We recognise that your privacy is very important to you and that you have the right to control your Personal Information.
This policy governs the collection, use, disclosure, storage and handling of your Personal Information by us and has been prepared in accordance with our obligations and your rights set out in the Privacy Legislation.
We reserve the right to modify or amend this policy at any time. It is recommended that you check our policy from time to time.
This policy applies to your use of our Website as well as your other dealings and engagements with us. For the avoidance of doubt, unless stated otherwise, this policy will govern our collection of your Personal Information irrespective of the forum.
The meaning of capitalised words in this document are set out in clause 21 below.
TAKE NOTICE THAT YOUR CONTINUED USAGE OF OUR WEBSITE (INCLUDING ACCESSING AND BROWSING OUR WEBSITE) AND/OR SERVICES WILL BE TAKEN TO INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF THIS POLICY AND YOUR CONSENT TO US DEALING WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS POLICY (AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME).
This policy is not intended to cover categories of information that are not contemplated by the Privacy Legislation.
This policy explains:
• What kind of Personal Information we collect (including credit related information) and what we do with that information.
• Where we collect Personal Information from.
• How we use Personal Information.
• How we store Personal Information.
• How you can seek access to and where applicable correct your Personal Information.
• How you can make a complaint about our handling of your Personal Information where applicable.
• How long we hold Personal Information.
• Who you can contact for further information.
1. What kind of Personal Information we collect
We collect the Personal Information you give us so that we can provide you with products and services and better your experience with us. We only collect Personal Information if it is reasonably necessary for us to carry out our functions and activities, which may include:
(a) your contact details such as your name, email address, residential and business addresses, and contact telephone numbers;
(b) your financial information such as your occupation, employment, income and expenses, accounts, assets and liabilities, tax file number and tax status – at the time that you apply for credit from us and during the term of any credit provided to you by us;
(c) information about your transaction history (either with us or relevant third parties such as your bank) such as transactions you may have had in the past or during the term of your relationship with us, your payment history and the way you dealt or will deal with us; and
(d) other information where relevant such as health and medical information (for example to handle a hardship application), government identifiers, and membership of professional bodies, in so far as it is applicable to verify your identity and other personal details.
2. Personal Information relating to credit
We may collect your credit information which may include, but is not limited to:
(a) credit application history – applications you have made to us or other credit providers including the products, the amount of credit, and the start and end date of any applicable credit;
(b) account identification – information about account numbers and customer identifier numbers;
(c) your payment information – a statement that an overdue payment reported to a credit reporting body has been paid by you;
(d) repayment history information – information about payments you owe us or any other credit provider that is overdue by 60 days;
(e) creditworthiness – information such as your credit scores, credit ratings, and creditworthiness;
(f) court proceedings about you – such as information about a judgment made against you in a court of law, relating to credit provided to you or whether you have been declared bankrupt or insolvent. This includes information on the National Insolvency Index, debt arrangements made by you, insolvency agreements entered into by you, and orders, authorities and directions under the Bankruptcy Act 1966 in relation to your property;
(g) variation of contract arrangements – such as either a new arrangement you make with us to vary your consumer credit contract as a result of you being overdue in your payments and about which we have notified a credit reporting body, or the provision of new credit; and
(h) information in the public domain about your activities and creditworthiness in any state or territory in Australia, information in the National Personal Insolvency Index not relating to court proceedings, information that we have been provided about a serious credit infringement you have committed – a credit infringement includes fraudulently obtaining or attempting to obtain consumer credit or fraudulently evading or attempting to evade your consumer credit obligations or not intending to comply with consumer credit obligations and if you have not been contactable for over a period of 6 months.
3. How this policy applies to credit-related information under the Privacy Act
We may collect two types of consumer credit-related information:
(a) credit information – this is information relating mainly to your credit related dealings with us which we can disclose to a Credit Reporting body that reports on your creditworthiness (CRBs); and
(b) credit eligibility information (CEI) – this is information provided to us by CRBs which may include your credit-related dealings with other credit providers. CEI also includes your creditworthiness information we derive from data provided by a CRB, for example, credit scores, credit ratings and evaluations about you and your creditworthiness.
