About Us Privacy
Your Consent
When you apply for membership, accounts, products and services, you agree that we may collect, use and disclose your personal information consistent with the disclosures contained in our Privacy Policy as follows and as is amended from time to time.
Our Commitment
As a member of the Credit Union we will collect personal information about you. In handling your personal information, Illawarra Credit Union is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988, the National Privacy Principles and the Credit Union Code of Practice.
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is information about and which identifies individuals. It includes information provided by you to the Credit Union as well as any information about you obtained from any other source. For example, should you apply for a loan or to act as a guarantor it may include information about credit worthiness, credit standing and history and credit capacity. Should the Credit Union need to collect any sensitive personal information, for example health information for an insurance claim, this will only be with your knowledge and consent. Sensitive personal information will be used only for the purpose for which it was provided to us and will be handled at all times in the strictest of confidence.
How We Collect Your Personal Information
We collect personal information from you when you apply for membership and when you apply for and use the accounts, products and services available through us. The information comes from details provided to us by you either in person, in writing, over the phone, when visiting our web page or when using any electronic access methods. There are also situations when we may need to collect information about you from other parties. When we do this we take all reasonable steps to ensure that this information is correct and that you are aware that we are seeking this information and why. For example, this could involve sourcing credit worthiness information from a credit reporting agency after obtaining your consent on a loan application form.
Why We Collect and Use Your Personal Information
We collect information to enable us to:
- Provide membership benefits to you;
- Provide you with the products and services you require;
- Provide you with information about products and services available to you from Illawarra Credit Union and associated organisations, including information about discounts, and special offers; and
- For related purposes.
We will not collect or use your personal information for anything else without your knowledge and consent.
Ensuring the Security and Protection of Your Personal Information
The Credit Union will do whatever it reasonably can to ensure that any personal information we have about you is accurate, complete and up to date and to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The Credit Union has extensive data, records and computer security arrangements in place that are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that your records and transactions, no matter how they are stored or conducted, are safe and secure. Also, all employees of the Credit Union are fully trained on privacy matters and sign confidentiality agreements as part of their employment conditions. Personal information no longer required will be securely destroyed or de-identified. Wherever practical and lawful, the Credit Union will enable you to provide and request general information anonymously.
Providing your Personal Information to other Organisations
In providing our financial services and products to you, it may be necessary for us to disclose your personal information to other organisations. We only disclose your personal information to the extent required by law. The types of organisations that we can disclose your personal information to are:
When applying for a loan:
- Credit reporting agencies and other financial institutions that have previously lent you money but only with your consent at the time
- Brokers and agents who have referred your business to us
- Persons you name as referees, or your employer in loan applications
- Your solicitors or conveyancing agents
- Property valuers and insurers for property loans
- Lenders mortgage insurers
- Mortgage documentation service
- Companies involved in providing securitised mortgages, such as the trustee or manager of the securitisation program.
- Your guarantor
When enforcing a loan:
- Debt collection agencies
- Solicitors
- Process servers
- Courts of law with jurisdiction over the enforcement of debts and securities
When you make a complaint to us about our services or products:
- Our external dispute resolution centre.
When we engage contractors for statement printing and mail out, card and cheque production, market research or direct marketing, these contractors are all subject to confidentiality agreements with us and cannot use your personal information except for our purposes.
When we have an arrangement with a third party product supplier, we provide those third parties with information in order to provide information to you about their services and products.
Marketing and Direct Marketing Activities
We may provide you with information from time to time about products and services available to you from Illawarra Credit Union or other businesses with whom we have a relationship, unless you indicate to us that you do not want to receive such information. Where we direct market to you, your consent is required for the use of your personal information in this manner. Your consent to our providing this information to you will be implied unless you notify us that you don't wish to receive this information. Therefore, to receive this additional service you need not do anything. You will still receive notices required under law and general marketing materials, both of which may be included in a Members' Newsletter or other document. You will also continue to receive marketing materials in response to your specific enquiries.
What if You Do Not Wish to Provide Us With Any Personal Information
In order to provide accounts, products and services to you we require information about you either to meet legal obligations or to enable us to provide you with that facility. If you choose not to provide us with the information we require we may not be able to accept your application for membership or provide products or services to you. In some cases it may be possible to proceed without all of the standard personal information we normally require. To determine whether all information must be provided in relation to a particular account, product or service or your particular circumstances, please ask.
Your Rights to Access Your Personal Information
Subject to the provisions of the Privacy Act, you may access the personal information we hold about you. If you believe the information is incomplete, incorrect or not up-to-date, you may request us to amend the information. To request access to your personal information, send a written request addressed to the Privacy Officer requesting access. In your letter, clearly identify yourself and indicate if there is any particular information that you are seeking, or any particular concerns that you would like specifically addressed to ensure that we provide you with the information you require in the quickest timeframe. In any case, all requests will be acknowledged in writing and will be fulfilled within ten business days, unless we advise you of a delay and a reason for that delay. Prior to providing you with access to the information requested, you will need to provide proof of identity. The cost to provide access to the information you request will be advised to you when your request is acknowledged. In all cases, this charge will only be to recover the costs involved in providing you with access and wherever possible will be free of charge. If the same information has already been provided to you and has not changed since that time, you will be advised of this and not provided with further copies unless you specifically request further copies and agree to any costs involved in their provision. Note that copies of past transaction forms, applications and statements normally requested for commercial reasons will not be provided as part of the personal information accessed in this manner and should be requested as a standard Document Copy Request with the applicable fee.
