Northwest Investment Consulting, Inc. d/b/a NWPS and its subsidiaries (collectively, “NWPS”) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of all personal information that we process to provide services to our clients and their employees.
This NWPS Privacy Policy applies (the “Privacy Policy”) to the personal information collected by NWPS from or on behalf of:
- all employees and agents of our clients and prospective clients,
- financial advisors servicing the plans,
- plan participants and their beneficiaries in client-sponsored retirement plans for which NWPS provides recordkeeping and administrative services, and
- visitors to our website.
As used in this Privacy Policy, “personal information” means information about an identified or identifiable individual. Information by which an individual cannot be identified (for example, anonymous, de-identified, or aggregate information) is not considered personal information and therefore is not subject to this Privacy Policy.
What kind of personal information does NWPS collect?
We may collect the following types of personal information from you:
- Contact information, such as your name, phone number, physical address, and email address, to allow us to communicate with you and provide you with services;
- Identification information for the purposes of providing services, including Social Security numbers, passport information, any applicable employee identification numbers, driver’s license information, and date of birth;
- Professional information, including the name of your current employer, your job title, work address, work telephone number, work email address, and professional history;
- Financial and bank account information, including salary and payroll deduction information, as needed to provide the services;
- Information about your beneficiaries;
- Profile information, including details about your accounts that you have with us, such as your account or policy number and investments;
- Information on outside assets, to the extent you choose to disclose such information with us;
- If you use health-related services, health and benefits information, which may include health plan numbers, beneficiary or dependent identification and contact information, claim information as needed to reimburse expenses, and other health information as needed to provide the services;
- Information about life circumstances, including birth, marriage, and death; and
- Technical information, including your IP address, browser type and version, browser plug in types and versions, and operating system, and on your use and interaction with our online services, such as information about the actions you take on our web site, through the use of cookies or other technologies. For more information about our use of cookies, please see the “Cookies and Other Technologies” section below.
How does NWPS collect your personal information?
We collect your personal information in the following ways:
- From administrative forms and other transactional forms we receive from the plan sponsor and/or participant;
- From your employer, as the plan’s sponsor;
- From you when you provide it to us through the website or through your completion of applications or forms;
- From third parties on behalf of the plan, such as the plan’s payroll vendor; or
- From your use of our website.
How does NWPS use your personal information?
We use your personal information as follows:
- To service your retirement accounts, including to process transactions;
- To communicate with you;
- To administer and improve our website;
- To comply with legal and regulatory requirements;
- To prevent fraud;
- To process loans (if permitted by your plan) and distributions from your accounts; and
- To project retirement income of your retirement account and the plan overall.
How does NWPS safeguard the personal information that NWPS collects?
NWPS maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards designed to protect your personal information from unauthorized access or intrusion. NWPS limits access to your personal information only to those employees and independent contractors who need such access in connection with providing services to the plan and the participant. Some of these measures may include encryption, physical access security, user access security measures or other technologies and tools which NWPS believes may enhance the security of its systems and facilities.
NWPS employees and independent contractors receive annual training on NWPS’ privacy and information security policies and procedures. NWPS understands that protecting consumer privacy is an integral part of protecting our relationship with our clients.
With whom does NWPS share your personal information?
NWPS may share your personal information with:
- Our affiliates, subsidiaries, and independent contractors engaged by us to perform services on our behalf;
- Banking and brokerage firms to process payroll-related and/or securities transactions;
- Third parties, such as financial wellness partners and recordkeeping partners, as requested by the plan sponsor;
- Financial advisors and investment advisors that have appropriate credentials and authorization in place with the applicable plan sponsor and/or participant;
- Managed account providers used to manage your investments;
- If you use health-related services, health and welfare providers in support of medical expense services;
- Service providers in support of our daily operations, including cloud providers, customer management platforms, security providers and similar back-office services;
- Professional advisors engaged by us or your employer, including attorneys, accounts, and auditors;
- Regulatory bodies, taxing agencies, and law enforcement as required under applicable law or as compelled by law or legal process;
- To a buyer or successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us is among the assets transferred;
- Financial advisors hired by your employer, and
- Any other entity as requested by you or for which you provide your consent when requested by us.
How long do you retain my personal information?
We will retain your personal information as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is processed, including maintaining the security of our processing, complying with legal and regulatory obligations (e.g. audit, accounting and statutory retention terms), handling disputes, and for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims in the countries where we do business.
Cookies
What are cookies?
Cookies are simple text files stored on your device by a website’s server. Cookies are unique to your web browser. They include anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the website’s domain.
What types of cookies do we use?
We only use necessary cookies, which helps us offer you the best possible experience when using our website. For example, these cookies let us recognize that you have created an account and have logged into that account.
How to delete cookies?
You can clear cookies through your browser’s settings.
For California residents
Please see our California Addendum.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
If you have any questions about this notice or if you wish to exercise your rights under applicable privacy laws, you can contact us at:
Phone: 888-700-0808
Email: info@nwpsbenefits.com
When you contact us, please provide the following:
- Type of request
- Your relationship to NWPS (client, plan participant, financial advisor, website visitor, or other)
- Your state of residency or country of residency, if outside of the USA
- Preferred method of contact (email or phone)
- Whether you are submitting the request for yourself or on behalf of someone else
Last Updated: December 31, 2024