At Finselect Group, 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.
In handling your personal information, Finselect Group is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles.
How and why we collect your personal information
We collect personal information from you when you apply for or use our products and services. In particular, we collect it so we can:
- provide you with the products and services you require, which may include financial and insurance products and services; and
- provide you with information about products and services available to you from Finselect Group and associated businesses.
What information do we collect and how do we use it?
When we arrange finance on your behalf, we ask you for the information we need to advise you about your financial needs and your borrowing capacity. We provide any information that the lenders to whom we apply on your behalf require to enable them to decide whether to lend to you and on what terms.
We also use your information to enable us to manage your ongoing requirements, e.g. refinancing, and our relationship with you, e.g. invoicing, client surveys etc. We may do so by post or electronically unless you tell us that you do not wish to receive electronic communications.
We may occasionally notify you about 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 on finance matters. If you would rather not receive this information, please email or write to us.
We may also use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.
Anonymous data
We use technology to collect anonymous information about the use of our website, for example when you browse our website our service provider logs your server address, the date and time of your visit, the pages and links accessed and the type of browser used. It does not identify you personally and we only use this information for statistical purposes and to improve the content and functionality of our website, to better understand our clients and markets and to improve our services.
Cookies
In order to collect this anonymous data we may use “cookies”. Cookies are small pieces of information which are sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Sometimes they identify users where the website requires information to be retained from one page to the next. This is purely to increase the functionality of the site. Cookies by themselves cannot be used to discover the identity of the user. Cookies do not damage your computer and you can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie so that you can decide if you want to accept it. If you use only temporary cookies, insert “Once you leave the site, the cookie is destroyed and no personal or other information about you is stored.” If you use permanent cookies, insert “They allow the website to recognise your computer when you return in the future”.
We use cookies for different purposes such as:
- 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
Collection and use of information
We may collect personal information from you directly or via your use of our services. We will only collect personal information which is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions or activities.
Sensitive information
Sensitive information is any information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or health information.
We will not ask you to disclose sensitive information, but if you elect to provide sensitive information it will also be captured and stored.
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 services that you require.
You can also suspend and save online applications, so you can complete and send the applications 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 may recover the information when you resume your application. Online applications that have been suspended or saved may be viewed by us.
What if you don’t provide some information to us?
We can only fully advise you about your borrowing capacity and the suitability of a loan if we have all the relevant information.
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
We hold the information we collect from you on secure cloud data storage facilities with SSL/TLS data encryption in transit.
We ensure that your information is safe by using secure cloud storage with AES 256-bit data encryption on servers with file-level encryption.
Providing Your Personal Information to Other Organisations
In providing products and services to you it may be necessary for us to provide your personal information to other organisations with which we conduct business. This includes outsource Finselect Group PTY LTD (ACN 659 956 715) which is our mortgage aggregator.
Other such organisations include related entities, mortgage managers, lenders, valuation companies, real estate agents, mortgage insurers, solicitors and legal advisers, settlement agents, accountants and auditors, information technology companies, loan processors, printers and mailing services, insurers, collection agents, conveyancers and government agencies which regulate our products and services.
Your personal information is only provided to those entities to the extent necessary to enable us to provide our products and services to you.
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 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, reorganisation, 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 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.
Disclosures to overseas recipients
Some of the recipients to whom we disclose your personal information may be based overseas. It is not practicable to list every country in which such recipients are located but it is likely that such countries will include the United States of America, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Indonesia and Serbia.
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 info@finselectgroup.com.au or Suite 508/29 Smith St, Parramatta NSW 2150
We do not charge for receiving a request for access to personal information or for complying with a correction request.
Your Consent
By asking us to assist with your finance needs, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.
For more information on your privacy rights please visit www.privacy.gov.au
Tell us what you think
We welcome your questions and comments about privacy. If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact Finselect Group at info@finselectgroup.com.au or Suite 508/29 Smith St, Parramatta NSW 2150.