Call, Email and Branch Monitoring
Like many other financial institutions, the Credit Union utilises video surveillance in all of its branches for insurance and security purposes. Your activities whilst in our branches may therefore be observed and recorded. Phone calls and emails may also be monitored and recorded as permitted under law. Monitoring and recording of telephone conversations occurs for staff training and service quality control purposes. Should you wish for your call not to be monitored or recorded, please advise us at the commencement of a call.
Web Page Privacy
When you navigate through our website, our systems could collect the following information: the date and time the site was accessed, the number of users who have accessed the site, the navigation path through the site, the number of pages accessed, and details of any information requested. We collect nothing that could be used to identify individual visitors to our website. All information collected is used for statistical purposes only, to measure the effectiveness and usefulness of the site for our members. Like many other websites, we may use 'cookies' to collect statistical data. Cookies are small e-files, which are stored on your computer when you access certain sites. Cookies can also be used to increase security. Any cookies which we store on your PC cannot read data from your PC, cannot make your PC perform a certain action and cannot obtain any configuration information from your internet browser. We may also from time to time allow third parties to collect statistical information from our website using 'persistent cookies'. These cookies do not obtain any information to identify you and are used only to measure the effectiveness of our marketing and delivery systems. Any information that we do ask you to supply to us via our website passes through our secure server using 128-bit SSL encryption. This encrypts (ie scrambles) your information to ensure that it cannot be improperly accessed by other internet users during transmission. Once the data is stored, it is further protected from unauthorised access via the use of multiple network firewalls, password management and user authentication systems. To ensure that you are aware of the privacy issues related to web page use, we have disclosed on our website the above information as well as our whole Privacy Policy.
Personal Information about Others Provided by You
Should you provide any personal information about other people (for instance, referees) to the Credit Union you must do so only with their authority. You agree to advise them that you have provided us with their information and the purpose for which we will collect, use and disclose it and how to contact us to request more information about, or a copy of, our Privacy Policy.
Further Information or Privacy Concerns or Complaints
Should you require further information about our Privacy Policy or how to access your personal information, please contact your branch or Illawarra Direct on 13 22 49. If you have concerns about the manner in which your personal information is collected, used or disclosed, please ask to speak to an Executive Manager of the Credit Union or send a letter in addressed to the Privacy Officer.
Privacy Disputes
We offer an internal dispute resolution procedure that is readily accessible to members and free of charge under the Mutual Banking Code of Practice. If you are still not satisfied after raising your complaint with senior management, please ask to speak to the Credit Union's Dispute Resolution Officer (DRO), who is also our Privacy Officer. The DRO has a wide range of powers to fully investigate and resolve disputes, including those related to privacy and is available to help you. All complaints will be promptly and courteously dealt with. The DRO can also provide you with details of the free, independent external dispute resolution processes available to you if you are still unsatisfied with the outcome. Contact the DRO by:
- Phone 132 249 and ask for the Privacy Officer or Dispute Resolution Officer.
- Mail addressed to the Privacy Officer or Dispute Resolution Officer, Locked Bag 29 WOLLONGONG 2521.
- Email: enquiries@illawarra.cu.com.au marked Attention to the Privacy or Dispute Resolution Officer.
- You are not obliged to pursue a dispute with the credit union using our internal dispute resolution procedure.
- You may use the external dispute resolution mechanism available to credit union members.
- You may commence legal proceedings before, after or at the same time as using the internal dispute resolution procedure.
- The Credit Union's participation in the internal dispute resolution procedure is not a waiver of any rights it may have under the law, or under any contract between you and the credit union.
External Dispute Resolution Mechanism
The Credit Union Dispute Resolution Centre (CUDRC) was established in 1996 to assist credit unions and their members resolve complaints in a fair, timely and cost-effective manner. The CUDRC provides independent and impartial consideration of your complaint at no cost and without prejudice. You can contact the CUDRC if you are dissatisfied with the Credit Union's response to your complaint, or if the Credit Union has failed to respond to your complaint after three months. PLease note that the CUDRC cannot look into a complaint if you have not first attempted to resolve it directly with the Credit Union. You are under no obligation to accept a decision made by the CUDRC, however if you accept a decision issued by the CUDRC then that decision will become binding upon both parties. There is no cost to you for the services provided by the CUDCR and you can withdraw from the dispute resolution process at any time. The CUDRC's phone number for more information or to discuss a complaint is 1800 624 241.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
The Credit Union may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time for any reason. We will publish these changes on our website and by whatever other means the Credit Union decides is appropriate. This Privacy Policy was issued on 21 December 2001.
Direct Marketing Opt Out Request
If you no longer wish to receive direct marketing information, send an email to marketing@cu.com.au with your name, membership number and complete address details. We will process this instruction as soon as we receive it, however there will be circumstances from time to time where we are unable to stop that particular contact with you immediately, but will do so as soon as possible.