Fr Login Legal professionals Lending professionals Real estate professionals Recovery professionals Valuation professionals Property owners Home Privacy Privacy FCT Privacy Policy This Policy sets out the procedures that apply to FCT Insurance Company Ltd., the Canadian branch of First American Title Insurance Company, and First Canadian Title Company Limited, as well as their affiliated companies, FCT Insurance Services Inc., Promeric Technologies Inc., and PropertyFlow Ltd (collectively “FCT”, “we”, “us” or “our”). FCT is Canada’s leading provider of title insurance and also provides related real estate products and services. As such, FCT values its relationship with its customers and is committed to the protection of their personal information. Part I of the Policy sets out how FCT complies with and adheres to the privacy principles, and accompanying commentary, set out below (the “Privacy Principles”). “Personal Information”, as used in this Privacy Policy, means information about an identifiable individual. Part II of the Policy sets out how FCT complies with Canada’s Anti-Spam legislation (“CASL”). Part I Our Privacy Principles Principle 1 – Accountability We are responsible for all Personal Information under our control. Accountability for our compliance with the Privacy Principles rests with our Chief Privacy Officer, even though other individuals within our organization have responsibility for the day-to-day collection and processing of Personal Information and may be delegated to act on behalf of the Chief Privacy Officer. We are responsible for Personal Information in our possession or custody. Where we disclose or transfer Personal Information to related corporations or third party service providers as set out in this Privacy Policy, we use contractual or other safeguards to provide a comparable level of protection. Principle 2 – Identifying Purposes We will identify the purposes for which we collect Personal Information at or before the time of collection. We collect Personal Information for purposes related to our business and which a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances. We may collect personal information from you directly or from third parties such as lenders, lawyers or other agents duly authorized to represent you. When we collect personal information from third parties we take steps to ensure that those third parties have your consent to provide the personal information to us, except where otherwise permitted by law. The Personal Information we collect includes: (a) Information about our customers including name and contact information (such as address, telephone number, email address), credit score, social insurance number (optional) and date of birth. We use this information to manage our relationship with our customer, including to communicate with our customer, verify our customer’s identity, detect and prevent fraud and for valuation and underwriting purposes. (b) Information about the property being insured including address, occupancy type, property type and characteristics, property use, purchase price and mortgage information (loan amount, rank of charge, purchase or refinance), the agreement of purchase and sale, power of attorney information, and other documentation relating to ownership of the property. We use this information for valuation and underwriting purposes. (c) Information we require to process payments or funding including credit card number or banking information. (d) In order to verify identity and detect and prevent fraud, we may collect identification from a customer, such as a driver’s license or passport. (e) In the event of a claim, we will collect information necessary to investigate the claim including documents related to the transaction such as the agreement of purchase and sale, MLS listing, inspection report, lawyer’s file including reporting letter, any relevant correspondence or pleadings between any relevant parties, parcel register and any relevant instruments. (f) Any other information identified to the customer that may be legitimately required for the purposes of completing a transaction or investigating a claim. We use Personal Information concerning our customers for the following purposes identified above and: (a) to provide requested products or services; (b) to accurately assess and determine which insurance products and related services will meet the needs and specific requirements of each of our customers; (c) to establish and collect premiums and other amounts owing in relation to our products and services; (d) to process applications submitted, particularly with respect to insurance risks being undertaken; (e) to investigate and administer claims; (f) to advise our customers of underwriting and claims initiatives to reduce the risks associated with the acquisition and financing of real property; (g) to investigate, detect and prevent fraudulent title insured transactions; (h) to reinsure as required; (i) to develop, enhance, market or provide products and services; (j) to manage and continually develop our businesses and operations; (k) to meet legal and regulatory requirements; and (l) for any other legitimate purpose identified to the customer. If we plan to use Personal Information we have collected for a purpose not previously identified, we will identify and document this purpose before such use and obtain your consent where required. We will make a reasonable effort to identify the purpose of collection to the individual from whom the Personal Information is collected. We will state the purpose in such a manner that an individual can reasonably understand how the information will be used or disclosed. