Privacy Act Authorisation
PRIVACY CONSENTS/ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and all related rules and regulations (“the Act”)
To: Geared Asset Finance Pty Ltd ABN 61 134 689 339 and any of the financiers described in the Schedule (Financier) (“We, Us, Our”)
You acknowledge that We and Our Financiers may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information about you (including information required to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, rules and other subordinate instruments, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and the Personal Property Securities Act 2009) to enable Us and Our Financiers to: assess your personal and/or commercial credit worthiness; process your application; provide, administer and manage the products and services provided to you; audit and evaluate those products and services; notify a credit reporting body or other credit providers of your payment history or any default by you; model and test data; communicate with you; improve and develop products and services; conduct credit scoring, securitisation, research, risk management and portfolio analysis; provide and administer any related rewards program and deal with any complaints or enquiries. You acknowledge that if you fail to provide complete information or information that is inaccurate, We and Our Financiers may not be able to process or accept the application and transactions may be delayed, blocked or refused.
Authority for Us and Our Financiers to obtain certain credit information: You authorise Us, Our agents, Financiers and third parties who referred you to Us to seek, obtain and use, credit reporting information about you (including from credit reporting bodies (“CRBs”) to: assess an application by you for consumer credit or commercial credit; manage your credit and related funding arrangements; assess an application by you to be a guarantor in relation to credit; review your credit on a periodic basis as though assessing a new application; collect overdue payments; and create assessments and ratings of your credit worthiness.
Authority to exchange Information with credit reporting bodies: You authorise Us, Our agents and Financiers to obtain credit reporting information about you from a CRB or other business that provides information about credit worthiness. You allow such an entity to create or maintain credit information about you (before, during or after the provision of credit to you). The information may include: permitted identification particulars; the fact that you have applied for credit and the amount and type of credit; the fact that Us and Our Financiers are a credit provider to you; credit limit; loan start/end dates; repayment history; ‘default information’ (in addition to and without limiting repayment history information), i.e. payments overdue for more than 60 days in specified circumstances; in relation to those overdue payments, advice about new payment arrangements or that those payments are no longer overdue; in specified circumstances that in Our and Our Financiers opinion there has been a serious credit infringement (e.g. fraud); and other credit worthiness information that can be disclosed under the Privacy Act.
Authority to exchange information with other credit providers: You authorise Us and Our Financiers to give to and obtain from Our agents (as defined in the Act) and any credit providers information about your credit worthiness, credit standing, credit history or credit capacity, and to give and receive a banker’s opinion for purposes connected with your creditworthiness, business, trade or profession. The information may be exchanged for, but not limited to, any of the following purposes: to assess an application by you for credit or to be a guarantor, to determine or confirm the status of your credit including any defaults; to assess your creditworthiness at any time during or after the life of a credit arrangement; to give or obtain an opinion on you; and any other purpose permitted by law.
Authority to exchange information with other third parties: Us and Our Financiers may exchange your personal information with other related companies; any suppliers or dealers of items the subject of your application; persons with whom We and Our Financiers have white label arrangements (e.g. to sell Financiers products under another brand); introducers, referrers and any other person associated with the lodgement of this application; funders and related service providers that assist in the processing of your application and the management of your credit; as well as with service providers including those relating to any associate rewards program and the types of service providers described in Us and Our Financiers Privacy Policy. Other authorised disclosures include to your referees, your past and present employers, your past and present landlords, your next of kin, any person acting on your behalf, (e.g. financial adviser, solicitor, broker, accountant, executor, administrator, trustee or guardian), rating agencies, insurers, entity concerned with the supply or manufacture of assets to you/applicant, valuers and debt collection agencies. We may also disclose personal information to regulatory authorities (e.g. tax authorities in Australia and overseas) in connection with their lawful information requests or to meet legal obligations in any relevant jurisdiction.
