Privacy Statement and Consent - Commercial lending (inclusive of guarantors)

This Privacy Statement and Consent applies to individuals about whom we collect information in connection with an application for credit, including prospective borrowers and guarantors. In this statement, personal information includes information about your credit history (including information about your past experiences with us and other lenders, the kinds of credit products you have had or sought, how you have managed your obligations, information contained in a credit report about you, and information about your credit worthiness that has been derived from a credit report about you).

Providing information about another person

When you give us personal information about another person you represent that you are authorised to do so and agree to inform the person that we have collected their information as part of this application and of the contents of this Privacy Statement and Consent.

Purposes for which we collect and use personal information

You agree that personal information you supply to BCU may be held and used by us to assess, complete and process the application you make or for which you are a signatory, guarantor or representative, execute your instructions, manage our relationship with you, comply with legislative or regulatory requirements, for internal processes including product development, strategic planning, risk management and pricing, to meet our obligations in relation to external payments, credit reporting systems, government bodies and our funding arrangements, and identify and (unless you tell us not to) contact you to discuss other products that may be of interest to you.

The information we collect about you may also include sensitive information (for instance information about your health) where we collect it for a specific purpose, for example in assessing whether you have a pre-existing medical condition for insurance purposes.

We are required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 and, if you are giving a mortgage, certain State property laws (for example, the Real Property Act 1900 in NSW) to collect information to identify you, and by the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to learn about and verify a prospective borrower’s financial situation. Without your information we may not be able to provide a facility.

Exchange of personal information

We may exchange personal information about you with other persons to verify that it is correct (for example your employer); our related bodies corporate, assignees, agents, contractors and external advisers; organisations for verifying your identity; your agents, advisers, executors, administrators, trustees, beneficiaries (if you are a trustee), guardians or attorneys; law enforcement, regulatory and government bodies; anyone who introduces you to us; reward program providers, third parties providing fraud detection services; payment system operators; your and our insurers or prospective insurers and their underwriters; any person we consider necessary to execute your instructions; persons with whom you make a joint application for a product or service provided by us; any financial institution to or from which a payment is made in relation to any account you have or operate; your current and prospective co-borrowers and co-guarantors, financial institutions, and debt collection agencies.

We may also include your personal information on any registers relevant to services we provide, such as the Personal Property Security Register.

Exchange of personal information with credit providers

You agree we may collect personal information about you from, and/or disclose it to, other credit providers for the purpose of:

• assessing an application for credit;
• considering whether or not to accept you as a guarantor or security provider;
• collecting overdue payments, managing credit, helping you avoid default on credit obligations and taking action in the event of your fraud and other serious credit infringement; and
• providing or managing securitised or transferred loans.

Exchange of personal information with guarantors

If you are a borrower, we may exchange your personal information (including a consumer credit report) with your guarantor, a person who has provided security for credit, or to a person in order for them to consider whether or not to act as guarantor or to provide security for credit.

Exchange of personal information with credit reporting bodies

You agree we may collect personal information about you from, and/or disclose it to, credit reporting bodies (CRBs), including by:

• disclosing any failure by you to meet your payment obligations in relation to consumer credit and the fact that you have committed fraud or other serious credit infringement;
• obtaining a consumer credit report about you for the purpose of assessing an application for, or collecting overdue payments of, commercial credit;
• obtaining commercial credit information about you in order to assess an application by you for consumer credit; and
• considering whether or not to accept you as a guarantor or security provider.

The CRB we use is Equifax, whose privacy policy (which explains how Equifax manages credit information) and contact details are at www.equifax.com/Privacy.

CRBs may include information which we provide in reports to other credit providers to assist them to assess your creditworthiness.

You can ask a CRB not to use or disclose credit information it holds about you for a period of 21 days (called a “ban period”) without your consent if you believe on reasonable grounds that you have been or are likely to be a victim of fraud, including identity fraud. If you are applying to be a borrower, guarantor or security provider, you agree to us accessing your personal information (including consumer credit information) held with a CRB, even if there is a ban period in place, for the purposes of assessing an application for credit or in order to collect overdue payments.

CRBs may use credit information they hold to respond to requests from us or other credit providers to “pre-screen” you for direct marketing. You can ask a CRB not to do this. However, if you are a borrower you may still receive direct marketing from us (unless you ask us not to) that has not been “pre-screened”.

Transfer of personal information overseas

We may disclose your personal information to our systems support and administrative service providers located overseas. The countries to which this information may be disclosed may include the Philippines, Netherlands, the United States of  America and the United Kingdom.

Further information

You have rights to access and seek correction of personal information we hold about you and to make a complaint about a breach of your privacy right, by contacting BCU on 1300 228 228 or at mail@bcu.com.au. Our Privacy Policy contains information about how you may do these things and how we deal with complaints. Our Privacy Policy is available at www.bcu.com.au