Privacy Policy

Introduction

Finance Brokers of Tasmania Pty Ltd (FBT) - (ABN 15 009 555 408, Australian Credit Licence 389274) is committed to providing quality services to our customers and this policy outlines our ongoing obligations in respect of how we manage personal information. As a credit licensee, FBT must meet the privacy obligations of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles.

To provide you with the best possible services and products to meet your needs, we collect certain personal information from you. We want you to be confident that this personal information is treated with the highest degree of integrity and privacy.

It is important to us that you are assured that any personal information we hold about you will be treated in a way which ensures confidentiality and protection of your personal information. We assure you that any personal information we collect will only be used for the purposes we have collected it for or as allowed under law.

This Privacy Policy governs all personal information collected by and provided to us and must be adhered to by all persons who access, use, process, control or otherwise deal with personal information on our behalf.

What is “personal information”?

Personal information is any information or opinion about you in which you are identified, or in which your identity can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion. It does not matter whether the information or opinion is true or not, or whether it is recorded in a material form or not. The personal information we hold about you may include credit information.

The kinds of personal information we may collect about you may include:

• Identification information such as your name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address.
• Other contact details such as social media handles
• Financial information such as your tax file number, account details, occupation, and any other information we need to identify you.

Sensitive Information is a sub-set of personal information which is given a higher level of protection under the Privacy Act. Sensitive information includes information about your:

• Racial, ethnic, religious or political opinions
• Health or sexual preferences or practices; and
• Your health

Credit information is information which is used to assess your eligibility to be provided with finance and may include any finance that you have outstanding, your repayment history in respect of those loans, and any defaults. Usually, credit information is exchanged between credit and finance providers and credit reporting bodies.

If you are applying for finance, we may also collect the ages and number of your dependants and cohabitants, the length of time at your current address, your employment details and proof of earnings, expenses, and other financial information.

What personal information do we collect and hold?

General Information

We collect personal information for the purposes of assessing your application for finance and managing that finance. We may also collect your personal information for the purposes of direct marketing and managing our relationship with you and from time to time we may offer you other products and services.

Collecting your personal information also allows us to identify and protect your personal information, including account information and services, from unauthorised access. We will only collect such personal information if it is necessary to provide our products and services.

When the law authorises or requires us to collect information

We are required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 to collect and use personal and credit information from you which allows us to identify you. We are also required by the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to collect credit information and personal information about you and take reasonable steps to verify this, including your financial situation. This verification may include enquiring via a credit reporting body.

Collection and use of government identifiers

If we collect government identifiers, such as your tax file number, we do not use or disclose this information other than as required by law. We will never use a government identifier to identify you.

Collection of sensitive information

We generally have very limited need to obtain such information, however if such information is needed then it will only be obtained and/or used with your consent. If, while arranging your application or facilities, such information does come into our possession from a third party, we will seek your consent to collect, store and use this should we consider such use necessary in your application.

How we collect and hold your personal information

Where possible we collect your personal information directly from you (known as ‘solicited information’). You provide this information to us when making an enquiry or requesting products and services. Information may be collected when you fill out a form with us, via telephone, or through our website. We also collect information using electronic means such as email, SMS and via our aggregator’s secure customer portal.

How we collect your information from other sources

We may also collect your personal information, as the Privacy Act 1988 permits. This could include:

• from third parties such as credit reporting bodies and finance brokers

• financial advisors and other people legal representatives such as accountants and lawyers

• public information, for example public records or social media

In most cases we will request your consent to any collection and take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of who we are, the purpose of the collection, how you can access your information and who we may disclose your information to.

What do we collect via your website activity?

If you use our internet services, we monitor your use to ensure we can verify you and you can receive information from us. We also use this information to improve our service for you and other users. We may use contact information you provide when completing an online form or application for direct marketing.

If you start but don’t submit an online form or applications, we can contact you using any of the contact details you have provided to assist you completing it. The information in the form or application will be kept temporarily, then destroyed if it is not completed.

You may also like to engage with us via our social media channels. We may collect information about you when you interact with us through these channels. We will ensure that any confidential interactions with you are done via a secure forum.

To improve our services and products, we sometimes collect de-identified information from web users. That information could include IP addresses or geographical information to ensure your use of our web applications is secure.

What if you don’t want to provide us with your personal information?

It will typically be necessary for us to identify you to successfully do business with you. However, where it is lawful and practicable to do so, we will offer you the opportunity of doing business with us without providing us with personal information. For example, if you make general inquiries about interest rates or current promotional offers.