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of websites to which our website may link. When you use and access our website, we may use “cookies” and similar tools to collect information and track how you use our website. Cookies are small text files that allow website owners to store data about your web experience and allow us to recognize you and make your next visit more satisfying. We also use cookies and similar tools to collect information about website visits including how long a user spends on our website, the pages visited and how long on each page, the actions taken on our website, the website from which the user arrived at our site or went to after visiting our site, the type of browser and operating system being used and the geographic location. We use this information to improve the customer experience and our products and services, to analyze the effectiveness of our advertising, to customize your experience on our website and to customize our interactions with you. If you do not want our website to collect cookies, it is possible to disable this function by configuring your browser to alert you when cookies are being used and to give you the option of refusing cookies. If you decide to refuse cookies, this may limit your use and access of the websites that you visit. Principle 3 – Consent Personal Information will only be collected, used, or disclosed with the knowledge and consent of the individual, except where inappropriate. The way in which we seek consent, including whether it is express or implied, may vary depending upon the sensitivity of the information and the reasonable expectations of the individual. Consent can be express (express consent may be oral, in writing or electronic), implied (such as when you provide your name and address in order for us to provide you with products and services) and in some jurisdictions may be given by your authorized representative (such as your lawyer, a legal guardian or a person having a power of attorney). An individual can withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. If you have submitted Personal Information and later wish to withdraw your consent to its retention, use or disclosure, please contact the Chief Privacy Officer as indicated below. Please understand that, without your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products and services to you. We will inform individuals of any implications of withdrawing consent. We will seek consent for the use or disclosure of information at the time of collection. In certain circumstances, consent may be sought after the information has been collected but before use (such as where we want to use information that has already been collected for a purpose not previously identified). We will not, as a condition of the supply of services, require an individual to consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of Personal Information beyond that required to fulfill legitimate purposes. In certain circumstances, as permitted or required by law, we may collect, use or disclose Personal Information without the knowledge or consent of the individual. These circumstances include, Personal Information which is publicly available as defined by regulation, where collection or use is clearly in the interests of the individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way, to investigate a breach of an agreement or a contravention of a law, for the purposes of detecting, suppressing or preventing fraud or to act in response to an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual, for debt collection, or to comply with a subpoena, warrant or court order. Generally, if you provide us with Personal Information, we will assume that you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such information as described in this Privacy Policy, if applicable, or otherwise at the time of collection. Principle 4 – Limiting Collection of Personal Information We will limit the amount and type of Personal Information collected to that which is necessary for our identified purposes and we will only collect Personal Information by fair and lawful means. Our collection of Personal Information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by us. We collect Personal Information by fair and lawful means. Principle 5 – Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention Personal Information will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. Personal Information will be retained only as long as necessary to fulfill those purposes. We shall not use or disclose Personal Information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as permitted or required by law. From time to time, we may transfer Personal Information to others, including to affiliated entities or unrelated companies (“service providers”) that carry out certain functions on our behalf such as order fulfillment, data processing, and the administration, investigation and processing of claims. In those cases we require those service providers not to use or disclose Personal Information for any purpose other than as directed by us. Some of these service providers may be located outside of Canada, including in the United States and India, and Personal Information may be collected, used, disclosed, stored and processed in the United States, India or elsewhere outside of Canada for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. If Personal Information is located outside Canada it will be subject to legal requirements in those foreign countries applicable to our service providers, for example, lawful requirements to disclose Personal Information to government authorities in those countries. We shall retain Personal Information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the purposes for which it was collected. The files containing Personal Information will be maintained on our servers or those of our services providers. In addition to our service providers only our employees with a business need to know, or whose duties reasonably so require, are granted access to an individual’s Personal Information. Where Personal Information is no longer required to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected, it will be destroyed, erased, or made anonymous, provided there are no legal requirements for its continued retention. In all these cases, we use contractual or other safeguards to ensure protection of Personal Information. Principle 6 – Accuracy We will use our best efforts to ensure that Personal Information is as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used. We will use our best efforts to ensure that Personal Information that is used on an ongoing basis and information that is used to make a decision about an individual, is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. Principle 7 – Safeguards We will protect Personal Information with safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. We have safeguards to protect