Our Commitment

In handling your personal information, First Option Credit Union is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988, the National Privacy Principles and the Mutual Banking Code of Practice.

Collection & Use of Personal Information

We collect personal information about you, and will hold that information, for these purposes:

• providing you with membership benefits or information about those benefits and our financial services and products;
• providing you with our financial services and products;
• providing you with information about our financial services and products;
• processing any application you make for any of our financial services or products from 3rd parties we have arrangements with;
• conducting market or customer satisfaction research;
• complying with legislative and regulatory requirements;
• detecting and preventing fraud and other criminal activity.

If it is necessary for us to collect information about you from a third party, we will inform you wherever possible.

When you apply for a loan, we also collect information about you, in the form of a credit report, from Veda Advantage, a credit reporting agency, to assess your capacity to repay. However, we can only do this with your consent at the time.

You can obtain a copy of your own credit report from Veda Advantage at any time:

• by post- Veda Advantage PO Box 964 North Sydney 2059
• by internet- http://www.mycreditfile.com.au

Fees will apply. To find out about fees or payment options visit the website or phone Veda Advantage on 1300 762 207.

The law also requires us to collect and hold personal information about you for these purposes:

• as a member of the Credit Union - for our register of members;
• when you open an account with us - to verify your identity and address; and
• when we give you a loan – for our assessment of your capacity to pay or, if you are giving us a guarantee, for that purpose.

Providing your Personal Information to Other Organisations

In providing our financial services and products to you, it may be necessary for us to disclose your personal information to other organisations. We only disclose your personal information to the extent necessary and to the extent required by law. The types of organisations that we can disclose your personal information to are:

• when applying for membership or loans - organisations that provide information to verify your identity;
• when applying for loans:
  • Accountants and Auditors;
  • Credit reporting agencies;
  • Brokers and agents who have referred your business to us;
  • Other financial institutions that have previously lent you money, but only with your consent at the time;
  • Persons you name as referees, or your employer, in the loan application;
  • Your solicitors or conveyancing agents;
  • Property valuers and insurers- for property loans;
  • Lenders mortgage insurers;
  • Mortgage documentation service;
  • Companies involved in providing securitised mortgages, such as the trustee or manager of the securitisation program;
  • Credit Union Services Corporation Australia Limited (your national Credit Union body);
  • Government Agencies which regulate our products and services; and
  • your guarantor
• when enforcing a loan:
  • debt collection agencies;
  • solicitors;
  • process servers; and
  • Courts of law with jurisdiction over the enforcement of debts and securities
• when you make a complaint to us about our services or products – our external dispute resolution centre;
• when we engage contractors for statement printing and mail out, card and cheque production, market research or direct marketing – these contractors are all subject to confidentiality agreements with us and cannot use your personal information except for our purposes;
• when we have an arrangement with a 3rd party product supplier – those 3rd parties to provide information to you about their services and products;
• a credit reporting agency to allow it to create or maintain a credit information file containing information about dishonoured cheques – cheques drawn by you for $100.00 or more which have been dishonoured more than once.

Your Rights

Under the Privacy Act you have the right to access personal information we hold about you. Where we incur a cost in copying or retrieving documents and files, this cost may be passed on to you. If the information is incorrect, you have the right to require us to amend the information without cost to you.

We rely on the accuracy of the information you provide to us. If you believe or know that information we hold about you is incorrect, out of date or incomplete, please contact us.

What if you do not wish to provide us with Information?

In order to provide products and services to you we require information about you. If you do not provide us with all of the information we require, we may be unable to provide products or services to you. If you do not provide us with your Tax File Number there may also be taxation implications for you.

Direct Marketing

You can tell us at any time that you do not want to receive any direct marketing communication from us or our related bodies corporate.

However, this will not apply to any direct marketing on or accompanying your regular account statements.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact us