HSBC FINANCIAL CORPORATION LIMITED
An HSBC - North America Company
Privacy Statement

Introduction – Our Commitment to You:
HSBC Financial Corporation Limited and its subsidiaries (HSBC Retail Services Limited, HSBC Finance Mortgages Inc. (Ontario Mortgage Brokerage #10155), HSBC Finance Corporation Canada and Household Trust Company) ("HSBC"), are members of the HSBC - North America group of companies, and are proud to be part of a financial services organization that has been providing superior products and services to its customers for over 80 years. We greatly appreciate the trust that you and millions of other HSBC - North America customers have placed in us, and we will protect that trust by continuing to respect the privacy of all our applicants and customers even if our formal customer relationship ends.
It is important for you to know that in order to ensure that our customers get the very best service and the highest quality products, HSBC collects demographic information (like your name and address) and credit information (like information related to your accounts with us). HSBC collects personal information of its applicants and borrowers to maintain, administer or collect customer accounts and to offer customers additional products. This information comes either directly from you, for instance, from your application and transactions on your account; or, it may come from an outside source such as your credit bureau report. In addition, if you visit our Internet web site, we may collect certain information about your Internet usage. If you have selected credit insurance products, the privacy statement applicable to those products is set out at the end of this privacy statement.

We Respect Your Privacy:
Since some of the information we gather is not publicly available, we take great care to ensure that this information is kept safe from unauthorized access and we do not share the information in violation of any regulation or law.
Because HSBC respects your privacy and values your trust, the only employees or companies who access your private personal information are those who use it to service your account or provide services to you or to us. HSBC diligently maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable standards to guard your private personal information and to assist us in preventing unauthorized access to that information.

How We Share Information with Companies Affiliated with Us:
From time to time, for general business purposes such as fraud control or when we think it may benefit you, we do share certain information with our affiliated companies. These affiliated companies all provide financial services, such as banking, consumer finance, insurance, mortgage, and brokerage services. Some examples include companies doing business under the names Household or HSBC. We may also share certain information with non-financial service providers that become affiliated with us in the future (such as travel, auto, or shopping clubs). The information we share might come from your application, for instance your name, address, telephone number, social insurance number, e-mail address, assets, and income. Also, the information we share could include your transactions with us or our affiliated companies (such as your account balance, payment history, and parties to the transaction), your Internet usage relating to our web sites, credit reports or your private label credit card usage.

Sharing Information with Our Partners:
We also occasionally share certain information about customers and former customers with companies that we work with outside of the HSBC Group¹. This information might include your application and account information. For example, we share information regarding our private label credit card accounts with our retail partners that accept those cards. Those retailers use the information to market their products and services to their customers and to solicit the use of the retail credit card.

Sharing Information with Other Third Parties:
We also may share information with non-affiliated companies that are able to extend special offers we feel might be of value to you. These companies may be financial services providers or they may be non-financial companies (such as retailers or direct marketers). These offers are typically for products and services that you might not otherwise hear about. The information we may provide them comes from the sources described above and might include your name, address and phone number.
We may also provide information to non-affiliated companies that perform operational services related to your account or marketing services for us. The sharing of information with these types of companies is permitted by law. Such a company might include a financial company (such as a bank or insurance service provider) with whom we have a joint marketing agreement or a non-financial company (such as a data processor or internet service provider) with whom we have a service agreement. The information we may share also comes from the sources described above and might include your name, address, phone number, and account experience with us.
Finally, we provide information about you to non-affiliated companies such as credit reporting agencies and companies that provide services related to your account. This information sharing is also permitted by law.

Use of Agents/Service Providers
We may use the services of any financial institution or other reliable third party as our agent or service provider in connection with the provision of data processing or other services related to your account. Such an agent or service provider might include a financial company (such as a bank or insurance service provider) or a non-financial company (such as a data processor or internet service provider). In particular, we may use other HSBC Group companies and/or third parties in Canada and in other countries to process personal information. As a result, your personal information may be accessed under applicable laws of Canada and such other countries to which the information has been transferred.

We destroy information after it is no longer needed:
Customer information that is no longer needed to manage our financial services business is destroyed. We are required for certain legal, tax and accounting reasons to keep customer information for a period of time following the closing of an account with us. For a period of 6 years following the closing of an account, we and our affiliated companies may continue to inform you of products and services that we feel might be of value to you.

We ask others to maintain confidentiality:
If customer information is provided to a third party with whom we have a business relationship, we will seek to require that third party to adhere to adequate privacy policies to maintain the confidentiality of customer information and to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the information.

