Equitable online privacy policy
At Equitable, we make it our mission to protect your privacy and ensure the confidentiality and security of your personally identifiable information.
Your privacy preferences
To ask a privacy question, or to limit the information Equitable shares with our affiliates, please call (877) 806-4573 or submit a request here.
Our privacy commitment
Thank you for choosing Equitable and for trusting us to protect your privacy security and ensure the confidentiality and security of your personally identifiable information. “Equitable” includes Equitable Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries, except for AllianceBernstein Holding, L.P., AllianceBernstein L.P., and their subsidiaries. For information regarding AllianceBernstein’s privacy policy and practices, please visit alliancebernstein.com.
We take our privacy policy and our privacy commitment to you seriously. So, no matter what kind of information you provide us, whether it’s just your name and address or other more confidential personally identifiable information, we take extra steps every day to make sure it is secure and protected.
- We only use your personally identifiable information for the purposes of offering you products and services, as described more fully in our privacy policy and California privacy policy.
- We do not sell or rent anyone’s information or share information with a third party for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising, regardless of their age. This includes the personally identifiable information of persons under the age of 16.
- We require all of our employees, financial professionals, and vendors to employ privacy best practices and keep the personally identifiable information of our customers confidential.
For privacy questions, call (877) 806-4573.
Equitable's online privacy policy
Equitable’s online privacy policy describes how we collect personally identifiable information through our website and how we ensure the privacy and security of your personal information.
Equitable does not sell or rent personal information or share information with a third party for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising. We have a long-standing commitment to safeguard the privacy of our clients and to keep their personally identifiable information secure.
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Ensuring the security of your personal information
If you are an Equitable client, you have already received a copy of our consumer privacy notice. True to that privacy notice, we will protect the confidentiality of all of your personally identifiable information in our possession, including any personal information you provide us through our websites.
If you are not an Equitable client and are accessing our website to learn more about our companies and the products and services we offer, please be assured that we will also protect your privacy and the security and confidentiality of any personally identifiable information we acquire about you. We will not sell or rent information about you to anyone or share information with a third party for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising. However, we may disclose personal information to our affiliates, third party service providers or as otherwise required or permitted by law.
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What types of information do we collect from our websites?
We may collect:
- information you enter into our website when you request information from us; and
- Tracking information that tells us how you use our website.
Any information you enter into our website will be treated as personally identifiable information and therefore kept private and secure. Personally identifiable information may include your name, address, telephone number and email address as well as information about your investments, investment goals, and risk tolerance. We may also gather information such as which pages you view and when, and we may compile information through our Web server software and cookies, web beacons and clear GIFs or tracking pixels, as noted below.
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Maintaining your privacy despite our use of cookies, web beacons, clear GIF, tracking pixels, and similar mechanisms
Equitable uses cookies, web beacons, clear GIF, tracking pixels and other mechanisms to track your usage patterns on our websites. None of these things store, record or share your personally identifiable information, and are therefore harmless when it comes to your privacy and maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small data file that a website can send to your computer’s browser when you visit a website. It is not a computer program. A cookie does not extract personally identifiable information about you, such as your name and address, from your computer. It does not read data on your hard drive or instruct your computer to perform any function. A cookie sent to your browser from our websites can only be used by our websites to recognize your computer when you log onto our websites. We also use cookies to track your usage patterns, such as how frequently you log in to a website, which pages you view, when and for how long. Tracking information we may obtain by using a cookie may also be associated with personally identifiable information we may have collected about you, but never exposes you to privacy issues.
You may be able to accept or reject a cookie when you visit a website or use your browser or other software to clear cookies from your hard drive. However, deleting a website's cookie may mean that our websites will not recognize you as a repeat user. As a result, you may have to re-enter information and reject the website’s cookie when you attempt to access the website again.
We may also utilize third party internet vendors to collect site traffic data using web beacons and clear GIFs or tracking pixels that can be embedded in our websites. These vendors provide us with completely anonymous usage data that allows us to improve our websites. This usage data cannot in any way be associated with any personally identifiable information we have about you, and therefore does not jeopardize your privacy or the security of your personally identifiable information.
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Security of information transmissions
When you fill out a form or request information on our websites, your privacy and the information you give us is protected using encryption technology called Secure Sockets Layer or SSL, typically indicated by https in the website’s address, at the top of the page. This technology scrambles transmissions to ensure the security of your personally identifiable information and make it unreadable to third parties.
Although we will do everything we can to ensure the security and confidentiality of your information, internet transmissions are not always entirely secure. For example, regular email is unencrypted and may not be secure. Cybercrime is becoming more and more frequent. To protect your privacy, please do not use unencrypted email to communicate information that you want kept confidential and always make sure you are on a secure page of our website when transmitting personally identifiable information. Equitable is not liable for the unintended disclosure of information due to errors in your transmission of information to us via email or unauthorized acts of or breaches of the security of your email account by third parties.
