Privacy Policy, Collection Notice & Consent

Who we are and what this policy is about

MMF provides credit products for consumers and businesses. MMF may collect, receive, deal with and store your Personal Information and Credit Eligibility Information.
MMF is committed to safeguarding your Personal Information it collects, receives and discloses and is committed to doing so in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act, 1988 Commonwealth (Privacy Act) as amended from time to time.
This policy describes our commitment in relation to protecting your privacy.

What information does this policy apply to?

This policy only applies to:

(a) Personal Information;
(b) Credit Eligible Information; and
(c) Credit Information.

These items are defined in the Privacy Act.

Generally speaking, Personal Information is information (or opinion), in any form, about an individual (not a business, company or trust) whose identity is apparent or can be ascertained from the information held whether the information is true or not.

Credit Eligibility Information means information we collect from a credit reporting entity or that has been derived from information that is about the individual’s consumer and or commercial credit worthiness.

Credit Information means information that includes the following.

• Information about an individual, like their name and address that we may use to identify that individual.
• Information about an individual’s current or terminated consumer credit accounts and from the 12th March 2014, an individual’s repayment history.
• The type and amount of credit applied for in any previous consumer or commercial credit applications to any credit provider, where that credit provider has requested information.
• Information about an individual from a credit reporting body.
• Information about consumer and or commercial credit payments overdue for at least 60 days and for which collection action has started.
• Advice that payments that were previously notified to a credit reporting body as overdue or no longer overdue.
• Information about new credit arrangements an individual may have made with a credit provider, in relation to consumer credit currently or previously held, to deal with any defaults or serious credit infringements by that individual.
• Information about the individual’s consumer and or commercial credit worthiness.
• Information about court judgments which relate to judgments which relate to credit that an individual has obtained or applied for.
• Information about an individual on the national Personal Insolvency Index.
• Publicly available information about an individual’s credit worthiness, and an opinion of a credit provider that an individual has committed a serious credit infringement of credit provided by that credit provider.

Credit Related Information – for the purpose of this policy Credit Related Information includes, as relevant, any information we collect, store, use or disclose as defined under  Personal Information, Credit Eligibility Information and Credit Information.  For ease of reference, we will use the term Credit Related Information as inclusive of all three terms.

By applying for credit with us, you agree to the collection, use and disclosure of Credit Related Information as set out in this Privacy Policy. You do not have to disclose Personal Information to us. If you do not agree or do not provide some or all of the information requested, we may not be able to process or accept your application.

Our general commitment

MMF undertakes to collect, store and use Credit Related Information only in a manner which is compliant with the Privacy Act.

MMF will not use or disclose Credit Related Information other than for:

1. a purpose set out in this Privacy Policy,
2. a purpose for which the information was provided,
3. a purpose required or permitted by law,
4. a purpose you authorised or is disclosed to you, and/or
5. to give effect to your instructions.

MMF may collect, store and or disclose information about you to third parties for the following purposes:

1. to comply with the law;
2. to obtain a credit report about you or your business,
3. to allow the credit reporting agency to create or maintain a credit information file containing information about you,
4. to provide you with promotional information about financial services and products we or an associated company of MMF may provide (see section 7),
5. to manage and administer the agreement with you
6. to protect our lawful interests
7. to give effect to your instructions; and/or
8. if we negotiate with a third party the possibility of an acquisition of part to the whole of our business.

Our collection and Disclosure of Personal Information

MMF collects and discloses Credit Related Information as it may become necessary to process your application and give effect to your instructions.

The information we may collect or disclose includes, when permitted by law:

1. identification information,
2. the fact that you have applied for credit, the type of credit and the amount,
3. whether payments are more than 60 days overdue,
4. the fact that any overdue payments are no longer overdue or a default is remedied,
5. information whether you have committed a serious credit infringement (that is, acted fraudulently or shown an intention to not comply with your credit obligations
6. information about dishonoured cheques,
7. repayment history,
8. information about court judgements against you,
9. any information which is publicly available and relevant to your credit worthiness, and/or
10. certain insolvency information from the National Personal Insolvency Index

Third Party Service Provider

Subject to the Privacy Act, in the process of providing you with the services, we may share, as relevant, Credit Related Information with related bodies corporate and with third parties with whom we have dealings in the usual course of carrying on our business. These third-party service providers may include agents, portfolio managers, mailhouse operators, collection agencies, research providers, dispute resolution schemes, accounting and legal advisers.

