Thatcher Finance Privacy Policy

Lead Out Financial Pty Ltd ACN 604 106 916ABN 39104748438

Credit Representative 477406 (full member of Connective Credit Services Pty Ltd) is authorized under Australian Credit Licence No. 389328.

Introduction

The Lead Out Trust trading as “Thatcher Finance” is committed to treating the personal information we collect in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

This Privacy Policy explains how Thatcher Finance handles personal information and does not cover personal information Thatcher Finance collect that is exempt under the Privacy Act, such as Thatcher Finance’ employee records.

Thatcher Finance may modify this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect its current privacy practices.

In this Privacy Policy, ’Thatcher Finance’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ mean the entities carrying on business under the name Lead Out Financial and includes any corporate entity owned or controlled by these companies.

About this policy

At Thatcher Finance, we are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth). This Privacy Policy describes our current policies and practices in relation to the handling and use of personal information.

Definitions

Certain words have particular meanings when used in our privacy policy. Personal information means information from which you can reasonably be identified. This can include an opinion. Personal information includes your name, date of birth, address, account details, occupation, and any other information we made need to identify you. Credit-related information includes:

  • Credit information. Credit information means information from which you can be identified and includes:
  • The type, terms and maximum amount of credit provided to you, including when that credit was provided and when it was repaid
  • Payment information and information relating to repayments, defaults and overdue payments
  • Information relating to new arrangements, serious credit infringements, personal insolvency and court proceedings
  • Publicly available information
  • Credit eligibility information. Credit eligibility information means credit reporting information provided by a credit reporting agency, and any information that we derive from it.

What information do we collect and how do we use it?

We will ask you for personal information when we assist you with your finance.  We use the information you provide to advise about and assist with your credit needs. We only provide your information to the companies with whom you choose to deal (and their representatives).

We also use your information to send you requested product information and to enable us to manage your ongoing relationship with us e.g. invoicing, client surveys etc.  We may do so by mail or electronically unless you tell us that you do not wish to receive electronic communications.  

We may occasionally notify you about promotions, new services and special offers, events or articles we think will be of interest to you. We may send you regular updates by email or by post. If you would rather not receive this information, email or write to us. 

We may also use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.

What if you don’t provide some information to us?

If you don’t provide us with full information, we can’t properly advise or assist you with your credit needs.

How do we hold and protect your information?

We strive to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We keep personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements

Collection and use of information

We will only collect personal information, which is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions or activities. We collect and exchange personal and credit-related information for the purposes of assessing your application for finance and managing that finance and insurance related purposes. If you are applying for finance or an insurance policy, we may also collect information about:

  • names, contact and address details and job titles;
  • information contained in identification documents (for example, passport, driver’s licence);
  • tax file numbers;
  • date of birth and gender;
  • bank account details, shareholdings, details of investments;
  • superannuation details;
  • details of insurance arrangements;
  • educational qualifications, employment history and salary;
  • visa or work permit status;
  • medical information;
  • business information;
  • personal information about your spouse and dependants

It may be necessary in some circumstances for Thatcher Finance to collect sensitive information about you however we will only collect sensitive information as permitted under the Privacy Act.  We will only collect personal information about you with your consent.

How we collect your information

Wherever possible, we will collect your personal information directly from you. This information will normally come from the information you provide in your application for one of our products or services and supporting documentation. We may also collect information from credit reporting bodies and from financial brokers and other people, such as accountants, lawyers and medical professionals. This information may include repayment history information. When we obtain credit eligibility information from a credit reporting body, we may also seek publicly-available information and information about any serious credit infringement that you may have committed.

Storage

Personal and credit-related information may be stored by us in electronic form on our secure servers and may also be held in paper form.

Will we disclose the information we collect to anyone?

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others.

We may need to provide your information to our credit licensee e.g. for administration and supervision activities, contractors who supply services to us e.g. to handle mailings on our behalf, or to other companies in the event of a corporate sale, merger, re-organisation, dissolution or similar event.  However, we will do our best to ensure that they protect your information in the same way that we do.

