might come from your application, such as your name, address, telephone number, Social Security number, and e-mail address. Also, the information we share could include your transactions with us or our Affiliates (such as your Account balance, payment history, and parties to the transaction), your Internet usage, or credit card usage. Except for Vermont residents, the information we share with our Affiliates may also include your assets, income or credit reports, which we collect from the sources described above. With this information, our Affiliates can determine if the products they specialize in, such as mortgages, automobile loans and insurance, may be of benefit to you.
How We Share Information Outside the HSBC Bank Family
Except for California and Vermont residents, we also may share information with companies outside our corporate family (i.e., non-Affiliates) that are able to extend special offers we feel might be of value to you. These companies may be financial service providers (such as mortgage bankers or insurance product providers) or they may be non-financial companies (such as retailers or marketing companies). These offers are typically for products and services that you might not otherwise hear about. The information we may provide them comes from the sources described above and might include your name, address and phone number. For California and Vermont residents, state law restricts how we share information about you, and we have chosen not to share your information in this way.
We may also provide information to non-Affiliates that perform operational services related to your Account or marketing services for us. Sharing information with these types of companies is permitted by law. Such a company might include a financial company (such as a mortgage banker or insurance service provider) with whom we have a joint marketing agreement or a non-financial company (such as a data processor or Internet service provider) with whom we have a service agreement. The information we may share also comes from the sources described above and might include your name, address, phone number and Account history with us.
Finally, we provide information about you to non-Affiliates such as credit reporting agencies and companies which provide services related to your Account. This information sharing is also permitted by law.
Privacy and Security on the Internet
Our website, us.hsbc.com, offers you the opportunity to view your current Account information and make payments online, in addition to providing general information about our company and products. You may view information about Internet Security by clicking here.
HOW TO REQUEST THAT YOUR INFORMATION NOT BE SHARED
Information Sharing with Our Affiliates*
If you do not want us to share your credit information (such as your credit bureau information) with our Affiliates, please let us know by simply printing, completing and mailing the opt-out reply form. We will be happy to comply with your request. If you have previously informed us of your preference, you do not need to do so again. Your request will not apply to information about your transactions or experience with us (such as Account information, Account usage, or payment history) and will only apply to the credit card Account you have designated on the opt-out form by Account number. An opt-out request by any party on a joint Account will apply to all parties on the joint Account.
Information Sharing with Non-Affiliates
If you do not want us to share your non-public personal information with non-Affiliates (unless we are permitted or required by law to do so), you will also need to indicate your request on the opt-out reply form. We will be happy to comply with your request. If you have previously informed us of your preference, you do not need to do so again. Please understand that your request may exclude you from receiving valuable offers in the future. Your request will only apply to the credit card Account you have designated on the opt-out form by Account number. An opt-out request by any party on a joint Account will apply to all parties on the joint Account. Opt-out requests will not apply to information sharing that is permitted by law.
Once you have completed the reply form, please mail it to HSBC Card Services, P.O. Box 60173, City of Industry, CA 91716-0173. Please allow sufficient time for us to process your request. Please do not include any other correspondence in with your request.
* "Affiliates" are companies that are related to us by common ownership or corporate control. Our Affiliates include HFC®, Beneficial®, HSBC Auto Finance Inc., Household Insurance Group Holding Company, and HSBC companies such as HSBC Bank USA, N.A., and HSBC Mortgage Corporation.
HOUSEHOLD INSURANCE GROUP HOLDING COMPANY**
Privacy Statement for Customers with Insurance Products
Introduction - Our Commitment to You
Household Insurance Group Holding Company ("HIG") is proud to be part of a financial services organization that has been providing superior products and services to its customers for more than 150 years. We greatly appreciate the trust that you and millions of customers have placed in us, and we will protect that trust by continuing to respect the privacy of all our applicants and customers even if our formal customer relationship ends.
How We Handle Information We Obtain
It is important for you to know that in order to ensure that our customers get the very best service and the highest quality products, HIG collects demographic information (like your name and address) and information related to your insurance coverage (like insurance application information). This information comes either directly from you, for instance, from your application, or from your transactions with us. In addition, if you visit our Internet website, we may collect certain information about your Internet usage.
Because some of the information we gather is not publicly available, we take great care to ensure that this information is kept safe from unauthorized access, and we will not share the information in violation of any regulation or law. HIG diligently maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable federal standards to guard your private personal information and to assist us in preventing unauthorized access to that information.
If you have selected insurance or another product offered by HIG, the Privacy Statement is set forth herein and is applicable to information used by HIG in connection with the insurance or other product you purchased. HIG does not disclose information about you to HIG's affiliates or to third parties, except as permitted by law.
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices at any time in accordance with applicable law. Notice of such changes will be provided if required by applicable law.
** Household Insurance Group Holding Company (also under the trade name of HSBC Insurance Services or HSBC Insurance) includes Household Insurance Group, Inc., Household Life Insurance Company, HSBC Insurance Company of Delaware (formerly known as Service General Insurance Company), First Central National Life Insurance Company of New York, Household Life Insurance of Delaware, BFC Insurance Agency of Nevada, HSBC Insurance Agency (USA) Inc., and such other companies Household Insurance Group Holding Company may subsequently acquire.
Updates and Modifications: This Privacy Statement was last updated on
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