Security and storage

We will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information by storing it in a secure environment. We may store your personal information in paper and electronic form including uploading to our aggregator’s secure portal which we use to submit your credit applications. We will also take reasonable steps to protect any personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification and/or disclosure.

Use and disclosure of personal information

We may use or disclose personal information for the primary purpose for which it was collected. We may also use the information for a related purpose and where it would reasonably be expected by you that we use the information in such a way. This information is only disclosed to third parties in the circumstances covered in this policy or as otherwise notified to you at the time of collection of the information.

We may need to disclose aspects of your personal information to:

• prospective funders or other intermediaries in relation to your finance requirements
• other organisations that are involved in managing or administering your finance such as third-party suppliers, printing, and postal services, call centres
• associated businesses that may want to market products to you
• companies that provide information and infrastructure systems to us
• anybody who represents you, such as finance brokers, lawyers, and accountants
• anyone, where you have provided us consent
• where we are required to do so by law, such as under the Anti-Money or Laundering and Courter Terrorism Financing Act 2006;
• to investors, agents or advisers, or any entity that has an interest in our business; or
• to your employer, referees, or identity verification services.

Prior to disclosing any of your personal information to another person or organisation, we will take all reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that:

the person or organisation has a commitment to protecting your personal information at least equal to our commitment; or you have consented to us making the disclosure.

Direct marketing

We may use or disclose your personal information to provide you with current information about finance, offers you may find of interest, changes to our organisation, or new products or services being offered by us or any company with whom we are associated. We will never sell your personal information to another organisation.

If you do not wish to receive marketing information, we will always let you know you can opt out. You can do opt out by telephoning us on 03 6334 0883, emailing info@fbt.com.au or if the direct marketing is by email, you may also use the unsubscribe function. We will take all reasonable steps to meet your request at the earliest possible opportunity.

Ensuring your personal information is up-to-date

We rely on the personal information we hold about you to efficiently conduct our business of providing or arranging products and services. For this reason, it is very important that the personal information we collect from you is accurate, complete, and up to date.

During the course of our relationship with you, we may ask you to tell us of any changes to your personal information. We also invite you to contact us at any time to update or correct your personal information.

Access and correction to your personal information

You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you. In most cases, details of the personal information we hold about you is available by contacting us.

If the information you seek is not readily available, for example, archived data, then we will endeavour to provide this to you within 30 days of your request. We reserve the right to charge you a fee for this retrieval.

We may be required by law or by good business practice to retain your personal information for a period of time after you have ceased your relationship with us. After the required time has passed we attend to the secure destruction or deletion of your personal information.

We are not always required to provide you with access to your personal information upon your request.

We may refuse you access to personal information in a number of circumstances, such as where the information may relate to existing or anticipated legal proceedings with you, where denying access is required or authorised by law, or where the request for access is regarded as frivolous or vexatious.

If we deny your request for access to, or refuse your request to correct your personal information, we will explain why and will keep a record of your request on our file.

If any of the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, inaccurate or out of date you may request that we correct the information. If appropriate we will correct the personal information. At the time of the request, otherwise, we will provide an initial response to you within seven days of receiving your request. Where reasonable, and after our investigation, we will provide you with details about whether we have corrected the personal information within 30 days.

If we refuse to correct personal information we will provide you with our reasons for not correcting the information.

Complaints

Your privacy is of upmost importance to us, however, if you are dissatisfied with how we have dealt with your personal information, or you have a complaint about our compliance with the Privacy Act, please contact us at the following address:

The Privacy Officer

Finance Brokers Tasmania

PO Box 476

Launceston TAS 7250

We will acknowledge your complaint within five days and will provide you with a decision on your complaint within 30 days. If you are dissatisfied with the response from our Privacy Officer, you may refer your complaint onto the Australian Information Commissioner. Complaints must be in writing and can be directed to enquires@oaic.gov.au, faxed to 02 9284 9666 or sent to:

The Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

Sydney NSW 2001

Visit their website at www.oaic.gov.au for further information.

More Information

If you require further information about the way we manage the personal information we hold, please free to contact us via the above address, visit our office at Level 1, 25 York Street, Launceston or call us on 03 6334 0883.

Should you wish to find out more about the privacy legislation or the Australian Privacy Principles, we recommend that you visit the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privacy.gov.au

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time

We constantly review all our policies and procedures to keep up to date with changes in the law, technology and market practice. As a result we may change this Privacy Policy from time to time.

This Privacy Policy was last amended in September 2022.