Effective January 1, 2020

If you are a California resident, you may have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act. Please review those rights below and the FAQs that follow. You may print or download a pdf version of this policy.

Table of Contents

A. Collection of Information

B. Sources of Information

C. Purposes of Collection of Information

D. Sharing of Information

E. Your Consumer Rights

F. Authorized Agent

G. Revisions

H. Contact Us

I. Frequently Asked Questions

A. Collection of Information

Nationwide may collect the following categories of personal information about you, such as when we provide you with our products or services:

  1. Personal identifiers, such as name, address, and Social Security number;
  2. Protected classifications, such as medical conditions or military or veteran status;
  3. Commercial information, such as products or services purchased, consumer report information, and information from transactions;
  4. Biometric information, such as your voiceprint when you call our call centers;
  5. Internet, browsing, or other network information, such as internet protocol address, session ID, click or touch stream data, movement, scroll, and in some cases, keystroke activity;
  6. Geolocation data, such as vehicle information collected in connection with the SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs, or geolocation data collected in connection with your use of our websites or mobile apps;
  7. Audio recordings, such as call center recordings;
  8. Professional or employment information, such as information collected from job applications and resumes;
  9. Education information, such as information collected from job applications, transcripts, or resumes; and
  10. Inferences, such as those drawn from credit reports or motor vehicle reports or from clickstream data.

B. Sources of Information

The following are the categories of sources of personal information we collect about you:

  1. We may collect personal identifiers from you, publicly available databases, government databases, data aggregators, social media networks, and third parties from whom we have purchased data;
  2. We may collect protected classifications information from you or from medical providers;
  3. We may collect commercial information from you directly or from your use of our websites or mobile apps, from credit reporting companies, and from consumer reporting companies;
  4. We may collect biometric information (your voiceprint) from you directly when you call our call centers;
  5. We may collect internet, browsing, or other network activity from your use of our websites, mobile apps, or telematics devices;
  6. We may collect geolocation data from your use of telematics devices or our mobile apps or in connection with your use of our websites;
  7. We may collect audio recordings when you call our customer service call centers;
  8. We may collect professional or employment information from your job applications, resumes, or recruiters;
  9. We may collect education information from job applications, transcripts, resumes, or recruiters; and
  10. We may collect inferences from your use of our websites, telematics devices, our mobile apps, or from information provided by credit or consumer reporting companies if you have applied for a financial product or service.

C. Purposes of Collection of Information

We collect and use personal information for our business purposes. For all categories of personal information listed in this policy, these business purposes include:

  1. Auditing;
  2. Detecting security incidents;
  3. Protecting against and prosecuting malicious, deceptive, or illegal activity (such as fraud);
  4. Debugging;
  5. Short-term, transient use of personal information;
  6. Performing services on behalf of Nationwide, another business, or a service provider (such as maintaining or servicing accounts or providing customer service); 
  7. Undertaking internal research; and
  8. Verifying or maintaining the quality or safety of a service or device or improving a service or device.

Other examples of the business purposes include the following:

  1. Personal identifiers are collected and used to respond to questions, requests, social media messages, and emails, track applications, provide customer service, market and provide products and services to you, set up, manage and service policies and accounts, conduct website or other surveys, verify your identity, and update our records;
  2. Protected classifications are collected and used to provide products and services to you;
  3. Commercial information is collected and used to offer our SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs to you, market products or services to you, and help predict your future claims;
  4. Biometric information (your voiceprint) is collected and used for fraud prevention or authentication purposes; 
  5. Internet, browsing, or other network activity is collected and used to conduct website and mobile app analysis, conduct research and analytics, develop our websites and mobile apps, market and provide products or services to you, manage our online advertising and its effectiveness, remember your preferences and interactions, respond to questions and emails, manage and service policies and accounts, conduct website and other surveys, and offer our SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs to you;
  6. Geolocation data are collected and used to offer our SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs to you, conduct website and mobile app analysis, develop our websites and mobile apps, and market products or services to you;
  7. Audio recordings are collected and used to improve customer service;
  8. Professional or employment information is collected and used to process job applications and offers or denials of employment;
  9. Education information is collected and used for processing your job application; and
  10. Inferences are collected and used to market products or services to you and help predict your future claims.