We may also provide your information to others if we are required to do so by law or under some unusual other circumstances which the Privacy Act permits.

How can you check, update or change the information we are holding?

Upon receipt of your written request and enough information to allow us to identify the information, we will disclose to you the personal information we hold about you. We will also correct, amend or delete any personal information that we agree is inaccurate.

If you wish to access or correct your personal information please write to the Privacy Officer at info@tfco.com.au.  We do not charge for providing access to personal information.

Your consent

By asking us to assist with your credit needs, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.

Tell us what you think

We welcome your questions and comments about privacy. If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact our Privacy Officr via email at info@tfco.com.au or 1300 76 40 30.

Complaints

Internal Dispute Resolution

If you do have a complaint, please let us know by email, because if we don’t know about it we can’t fix it. You may also contact us by email addressed to; The Complaints Officer at Thatcher Finance, telephone 1300 76 40 30 and the Privacy Officer via email at info@tfco.com.au.  Please make sure you include as much information as you can.

You should explain the details of your complaint as clearly as you can. You must do this in writing. When we receive a complaint, we will attempt to resolve it promptly.

  

Disclosure

In general, we will not disclose your personal information for purposes other than:

  • As set out in this privacy policy.
  • Those that you would reasonably expect.
  • As permitted or required by law.
  • As otherwise disclosed to you to which you have consented.

We may disclose your personal information to other organisations, including:

  • Prospective funders or other intermediaries regarding your finance and insurance requirements.
  • Organisations that are involved in managing or administering your finance and insurance such as third party suppliers, call centres, lenders, mortgage insurers, trade insurers and credit reporting bodies.
  • Companies that provide information and infrastructure systems to us.
  • Investors, agents or advisers, or any entity that has an interest in your finance or our business.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that these organisations are bound by sufficient confidentiality and privacy obligations with respect to the protection of your personal information. In addition, we may disclose your personal information where we are authorised to do so by law, such as under the Anti-Money or Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth). Where you have provided your express consent, we may also disclose your personal information to any other person, organisation or body. This may include:

  • Your employer, referees or identity verification services.
  • Your representatives, such as finance brokers, lawyers, and accountants.
  • Organisations that provide products or services used or marketed by us.
  • Associated businesses that may want to market products to you.

Notifiable matters

This section provides information about the credit reporting bodies to whom we may disclose your credit information, as well as information about certain rights you have in relation to your credit information. Under the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code, credit reporting bodies are allowed to manage personal information relating to your credit. We exchange your credit-related information with credit reporting bodies. We use the credit-related information that we exchange with the credit reporting body to assess your creditworthiness, assess your application for finance and for managing your finance. The credit reporting bodies that we deal with are:

If you do not to meet your payment obligations in relation to any finance that we have provided or arranged, or you have committed a serious credit infringement, then we may disclose this information to a credit reporting body. You have the right to request access to the credit-related information that we hold about you and may request that we correct that information if required. For more information, see “Accessing and updating your personal and credit information” on page 4. Sometimes your credit information will be used by credit reporting bodies for the purposes of ‘pre‑screening’ credit offers on the request of other credit providers. You can ask credit reporting bodies not to use your credit information in this way. Also, you can ask credit reporting bodies not to use or disclose your personal information if you have reasonable grounds to believe that you have been (or are likely to be) the victim of fraud, including identity fraud. Credit reporting bodies must not use or disclose your credit information for a period of 21 days after they have received your notification.

Direct marketing

We may use your personal information to provide you with:

  • Information about finance and insurance
  • Offers that may be of interest
  • New products or services being offered by us or companies with whom we are associated
  • Changes to our products and services
  • Changes to our organisation

If you do not want to receive these communications from us, or want to know the source of the information being used, you can contact us on 1300 369 258. We will endeavour to carry out your request as soon as possible. Note: we will not use or disclose sensitive information about you for direct marketing purposes unless you have expressly consented to its use or disclosure.