If we hold or collect CEI or credit information this policy will also apply to that information.
4. Where we collect your Personal Information from
We collect your Personal Information:
(a) by you or a co-applicant contacting us and enquiring after information about us and the services we provide;
(b) through your use of this Website, particularly when you register on this Website as a Borrower;
(c) when you participate in any promotions we may make available, or competitions that we may run, through this Website or elsewhere;
(d) from publicly-available sources; and/or
(e) through third parties, as set out below.
5. Who we may collect your Personal Information from
We collect your Personal Information from:
(a) our agents;
(b) your employers, accountants, lawyers, referees, banks, landlords, guarantors, and financial advisors;
(c) third parties you may have had dealings with;
(d) CRBs and credit providers, for credit information;
(e) CRBs and identification service providers, for identification information;
(f) card schemes;
(g) insurers;
(h) your executors, administrators or persons holding Powers of Attorney on your behalf;
(i) our service providers like debt collection agencies, introducers, professional advisers, direct debit companies, and private investigators;
(j) professional organisations;
(k) public and subscribed databases;
(l) any persons considered necessary to carry out your instructions;
(m) regulators, government authorities, courts or the Police, including fines information; and
(n) anyone else you agree.
We also collect information from your computer automatically when you browse our Website. This information may include:
(o) the date, time and duration of your visit;
(p) your domain;
(q) locality;
(r) operating system;
(s) the server your computer is using to access our Website;
(t) your browser and version number;
(u) search terms you have entered to find our Website or enter on our Website;
(v) pages and links you have accessed both on our Website and on other websites;
(w) the last website you have visited;
(x) the referral source;
(y) the pages of our Website you access and buttons clicked; and
(z) your IP Address.
6. Purposes for which we may collect, hold, use and disclose your Personal Information
Personal Information we collect about you will only be held, used and disclosed for our business purposes and as required or permitted by the law. We may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:
(a) responding to queries;
(b) providing you with information about us;
(c) making a decision to provide you with our services, including evaluating your creditworthiness or whether to accept you as a guarantor;
(d) providing you with information about the services we provide;
(e) verifying your identity, and carrying out credit and other checks, for the purpose of registering you as a Borrower;
(f) managing the products and services we provide;
(g) managing your scheduled repayments and one-off repayments with direct debit companies;
(h) preventing and defending instances of fraud, unlawful conduct and other risks to you and our products and services;
(i) internal and external complaint resolution and assisting other credit providers with the same;
(j) enforcing our rights including debt collection and where necessary instituting legal proceedings;
(k) undertaking securitisation activities and other activities relating to funding and capital requirements;
(l) providing your Personal Information when requested by our funders and investors;
(m) enabling our associated entities and selected other entities to promote their products and services;
(n) meeting legal and regulatory requirements imposed on us, and any codes of conduct with which we agree to comply;
(o) marketing products and services provided by us and our related entities, including inviting you to apply for new or further credit from us;
(p) compiling statistical data e.g. credit scoring information;
(q) participating in credit reporting systems and providing information to CRBs as permitted under the Privacy Act and Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code;
(r) dealing with serious credit infringement and assisting other credit providers to do the same; and/or
(s) complying with specific Australian laws that make it mandatory for us to collect your Personal Information, and other laws which make it necessary in order for us to comply with our obligations.
These laws currently include:
i. National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.
ii. Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006.
iii. Personal Property Securities Act 2009 and State and Territory real property and security interests laws.
iv. Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001.
v. Corporations Act 2001 and other regulatory legislation.
vi. Tax Administration Act 1953, Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and other taxation laws.
For the avoidance of doubt, we may use your credit information to assist you in seeking a rate offer from us, and we may use your credit information to evaluate any application for credit you submit to it.
We may also use your Personal Information for other purposes not listed above but this will be made clear to you at the time we collect your Personal Information.