We also collect and use all categories of personal information listed in this policy to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, provide you with our products or services you have purchased, for everyday servicing purposes, and as otherwise described to you at the point of collection.

D. Sharing of Information

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. However, we share your personal information for the business purposes listed above and for the following reasons:

  1. Personal identifiers may be shared with entities that provide us with customer service, account setup, account management and servicing, and data verification services;
  2. Protected classifications information may be shared with entities that provide us with services to provide products and services to you;
  3. Commercial information may be shared with entities that help us offer our SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs to you, help market products or services to you, and help predict your future claims;
  4. Your biometric information (voiceprint) may be shared with our service providers to assist in authentication and to service your account; 
  5. Internet, browsing, or other network information may be shared with entities that assist us with conducting website and mobile app analysis, conducting research and analytics, developing our websites and mobile apps, collecting information about our website and mobile app usage and email responses, marketing and providing products or services to you, managing our online advertising and its effectiveness, responding to questions and emails, managing and servicing policies and accounts, and helping to offer our SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs to you;
  6. Geolocation data may be shared with entities that assist us in providing our SmartRide Program or other telematics or usage-based insurance programs to you, conducting website and mobile app analysis, developing our websites, mobile apps, or insurance programs, and marketing products or services to you;
  7. Audio recordings may be shared with entities that provide us with services to improve customer service or for authentication or fraud investigation purposes;
  8. Professional or employment information may be shared with recruiters or with entities that help us with processing job applications or offers or denials of employment;
  9. Education information may be shared with entities that provide us with human resources, job application, or recruitment services; and
  10. Inferences may be shared with entities that provide us with services to market products or services to you and help predict your future claims.

Nationwide may also share all categories of personal information as part of corporate transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures, as well as with our affiliates and subsidiaries. We may be required to share all categories of personal information with law enforcement, regulatory agencies, or litigants based on enforceable requests for this information.

E. Your Consumer Rights

You may have a right to notice, opt out, non-discrimination, access, and deletion.

  1. Notice. You may have a right to know about the personal information collected, used, disclosed, or sold. This policy is intended to satisfy that right.
  2. Opt-out. While you may have the right to direct us not to sell your personal information to third parties, Nationwide does not sell your personal information. Therefore, there is no need for you to opt out of the sale of your personal information.
  3. Non-discrimination. You may have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of the rights in this section.
  4. Access. You may have the right to access your personal information. You may use this personal information access request form to request access to your personal information or call 1-844-541-4300 (12 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET, weekdays).
  5. Deletion. You may have the right to request that we delete the personal information we have collected about you. You may use this personal information deletion request form to request the deletion of your personal information or call 1-844-541-4300 (12 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET, weekdays).

In order to exercise your rights relating to access and deletion, we need to verify your identity. When you submit a request to access or delete your personal information, we will send you a notary form that you must sign, notarize, and return to us. Nationwide also requires that you verify your email address if you would like to obtain your information electronically. The FAQs below provide you with additional information about this process.

Nationwide does not offer financial incentives for the collection, sale, or deletion of personal information. Therefore, there are no financial incentive programs for you to opt into and no description in this policy of the terms of any such program.

F. Authorized Agent

You have the right to designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. Your designated agent may use the access and deletion links described above to make a request on your behalf. We must also receive a properly executed power of attorney that describes you, your designated authorized agent, and the purpose of the designation. This power of attorney must be sent with the notary form that we use to verify your identity. The FAQs below provide you with additional information about this process.

G. Revisions

Nationwide may revise this policy from time to time as permitted by law. Nationwide will provide you the revised policy on this website, on a website that replaces this website, in person, via email, or using other methods.

H. Contact Us

You may contact us at consumerprivacy@nationwide.com if you have any questions or concerns about this policy or your rights.

I. Frequently Asked Questions
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You may read Nationwide’s Online Privacy Policy, California Consumer Privacy Act Rights policy, and Insurance and Financial Product Privacy Notices. Depending on your relationship with us, one or more of these privacy documents may apply to you.