U.S. Consumer Privacy Policy

U.S. Consumer Privacy Policy

Last Updated January 1, 2023

MetLife, Inc. and its U.S. companies (“MetLife" or "we”) strongly believe in the responsible use of information we collect about individuals. This U.S. Consumer Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) supplements our Online Privacy Policy, Customer Privacy Policy, and other relevant privacy policies of MetLife and applies solely to residents of California and Virginia ("consumers" or "you"). We adopt this Privacy Policy to comply with the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA") and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”).

The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you about our online and offline information practices regarding the collection, use, sharing, selling, and retention of your personal information and the rights available to you, as a resident of California or Virginia.

MetLife collects personal information in a variety of contexts. For example, we collect personal information relating to individuals who request or obtain our products or services for themselves or a business, visit our locations or facilities, or are our shareholders. The specific personal information that we collect, use, and disclose will depend on our relationship or interaction with you. 

This Privacy Policy does not apply to MetLife employees, contracted personnel, job applicants, or to information collected, processed, or disclosed pursuant to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and implementing regulations, certain insurance laws, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”).

If you are a MetLife employee, contractor, or have applied for a job with us and reside in California please refer to our Careers Privacy Notice for California residents.

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MetLife collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, to you or a member of your household.

We may have collected the following categories of personal information about you in the last twelve (12) months:

Category

Examples

A. Identifiers

Name, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver's license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.

B. Personal information in California's Customer Records Statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))

Name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver's license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information (some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.)

C. Characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law

Age, race, national origin, citizenship, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information.

D. Commercial information

Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.

E. Biometric information

Fingerprint and/or facial recognition templates.

F. Internet or other electronic network activity information

Browsing history, search history, interaction with web sites, applications, or advertisements.

G. Geolocation data

Geolocation data, such as device location, IP Address.

H. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information

Voice recordings, CCTV, photographs, videos.

I. Professional or employment-related information

Salary, compensation, employment status.

J. Education information

Certificates / Licenses, grades, disciplinary actions, assessments.

K. Inferences drawn from any of the information identified above

Inferences drawn to create a profile about, for example, an individual’s preferences, characteristics, predispositions, behavior, or abilities.

L. Sensitive Personal Information

Social Security number, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number; account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account; precise geolocation; racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical; beliefs, or union membership; the processing of biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer; health information; sex life or sexual orientation.

 

We may have collected personal information about you from the following categories of sources:

  • Directly from consumers (you provide us this information)
  • Attorney / Legal counsel
  • Other individual(s) associated with an insurance policy
  • Beneficiaries of insurance policies
  • Adverse parties (related to a claim under a policy)
  • Brokers / Agents
  • Consumer Report / Credit Reporting Agencies
  • Court orders or legally binding documents
  • Employers, Group Policyholders, Plan Sponsors, and Employer's Administrators
  • Factoring companies
  • Government agencies or regulators
  • A financial institution of a policyholder
  • A prior insurance carrier
  • Medical professionals / paramedical vendors
  • MetLife's service providers
  • From your devices, such as when you visit our websites and mobile applications
  • Our affiliates
  • Social networks
  • Data brokers / data analytics providers

We may collect your personal information for the following business purposes:

  • Performing business related services, including to process applications, claims, transactions, and to maintain or service accounts
  • Authenticate your identity
  • Respond to your product or service information requests
  • Provide you with materials that may be of interest, including marketing materials
  • For other everyday business purposes, such as, product development and website administration
  • To comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, including investigations and reports to government agencies
  • To establish or defend legal claims and allegations
  • Compliance, legal and regulatory matters, and audits and investigations
  • Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, including money laundering, terrorism, and other crimes
  • Short-term, transient use
  • Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration
  • Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by us, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by us

We will only use your sensitive personal information for business purposes.

We may disclose (and may have disclosed during the last twelve (12) months) the following categories of personal information, including sensitive personal information to the following categories of third parties for business purposes:

Category

Examples

Categories of third parties to whom the category of personal information has been disclosed

A. Identifiers

Name, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver's license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.

Broker or Agent; Financial Institution associated with a consumer's account; Other Insurance Companies associated with a consumer's account; Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder's Administrator for plan or policy administration; HIPAA-Authorized Recipient(s); Vendors who provide services to MetLife; MetLife's Reinsurance Partner(s); Network Providers for Insurance Services; Regulators or government agencies

B. Personal information in California's Customer Records Statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))

Name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver's license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information (some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.)

Broker or Agent; Financial Institution associated with a consumer's account; Other Insurance Companies associated with a consumer's account; Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder's Administrator for plan or policy administration; HIPAA-Authorized Recipient(s); Vendors who provide services to MetLife; MetLife's Reinsurance Partner(s); Network Providers for Insurance Services; Regulators or government agencies

C. Characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law

Age, race, national origin, citizenship, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information.

Broker or Agent; Financial Institution associated with a consumer's account; Other Insurance Companies associated with a consumer's account; Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder's Administrator for plan or policy administration; HIPAA-Authorized Recipient(s); Vendors who provide services to MetLife; MetLife's Reinsurance Partner(s); Network Providers for Insurance Services; Regulators or government agencies

D. Commercial information

Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.

