Privacy Policy
Our commitment to you
You have entrusted to our care not only your hard-earned money, but your personal and financial data as well. We recognize that your relationship with us is based on trust and that you expect us to act responsibly and in your best interest. Because your personal and financial data is your private information, we hold ourselves to the highest standards in the safekeeping and use of that data.
Simply stated, we do not sell current or past client information to anyone, at any time, for any reason. Because we limit the use of your personal information, there is no opportunity for you to opt out of sharing it with third party service providers.
The information we collect about you
In addition to personal information you provide to us, we may receive information about you that you authorize third parties to provide to us. We may also obtain personal information from third parties in order to verify your identity, prevent fraud, or to help us identify how we may otherwise help you.
Personal information collected from any source may include your:
- Name, address, phone numbers and date of birth
- Social security number or other taxpayer identification number
- Assets and account balances
- Income and/or retirement needs
- Investment activity
- Information regarding accounts at other institutions
How we handle your personal information
We do not sell information about current or former clients or their accounts to any party. We will not disclose any personal or financial information to any party without your express authorization or direction, except as provided by law, under valid process, or as required in response to inquiries from government authorities.
We use the information we collect primarily to maintain your accounts and process your transactions. In order to complete certain transactions or account changes, it may be necessary to provide identifying information to custodial agents and brokers acting on your behalf. However, in all such instances, we restrict access to your personal and financial information to those who have a reasonable need to know that information to provide services to you.
How we protect privacy online
Our concern for the privacy of our account owners extends to those who use our website, www.meritageportfolio.com. We purposely do not store any of your personal information on our website.
Our website uses some of the most secure forms of online communication available, including industry standard 128 bit data encryption and user names and passwords with a minimum of 8 alphanumeric characters as well as a special character. An automatic account locking feature will simply lock an account until manually reactivated when a specified number of failed password attempts occur within a pre-defined time frame. Additionally, website users are automatically logged out of the system after twenty minutes of inactivity. These technologies provide a high level of security and privacy when you access your account information.
We do use a third-party service provider to help us track general website activity. However, we do not collect any user data or personally identifiable information about our clients with this third-party service provider and this service provider does not collect such information on our behalf.
If you request, we will communicate with you using email. If confidential information needs to be electronically transmitted, we have the ability to send such information via secure, encrypted email to ensure your data is received safely and confidentially. However, please keep in mind that we cannot guarantee the security of email information when it travels across the internet.
How we safeguard your personal information
We treat all personal information as confidential and use it solely to provide services for your benefit. We restrict access to information about you to those Meritage associates who need to know the information in order to perform their jobs. Our associates are bound by policies that include the responsibility to protect the confidentiality of client information.
To protect your personal information, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in keeping with industry standards and practices, and we review and adjust these safeguards regularly in response to advances in technology.
What you can do
For your protection, we recommend that you do not provide your account information, user name, or password to anyone. If you become aware of suspicious activity relating to your account, please contact us immediately. If you forgot your user name or password, or have locked your account, we can help re-establish your internet access.
Finally
As required by federal law, we will notify you of our privacy policy annually. We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time. Be assured that if we do make changes, we will notify you promptly. We appreciate and take seriously your trust in us and our ability to safeguard your personal information.
You may access a printable copy of our privacy policy and how your information is used by clicking here.