Privacy Statement

What information can be used and disclosed?

The Privacy Act allows South West Slopes Credit Union Ltd ( 'we',,'us',,'our') ACN 087 650 673 to use and disclose personal information we collect about you for the primary purpose for which it was collected and for related secondary purposes that you would reasonably expect. In connection with providing credit to you, personal information may include credit information, such as:

• details to identify you and verify your identity, such as your name, sex, date of birth, current and 2 previous addresses, your current and last known employer, and your driver's licence number.
•  the fact that you have applied for credit and the amount or that we are a current credit provider to you, or that you have agreed to be a guarantor
•  advice that payments previously notified as unpaid are no longer overdue
•  information about your current or terminated consumer credit accounts and your repayment history
•  payments overdue for at least 60 days and for which collection action has started
•  in specified circumstances, that in our opinion you have committed a serious credit infringement
•  the fact that credit provided to you by us has been paid or otherwise discharged, and
•  other information about credit standing, worthiness, history or capacity that credit providers can disclose under the Privacy Act, including a credit report.

When and why do we collect information?

Before, during or after the provision of our products and services to you, we may collect your personal information for the purpose of providing products and services to you and managing our business. When providing credit to you, this may include assessing your application for consumer or commercial credit or to be a guarantor, assessing your credit worthiness, managing your loan or the arrangements under which your loan is funded or collecting overdue payments.

Some laws require us to obtain personal information about you before we provide you with particular products or services or process particular transactions in which you are involved - eg laws relating to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, consumer credit, taxation and real property transactions.

If you do no provide us with the personal information that we request, we may not be able to consider your application for credit or provide other products and services.

Who can give or collect information?

For the purpose of providing products and services to you and managing our business, we may give your personal information to:

•  external service providers to us, such as organisations which we use to verify your identity, payment systems operators, mailing houses and research consultants
•  insurers and re-insurers, where insurance is provided in connection with our services to you
•  debt collecting agencies, if you have not repaid a loan as required
•  our professional advisors, such as accountants, lawyers and auditors
•  state or territory authorities that give assistance to facilitate the provision of home loans to  individuals
•  your representative, for example , lawyer, mortgage broker, financial advisor or attorney , as authorised by you, or
•  government and regulatory authorities, if required or authorised by law

In addition, in connection with providing credit to you, we and the Credit Providers mentioned below may:

•  obtain a commercial and/or consumer credit report containing personal information about you from a credit reporting body
•  obtain personal information about you from your employer and any referees that you may provide and disclose to them, for the purpose of verification, personal information you have provided to us which they could reasonably be expected to be able to verify,
•  exchange credit information about you with each other, and
•  exchange credit information about you with any credit reporting body and any other provider of credit to you named in your credit application or a credit report from a credit reporting body.

Credit Providers can mean:

•  us
•  our related companies
•  any introducer, dealer or broker referred to in a loan application
•  any agent or contractor of ours assisting in processing a loan application, and
•  other entities that may be involved in a securitisation arrangement or other joint arrangement which we use to fund or manage your loan and any loan originator.

Disclosure to overseas recipients

We will not disclose your personal information to overseas recipients.

Important information about credit reporting bodies

If you apply for or hold any kind of credit with us, we may disclose information about you to a credit reporting body.  That includes disclosing that you are in default under a credit agreement or have committed a serious credit infringement, if that is the case.  (Specifically, we may disclose information to or collect information from Equifax, whose privacy policy and contact details are at www.equifax.com.au, or VixVERIFY, whose privacy policy and contact details are at www.vixverify.com.  Credit reporting bodies collect credit information about individuals which they provide as credit reports to credit providers and others in the credit industry to assist them in managing credit risk, collecting debts and other activities.

"Credit pre-screening" is a service for credit providers wishing to send direct marketing material about credit services.  A credit reporting body uses information it holds to screen out individuals who do not meet criteria set by the credit provider.  Credit reporting bodies must maintain a confidential list of individuals who have opted out of their information being used in pre-screening.  To opt‑out of credit pre-screening, contact the credit reporting body, using the contact details on their websites, referred to above.

You can also ask a credit reporting body not to use or disclose your personal information for a period if you believe on reasonable grounds that you have been or are likely to be a victim of fraud, including identity fraud.

Disclosure to insurers and guarantors

Lenders' mortgage and trade insurers

In connection with providing credit to you, a lenders' mortgage insurer or a registered trade insurer may obtain credit information about you from a Credit Provider or from a credit reporting body to assess whether to provide lenders' mortgage insurance to us in relation to an application for consumer credit, or whether to provide trade insurance to us in relation to an application for commercial credit.

Guarantors

In connection with providing credit to you, the Credit Providers may give a guarantor, or a person considering becoming a guarantor, credit information about you to enable the guarantor to decide whether to act as a guarantor or to keep the guarantor informed about your repayment of the credit secured by the guarantee. 

Personal information about third parties

You represent that, if at any time you supply us with personal information about another person (for example a referee), you are authorised to do so; and you agree to inform that person about who we are, how to contact us, how to obtain our Privacy Policy, and that we will use and disclose their personal information for the purposes set out in this Notice and that they can gain access to that information by contacting us.

Electronic verification

Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, we can disclose your name, residential address and date of birth to a credit reporting body. The purpose of this disclosure is to ask the credit reporting body to assess whether the personal information disclosed matches (in whole or part) personal information about you held in their records (if any). This electronic verification process helps us to verify your identity.

The credit reporting body may prepare and provide us with an assessment by using the personal information about you and the names, residential address and dates of birth contained in its records about other individuals.

If you do not consent to us verifying your identity by electronic verification, we will provide you with an alternate verification process to identify you. If this is the case, please contact us on 02 6384 1111 for further information.

Security, privacy policy, and marketing preferences

Security

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that all your personal information held by us (on our website or otherwise), is protected from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, disclosure or modification.

Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy (available here) provides additional information about how we handle your personal information.  It explains how you can ask for access to personal information we hold about you and seek correction of that information. It also explains how you can complain about a breach of the Privacy Act or the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code, and how we will deal with your complaint. We will give you a copy of our Privacy Policy on request.

Marketing preferences

We may use  information about you to inform you about products and services, including those of third parties, (unless you ask us not to).  We may do so even if you are on the Do Not Call Register, unless you ask us not to.

Consumer Data Right

The Consumer Data Right gives you the right to:

•  access some of the data (including personal information) held about you by us and by other data holders (‘CDR Data’);
•  consent to an accredited third party accessing your CDR Data held by us; and
•  consent to us accessing your CDR Data held by another data holder.

We have a policy about our management of CDR Data. It is available through our website. You can also get an electronic or hard copy from us on request.

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Contact Us:

Privacy Officer

Our Privacy Officer's contact details are:

Address: 89 Boorowa Street, YOUNG, NSW 2594

Telephone: 02 6384 1111

Email: Complaints@swscu.com.au