Privacy Inquires and Complaints:
To review your personal information held by HSBC please make your request in writing to:
HSBC Financial Corporation Limited
5100 Sherbrooke East
Montreal, Quebec
H1V 3R9
Attention: General Manager

Any inquiries or complaints concerning our privacy policy, or challenges concerning compliance with our privacy policies can be made to:
The Office of the Privacy Officer, HSBC Financial
#300 - 3555 Gilmore Way
Burnaby, BC V5G 4S1
Toll-free telephone: 1-866-373-2738
Fax: (604) 435-4139
Email: privacy_officer@hsbc.ca

How to Opt-Out (non-affiliated companies):
If you do not want us to share your private information with non-affiliated companies (unless we are permitted or required by law to do so), please advise us in writing at HSBC Financial Corporation Limited, 5100 Sherbrooke East, Suite 100, Montreal, Quebec, H1V 3R9, Attention: Director, Customer Service. If you have previously informed us of your preference, you do not need to do so again. We will be happy to comply with your opt-out request, which will only apply to the HSBC account you have designated on the form by account number. An opt-out request by any party on a joint account will apply to all parties on the joint account. Opt-out requests will not apply to information sharing that is permitted by law. Please allow sufficient time for us to process your request.

How to Opt-Out (affiliated companies):
If you do not want us to share your credit information (such as your credit bureau information) with companies that are affiliated with us, please advise us in writing at HSBC Financial Corporation Limited, 5100 Sherbrooke East, Suite 100, Montreal, Quebec, H1V 3R9, Attention: Director, Customer Service. If you have previously informed us of your preference, you do not need to do so again. This request will not apply to information about your transactions or experience with HSBC (such as account information, account usage, or payment history) and will only apply to the HSBC account you have designated on the form by account number. An opt-out request by any party on a joint account will apply to all parties on the joint account. Please allow sufficient time for us to process your request.

National Do Not Call List:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has set out rules for the creation and operation of a National Do Not Call List (National DNCL) for Canadians who wish to avoid unsolicited calls effective September 30, 2008. As a result, telemarketers are not permitted to call numbers registered on the National DNCL unless the calls are exempt or they have obtained the express consent of the called party.
One of the exemptions is to allow organizations that have an existing business relationship with a consumer to continue to contact their customers by telephone even if they have registered on the National DNCL. In addition, organizations are permitted to contact customers who have registered on the National DNCL for telemarketing purposes where the organization has obtained express consent. When you apply for credit from HSBC Financial, we outline the purposes for which we collect, use and share your personal information and obtain your express consent. The consent advises you that members of the HSBC Group² and our retail partners may offer you additional products and services that may be of interest to you. Such offers for additional products and services are made through various channels, which include direct mail and telemarketing. When we engage in telemarketing, we use the phone numbers obtained in connection with your credit application, which is updated from time to time. 
We will continue to call customers with offers even if you have registered on the National DNCL, unless you tell us otherwise. If you no longer wish to receive telephone calls from members of the HSBC Group for telemarketing purposes, please let us know. You can let us know as follows:
1) The next time we call you with an offer, tell us to put you on our internal Do Not Call List, or
2) Advise us in writing at: HSBC Financial Corporation Limited, 5100 Sherbrooke East, Suite 100, Montreal, Quebec, H1V 3R9, Attention: Director, Customer Service, or
3) Advise us via phone, by calling your local branch or Customer Service at 1-888-318-0271.
For more information or to register your telephone number on the National DNCL, please visit www.dncl.gc.ca.

HOUSEHOLD LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
Privacy Statement for Customers with Credit Insurance

This paragraph applies to customers who have selected credit insurance provided by Household Life Insurance Company ("HLIC") or Assurant Solutions ("Assurant")³. Like HSBC, HLIC and Assurant respect and protect your privacy. You may review Assurant Solutions' Privacy Policy at www.assurantsolutions.com/canada.

To administer the credit insurance you requested, HLIC collects demographic information (like your name and address) and account information (like information related to your account with HSBC). This information comes either directly from you, for instance, from your application, or it may come from HSBC, such as information about your account. It may also come from third parties when you consent to such sharing. HLIC will use this information to establish an account and serve you as a customer as well as to determine whether any products or services they offer are suitable for you and to offer them to you. HLIC takes great care to protect the privacy of this information, for example, the only employees or companies who access such information are those who need it to provide services in connection with your credit insurance. Moreover, in compliance with applicable standards, HLIC maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect against unauthorized use or disclosure of that information. HLIC does not disclose information about you to unaffiliated third parties, except with your consent or as permitted by law.

¹ ”HSBC Group” means all entities in which HSBC Holdings plc holds, directly or indirectly, a controlling interest.
²  Members of the HSBC Group with whom we may share your personal information include, but are not limited to, HSBC Financial Corporation Limited and its subsidiaries: HSBC Retail Services Limited, HSBC Finance Mortgages Inc., HSBC Finance Corporation Canada and Household Trust Company; and HSBC Bank Canada and its subsidiaries: HSBC Global Asset Management (Canada) Limited, HSBC Investment Funds (Canada) Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. (including HSBC InvestDirect), HSBC Trust Company (Canada), HSBC Mortgage Corporation (Canada), HSBC Loan Corporation (Canada) and HSBC Insurance Agency (Canada) Inc. HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. and HSBC InvestDirect are members CIPF. Effective January 1st, 2004, HSBC InvestDirect is a division of HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc.
³Assurant Solutions™ companies include American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, American Bankers Life Assurance Company of Florida, Assurant Services Canada Inc. and their subsidiaries and affiliates.