Credit reporting policy

RAA Finance credit reporting policy

This policy sets out how your credit information and credit eligibility information (“credit-related information”) is collected, used, disclosed and managed by RAA Finance and applies in addition to the RAA Finance privacy policy. We recommend you read the RAA Finance credit reporting policy in conjunction with the RAA Finance privacy policy.

About credit reporting 

RAA Finance participates in the credit reporting system. If you apply for credit with us, we may request a credit report about you from a credit reporting body and provide that credit reporting body with your personal information and credit information. A credit report contains credit eligibility information which assists us to assess your application and may include information about your credit history with other credit providers.

Credit reporting bodies can provide credit providers with credit reports when individuals make an application for credit. Credit reports are designed to assist credit providers such as RAA Finance to assess an individual’s ability to repay credit.  

What is credit information?

Credit information is personal information (other than sensitive) that has a bearing on credit that’s been provided to you or that you’ve applied for. This includes credit for personal, domestic or household purposes and credit in connection with a business.  It can also cover information about you as a guarantor of a loan.

What kind of credit information do we collect and hold, and how do we collect it? 

RAA Finance collects and holds various kinds of credit-related information which may include:

• identification information about you including your current and prior names and addresses, any known alias you may have, your date of birth, your current or last known employer and your driver’s licence number;
• your employment, income, expenses and savings;
• details of consumer credit or commercial credit (including the name of each relevant credit provider) that you have applied for, the type and amount of that credit and the fact that a credit provider, mortgage insurer or trade insurer has sought information about you from a credit reporting body in relation to an application;
• consumer credit liability information, being details of consumer credit that you have or had including the credit provider, the type of consumer credit, the day on which it was entered into, terms or conditions that relate to the repayment of the amount of consumer credit, the maximum amount of credit available and the day on which the consumer credit is terminated or otherwise ceases;
• repayment history information, which includes whether in relation to your consumer credit facilities you have made payments when due and, if not, when overdue payments have been made;
• default information, which includes details of payments (over $150) more than 60 days overdue in relation to consumer credit which you, as borrower or guarantor, have failed to make;
• payment information, which includes details of the date on which you have paid overdue amounts that were previously recorded as default information with a credit reporting body;
• whether in our or another credit provider’s opinion you have committed a serious credit infringement;
• new arrangement information which includes a statement that the terms or conditions of your consumer credit (in relation to which default information or a serious credit infringement has been disclosed to a credit reporting body) have been varied or that you have been provided with new consumer credit;
• court proceedings information, which includes information about a judgement against you in proceedings that relate to any credit that has been provided to, or applied for, by you;
• personal insolvency information;
• certain publicly available information;
• scores, ratings, summaries, evaluations and other information relating to your credit worthiness which is derived by us or by credit reporting bodies wholly or partly on the basis of the information above;
• certain administrative information relating to credit, such as account and customer numbers; and,
• if you’ve made a hardship application, or other information about your personal circumstances.

Sensitive information

Sensitive information is personal information which includes details about your health.

We will not collect, use or disclose sensitive information about you unless we need the information for one of our functions or activities and we have your express consent (or we are legally required to do so).

For what purposes do we collect, hold, use and disclose credit information?

The main reason we collect, use, hold and disclose credit information is to provide you with products and services. This includes:

• checking whether you are eligible for the product or service;
• providing the product or service;
• helping manage the product or service;
• to use in accordance with any other purpose which is stated to you at the time of collection or that you otherwise authorise;
• to detect, investigate and prevent fraud;
• to satisfy legal requirements; and,
• to undertake debt recovering and enforce activities including in relation to guarantors and deal with serious credit infringements.

We may also use your credit information for other purposes. For instance, to comply with legislative or regulatory requirements in any jurisdiction, prevent fraud, crime or other activity that may cause harm in relation to our products or services and help us run our business. We may also use your credit information to tell you about products or services we think may interest you, subject to legal restrictions on using this type of information for marketing purposes. 

How we collect and use credit-related information

For us to request a credit report, we will provide information to a Credit Reporting Body (CRB) that identifies you, as well as information about your application, including the type and amount of credit you are applying for. This information will be included in your credit report and shared with other credit providers that participate in the credit reporting system.

In certain circumstances, RAA Finance will also need to assess your eligibility to be a guarantor for another person or entity. This may involve us obtaining information about you from a credit reporting body and reviewing information we may already hold about you.

Generally, we will collect credit information directly from you through your interaction with us by telephone, mail and internet, or when you visit a branch or make a transaction. However, credit information may also be collected where information has been provided to us with your authority by someone who has been appointed to act on your behalf.