We may disclose your Credit Related Information to other organisations, for example:

• Our related companies.
• External organisations that are our assignees, agents or contractors.
• 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.
• Credit reporting bodies, including disclosing that you are in default under a credit agreement (for an amount exceeding $150 and over 60 days overdue) or commit a serious credit infringement, if that is the case lenders, mortgage insurers, where relevant to credit we have provided.
• Debt collection 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 if required or authorised by law, to government and regulatory authorities.

If we disclose Credit Related Information to third parties, we will ensure that these organisations are bound by similar (but not necessarily the same) framework of privacy protection as the framework that governs us.

Access to your personal information

You have the right to seek access to any information we hold about you. Contact our privacy officer in this regard. We may charge you a fee to access and or correct your Personal Information that is held with us. You have the right to ask us to correct any information we hold about you if the information is inaccurate or erroneous

Security of your personal information

MMF maintains strict procedures and standards and takes all reasonable care to prevent unauthorised access to, and modification and disclosure of, your Personal Information.

MMF will protect any Credit Related Information it holds against misuse or loss. If we no longer need the Personal Information, we will take steps to either destroy the information or de-identify it.

Direct marketing

MMF may use your Personal Information to provide you with information from time to time in relation to additional services and or products we or an associated business provide. You expressly authorise us to provide you with this information. You may withdraw your consent at any time by calling us or unsubscribing directly from any email or sms.

Credit Reporting Bureau

We may collect, hold and use, information related to your commercial and consumer creditworthiness from a credit reporting agency in order to assist us to produce our own assessments and ratings in respect of your credit worthiness, which may also take into account information we obtain from you and other sources. The reports will have Credit Information from your credit file.

We also disclose information to the credit reporting agency. This activity is conducted for the purpose of assessing your credit capacity, eligibility or history in connection with an application or an obligation as a guarantor, collecting payments from you, and managing our credit relationship. Creditworthiness information includes information that is both positive (like payment information) and negative (like defaults or serious credit infringements that we may disclose to credit reporting bodies if you fail to pay us). If you are in default (for an amount exceeding $150 and over 60 days overdue), we may report the default to the credit reporting agencies in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988.

The credit reporting agencies we use may include but not limited to:

• Equifax, PO Box 964 North Sydney 2059, www.mycreditfile.com.au, 1300 762 007
• Illion, Level 7, 479 St. Kilda Road Melbourne 3004, www.illion.com.au, 1300 734 806

Government identifiers

MMF does not have access to any Personal Information that can be regarded as or be used as an identifier unless you supply it to us. For example, MMF does not have access to your Medicare number or tax file number. MMF will not use any government identifier that was disclosed to us (such as Centrelink number) to identify you.

Complaints

If you believe that your Personal Information has been mishandled by us or that we have breached this policy in any way, we invite you to write to our privacy officer at accounts@mymatesfinance.com.au. We will make every effort to resolve your complaint internally.

If an issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can lodge a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, or AFCA. AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that is free to consumers.

Telephone:	1800 931 678 (free call)
Email:	info@afca.org.au
Internet:	www.afca.org.au
Mail:	Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001

If you are still dissatisfied with our action, you may lodge a complaint with the Australian Information Commissioner (Privacy Commissioner).

The Commissioner can be contacted

Online: WWW.OAIC.GOV.AU/PRIVACY

Phone: 1300 363 992

Email: ENQUIRIES@OAIC.GOV.AU

Fax: +61 2 9284 9666

Mail: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001

Email enquiries@oaic.gov.au

Changes to this Privacy Policy

MMF reserves the right to vary this policy from time to time. If we change the policy, we will post the revised policy as soon as it is completed on our website. We do not have to provide you with notice of changes to the policy. We encourage you to periodically review our privacy policy for any changes.

Transborder use of data

It is not likely that we will disclose Credit Related Information to overseas entities. If we disclose Credit Related Information to overseas entities, we will provide details on our website detailing the entities and countries where the information will be disclosed to. We will ensure that they protect the privacy of your Credit Related Information as we are committed under this Policy and the Privacy Act.

Website

When you use our website, we may collect statistical data in relation to your use of the site. This date includes the time and date of the visit to the site, the nature of the inquiry and any documents loaded. We may record your browser type and other internet protocols as permitted.

If you disclosed any Personal Information on the site, the information will be governed under this policy. The use of public internet public access to our website is not without risk. If you transmit Persona Information via the internet you should ensure that the transmission is secured.

Cookies
If you access our website, we may use Cookies for security and in order to better provide you with services. A “Cookie” is a small text file which is placed on your internet browser. We have access to the Cookie and can derive information in regard to the use of the site. You may change the settings on your browser to reject Cookies, however doing so might prevent you from accessing the secured pages on our website.

