At iChoice, we understand that the details you provide us with are private and personal. This Privacy Policy is to outline how we collect, use, hold, exchange and protect your information. This outlines how we protect your privacy, as well as how, when and where we may use your personal information. We are bound by the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) for the protection of personal information.
Personal information means any information or opinion about you as an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. For example identity and contact details, marital status and financial information.
We may also collect sensitive information for specific purposes. For example, information about your health to enable the credit provider to assess an application you make for mortgage protection insurance and calculate any premiums. If we need this type of information, we will ask for your consent. Sensitive information is a sub-set of personal information.
We will always aim to collect your personal information directly from you. If for some good reason, we are unable to do so, we may involve another organisation. For example, we may need to request a credit report from a credit reporting body when you apply for a credit facility. Before doing so or prior to collecting the information we need, we will inform you of the type of organisations we intend to disclose your personal information to. We may also collect your personal information through third parties who undertake the collection on our behalf. We collect, use, hold and exchange your personal information so that we can:
- Submit your application for credit;
- Identify and tell you via direct marketing communications about other products or services offered by us or a third party that may interest you (unless you tell us not to);
- Administer our customer relationships;
- For internal purposes, including for reporting and analytical purposes;
- Meet our legal and regulatory reporting obligations;
- Establish a customer marketing program;
- Ensure your security when visiting our website and to learn which areas of the site are of most interest to you (see the section ‘cookies’ below); and
- Any other purpose related to the above.
DIRECT MARKETING
As stated above, we may use the information we gather to provide you with targeted communications about products and services we think will be of interest to you. We may also send you details of offers or services provided by our business partners. These direct marketing offers and promotions are designed to give you information that can help you.
You may at any time choose not to receive these communications. Doing so will not cost you anything, and we commit to ensure you stop receiving any unwanted communications as soon as possible. If you do not want to receive such marketing communications, please write to us at the following address:
The Privacy Officer
iChoice
343-347 Liverpool Rd, Strathfield NSW 2135
or email the Privacy Officer at [email protected]
In certain circumstances we may be compelled by law to disclose your personal information to various authorities. For instance, we may be required under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act to disclose details of financial transactions and we may also be compelled under tax laws to provide such information to regulators. Other organisations which we may exchange your personal information with may include:
- Credit providers;
- Credit reporting bodies;
- Government and law enforcement agencies;
- Any person who proposes to guarantee or has guaranteed repayment of any credit provided to you;
- Mortgage insurers, brokers, originators and/or managers, financial consultants, accountants, lawyers or real estate agents;
- Those in connection with funding financial accommodation by means of an arrangement involving securitisation;
- Third parties to enable them to contact you to offer their products and services or to determine if you would be interested in the products and services; and
This is to your benefit, and helps us to provide the products and services you would expect from us. Before we disclose any of your personal information to any other organisation, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that:
- The organisation has the same commitment as us to the protection of your personal information; AND
- You have consented to us doing so.
By consent, we mean approval in writing, orally, or implied from your dealings with us.
The personal information we hold about you is yours to access and correct, and as such we can provide you with general information, such as your name, address and contact details quite easily. There is no fee for making the initial request. More detailed information may not be as easy for us to access, and if necessary, in some cases there may be an access charge to cover the time we spend locating, compiling and explaining the information you ask for. If there is an access charge, we’ll give you an estimate up front and confirm that you’d like us to proceed. Generally, the access charge is based on an hourly rate plus any photocopying costs or other out-of-pocket expenses. You’ll need to make the payment before we start.
The process of providing you with access to or correcting your personal information may take up to 30 working days from the date of your request. If we refuse to give you access to or correct your information, we must give you written notice setting out the reasons for the refusal and the mechanisms available for you to complain about the refusal.
If you need to access or correct your detailed information, just write to us at the following address:
The Privacy Officer
iChoice
343-347 Liverpool Rd, Strathfield NSW 2135
or email the Privacy Officer at [email protected]
HOW DO WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or exposure by:
- Installing security and access requirements for all our IT systems,
such as passwords, firewalls, and virus scanning software; - Maintaining document storage and destruction policies;
- Providing your personal information to you only when we are
satisfied as to your identity.