There may be occasions where we collect your credit information from other credit providers. However, we will only do this with your prior consent.

Storage of information

We securely store your credit-related information in a number of ways, including:

• in electronic systems and devices;
• in telephone recordings;
• in paper files; and,
• in document retention services.
  

Exchange of credit information with a Credit Reporting Body

We may disclose your credit information to credit reporting bodies where the Privacy Act permits us to do so.

Those credit reporting bodies may include the information gathered from RAA Finance in reports provided to other credit providers to assist those credit providers to assess your credit worthiness.

Should you fail to meet your payment obligations in relation to consumer credit or commit a serious credit infringement, RAA Finance may be entitled to disclose this to the credit reporting body.

RAA Finance exchanges and discloses credit information to the following credit reporting body:

Equifax
PO Box 964
North Sydney NSW 2059
1300 762 207
www.mycreditfile.com.au

You can obtain a copy of Equifax’s privacy policy by contacting them using the details provided above or by visiting their website at: www.equifax.com.au/privacy

What kind of information do we derive from credit reporting information obtained from a credit reporting body?

We use credit reporting information obtained from credit reporting body to assists us in assessing your creditworthiness, such as:

• a credit risk rating; and,
• credit score.

Disclosing your credit information

When you apply for credit with us, we seek your consent to disclose your credit-related information, including information we receive through the credit reporting system, to third parties.

For the types of organisations we may possibly disclose your information to, please view our privacy policy’s section on the disclosure of personal information.

Sometimes our suppliers, contractors and agents are based overseas or otherwise have data storage facilities overseas where your credit-related information may be stored.  We may disclose your information to such overseas entities for a relevant purpose described above.

We will not send your personal information outside Australia unless we are satisfied that the overseas recipient of the information has adequate data protection arrangements in place, or you have consented to the transfer of the information.

There may be circumstances when we may also disclose credit-related information when required or authorised to do so by law to regulatory bodies, government agencies and law enforcement bodies or courts.

Direct marketing

RAA Finance will not use any credit information that individuals have disclosed to us or your credit eligibility information for the purpose of pre-screening you in order to determine your eligibility to receive direct marketing from us.

You have the right to request that the credit reporting bodies do not use your information for this purpose. To opt out of credit pre-screening, contact the credit reporting body, using the contact details on their websites.

As part of RAA Finance’s service to you, RAA Finance may use information we have collected about you to identify a product or service that may be of interest to you.  If at any time you wish to opt out of receiving marketing information from RAA Finance, you may do so by calling us on (08) 8202 8331 or, in the case of email, you may use the ‘unsubscribe’ facility included in the email.

Fraud

If you believe you have been, or are likely to be, a victim of fraud – for example if you have discovered someone else is applying for credit in your name – you have a right to request a Credit Reporting Body not to use or disclose credit reports they hold about you. You can do this by contacting them directly.

If you make such a request, they are obligated not to disclose information about you for 21 days (called a ‘ban period’).

Requesting access and correction of credit-related information

You are generally entitled to access the credit-related information RAA Finance holds about you, subject to some exceptions.

If you require access to, or believe that credit-related information we hold or have previously disclosed to a credit reporting body is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, you should contact us.  You can contact us during business hours by:

1300 651 812 (8am–5pm AEST weekdays)

RAA Finance
101 Richmond Road
Mile End SA 5031
finance@raa.com.au

We will manage your request promptly and update any credit-related information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. If you ask us to correct information that we have received through the credit reporting system, or information we have previously disclosed to Equifax, we will consult with Equifax and credit providers about the accuracy of your information, as necessary.

If we do not agree that your information is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, we will write to you and tell you the reason(s) we do not agree with you. We will tell you what you can do if you are not satisfied with our response.

Managing your complaint

The matter will be investigated and a response will be provided promptly. Any formal dispute review will be undertaken promptly, and the internal committee’s decision will be provided within fifteen (15) working days. Every effort will be made to equitably address privacy concerns.

In the unlikely event that your complaint is unresolved, you’re unhappy with the resolution of your complaint, or with the way RAA has handled your complaint through the dispute resolution process, you are entitled to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the Australian Financial Complaints Authority which may investigate your complaint further. However, they will only become involved when all internal avenues have been exhausted.  Contact details are as follows:

Australian Financial Complaints Authority
GPO BOX 3
Melbourne VIC 3001
1800 931 678
www.afca.org.au
email: info@afca.org.au

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
1300 363 992
www.oaic.gov.au

Changes to this Credit privacy policy

This credit reporting policy may change from time to time, so please check back periodically to ensure you are aware of the of any changes to our credit reporting policy.