Using our website

Information from third parties

Our website contains links to third party providers of goods and services (third party websites). If you access these websites through our website, your information may be collected by those websites and shared with us. It may also be collected and stored by us. Also, we may share information, such as information about your Internet preferences, with those sites.

Cookies

A ‘cookie’ is a small file stored on your computer that can be accessed by our web server. Cookies store information such the date, time and duration of your visit and the pages that you accessed. We use cookies to allocate a unique number to your internet browsers; to customise our website for you; for statistical purposes; to identify if you have accessed a third party website; and for security purposes. Cookies are frequently used on websites and you can choose if and how a cookie will be accepted by configuring your preferences and options on your Internet browser.

IP addresses

Your IP address is the identifier for your computer when you are using the internet. It may be necessary for us to collect your IP address for your interaction with various parts of our website.

Online applications

When you send a completed online application to us, we retain the information contained in that application. We are able to then use that information to provide any financial and insurance services that you require. You can also suspend and save online applications, so that you can complete and send the application at a later time. If you suspend or save your application, the information that you have entered will be retained in our systems so that you can recover the information when you resume your application. We may view online applications that have been suspended or saved.

It is important to us that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date and generally, we will rely on you to ensure that this is the case.

Access

You may request access to any of the personal and credit-related information we hold about you at any time. Thatcher Finance can be contacted at info@tfco.com.au or 1300 76 40 30 Depending on your request, we will endeavour to respond within seven days of receiving your request, but we may need to contact other entities to properly investigate your request. Note that depending on the request, we may charge a fee for the costs of retrieving and supplying the information to you. There may be situations in which we are not required to provide you with the information requested, for example if the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings. If this occurs, you will be provided with the reasons why we have denied access to you.

Correction

If the personal or credit-related information that we hold about you is incorrect or out of date, you can ask us to correct that information. Thatcher Finance can be contacted at info@tfco.com.au . If appropriate, we will correct your personal or credit information at the time of the request. Alternatively, we will provide you with an initial response within seven days of receiving your request and will investigate the matter further. As part of our investigation, we may need to consult other financial providers or credit reporting bodies and entities. We will endeavour to provide you with information about whether we have corrected your details within 30 days. If we decide not to correct your information, you will be provided with the reasons why this decision has been made.

Identification

We will not request your personal information unless it is lawful and practicable to do so. However, in most circumstances it will be necessary for us to identify you in order to successfully do business with you.

Government identifiers

A ‘government identifier’ is information that the government uses to identify you, such as your tax file number. We will not use government identifiers to identify you and if this information is collected, it will not be used or disclosed, except as authorised by law.

Security

We will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information. Your personal information will be stored in a secure environment, in paper and/or electronic form. We will also take reasonable steps to protect any personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Transmissions over the Internet

The security of data transmissions over the Internet cannot be guaranteed completely. However, we will take all reasonable steps to protect the information in our systems from misuse, interference, loss, and any unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. If your browser is suitably configured, it will advise you whether the information you are sending us will be secure (encrypted) or not secure (unencrypted).

Complaints

Contact us if you are dissatisfied with how we manage your personal information, or you have a complaint about our compliance with the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code. Thatcher Finance can be contacted at info@tfco.com.au or 1300 76 40 30. In the event our internal resolution process does not provide a satisfactory outcome, you may have recourse to an external dispute resolution scheme. COSL (Credit Ombudsman Services Limited) is an independent, ASIC-approved external dispute resolution scheme. Phone: 1800 138 422. Alternatively, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner. Seehttp://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/making-a-privacy-complaint, or phone: 1300 363 992. For more information about our dispute resolution process,see Our Dispute Resolution Process.

Change in our privacy and credit reporting policy

We may change this policy from time to time. We will post any changes to this policy on our website. You may request this policy in an alternative form by contacting us via info@tfco.com.au or 1300 76 40 30.

Further information

Contact us for more information about the way we manage your personal and credit‑related information. See “Contact us” below for our contact details.

Contact us

You can contact Thatcher Finance at info@tfco.com.au or 1300 76 40 30.