7. Information that is not Personal Information
In addition to Personal Information, we may collect and use any information about your personal and commercial activities that is not otherwise Personal Information, and our rights and obligations in respect of non-Personal Information shall be the same as in respect of Personal Information, as set out in this Privacy Policy.
8. Disclosing your information to third parties including overseas
Where permitted under the Privacy Act, we may disclose information about you (including your identity) to a third party including:
(a) any party assisting us with carrying out credit and identity checks;
(b) co-borrowers – if you have registered as a borrower and you have asked someone else to register as a co-borrower, each of you acknowledge, agree and consent to us providing your Personal Information to the other. We will be entitled to accept instructions from either of you in respect of our access to, use of, and amendment to, your Personal Information;
(c) law enforcement agencies;
(d) any party assisting us with conducting legal proceedings or other investigations;
(e) funders and investors – this includes providing your Personal Information to enable investors, prospective investors, and the trustee who uses investor funds to make loans to you, to comply with their customer due diligence and other obligations under any applicable legislation;
(f) our related entities in Australia and overseas. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes disclosure of information about you between Harmoney Australia Pty Ltd and Harmoney Services Australia Pty Ltd;
(g) entities providing services to us such as legal and financial services, market research and data providers, mailing houses, call centre operators, and technology service providers;
(h) suppliers of goods and services that are financed with the credit we provide;
(i) retailers where the payments or credit services provided by us involves payments to the retailers for goods and services provided by them;
(j) assignees or potential assignees or where we act as an agent or on behalf of another person;
(k) financial institutions such as banks and credit providers;
(l) direct debit companies who manage your scheduled and one-off repayments;
(m) insurers, assessors, underwriters, brokers and other distributors;
(n) Government and regulatory bodies in Australia and overseas;
(o) originators involved in debt assignment or securitisation arrangements;
(p) debt collectors and other enforcement bodies;
(q) entities involved in our business or who acquire an interest in our business;
(r) third parties who are authorised to act on your behalf such as accountants, lawyers, referees, and attorneys under a Power of Attorney or Guardianship arrangements;
(s) to any other person, with your consent (express or implied); and
(t) to any person to whom our assets or business (or any part thereof) is transferred.
Some of these entities may be located overseas and may not have an Australian link. For example, we may employ service providers in New Zealand, India, Fiji, Vietnam or the Philippines. If you ask us to make a payment to an overseas bank or financial institution, we will provide information to that bank or financial institution. However, you acknowledge that they are not our service providers and we do not control how they handle your information. You acknowledge that we are not required to ensure that the overseas recipients treat that information in compliance with Privacy Legislation. We will, however, take reasonable steps to ensure any overseas recipient we deal with uses Personal Information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Legislation.
In addition to the above, we will disclose your Personal Information if we are required to do so under law or if the disclosure is made in connection with either the normal operation of our business in a way that you might reasonably expect (for example, if such disclosure is incidental to IT services being provided to our business, in connection with any insurance or warranty claim, or for the resolution of any dispute that arises between you and us). This disclosure may involve your Personal Information being transmitted overseas.
9. ClearScore referrals
Without limiting anything else in this Privacy Policy, where you have been referred to us, our Website or our services by ClearScore, you acknowledge and agree that:
(a) further to clauses 2, 3 and 4, ClearScore may share your Personal Information with us in accordance with ClearScore’s Terms and Conditions and/or Privacy Policy (as updated from time to time);
(b) where your Personal Information is shared with us by ClearScore, we may use that Personal Information in accordance with clause 6; and
(c) further to clause 8, we may disclose your Personal Information to ClearScore, including but not limited to Personal Information relating to credit as further described in clause 2.
10. Equifax Verification Exchange
Without limiting anything else in this Privacy Policy, you agree that:
(a) we may use the Equifax Verification Exchange service to access your employment details; and
(b) the Equifax Verification Exchange service may collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with the Verification Exchange Collection Statement, including disclosure to your employer(s) (or to payroll or other service providers who might act on behalf of your employer(s)) to identify you, and collecting and using your employment income, history and related information from such parties and disclosing that information to us for purposes of this application.