Authority to exchange sensitive information: In some cases, sensitive information may be collected for specific purposes (for example, information regarding your health to enable the assessment of a hardship relief application). The references in this Privacy Statement to personal information include sensitive information such as your medical and health related details, and you agree that We and Our Financiers may exchange such information with other parties listed in this Privacy Statement for the purpose of assessing or processing such applications and may seek further information from any medical attendant consulted by you.
Authority to give information to guarantors: You authorise Us and Our Financiers to give to any person who guarantees or indemnifies, or is to guarantee or indemnify, your obligations (“Guarantor”) information about your credit worthiness, credit standing, credit history or credit capacity for the purpose of determining if that person wishes to act as a Guarantor and keeping the Guarantor informed of the guarantee or indemnity, and for any purposes related to the proposed or actual enforcement of the guarantee or indemnity.
Authority to obtain information about guarantors: (This section addresses additional matters relevant if you are a Guarantor) You authorise and consent to Us, Our agents or Our Financiers collecting personal information about you and obtaining both your personal and commercial credit reports from a CRB, to assess your capacity as a guarantor. If you are accepted as a guarantor, We and Our Financiers may disclose your personal information to external agents, professional advisers and service providers, for the purpose of managing the account and contacting you in relation to the guarantee or indemnity provided. You also authorise Us, Our agents and Our Financiers to provide to the person/s in respect of whom you are Guarantor personal information about your credit worthiness, credit standing, credit history or credit capacity for any purposes related to the product or any proposed or actual enforcement of the product, guarantee or indemnity. You acknowledge and agree that if We and Our Financiers provide the product, this authority remains in force until the credit under the product is fully and finally settled and discharged.
Authority to use information for administration processes: You authorise Us and Our Financiers to use any information collected in this application and in subsequent administration processes for future applications you may wish to make for other Financiers or Our products and/or services and related services, and to disclose this information to other members of the Financiers Group entities for similar use. Us and Our Financiers will only use information collected for this purpose to the extent it is permitted to do so at law.
Authority to provide information for funding purposes: You authorise Us and Our Financiers to disclose any personal information about you to another person (including without limitation, any trustee, servicer, credit enhancer, funder, ratings agency) in connection with any funding of your business or any transactions including by means of an arrangement involving securitisation.
General Privacy Matters: You acknowledge that We and Our Financiers collect personal information through interactions with you and your agent(s) (including telephone, email or online), as well as from public sources and third parties including information brokers and service providers. Without this information, We and Our Financiers may not be able to process your application or provide you with an appropriate level of service. You acknowledge the full terms of this Privacy Act Authorisation further annexed.
You consent and agree that: (a) We and Our Financiers may give you notices or documents by electronic communication, including by sending the notice or document to the email address provided with your application or the last email address you have otherwise notified; (b) if a notice or document is so given, it will be taken to be given at the time when the notice or document has entered my information system; (c) where a notice or document requires acceptance of the information contained therein, such an intention can be met electronically with the utilisation of an electronic signature; (c) paper notices and documents may no longer be given to you; (d) electronic communications should be regularly checked for notices and documents; and (e) your consent to the giving of notices and documents by electronic communication may be withdrawn by you at any time.
You acknowledge that where you have provided Us and Our Financiers with personal information about someone else that you have obtained their consent to provide their personal information based on this Privacy Consent. You acknowledge that the third parties with whom We and Our Financiers exchange personal information whilst conducting ordinary business activities, may operate outside of Australia (this includes the United States; United Kingdom; New Zealand, Philippines; Malaysia; India and other countries specified in Financiers own Privacy Policy’s). You understand and agree that while the third parties may be subject to confidentiality or privacy obligations, in relation to personal information that is not ‘credit eligibility information’ (certain personal information from (or based on information from) credit reporting bodies) they may not always follow the particular requirements of Australian privacy laws.
