Who are we?
References to ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’ pertain to Advanced Lending & Co. and our associated businesses.
Our pledge to safeguard your privacy
At Advanced Lending & Co., we acknowledge that the information you share with us is private and personal. We strive to ensure your confidence in our dealings and to protect your privacy. Our policies regarding personal information are designed to provide you with full protection under Australian privacy laws.
We commit to adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles for the protection of personal information, as outlined in the Privacy Act and any other relevant law.
Personal information
Personal information refers to any information that reasonably identifies you. This may include information or an opinion about you. The personal information we hold about you may also include credit information.
Credit information is used to evaluate your eligibility for finance and may include any outstanding finance, your repayment history, and any defaults. Typically, credit information is exchanged between credit and finance providers and credit reporting bodies.
The types of personal information we may collect about you include your name, date of birth, address, account details, occupation, and any other information we may need to identify you.
If you are applying for finance, we may also collect information about 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 when you apply to join our network or 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.
To maintain a successful business relationship with you, we may disclose your personal information to other organisations that provide products or services used or marketed by us. We may also disclose your personal information to any other organisation that may have or is considering having an interest in your finance, or in our business.
How do we collect your personal information?
We will collect your personal information directly from you where reasonable and practical. Your personal information may also be collected from finance brokers and other individuals such as accountants and lawyers.
Do we disclose your personal information?
We may disclose your personal information:
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
Occasionally, we may use your personal information to provide you with current information about finance, offers you
may find interesting, changes to our organisation, or new products or services being offered by us or any company with whom we are associated.
If you prefer not to receive marketing information, you can opt out at any time by writing to us at info@advancedlending.au. 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
We strive to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. During 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 generally rely on you to ensure the information we hold about you is accurate and 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 as required by law. We will never use a government identifier 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.
Feedback & 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
Compliance Manager by writing to info@advancedlending.au.
We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days. We will provide you with a decision on your complaint within 30 days.
If an issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). OAIC provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that is free to consumers.
Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints/
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Mail: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Further information
You may request further information about the way we manage your personal information by contacting us.
Change in our Privacy Policy
We are constantly reviewing all of our policies and attempt to keep up to date with market expectations. Technology is constantly changing, as is the law and market place practices.
As a consequence, we may change this privacy policy from time to time or as the need arises.
You may request this privacy policy in an alternative form.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 26 May 2023.