Privacy Policy

Who are we?

‘We’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to etika Australia Pty Ltd ACN 629 009 025 and our related businesses.

Our commitment to protect your privacy

At etika we commit to ethical practices in everything we do, and we understand how important it is to protect your personal information. This document sets out our commitment in respect of the personal information we hold about you, how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, how we aim to protect your privacy and your rights in relation to your personal information managed by us.We recognise that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes we have collected it for or as allowed under the law. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we hold about you will be treated in a way which ensures protection of your personal information.In handling your personal information we will comply by the Australian Privacy Act 1988, Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, and/or any other relevant laws, regulations and codes relating to privacy (‘Privacy Law’).

Who does this Privacy Policy apply to?

This policy applies when you sign up for, access, or use our services, features, technologies or functions offered on our websites (collectively ‘etika Services’) both past and present, and in relation to personal information we may otherwise collect during the course of our business as set out in this policy.

Personal information

When we refer to personal information we mean information or opinion from which your identity is reasonably apparent.   

The kinds of personal information we may collect and hold about you include your:

• Identification and contact information such as your name, date of birth, gender, address, telephone and email address;
• Your drivers licence, passport, visa particulars or other government identifiers necessary to verify your identity and eligibility for our products and services;
• Financial information such as personal banking details, credit information, occupation and employment details;
• and any other information we need to identify you lawfully obtainable under Privacy Law.

The personal information we hold about you may also include credit-related information.  Credit-related information means:

• Credit information, which is information which includes your identity; the type, terms and maximum amount of credit provided to you, including when that credit was provided and when it was repaid; repayment history information, default information (including overdue payments); payment information; new arrangement information; details of any serious credit infringements; court proceedings information; personal insolvency information and publicly available information; and
• Credit eligibility information, which is credit reporting information supplied to us by a credit reporting body, and any information that we derive from it.
  

You have a choice whether or not to supply us with the information we request, however if we do not receive all information that we require in connection with your application we may not be able to process your eligibility for and make any etika Services available to you.

Cookies

When you use our website or mobile applications we may collect information about your location or activity including IP address, telephone number and whether you have accessed third party sites, the date and time of visits, the pages that are viewed, information about the device used and other user location information. We collect some of this information using cookies For more information please our Website Terms of Use/Policy at www.etika.com/au.

Why we collect your personal information?

We only collect, hold and handle information about you that is reasonably necessary for us to perform our business activities or if required by law, court, or tribunal order.We may use Personal Information we collect about you for a number of purposes including but not limited to:

• assess your eligibility for and provide etika Services;
• notifying you about changes to our products and services;
• manage our relationship with you;
• collect and recover money owed to us;
• analyse and improve etika Services;
• comply with our legal obligations;
• deliver targeted marketing; and
• use for other purposes to which you have consented.

How do we collect your personal information?

Where reasonable and practical we will collect your personal information directly from you. This can include when you:

• visit any page or log in to our website;
• submit applications and other forms through our online services, by email, verbally and/or in hard copy;
• opt into our marketing communications;
• interact with us on social media sites; and/or
• register for job alert on our website.

We may also collect information about you from other sources, for example from:

• public registers or social media;
• public or commercial information service providers (such as business, government and credit information providers);
• our retailers;
• credit card payment service providers; and
• other third parties assisting us to process etika Services, confirming information, or assisting us to locate and communicate with you.

Do we disclose your personal information?

We may disclose your personal information for purposes for which it was collected or as permitted by Privacy Law. Parties who we may disclose information to include:

• our related entities in Australia and overseas;
• partners, suppliers and service providers who help with our business operations including, identity verification, fraud prevention, payment collection, call centre operators, debt recovery, claims related providers, printing and postal services, and technology services;
• partners and suppliers that are in financial and payment systems such as banks, credit providers and credit card associations;
• our retailers to allow them to provide you with goods or services, respond to a complaint or query by you, or assist them to improve the quality and service they provide to you;
• Credit reporting bodies and collections agencies;
• other borrowers and guarantors (if more than one);
• auditors, insurers, re-insurers and health care providers;
• investors, agents or advisers, trustees or rating agencies;
• your nominated authorised representatives and referees;
• government agencies or officials, law enforcement or other third parties where we are required, compelled or authorised to do so by law;
• organisations that provide products or services used or marketed by us; or
• prospective funders or other intermediaries in relation to your requirements;
• other third parties you have consented us to do so.

If you fail to meet your payment obligations in relation to any etika Services that we have provided or arranged or you have committed a serious credit infringement then we may disclose this information to a credit reporting body.Prior to disclosing any of your personal information to another person or organisation, we will take all reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that:

• the person or organisation has a commitment to protecting your personal information at least equal to our commitment, or
• you have consented to us making the disclosure.

Direct marketing

From time to time we may use your personal information to provide you with current information about etika Services, offers you may find of interest, changes to our organisation, or new products or services being offered by us or any company with whom we are associated.

If you do not wish to receive marketing information, you may at any time decline to receive such information by telephoning us on 1300 324 737 or by writing to us at PO Box 606 North Sydney NSW 2059.  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.

Access and correction to your personal and credit information

It is important to us that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading and take reasonable steps to ensure this. You have a right to access and seek correction of your personal information, including credit-related information that is held by us. This is subject to some exceptions specified under Privacy Law.

We will generally rely on you to ensure the information we hold about you is accurate or complete, and we may ask you to inform us if any of your personal information has changed during the course of our relationship with you.

If at any time you would like to access or amend the personal information we hold about you please contact us by telephoning us on 1300 324 737 or by writing to us at PO Box 606 North Sydney NSW 2059. 

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 or credit-related information within 30 days. 

We may need to consult with other finance providers or credit reporting bodies or entities as part of our investigation. 

There may be situations where we are not required to provide you with access to your personal or credit-related information, for example, if the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings, if your request is vexatious or if the information is commercially sensitive.

A written explanation will be provided to you if we deny you access to the personal or credit-related information we hold about you explaining the reasons for the refusal and details of ways in which you can raise a complaint.

If you believe that you may have been a victim of fraud you can contact the following credit reporting body for more information:

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.

How safe and secure is your personal information that we hold?

We will take a range of measures and reasonable steps to protect your personal information. Your personal information will always be stored 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.

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 and the Credit Reporting Code, you may contact our Complaints Officer on 1300 324 737.We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days and aim to resolve the complaint as quickly as possible.  We will provide you with a decision on your complaint within 30 days.If you are dissatisfied with the response of our Complaints Officer you may refer your complaint to our Australian External Dispute Resolution Scheme, Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) which can be contacted on either www.afca.org.au or 1800 931 678, or to the independent privacy regulator by contacting them on the below details:

Further information

Please contact us if you would like more information on our approach to privacy or about the way we manage your personal or credit-related information.