We, Our related companies, any third parties and Our Financiers involved in the introduction or referral of this application (including any dealers or suppliers of items the subject of your application) or with whom We and Our Financiers have white label arrangements may exchange and use your personal information to contact you on an ongoing basis by telephone, electronic communications (like email), online and other means to offer products or services that may be of interest to you, including offers of banking, financial, advisory, investment, insurance and funds management services, and assets suited to leasing or finance (including vehicles, medical equipment, computers, office equipment, machinery and manufacturing equipment).
You may choose to not consent to Us and Our Financiers using and disclosing your personal information for the purpose described immediately above.
Authority for an agent to obtain access to an individual’s credit information file held by a credit reporting agency (Privacy Act 1988).
You as named below (applicant/guarantor/other individual) authorise Geared Asset Finance Pty Ltd to:
Act as your agent in seeking access to your consumer credit information file held by a credit reporting agency.
This authority only applies to enquiries made by Geared Asset Finance Pty Ltd in connection with:
- An application, or proposed application, by you for credit
- You having sought advice in relation to existing credit.
In accordance with the Privacy Act, requests for access to and correction of personal information can be made using the contact details below:
Addressee: Privacy Officer
Postal Address: PO Box 613, Collins Street West, Victoria 8007
Phone: 1300 828 567
Fax: 1300 828 537
By requesting a copy of Privacy policies and (where applicable) credit reporting policies, further information can be obtained regarding the handling of personal information, access or correction of personal information, how privacy concerns are dealt with, website privacy, the credit reporting bodies used and how to obtain free copies of your credit reporting information from those bodies. Financiers Privacy Policy’s and Credit Reporting Policy’s can be found via www.gearedfinance.com.au. Further, Geared Asset Finance Pty Ltd’s (Privacy Officer) can be contacted on 1300 828 567 or privacy@52.65.73.153
Name and Address of Financier – Each and any of:
ACN 603 303 126 Pty Ltd (trading as Angle Finance – ABN 98 603 303 126), Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ABN 11 005 357 522); Australian Financial Group Ltd (ABN 11 066 385 822); Azora Asset Finance Pty Ltd (ABN 12 087 826 159); Bank of Queensland Limited (ABN 32 009 656 740); Better Rent (TFS) Pty Ltd (ABN 97 135 921 489); Capital Finance Australia Ltd (ABN 23 069 663 136); Eclipx Commercial Pty Limited (ABN 40 603 273 365); Firstmac Limited (ABN 59 094 145 963); Flexicommercial Pty Ltd (ABN 17 644 644 860); Flexirent Capital Pty Ltd (ABN 93 064 046 046); GC Leasing Melbourne Pty Ltd (ABN 75 615 220 196); Geared Asset Finance Pty Ltd (ABN 61 134 689 339); Geared Finance (Australia) Pty Ltd (ABN 93 160 570 954); Get Capital Pty Ltd (ABN 24 149 390 625); Grow Commercial Pty Ltd (ABN 40 603 273 365); Macquarie Leasing Pty Limited (ABN 38 002 674 982); Macquarie Equipment Rentals Pty Ltd (ABN 44 112 079 268); Metro Finance Pty Limited (ABN 44 600 674 093); Morris Finance Ltd (ABN 70 083 630 139); Macquarie Bank Ltd (ABN 46 008 583 542); On Dec Capital Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 28 603 753 215); Pepper Group Limited (ABN 55 094 317 665); Resimac Asset Finance Pty Ltd (ABN 93 098 034 041); Scottish Pacific Business Finance Pty Ltd (ABN 79 008 636 388); Specialist Equipment Leasing Finance Company Pty Ltd (ABN 58 099 591 616); Service Finance Corporation Ltd (ABN 93 077 860 256); Silver Chef Rentals Pty Ltd (ABN 33 112 241 522); Thorn Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 63 008 454 439); TL Rentals PTY LTD (ABN 27 071 702 264); Vestone Capital Pty Ltd (ABN 44 112 079 268); Westpac Banking Corporation Ltd (ABN 33 007 457 141).
Who are we?
‘We’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refers to Geared Asset Finance Pty Ltd ACN 134 689 339 Australian Credit Licence 501266 and our related entities.