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Your privacy and links to and from other websites
You may be able to reach Equitable websites through links ("hyperlinks") from other websites that are not owned or controlled by us. You may also use hyperlinks from our websites to reach third party websites. Third party sites may have different privacy policies controlling the collection and use of your personally identifiable information than ours. A link to or from a third-party site is not an endorsement by us of their site, content, privacy practices or sponsoring organization. We cannot be responsible for the practices, content, security or accuracy of third-party sites.
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Security and third parties
We may work with third party companies to share content between our websites and other company sites or to provide us with analytical services so that we can better understand our visitors. These third parties may use cookies, web beacons and similar mechanisms to collect information when you click on or move your cursor over buttons on a website. We may access this information to identify other websites that you have visited. However, these third parties do not collect personally identifiable information (unless you explicitly provide it to them), and we do not give any personally identifiable information to them. These third parties may collect certain non-personally identifiable information such as what website a visitor came from, your IP address, and what type of browser you are using. We do not control the dissemination of third-party cookies, web beacons and similar mechanisms. You should check the relevant third-party websites for their privacy policies as well as information about how to reject cookies or other tracking mechanisms.
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Privacy rights for residents of certain states
Some state laws grant additional privacy rights to their residents.
- California residents should click here to learn more about their privacy rights and how to exercise them.
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Changes to our privacy policy
We may make changes to our Privacy Notice in the future. If you are a client, we will not make any change affecting you without first sending you a revised notice describing the change. Similar changes will also be described on our websites.
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Contacting us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we ensure your privacy, please call us at (877) 806-4573.
How to help ensure the security of your personal information
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How to keep your accounts secure
- We use your mailing address, email address and phone number to send you important confidential information or contact you to discuss your account. To ensure the privacy and security of this information, you should use a secure Post Office Box or mailbox. Please contact us immediately if your address changes to make sure your personally identifiable information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
- Review your confirmation notices and statements promptly to ensure your transactions and personally identifiable information are correct. Please contact us immediately if you detect any inaccuracy.
- To help ensure your privacy, keep your confidential documents in a secure place, outside the view of unauthorized people. Shred confidential documents when they are no longer needed.
- For security reasons, never share your passwords or identification numbers with anyone, including your financial professional.
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How does Equitable protect my privacy and personally identifiable information?
- Personally identifiable information sent through our website is protected while passing through the internet.
- To help ensure your security and privacy, Equitable will send you communications such as trade confirmations, annual statements, confirmation letters, premium notices via mail to your address on file or you can review them on our secure portal online.
- To prevent security issues, customers should promptly review any correspondence they receive from Equitable and contact us immediately about any inaccurate information.
- Equitable will never send you an email with a link to our website asking for confirmation of your passwords or to verify your confidential or personally identifiable information unless you have previously asked us to do so.
- We may contact you to confirm certain instructions you have given us, or to verify unusual transactions.
- We have security programs that protect your privacy and prevent client data from being disclosed or used for unauthorized purposes. This programs and policies limit access to your information to those who need it to conduct our business. Our privacy policy applies to both current and former clients.
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How to protect your privacy and keep your data safe
- Many of the accounts or apps you use will ask for access to personally identifiable information, such as your geographic location, contact list, and photo album, before you even use their services.
- To decide whether or not to share your data with certain businesses, consider the amount of personally identifiable information they are asking for and weigh it against the benefits you may receive.
- To help ensure your privacy and security, delete unused apps on your internet-connected devices and perform all updates on your apps.
- To keep your personally identifiable information private, use secure networks whenever possible. Create complex login passwords, change them frequently, and always log out of websites that require a password. This can help keep cyber criminals from gaining access to your information.
- Make sure your antivirus software is up to date.
- Consider dual-factor authentication for your financial and email accounts; this service allows additional security and would let you know if someone has compromised your accounts.
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How we use and disclose your personally identifiable information
We may collect personally identifiable information to develop, provide, and offer retirement, life insurance or other financial products and related services to our existing and potential clients, and as otherwise required by law or regulation. The following are business purposes for which Equitable uses the personally identifiable information that it collects:
- For our everyday business purposes, and those of your financial professional — such as processing your transactions, providing services that you request, billing and processing of payments, maintaining your account(s), providing customer service, underwriting and related activities, responding to court orders and legal investigations, or reporting to credit bureaus
- For our marketing purposes — to offer our products and services to you and to identify potential new clients
- For developing new products and services and to improve existing products and services
- For security purposes – to protect your privacy and account(s) and prevent, detect, and respond to illegal activity and security incidents
- For debugging and analytics purposes – to improve our websites and IT infrastructure and analyze web traffic and consumer interactions and activity on our websites and customer portals
- For recruiting purposes – to identify potential job candidates
We may disclose personally identifiable information that we collect about you to the following categories of third parties:
- Third parties to whom you request we disclose your information
- Beneficiaries and other persons associated with an insurance policy, annuity, or financial product or service
- Our service providers, vendors, and reinsurers
- Credit reporting agencies
- Government agencies, self-regulatory organizations, and other third parties as required by law
- Employers and plan sponsors
- Financial professionals and third-party agents and brokers
We may use your personally identifiable information, and disclose it to others, in order to:
- Help us determine whether you are eligible for a request for a product or service
- Help us process claims and other transactions
- Confirm or correct what we know about you
- Help us prevent security issues, fraud, and identity theft by verifying what we know about you
- Help us run our everyday business
- Ensure we comply with the specific federal and state laws
When we disclose information to others to perform business services for us, they are required to take appropriate steps to protect your privacy and information. They may use the information only for the purposes of performing those business services.