We store your personal information in both electronic and paper forms.
We require all staff to maintain the confidentiality of customer information. Access to personal information is restricted to employees whose job responsibilities require access to the information. If we no longer need to hold your personal information, it is securely destroyed or de-identified.
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP INFORMATION ABOUT YOU?
By law, we are required to hold certain information about you, even after you are no longer an iChoice customer. We may also hold certain information about you if it is needed for a purpose which you are aware of or reasonably expect us to hold the information. When your information is no longer needed or required to be held by law, it will be destroyed or de-identified.
How safe and secure is the information we hold about you?
We take great care with the information we hold about you. Our aim is to ensure that any details are securely protected from misuse, interference and loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We will take reasonable care to make sure that we keep your information in an accurate, complete and up to date manner.
ONLINE SECURITY
Our website may use encryption techniques to enhance your privacy and security.
WHAT ARE ‘COOKIES’ AND HOW DO THEY WORK?
Cookies are small data files that are downloaded from our web servers, and stored on your hard drive. A cookie is a string of letters and numbers that uniquely identify the computer you are using, and the customer number and access code you may have used to register at the site. Cookies are used on the iChoice web site. We track a visitor’s journey through our site. This allows us to see at a glance which pages and information is of most interest to visitors. This type of cookie contains no personal information at all; simply a record of your journey through the site. Most browsers can be configured to refuse to accept cookies. You can also delete cookies form your hard drive. However, doing so may hinder your access to valuable areas of information within our site.
IF YOU HAVE A PRIVACY COMPLAINT
At iChoice, we value our customers. We will always aim to be fair and responsive. If you have a complaint, including a complaint about iChoice’s compliance with the APPs, you have the right to expect that we will handle it in a friendly and professional way. When we receive a complaint, we look on it as valuable feedback that may help us to improve the services we offer and to ensure your needs are met in a satisfactory and appropriate manner. If you wish to complain, at any time, about the handling, use or disclosure of your personal information, or about iChoice’s compliance with the APPs, just write to us at the following address:
The Privacy Officer
iChoice
343-347 Liverpool Rd, Strathfield NSW 2135
or email the Privacy Officer at [email protected]
We will make all efforts possible to investigate your complaint, and advise you of the outcome as soon as possible. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, you can then refer your complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
Level 3
175 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
You can request further information about the way we manage the personal information that we hold by writing to:
The Privacy Officer
iChoice
343-347 Liverpool Rd, Strathfield NSW 2135
or email the Privacy Officer at [email protected]
How to Complain
Providing products and services of the very highest standard and building strong and lasting relationships with our customers is important to us. Sometimes things can, and do, go wrong and when this happens we encourage customers to tell us about it so we can aim to put things right as quickly as possible. We view complaints as a valuable source of feedback and as a learning opportunity.
We’ll do all we can to resolve your complaint by the end of the next business day. If we can’t do this, we’ll write to you within five working days to tell you what we’ve done to resolve the problem, or acknowledge your complaint and let you know when you can expect a full response. We’ll also let you know the name and contact details of the person or team dealing with your case.
Where to make your complaint
If you are dissatisfied with our dealings or believe that an error has occurred, please liaise with your Adviser, who will respond to your concerns within five (5) business days. If you feel uncomfortable addressing it with your adviser please move to the next step.
If you are not happy with our response
If you remain unhappy or would rather talk to someone else you can refer the matter to us for review at [email protected]
Credit and Investments Ombudsman Limited
If we haven’t issued our ‘final response’ within eight weeks from the date you first raised your complaint, or if you’re dissatisfied with our response, you can ask the Credit & Investments Ombudsman (CIO) for an independent review. They will however only consider your complaint once you’ve tried to resolve it with us, so please take up your concerns with us first and we’ll do all we can to help.
Credit & Investments Ombudsman
PO Box A252, Sydney South NSW 1235.
Tel: 1800 138 422.
Web: www.cio.org.au.