Privacy Consents & Electronic Authorisation

Personal Information and its Importance

Personal information is information or an opinion about you from which your identity is apparent. Protecting your privacy is fundamental to the way we do business. This document sets out the way we will collect, store, use and share your personal information. It will also provide you with information about what you can do to access the personal information we have about you, the way you can have it corrected, if necessary, and what steps you can take to complain about any action taken by us in relation to the information.

The legal framework under which we deal with your personal information is set out in the Privacy Act, the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (contained in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act) and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code made under the Privacy Act. These rules apply to information about individuals, not corporations.

Why We Collect Personal Information

So that we can:

• accept and process your application for a loan in accordance with the requirements by law;
• assess your personal and/or commercial creditworthiness;
• make a determination about the risk of you defaulting on your obligations to us;
• undertake risk assessment involving credit scoring, reporting, and fraud prevention;
• if your application is successful, provide you with a loan and determine on what terms we will do so;
• manage your account with us;
• assist in the resolution of any dispute you have with us;
• provide you with information about other products or services we offer;
• sell your personal information or provide that information to others who might offer services to you under permitted regulatory frameworks; and
• satisfy an obligation we may have under the law to collect personal information or make assessments.

We will not use personal information we have collected for a purpose other than that disclosed in this Privacy Policy without your consent, or in circumstances where you would reasonably expect the use for that purpose.

If You Do Not Provide Your Personal Information:

If you do not provide us with your personal information or give us consent to collect it from others, we will be unable to process your application and make the assessment required by law.

Where We Obtain Personal Information

We obtain personal information from any of the following sources:

• you in the process of your loan application or in other communication with you;
• publicly available information such as public databases or the electoral roll;
• other credit providers from whom we request information;
• credit reporting bodies;
• persons or entities you have authorised to provide us with information;
• your use of our website with the aid of “cookies”; and
• marketing companies from which we may acquire information in order that we may offer services to you.

Where we obtain personal information which we are either required to collect, or authorised to collect by law, we will advise you of that fact.

Sensitive Information:

“Sensitive information” is information about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association or trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record, health or genetic information.

We will not collect, use or disclose any sensitive information about you unless we have your specific consent, and it is necessary to undertake one of the functions referred to above.

Exchange of Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to:

• such credit reporting bodies, ratings agencies and businesses which provide information about credit worthiness;
• other credit providers;
• personal and/or business referees nominated by you, including your employer;
• our professional advisers, contractors and IT consultants;
• your legal and financial advisers if permitted by you;
• Centrelink, Australian Taxation Office or other Government agencies as required by law;
• our financiers and insurers;
• contractors, agents, service providers, and debt collection agencies;
• our ASIC and OAIC approved external dispute resolution service;
• payment system operators; and
• search agents and real estate agents in order to contact you or verify residential details.

Credit Reporting Bodies

There are two credit reporting bodies with whom we deal: