Privacy commitment, respecting your privacy

This Privacy Policy is relevant to Oakwood Finance.

We understand how important it is to protect your personal information. This document sets out our privacy policy commitment in respect of personal information that you may provide to us.

Our Privacy Policy ensures your right to privacy as we recognise that any personal information we may collect about you will only be used for the purposes indicated in our policy. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we collect from you or is received by us, will be treated with appropriate respect ensuring protection of your personal information.

By providing personal information to us, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your information in accordance with this Policy and any other arrangements that apply between us.

This Policy also includes our credit reporting policy, that is, it covers additional information on how we manage your personal information collected in connection with a credit application, or a credit facility. We refer to this credit-related information below as credit information.

Oakwood Finance is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and any other relevant laws when handling your personal information. A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.aoic.gov.au.

What personal information do we collect and hold?

General information

The types of information that we collect and hold about you could include:

• ID information such as your name, postal or email address, telephone numbers, and date of birth;
• Loan account numbers and loan account balances;
• Other contact details such as social media handles; and
• Other information we think is necessary relating to the services we provide.

Over the course of our relationship with you, we may collect and hold additional personal information about you, including transactional information, complaint or enquiries about products or services.

When the law authorises or requires us to collect information

We may collect information about you because we are required or authorised by law to collect it. There are laws which require us to collect personal information. For example, we require personal information to verify your identity under Australian Anti-Money Laundering law.

What do we collect via your website activity?

If you’re an internet customer of ours, we monitor your use of internet services to ensure we can verify you and can receive information from us, and to identify ways we can improve our services for you.

If you start but don’t submit an on-line application, we can contact you using any of the contact details you’ve supplied to offer help completing it. The information in applications will be kept temporarily then destroyed if the application is not completed.

We also know that some customers like to engage with us through social media channels. We may collect information about you when you interact with us through these channels. However, for all confidential matters, we’ll ensure we interact with you via a secure forum.

To improve our services and products, we sometimes collect de-identified information from web users. That information could include IP addresses or geographical information to ensure your use of our web applications is secure.

We also collect de-identified information if you use one of our calculators or other programs. Although the information collected does not identify an individual, it does provide us with useful statistics so that we can analyse and improve our online services. We also collect de-identified information from the online interactions of users who are not customers that use our web services. Much of this data collection is done through the use of cookies and used to improve our services and enhance users web experience with us e.g. website statistics and does not identify individual customers but does identify internet browser. Where we do identify you (such as where customers are supplying us with information), we treat any use or disclosure in accordance with this policy.

How do we collect your personal information?

How we collect and hold your information

Unless it’s unreasonable or impracticable, we will try to collect personal information directly from you (referred to as ‘solicited information’). For this reason, it’s important that you help us to do this and keep your contact details up-to date.

There are a number of ways in which we may seek information from you. We might collect your information when you fill out a form with us, when you’ve given us a call or used our website. We also find using electronic means, such as email or SMS, a convenient way to communicate with you and to verify your details.

How we collect your information 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 the loan or lease made available to you arising out of the services we provide you;
• we can’t get hold of you and we rely on public information to update your contact details; or
• we exchange information with your legal or financial advisers or other representatives.

What if you don’t want to provide us with your personal information?

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

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

How we collect and hold your credit information

We will collect your credit information in the course of you answering the enquiries we make of you relating to the credit assistance you seek from us. In addition to what we say above about collecting information from other sources, other main sources for collecting credit information are:

• your co-loan applicants or co-borrowers;
• your guarantors/proposed guarantors;
• your employer, accountant, real estate agent or other referees;
• your agents and other representatives like the person who referred your business to us, your solicitors, conveyancers and settlement agents;
• organisations that help us to process credit applications;
• organisations that check the security you are offering such as valuers;
• bodies that issue identification documents to help us check your identity; and
• our service providers involved in helping us to process any application you make for credit through us.

What do we do when we get information we didn’t ask for?

Sometimes, people share information with us we haven’t sought out (referred to as ‘unsolicited information’). Where we receive unsolicited personal information about you, we will check whether that information is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities. If it is, we’ll handle this information the same way we do with other information we seek from you. If not, we’ll ensure we do the right thing and destroy or de-identify it.

When will we notify you that we have received your information?

When we receive personal information from you directly, we’ll take reasonable steps to notify you how and why we collected your information, who we may disclose it to and outline how you can access it, seek correction of it or make a complaint.

Sometimes we collect your personal information from third parties. You may not be aware that we have done so. If we collect information that can be used to identify you, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of that collection.

How do we take care of your personal information?

We store information in different ways, including in paper and electronic form. The security of your personal information is important to us and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Some of the ways we do this are:

• document storage security policies;
• security measures for access to our systems; and
• only giving access to personal information to a person who is verified to be able to receive that information.

We may store personal information physically or electronically with third party data storage providers. Where we do this, we use contractual arrangements to ensure those providers take appropriate measures to protect that information and restrict the uses to which they can put that information.

What happens when we no longer need your information?

We’ll only keep your information for as long as we require it for our purposes. We may be required to keep some of your information for certain periods of time under law. When we no longer require your information, we’ll ensure that your information is destroyed or de-identified.

Sensitive Information

Sensitive information is any information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical benefits, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or health information.

We will not ask you to disclose sensitive information, but if you elect to provide sensitive information it will be captured and stored.

How we use your personal information

What are the main reasons we collect, hold and use your information?

Collecting your personal information allows us to provide you with the products and services you’ve asked for. This means we can use your information to:

• give you credit assistance;
• give you information about loan products or related services;
• consider whether you are eligible for a loan or lease or any related service you requested;
• assist you to prepare an application for a lease or a loan;
• administer services we provide, for example, to answer requests or deal with complaints; and
• administer payments we receive, or any payments we make, relating to your loan or lease.

Can we use your information for marketing our products and services?

We may use or disclose your personal information to let you know about other products or services we or a third party make available and that may be of interest to you.

We will always let you know that you can opt-out from receiving marketing offers.

With your consent, we may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purpose of connecting you with other businesses or customers. You can ask us not to do this at any time. We won’t sell your personal information to any organisation.

Yes, You Can Opt-Out

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 are the other ways we use your information?

We’ve just told you some of the main reasons why we collect your information, so here’s some more insight into the ways we use your personal information including:

• identifying you;
• telling you about other products or services we make available and that may be of interest to you, unless you tell us not to;
• allowing us to run our business efficiently and perform general administrative tasks;
• preventing 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.

Contact Us

We care about your privacy. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about our privacy policies and procedures.

We welcome your feedback.

You can contact us by using the details below:

Oakwood Finance
hello@oakwoodfinance.com.au

What do we do with government-related identifiers?

In certain circumstances we may be required to collect government-related identifiers such as your tax file number. We will not use or disclose this information unless we are authorised by law.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Policy may change. We will let you know of any changes to this Policy by email should you require a copy of our Privacy Policy please specify the manner in which you would like to receive it and a copy will be sent to you.

Updated Aug, 2024