Broker or Agent; Financial Institution associated with a consumer's account; Other Insurance Companies associated with a consumer's account; Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder's Administrator for plan or policy administration; HIPAA-Authorized Recipient(s); Vendors who provide services to MetLife; MetLife's Reinsurance Partner(s); Network Providers for Insurance Services; Regulators or government agencies

E. Biometric information

Fingerprints and/or facial recognition templates.

Vendors who provide services to MetLife; Regulators or government agencies

F. Internet or other electronic network activity information

Browsing history, search history, interaction with web sites, applications, or advertisements.

Vendors who provide services to MetLife

G. Geolocation data

Geolocation data, such as device location, IP Address.

Vendors who provide services to MetLife

H. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory or similar information

Voice recordings, CCTV, photographs, videos.

Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder’s Administrator for plan or policy administration; Vendors who provide services to MetLife; Regulators or government agencies

I. Professional or employment-related information

Salary, compensation, employment status.

Vendors who provide services to MetLife; Regulators or government agencies

J. Education information

Certificates / Licenses, grades, disciplinary actions, assessments.

Vendors who provide services to MetLife; Regulators or government agencies

K. Inferences drawn from any of the information identified above

Inferences drawn to create a profile about, for example, an individual reflecting their preferences, characteristics, predispositions, behavior, or abilities.

Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder’s Administrator for plan or policy administration; Vendors who provide services to MetLife

L. Sensitive Personal Information

Social Security number, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number; account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account; precise geolocation; racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical; beliefs, or union membership; the processing of biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer; health information; sex life or sexual orientation.

Broker or Agent; Financial Institution associated with a consumer's account; Other Insurance Companies associated with a consumer's account; Plan Sponsor / Group Policyholder / Policyholder's Administrator for plan or policy administration; HIPAA-Authorized Recipient(s); Vendors who provide services to MetLife; MetLife's Reinsurance Partner(s); Network Providers for Insurance Services; Regulators or government agencies

We do not sell your personal information to non-service provider third parties. We do not share or disclose your personal information, including sensitive personal information, with non-service provider third parties, and we only use your sensitive personal information for business purposes, such as, to provide services and products to you. We do not have actual knowledge that we sell or share personal information of minors under 16 years of age.

As a California or Virginia resident, you have certain privacy rights, subject to exceptions, regarding your personal information, as described below:

  • Right to Know: You have the right to request what personal information we have collected, used, disclosed, and sold/shared about you during the past 12 months
  • Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete certain personal information we have collected about you
  • Right to Correct: You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information we have about you

To Submit a Right to Know or a Right to Delete Request visit https://www.metlife.com/privacy-request or call 1-(888) 282-5758, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. eastern time, excluding holidays.

To Submit a Right to Correct Request call 1-(800) MetLife, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. eastern time, excluding holidays, or email us at MetPrivacy@metlife.com and provide your first and last name, your relationship to MetLife and the best method for us to contact you regarding your request.

In order to process your request and to help protect your privacy and maintain security, we will take steps to verify your identity before granting you access to your personal information or complying with your request. We may require you to provide additional personal information to us. If you are making a request on behalf of someone else, we will need to verify that you have the authority to do so.

If you have any questions regarding these rights or would like to appeal a response that you received from us, you can call us at 1-(888) 282-5758. We’re available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., eastern time, excluding holidays. You can also email us at MetPrivacy@metlife.com.

You may also opt out of Google ad personalization via the Google Ads Settings page. For more information about our ad service provider and its cookies, including information about how to opt out of these technologies, go to https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy and https://www.aboutads.info/consumers.

You have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment for the exercise of your privacy rights. MetLife does not discriminate against any individual who exercise their legal rights.

If an authorized agent submits a request to know, a request to correct, or a request to delete on your behalf, we may require that you provide the authorized agent written permission to do so. To designate an authorized agent, please visit https://www.metlife.com/privacy-request or call (888) 282-5758.

MetLife's Global Record Retention Schedule establishes the retention periods for our records consistent with MetLife business needs and global legal and regulatory requirements. Our Information Lifecycle Management Program Office conducts an annual review of the Record Retention Schedule to ensure the Schedule continues to align with global business needs and legal and regulatory requirements. MetLife, consequently, will retain personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose set out in our policies, for as long as an account or relationship with MetLife is active, as needed to provide services to our customers, or to comply with our Global Record Retention Schedule.

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time and will post the revised Privacy Policy on this site.  When we do, we will let you know by posting the revised Privacy Policy with a new “Last Updated” date. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when posted unless indicated otherwise.

If you have questions about our privacy policies and practices or would like to receive this Privacy Policy in an alternative format, call us at 1-(877) 638-7684 or visit https://www.metlife.com/about-us/privacy-policy/.

  • MetLife received 12 requests to know about what personal information we have collected from California residents in the previous calendar year. We complied in whole with each of these.
  • MetLife received 11 requests to delete information collected from California residents in the previous calendar year. We complied with 4 of these requests in part and we denied 7 of these requests due to applicable exceptions on deletion (for example, if we were required to retain certain information by law or in order to continue providing requested coverage or services to the individual).
  • MetLife received 0 requests to opt-out of sale of personal information from California residents in the previous calendar year.
  • We substantively responded to requests to know within an average of 12 days. We substantively responded to deletion requests within an average of 22 days, which includes any extensions for additional time required to identify and review a requester’s data.

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