Personal Information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification, regardless of the format in which the information is held. We will make our employees aware of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of Personal Information, and we will exercise care in the disposal or destruction of Personal Information to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the information. Our methods of protection will include physical measures (for example, locked filing cabinets and restricted access to offices), organizational measures (for example, security clearances and limiting access on a “need-to-know” basis), and technological measures (for example, the use of passwords and encryption). Although we have enacted layered security measures, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your personal information since no security measures are ever 100% secure or error-free. Please be aware that we employ methods to protect personal information transmitted over the internet however your use of the internet and electronic mail is at your own risk. Should there be a privacy breach relating to the Personal Information that you have provided to us, we will make an assessment as to whether the privacy breach creates a real risk of significant harm to you. Should we determine that the privacy breach does result in a real risk of significant harm to you, we will provide you with a notification. The notification will contain sufficient information to allow you to understand the significance of the breach and to take steps, if any are possible, to reduce the risk of harm that could result from it or to mitigate that harm. It shall also contain any other information prescribed by the legislation. We shall also report any breach of security safeguards to the government if it is reasonable in the circumstances to believe that the breach creates a real risk of significant harm to affected individuals. Principle 8 – Openness We will make information about our policies and procedures respecting Personal Information readily available to individuals. The information we will make available will include how to gain access to Personal Information, the type of Personal Information held by us, including a general account of its use, general information concerning our policies respecting Personal Information, and how to contact our Chief Privacy Officer. Principle 9 – Individual Access Upon written request, we will inform an individual of the existence, use and disclosure of his or her Personal Information and we will give the individual access to that Personal Information. An individual can challenge the accuracy and completeness of his or her Personal Information and have it amended as appropriate. We will respond to an individual’s written request within a reasonable time and at a reasonable or no cost. We will assist any individual who informs us that they need assistance in preparing a request. We may require an individual to provide sufficient information to permit us to provide an account of the existence, use and disclosure of Personal Information. If an individual successfully demonstrates the inaccuracy or incompleteness of Personal Information, we will amend the information as required. If a challenge is not resolved to the satisfaction of the individual, 6 we will record the substance of the unresolved challenge. Where appropriate, the amended information or the existence of the unresolved challenge, as the case may be, will be transmitted to third parties having access to the information in question. We may refuse a request or not be able to provide access to all the Personal Information we hold about an individual, as permitted or required by law. Where permitted, the reasons for denying access will be provided to the individual upon request. Exceptions may include: information that contains references to other individuals or contains confidential commercial information, where such information cannot be severed from the record; information collected in the course of investigating a breach of an agreement or in the course of a formal dispute resolution process; and information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege. Principle 10 – Challenging Compliance Any individual can address a challenge concerning our compliance with any of the Privacy Principles to our Chief Privacy Officer. We will investigate all written complaints. If we find a complaint to be justified, we will take all appropriate measures, including, if necessary, amending our policies and practices. A customer shall be informed of the outcome of the investigation regarding his or her complaint. Our goal is to protect your privacy and Personal Information. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our procedures affecting your Personal Information, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer: Chief Privacy Officer Legal Department FCT 2235 Sheridan Garden Drive Oakville, Ontario L6J 7Y5 Telephone: 1.800.307.0370 E-mail: privacy.inquiries@fct.ca Part II CASL Compliance FCT is committed to reducing the harmful effects of spam and related threats to electronic commerce. The fundamental underlying principle of CASL is that certain commercial activities, such as the sending of commercial electronic messages, may only be carried out with consent. FCT complies with CASL and seeks consent as required by CASL before sending any commercial electronic messages. Updates to this Privacy Policy This Privacy Policy is reviewed on an annual basis. We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy. If this Privacy Policy materially changes, we will take reasonable measures to notify you of these changes, including posting a copy of the revised Privacy Policy on our website. Your continued use of our Services following notification of any material change and/or your continued access to our website following the posting of any changes to this Privacy Policy shall constitute your acceptance of those changes. You may also contact us if you would like us to send you a copy of the most current version of this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy was last revised July, 2020. About us Resource library Media centre Blog Sign up Careers Contact Privacy Legal Accessibility Statement Complaints Login Fr \ Website by zync.ca