Protecting Your Privacy
Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. and our affiliates, Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Insurance Group*, and Berkshire Banc Investment Services (collectively “the Berkshire Companies”, “we” and “us”), provide a comprehensive line of banking, investment, and insurance products and services. The Berkshire Companies are committed to protecting the confidentiality of personal information you provide to us. At the same time, the information you provide can help us introduce you to other Berkshire Companies’ products and services that may help you meet your financial goals.
Information We Collect
The type of nonpublic personal information we collect depends on the type of product or service you obtain from us. “Nonpublic personal information" is information about you, which is not available from public sources, and is obtained in connection with providing you with a financial product or service. For example, nonpublic personal information includes information regarding your account balance, payment history, and deposit account activity. We may collect this personal information from the following sources
- Information we receive from you on applications or other forms you may complete and provide to us, such as your name, address, social security number, assets, income, and, in the case of applications for insurance, your health and medical information;
- Information about your transactions with us, with members of the Berkshire Companies or others, such as your account balance, payment history, products, and services used;
- Information such as your creditworthiness and your payment history that we receive from third parties, such as credit bureaus.
Information We Disclose
We may share information with members of the Berkshire Companies about our experiences or transactions with you or your account (“Transaction and Experience Information”) in order to help you complete financial transactions or for other non-marketing related purposes. Examples of the types of Transaction and Experience Information we may share with members of the Berkshire Companies includes information from our account records such as name and address, account balance and payment history. We do not share medical or health information among our affiliates or with third parties except to process transactions or to provide services you have requested or initiated..
In addition, we may disclose other information about you, such as information set forth on your consumer report (“Consumer Report Information”) subject to your right to opt out of such information sharing.
If you prefer that we not share your Consumer Report Information with our affiliates, please follow the instructions below in the Opt Out Notice section. We are permitted to share Transaction and Experience Information with our affiliates without restriction.
In addition, the affiliates within the Berkshire Companies may also use both Transaction and Experience Information and Consumer Report Information received from other member companies for the purpose of making a marketing offer. Here is a description of your rights and our obligations related to making marketing offers:
- The Berkshire Companies are providing this notice.
- You may limit the Berkshire Companies, such as the Berkshire Insurance Group and Berkshire Banc Investment Services, from marketing their products or services to you based on your personal information that they receive from other Berkshire Companies. This information includes Transaction and Experience Information and Consumer Report Information.
- Your choice to limit marketing offers from the Berkshire Companies will apply for at least 5 years from when you tell us your choice. Once that period expires, you will receive a renewal notice that will allow you to continue to limit marketing offers from the Berkshire Companies for at least another 5 years.
You may opt out of the Consumer Report Information sharing and Affiliate Marketing described in this Privacy Notice by contacting us by telephone as follows:
- If you are a Berkshire Bank customer call 1- 800-773-5601
- If you are a Berkshire Insurance Group customer call 1-866-616-0244
- If you are a Berkshire Investment Services customer call 1-800-773-5601
Alternatively, you may instead notify your Banking or Insurance Representative of your choice to opt out by either visiting your branch office or insurance agency or by calling his or her telephone number.
Please Note the Following Additional Information:
- Federal law permits members of the Berkshire Companies to make you marketing offers in certain circumstances, such if you do business with one of the Berkshire Companies' affiliates or you ask to receive information or offers from them.
- We are required to provide you with a copy of our Privacy Notice annually. If you have previously sent us a written notice choosing to prevent marketing offers by other Berkshire Companies, you do not need to do so again. Your previous notice to us will continue to be honored until it expires.
- If your account ownership rights or obligations involve two or more people then we will treat the opt out choice from any one account owner as the choice of all account owners.
The types of businesses within the Berkshire Companies with which information is shared are as follows
- A savings bank
- An insurance agency
- An investment services company
Under certain circumstances, we disclose personal information about you to "nonaffiliated companies" (i.e., third parties that are not members of the Berkshire Companies). For example, we disclose personal information about you to third parties to assist us in servicing your account, to government entities as required by law, or to anyone in response to subpoenas, and to credit bureaus. We will not disclose any nonpublic personal information about you to any other third parties, except as permitted by law.
Joint Marketing
We may also disclose Transaction and Experience Information (except we will not disclose medical or health information) to other nonaffiliated companies that perform marketing services for us or to other financial institutions with which we have joint marketing agreements. For example, we may jointly sponsor with a nonaffiliated company insurance, investments or credit cards. We do not share this information about customers who reside in Vermont and California. We also do not share any information derived from deposit relationships with us about customers who reside in Massachusetts.
Former Customers
If you decide to close your account(s) or become an inactive customer, we will continue to adhere to the privacy policies and practices described in this notice.
Our Security Procedures
Access to your account information is restricted to those employees who need to know that information as part of their job, to service your account or to provide products and services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that are reasonably designed to guard your nonpublic personal information.
Accuracy of Customer Information
We recognize that the accuracy of your personal and account information is critical to you and to that end we have internal controls to keep customer information as accurate and complete as we can. If you believe that any information about you is not accurate, please let us know by sending us a written explanation of the specific information that you believe is inaccurate to the following address:
Berkshire Bank
Attn: Customer Service
P.O. Box 1308
Pittsfield, MA 01202-1308
Changes
This privacy statement applies to individuals and not to business entities or business transactions. We reserve the right to make changes to this statement. The statement is for general guidance and does not constitute a contract, nor does it modify or amend any agreements we have with you.
* Members of Berkshire Insurance Group include Andrews Insurance Agency, MassOne Insurance, McCormick Smith & Curry, Minkler Insurance Agency and Reynolds, Barnes & Hebb