Howell’s Online Privacy Policy
Howell Benefit Services, Inc. (Howell) is committed to respecting the privacy and security of visitors’ personal information. The following Online Privacy Policy describes the information collected on the Howell website and how it is used. By using this website, visitors consent to Howell’s Privacy Policy. For questions or concerns, please email us or contact us at:
Howell, Inc.
Attn: Client Services / Online Privacy
613 Baltimore Drive
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
Or call 1-888.831.9966

Collecting Information
Howell gathers information about how visitors use our website. In general, visitors may visit many of Howell’s web pages without telling us who they are or revealing any personal information about themselves. We may track visits to our website for trends and statistics, but visitors will remain anonymous unless they tell us who they are. Once a visitor chooses to give us personal information, they are not anonymous to Howell.

We request information from visitors (which may include name, address, telephone number, email address, company name, etc.) when visitors:

Benefit Evaluation Strategic Planning Request a quote or more information about one of Howell’s product or services Request a contact from one of Howell’s representatives Enter one of Howell’s online benefit systems Purchase and enroll in a benefit program Request to receive communications Participate in a promotion or other website feature

All database activity on Howell’s protected website is logged. Howell collects personal information, such as a visitor’s login and password, company name, documents retrieved and pages visited. Howell also collects information about a visitor’s software. This information may include: IP address, access times, browser type and referring website addresses. We use this information for the operation of the service, to prevent unauthorized access, maintain the quality service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of Howell’s website. In order to better understand visitors’ preferences and serve them better, Howell may combine information given to us online with other information from Howell sources and communications. This may include data, direct mail, online marketing or direct marketing.  We may also combine such information with data that is publicly available and data that we receive from other reputable sources.  This data may include postal address updates and demographic data.  All data combined and stored with online data is protected by this privacy policy.

How Howell Uses the Information
Howell may use the information we collect from visitors, clients, and participants to:

Customize and/or personalize communications to Howell’s visitors, clients or participants Request a quote or more information about one of Howell’s product or services from a preferred service provider Provide a quote request Better respond to customer service inquiries Communicate to Howell’s visitors, client and participants about their inquires, account information, or customer service needs Communicate about Howell’s products and services Improve Howell’s business operations

Howell collects and uses information to administer the benefit accounts for which clients have contracted with us to service. Howell may collect and maintain several types of customer information needed for these purposes including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and other information specific to identifying clients and participants and maintaining accounts. Howell may collect this information from the client and/or the participant.

Howell uses client or participant information to enroll and maintain benefit accounts including processing insurance applications and benefit enrollment forms, updating account information, processing claims, providing payment to a contracted vendor or insurance carrier for an employer sponsored benefit program, or providing disbursements to properly service a client's account as contracted.

Sharing Information
Howell’s benefit quote request forms require clients and/or participants to give contact information (name, email, and postal address), unique identifiers (social security number), and demographic information (zip code, age).

Contact information from the registration forms is used to get in touch with the customer when necessary. Unique identifiers (such as social security numbers) are collected from Howell website visitors, clients and/or participants for other purposes. This data is necessary for the processing of and the future identification of insurance quotes and is used solely for that purpose. Information is never given or sold to third parties for the purpose of advertising.

For the purpose of operating our business, we may transfer information between Howell and our preferred service providers who use that information only to conduct Howell business.  We provide our preferred service providers with the information they need to perform their services and work with them to respect and protect your information.

On rare occasions, we may disclose specific information upon governmental request, in response to a court order, when required by law, to enforce our website policies, or to protect Howell’s or others' rights, property, or safety. Howell does not provide information to these agencies or companies for marketing or commercial purposes.

Protecting Visitor Information
Howell uses a variety of security measures, including sophisticated encryption and authentication tools to maintain the safety of personal information of Howell’s visitors, clients and participants. Such personal information is contained behind secure networks and is only accessible to a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. When a visitor, client or participant accesses personal information, Howell offers the use of a secure server. Regardless of these efforts, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Removing or Modifying Visitor Information
If you would like your name and email address removed from Howell’s newsletter mailing list or if you would like to update your mailing information, email Howell a request.

Trademark Information
Certain products, services and logos associated with Howell are copyrighted and/or trademarked by Howell.  Without Howell's prior permission, Howell trademarks, copyrights and logos are not allowed to be displayed or used in any manner by any other person or entity.

External Links
This site may contain links to other sites not affiliated with Howell. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

Policy Changes
Howell reserves the right to modify this Online Privacy Policy and may change this Policy from time to time. Howell encourages visitors to this website to refer to this Policy on an ongoing basis so that they understand our current privacy policy. This Policy was last modified on August 28, 2007.

Terms and Conditions
Please also visit terms of use section that explains other terms governing the use of our website.