Lincoln Financial Group® privacy practices notice
The Lincoln Financial Group companies* are committed to protecting your privacy. To provide the products and services you expect from a financial services leader, we must collect personal information about you. We do not sell your personal information to third parties. This Notice describes our current privacy practices. While your relationship with us continues, we will update and send our Privacy Practices Notice as required by law. Even after that relationship ends, we will continue to protect your personal information. You do not need to take any action because of this Notice, but you do have certain rights as described below.
We are committed to the responsible use of information and protecting individual privacy rights. As such, we look to leading data protection standards to guide our privacy program. These standards include collecting data through fair and lawful means, such as obtaining your consent when appropriate.
Information we may collect and use
We collect personal information about you to help us identify you as a consumer, our customer, or our former customer; to process your requests and transactions; to offer investment or insurance services to you; to pay your claim; to analyze in order to enhance our products and services; to tell you about our products or services we believe you may want and use; and as otherwise permitted by law. The type of personal information we collect depends on your relationship and on the products or services you request and may include the following:
- Information from you: When you submit your application or other forms, you give us information such as your name, address, Social Security number; and your financial, health, and employment history. We may also collect voice recordings or biometric data for use in accordance with applicable law.
- Information about your transactions: We maintain information about your transactions with us, such as the products you buy from us; the amount you paid for those products; your account balances; payment details; and your payment and claims history.
- Information from outside our family of companies: If you are applying for or purchasing insurance products, we may collect information from consumer reporting agencies, such as your credit history; credit scores; and driving and employment records. With your authorization, we may also collect information (such as medical information, retirement information, and information related to Social Security benefits), from other individuals or businesses.
- Information from your employer: If your employer applies for or purchases group products from us, we may obtain information about you from your employer or group representative in order to enroll you in the plan.
How we use your personal information
We may share your personal information within our companies and with certain service providers. They use this information to process transactions you, your employer, or your group representative have requested; to provide customer service; to analyze in order to evaluate or enhance our products and services; to gain customer insight; to provide education and training to our workforce and customers; and to inform you of products or services we offer that you may find useful. Our service providers may or may not be affiliated with us. They include financial service providers (for example, third party administrators; broker-dealers; insurance agents and brokers, registered representatives; reinsurers and other financial services companies with whom we have joint marketing agreements). Our service providers also include non-financial companies and individuals (for example, consultants; vendors; and companies that perform marketing services on our behalf). Information we obtain from a report prepared by a service provider may be kept by the service provider and shared with other persons; however, we require our service providers to protect your personal information and to use or disclose it only for the work they are performing for us, or as permitted by law. We may execute agreements with our service providers that permit the service provider to process your personal information outside of the United States, when not prohibited by our contracts and permitted by applicable law.
When you apply for one of our products, we may share information about your application with credit bureaus. We also may provide information to group policy owners or their designees (for example, to your employer for employer-sponsored plans and their authorized service providers), regulatory authorities and law enforcement officials, and to other non-affiliated or affiliated parties as permitted by law. In the event of a sale of all or part of our businesses, we may share customer information as part of the sale. We do not sell or release your information to outside marketers who may want to offer you their own products and services; nor do we release information we receive about you from a consumer reporting agency. You do not need to take any action for this benefit.
Security of Information
We have an important responsibility to keep your information safe. We use safeguards to protect your information from unauthorized disclosure. Our employees are authorized to access your information only when they need it to perform their job responsibilities. Employees who have access to your personal information are required to keep it confidential. Employees are required to complete privacy training annually.
Your rights regarding your personal information
This Privacy Notice describes how you can exercise your rights regarding your personal information. Lincoln complies with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the provision of personal information. The rights provided to you in this Privacy Notice will be administered in accordance with your state’s specific laws and regulations.
Access to personal information: You must submit a written request to receive a copy of your personal information. You may see your personal information in person, or you may ask us to send you a copy of your personal information by mail or electronically, whichever you prefer. We will need to verify your identity before we process the request. Within 30 business days of receiving your request, we will, depending on the specific request you make, (1) inform you of the nature and substance of the recorded personal information we have about you; (2) permit you to obtain a copy of your personal information; and (3) provide the identity (if recorded) of persons to whom we disclosed your personal information within two years prior to the request (if this information is not recorded, we will provide you with the names of those insurance institutions, agents, insurance support organizations or other persons to whom such information is normally disclosed). If you request a copy of your information by mail, we may charge you a fee for copying and mailing costs.
Changes to personal information: If you believe that your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you may ask us to correct, amend, or delete the information. Your request must be in writing and must include the reason you are requesting the change. We will respond within 30 business days from the date we receive your request.
If we make changes to your records as a result of your request, we will notify you in writing and we will send the updated information, at your request, to any person who may have received your personal information within the past two years. We will also send the updated information to any insurance support organization that gave us the information and any insurance support organization that systematically received personal information from us within the prior 7 years unless that support organization no longer maintains your personal information.
If we deny your request to correct, amend or delete your information, we will provide you with the reasons for the denial. You may write to us and concisely describe what you believe our records should say and why you disagree with our denial of your request to correct, amend, or delete that information. We will file this communication from you with the disputed information, identify the disputed information if it is disclosed, and provide notice of the disagreement to the persons and in the manner described in the paragraph above.
Basis for adverse underwriting decision: You may ask in writing for the specific reasons for an adverse underwriting decision. An adverse underwriting decision is where we decline your application for insurance, offer to insure you at a higher than standard rate, or terminate your coverage.
Your state may provide for additional privacy protections under applicable laws. We will protect your information in accordance with these additional protections.
If you would like to act upon your rights regarding your personal information, please provide your full name, address and telephone number and either email your inquiry to our Data Subject Access Request Team at DSAR@lfg.com or mail to: Lincoln Financial Group, Attn: Corporate Privacy Office, 1301 South Harrison St., Fort Wayne, IN 46802. The DSAR@lfg.com email address should only be used for inquiries related to this Privacy Notice. For general account service requests or inquiries, please call 1-877-ASK‑LINC.
