Privacy Policy

ABOUT US (“we, us, our”):

This document provides you with information relating to our activities and those of our credit representatives. It contains information about various fees and charges that may be payable by you to us, as well as about certain commissions we may receive from a licensee when we are acting as a credit representative, or we pay to certain third parties. It also contains information about what you should do if you have a complaint or dispute in connection with our services as a credit representative.

WHAT IS A CREDIT REPRESENTATIVE?

A ‘credit representative’ is a person who has been authorised by a credit licensee to engage in specified credit activities on behalf of the licensee. Our licensee is CHRISTALLA DROUGAS.

WHAT IS CREDIT ASSISTANCE?

We give you credit assistance when:

• we assist you to apply for a particular loan or lease;
• we suggest you apply for a particular loan or lease (or suggest you apply for an increase to an existing loan); or
• we suggest you remain in your current loan or lease.

THE ASSESSMENT WE NEED TO DO BEFORE GIVING YOU CREDIT ASSISTANCE

Before we provide credit assistance to you, we assess whether the particular loan or lease is suitable for you. To do this, we need to make reasonable inquiries and verify that:

• the loan or lease or increase will meet your requirements and objectives; and
• you can meet the proposed repayments.
• ascertain your current financial position

We won’t be able to give you credit assistance if our assessment shows that:

• you won’t be able to meet the proposed repayments without substantial hardship; or
• the loan or lease won’t meet your requirements or objectives.

GETTING A COPY OF OUR ASSESSMENT

If we provide you with credit assistance, you can ask us for a copy of our assessment any time up to 7 years after we provide you with a credit assistance quote. To request a copy please contact us. We will provide you with a copy:

• within 7 business days after the day we receive your request – provided you make the request within 2 years of the date of our credit assistance quote; or
• otherwise, within 21 business days after the day we receive your request.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE LICENSEE AND ITS CREDIT REPRESENTATIVES 

We act as a credit representative for CHRISTALLA DROUGAS. We are authorised to engage in credit activities including providing credit assistance on its behalf.

Subject to meeting credit criteria, we are able to assist you to obtain loans and leases for you from a broad range of lenders and lessors through our Broker Group.  Our Broker Group does not require us to recommend any particular lender and our Broker Group does not set any quotas or obligations on us relating to recommending any particular product.

The Licensee’s panel of lenders includes a number of lenders and loan distributors.

Privacy Statement

We need to collect personal information about you to provide you with our broking & related services.  This privacy statement tells you how we collect your information, what we use the information for and who we share the information with.  If we collect information that can be used to identify you, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of that collection.

How information is collected from you

We will collect your information from you directly whenever we can, like from enquiries we make of you when you seek credit assistance from us. We may verify that information from sources referred to in the responses to those enquiries or in this privacy statement.

How information is collected from other sources

Sometimes we will collect information about you from other sources as the Privacy Act 1988 permits.  We will do this only if it’s reasonably necessary to do so, for example, where:

• we collect information from third parties about a loan or lease in relation to which you seek our services;
• we can’t get hold of you and we rely on public information (for example, from public registers or social media) or made available by third parties to update your contact details; or
• we exchange information with your legal or financial advisers or other representatives.

 When the law authorises or requires collection of information

Some law may require us to collect personal information about you. For example, we may require your information to verify your identity under Australian Anti-Money Laundering law.

How your information may be used

We may use your information for purposes including:

• giving you credit assistance;
• giving you information about loan products or related services including help, guidance and advice;
• considering whether you are eligible for a loan or lease or any related service you requested including identifying or verifying you or your authority to act on behalf of a customer;
• assisting you to prepare an application for a lease or a loan;
• administering services we provide, for example, to answer requests or deal with complaints;
• administering payments we receive, or any payments we make, relating to your loan or lease;
• telling you about other products or services we make available and that may be of interest to you, unless you tell us not to;
• identifying opportunities to improve our service to you and improving our service to you;
• telling you about other suppliers, with whom we have arrangements, that supply goods or services that may be of interest to you;
• allowing us to run our business efficiently and perform general administrative tasks;
• preventing or investigating any fraud or crime or any suspected fraud or crime;
• as required by law, regulation or codes binding us; and
• any purpose to which you have consented.

You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to receive direct marketing offers from us. We will process your request as soon as practicable.

What happens if you don’t provide information

If you don’t provide your information to us, it may not be possible to:

• assist in finding a loan or lease relevant to your circumstances;
• verify your identity or protect against fraud; or
• let you know about products or services that might be suitable for your financial needs.

Sharing Your Information

General

We may use and share your information with other organisations for any purpose described above.

Sharing with your representatives and referees

We may share your information with:

• your representative or any person acting on your behalf (for example, lawyers, settlement agents, accountants or real estate agents); and
• your referees, like your employer, to confirm details about you.

Sharing with third parties

We may share your information with third parties in relation to services we provide to you or goods or services in which we reasonably consider you may be interested.  Those third parties may include:

• the Broker Group through whom we may submit loan or lease applications to lenders or lessors on the Broker Group’s panel. You can view our Broker Group’s privacy notice at http://www.choiceaggregationservices.com.au/privacy. It sets out how that Broker Group manages your personal information and where you can find its privacy policy;
• the Licensee, Christalla Drougas , that authorises us to engage in credit activities and Lending Store Australia who authorises us as their representatives. You can view the Licensee’s privacy notice at the same internet address as Lending Store Australia’s privacy notice. It sets out how the Licensee and Credit Representatives manage your personal information and where you can find its privacy policy;
• referrers that referred your business to us;
• financial services suppliers with whom we have arrangements;
• valuers;
• lenders, lessors, lender’s mortgage insurers and other loan or lease intermediaries;
• organisations, like fraud reporting agencies, that may identify, investigate and/or prevent fraud, suspected fraud, crimes, suspected crimes, or other misconduct;
• government or regulatory bodies as required or authorised by law. In some instances, these bodies may share the information with relevant foreign authorities;
• guarantors and prospective guarantors of your loan or lease;
• service providers, agents, contractors and advisers that assist us to conduct our business for purposes including, without limitation, storing or analysing information;
• any organisation that wishes to take an interest in our business or assets; and
• any third party to which you consent to us sharing your information.

Sharing outside of Australia

We may use overseas organisations to help conduct our business. As a result, we may need to share some of your information (including credit information) with such organisations outside Australia. Including but not exclusive to India or Phillipines We only engage with reputable outsource firms.

We may store your information in cloud or other types of networked or electronic storage.  As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it’s not always practicable to know in which country your information may be held. If your information is stored in this way, disclosures may occur in countries other than those listed.

 Overseas organisations may be required to disclose information we share with them under a foreign law. In those instances, we will not be responsible for that disclosure.

Privacy Policy

You can find out more about how we manage your information by reading our Privacy Policy available by contacting us.  Please see our contact details above.  [Also, you can read and obtain a copy of that policy at our website address set out at the start of the Credit Guide to which this notice is attached.]  Our Privacy Policy sets out how you can ask us to access and seek to correct information we hold about you and how you may complain against us about a privacy issue.

 Information about other people

If you give information to us about another person (like your co-applicant) in relation to the services we provide, you will let that other person know that:

• we have collected their information to provide those services or for any other purpose set out in this privacy notice;
• we may exchange this information with other organisations set out in this privacy notice;
• we handle their personal information in the way set out in our Privacy Policy and this privacy notice and they can:
  • access or request a copy of that privacy policy or this privacy notice; or
  • access the information we hold about that other person,

by using our contact details above; and

• we may not be able to provide those services to you unless we obtain their information.