Acknowledgments and Consents

I/We as Applicant(s) for credit from MMF:

1. Acknowledge that I have read and understand Privacy Policy.
2. Authorise MMF to collect information about me from my employer and my referees for the purpose of my/our application and for any purposes related to a Finance Agreement approved pursuant to that application.
3. Acknowledge that MMF may have collected the personal information referred to in this form from its related parties or other unrelated retailers in accordance with your application, if you make that application via any such other company or retailer.
4. Acknowledge having been informed of the notice of disclosure to a credit reporting body.
5. Advise that, if MMF considers it relevant to assessing my/our application I/We agree in accordance with the provisions of s21H of the Privacy Act, to MMF obtaining credit information about my/our commercial activities or credit eligibility information from a credit reporting body.
6. Advise that, if MMF considers it relevant to collecting overdue payments in respect of credit provided to me, I/We agree in accordance with the provisions of s20E(3)(a) of the Privacy Act, to MMF receiving personal information about me/us in relation to collecting overdue payments from a credit reporting body.
7. In accordance with the provisions of s21J(1) of the Privacy Act, I/We agree that MMF may use, give to and seek from any credit providers named in my/our application and any credit providers named by a credit reporting body, information about my/our credit arrangements. I/We understand that this information can include any information about my/our credit eligibility, credit standing, credit history or credit capacity which credit providers are allowed to give or receive from each other under the Privacy Act.
8. Understand that the information about me/us disclosed to or by MMF in accordance with this Privacy Form may be used for the following purposes:
   1. To assess an application by me/us for credit;
   2. To notify other credit providers of a default by me/us;
   3. To exchange information with other credit providers as to the status of my/our account where I/We am/are in default with other credit providers; and
   4. To assess my/our eligibility for credit.
9. Understand that, if there is more than one applicant, and MMF rejects the application, each applicant may be advised that the application has been rejected wholly or partly on the basis of credit information about me.
10. Understand that the Privacy Act prohibits MMF from disclosing any part of my/our credit information to any other person.
11. Understand that as part of the credit application process, I/we will be required to prove my/our identity to MMF and that my/our identity details will be submitted to the Australian Government’s Document Verification Service (DVS). The DVS is a national online system that allows organisations to compare an individual’s Identifying Information with a Government record. More information about the DVS is available on their website DVS.gov.au.

By submitting your details to MMF, I/we agree that:
– I/we are authorised to provide the ID document (s); and,
– I/we understand that the ID document(s) details will be checked against records held by the Issuer or Official Record Holder.

By accepting these terms and conditions you give consent for MMF to disclose your name, residential address and date of birth to a credit reporting agency for the purpose of verifying your identity.

Electronic Transactions I/We as Applicant(s) for credit from MMF:

• a. Electronic Signature
  • Confirm that by submitting an Application for credit or any document of any nature whatsoever relating to the credit, that:
    • I/We am/are in fact the person(s) identified as signing the relevant document and the person responsible for the accuracy of the information supplied;
    • I/We consent to the method proposed by which I/we will sign the relevant document and for future signing by me/us by electronic means; and
    • I/We acknowledge and agree that I/we am/are contractually bound by the credit contract.
• b. Electronic Communication – Acknowledgements / Consents
  • Consent to receive all documents and information of any nature whatsoever relating to the credit from MMF by electronic communication including, but not limited to:
    • All documentation comprising the package of credit documentation;
    • All Notices, disclosures and other documents MMF is required to provide me/us;
    • My/our copy of the fully executed credit contract; and
    • Any other document of any nature whatsoever that I/we separately agree will be provided by electronic communication.
• c. Consent to receipt of the documents and information referred to above, to the mobile number or email address set out in this Application or address provided by me/us to MMF at any other time in connection with the credit.
• d. Acknowledge that I/we may not receive a copy of any of the documents referred to above in a paper form unless I/we subsequently specifically request a copy from MMF.
• e. Acknowledge that I/we must check my/our mobile phone and email regularly for communications from MMF.
• f. Note that MMF can withdraw its consent to the giving of the documents and information above by electronic communication at any time, by contacting me/us.
• g. Note that I can withdraw my consent to receiving documents and information by electronic communication at any time, by contacting MMF directly.

More Information?

If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy or would like more information about the way we manage your Credit Related Information, please contact us on 1800 199 285.

My Mates Finance PO Box 8562 Gold Coast MC QLD 9726

• accounts@mymatesfinance.com.au
• 1300 867 208
• mymatesfinance.com.au

MyMates Finance Pty Ltd (ACN 145 218 453, Australian Credit License 430536)