Our Contact details:
Telephone: 03 9079 0960
Postal Address: PO Box 613, Collins Street West, VIC 8007
E-mail: geared@52.65.73.153
Our commitment to protect your privacy
We understand how important it is to protect your personal information. This document sets out our privacy policy commitment in respect of personal information we hold about you and what we do with that information.
We recognise that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes we have collected it or as allowed under the law. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we hold about you will be treated in a way which ensures protection of your personal information.
Our commitment in respect of personal information is to abide by the Australian Privacy Principles for the protection of personal information, as set out in the Privacy Act and any other relevant law.
Personal information
When we refer to personal information, we mean information from which your identity is reasonably apparent. This information may include information or an opinion about you. The personal information we hold about you may also include credit information.
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.
The kinds of personal information we may collect about you include your name, date of birth, address, account details, occupation, and any other information we made need to identify you. 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 and expenses. If you apply for any insurance product through us we may also collect your health information. We will only collect health information from you with your consent.
Why we collect your personal 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. From time to time we may offer you other products and services.
How do we collect your personal information?
Where reasonable and practical we will collect your personal information directly from you. We may also collect your personal information from finance brokers and other people such as accountants and lawyers.
Do we disclose your personal information?
We may disclose your personal information:
- to prospective funders or other intermediaries in relation to your finance requirements;
- to other organisations that are involved in managing or administering your finance.
- to companies that provide information and infrastructure systems to us;
- to anybody who represents you, such as finance brokers, lawyers and accountants;
- to 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 Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth);
Prior to disclosing any of your personal information to another person or organisation, we will take all reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that:
(a) the person or organisation has a commitment to protecting your personal information at least equal to our commitment, or
(b) you have consented to us making the disclosure.
We may use cloud storage to store the personal information we hold about you. The cloud storage and the IT servers may be located outside Australia.
We may disclose your personal information to overseas entities that provide support functions to us. You may obtain more information about these entities by contacting us.
Direct marketing
From time to time we may use 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.
If you do not wish to receive marketing information, you may at any time decline to receive such information by contacting us via the contact information above. If the direct marketing is by email you may also use the unsubscribe function. We will not charge you for giving effect to your request and will take all reasonable steps to meet your request at the earliest possible opportunity.
Updating your personal information
It is important to us that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. During the course of our relationship with you we may ask you to inform us if any of your personal information has changed.
If you wish to make any changes to your personal information, you may contact us. We will generally rely on you to ensure the information we hold about you is accurate or complete.
Access and correction to your personal information
We will provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you. You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you at any time.
We may charge a fee for our costs of retrieving and supplying the information to you.
Depending on the type of request that you make we may respond to your request immediately, otherwise we usually respond to you within seven days of receiving your request. We may need to contact other entities to properly investigate your request.
There may be situations where we are not required to provide you with access to your personal information, for example, if the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings, or if your request is vexatious.
An explanation will be provided to you if we deny you access to the personal information we hold about you.
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.
We may need to consult with other entities as part of our investigation.
If we refuse to correct personal information we will provide you with our reasons for not correcting the information.
Using government identifiers
If we collect government identifiers, such as your tax file number, we do not use or disclose this information other than required by law. We will never use a government identifier in order to identify you.
Business without identifying you
In most circumstances it will be necessary for us to identify you in order 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.
Sensitive information
We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent. Sensitive information is personal information that includes information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, political persuasion, memberships in trade or professional associations or trade unions, sexual preferences, criminal record, or health.
How safe and secure is your personal information that we hold?
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. We will also take reasonable steps to protect any personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Complaints
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, you may contact our complaints officer via the contact information listed above.
We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days. We will provide you with a decision on your complaint within 30 days.
If you are dissatisfied with the response of our complaints officer you may make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner which can be contacted via the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website (www.oaic.gov.au) or on 1300 363 992.
Further information
You may request further information about the way we manage your personal information by contacting us.