Personally identifiable information
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What is Personal Identifiable Information (PII)?
The term personal identifiable information refers to information which can be used to distinguish an individual's identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, etc. or other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.
Public PII is information that can easily gathered from public records, phone books, corporate directories, and Government websites. This list includes name, address, phone number, or email address.
Non-public PII is information such information includes biometric and medical information, Banking Information (PCI), and unique identifiers such as passport or Social Security numbers.
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Protect your identity and your privacy
Steps you can take to protect your identity
- Delete all suspicious emails without opening them. Only open email attachments if you are confident that they are trustworthy and will not threaten your security.
- Beware of “Phishing” scams as these can easily endanger your privacy and security. Phishing emails look like legitimate emails coming from someone you know but ask you to respond to the email or go to a website and provide your password or other confidential or personally identifiable information. Criminals will then use this information to commit fraud. If you are unsure about an email, always call the company that sent you the email to verify the request, using a published telephone number they have previously provided.
- Do not send confidential or personally identifiable information via email; it is not secure unless it is encrypted. Check to be sure that commercial websites you visit have security measures in place, such as using secure transmission measures (usually Secure Sockets Layer or SSL), typically indicated by a key or padlock icon. Financial institutions and major online retailers should always use these security measures,
- Always log out of websites that require an ID and password, instead of just exiting or continuing to browse other sites, to ensure your personally identifiable information is properly deleted from both the vendor’s system and your PC.
- When using instant messenger services, be wary of links sent to you by those on your “buddy list.” Screen names can be hijacked to send viruses or other malicious software to your computer. If you’re unsure, call or email your friend to make sure they sent the text and the link to you, and ensure that the link is legitimate.
Some warning signs that your identity was stolen, or security breached
To help protect your privacy, identity and personally identifiable information, do not assume any unexplained financial, bank, or credit card charges, withdrawals or other transactions are simple mistakes and will be corrected on your next statement. Follow-up with your financial institution immediately if any of the following occur unexpectedly:
- Unexplained charges or deductions appear on your account.
- Your account statements or bills have not arrived on time.
- Renewal credit cards do not arrive on time.
- New credit cards are sent to you that you did not request.
- Your credit applications are denied or limited without apparent reason.
- Billing agencies, creditors and others contact you about unknown goods and services.
Any of these unexpected issues could mean that your identity was stolen, and your privacy and security are at risk.
For more information on identity theft and what to do if you think you are a victim, please visit our fraud site.
Frequently asked questions
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Do you sell my information to other companies?
- No, Equitable helps protect your privacy by never selling or renting our customers’ personally identifiable information or share information to a third party for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising.
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What types of companies does Equitable shares information with?
- We share personally identifiable information when required with Third Party Service Providers to help us fulfill or service our products. Additionally, we may share information with our Affiliates to define cross sell opportunities.
- We may share personally identifiable information about you with:
- Your financial professional
- Companies whose products and services you purchase through us
- Companies that have joint marketing agreements with us
- Vendors that perform support services for us, including those who:
- Providing underwriting services or assist in managing claims
- Print an mail account statements
- Support our computer systems
- Clear and settle trades
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Do Equitable’s competitors also share personally identifiable information with Third Party Service Providers and Affiliate companies?
- Yes, it is not just Equitable. All financial services companies, including banks and other entities, have Third Party Service Providers and Affiliate companies and will share personally identifiable information with them.
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Is there a way to help protect my privacy by stopping my Social Security Number from being shared with marketing companies?
- Equitable never shares SSNs with marketing companies, and we NEVER sell, or rent data, or share information to a third party for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising.
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When does Equitable provide me with an annual Customer Privacy Notice?
- Equitable provides an annual privacy notice at least once in any 12 consecutive months as long as the customer maintains an active account or policy. Depending on the product the customer owns, the privacy notice may be included with their prospectus or premium notice near their policy or account anniversary. Customers who no longer hold an active policy or account will not receive a customer privacy notice.
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How can I update and correct my personal information?
- If you determine your personal or account information is incorrect, please visit our account support page or contact your Advisor.
Opt-Out from sharing my personal information
How do I opt-out from receiving marketing materials from Equitable?
- Yes, customers can request that Equitable not share their personally identifiable information with affiliates for marketing purposes.
- Customers will continue to receive correspondence from Equitable that is required to service their policy/account, such as premium notices, annual statements, and prospectus, if applicable.
- To opt-out, please call (877) 806-4573, or submit a privacy request here.
Contact us
If you have additional privacy questions, please contact your Financial Professional, or call the Privacy Hotline at (877) 806-4573 or submit a privacy question here.
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