Privacy Statement

La Trobe University Credit Union Co-operative Limited ABN 93 087 651 536 is committed to the protection of your personal information. The Privacy Act 1988 now applies to the private sector, which in general must observe the National Privacy Principles, which have effect from 21 December 2001. The Credit Union, although it was not required to do so by law, has voluntarily agreed to be bound by the National Privacy Principles.

Personal information means information or an opinion (including when in a database), whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.

This statement explains how we collect, use, disclose and store your personal information. We will use or disclose your personal information only as set out in this statement, and for a purpose you would reasonably expect, or for a purpose required or authorised by law, or for a purpose otherwise disclosed to or authorised by you.

We/us
In this policy we use "we or us" to mean La Trobe University Credit Union Co-operative Limited.

Collection and Use of Personal Information
By applying to become a member of the Credit Union, or if you apply for any of our products or services, or if you act as a guarantor you agree that:

1. Personal information about you provided at any time to us may be held and used by us to assess and process the application, to establish, provide and administer the facility and to execute your instructions.
   
2. In assessing your application (or, if relevant, in assessing whether to accept you as a guarantor), we may seek and obtain personal information about you from a credit reporting agency or other financial institution and may give personal information about you to another financial institution.
   
3. We may hold and use personal information about you which may at any time be provided to us in connection with a facility for which you make application to us, for the purposes (as relevant) of:
   • considering any other application you may make to us;
   • complying with legislative and regulatory requirements;
   • performing administrative functions, including accounting, risk management, record keeping, archiving, systems development, credit scoring and staff training;
   • managing our rights and obligations in relation to external payment systems;
     conducting market or customer satisfaction research;
   • developing, establishing and administering alliances and other arrangements (including rewards programs) with other organisations in relation to the promotion, administration and use of our respective products and services;
   • developing and identifying products and services that may interest you; and
     (unless you ask us not to) providing you with information about other products and services.
     
4. We can collect personal information about you, which is sensitive information (such as information about health status, membership of a professional or trade association or a criminal record).
   
5. The Corporations Act 2001 (Cwth) requires us to obtain your name and address when you become a member of the Credit Union. If a facility for which you make application to us is an 'account', as defined in the Financial Transactions Reports Act 1988, the collection by us of some information to verify your identity and address is required by that Act. Otherwise, the collection of information about you, especially information that assists us to identify you, is not required by law, but without it, we may not be able to provide you with the facility for which you apply.
   
6. All personal information we collect is required and used for a particular business purpose or purposes.

Disclosure of Personal Information
With your consent and depending on the type of product or service we provide to you, it may be necessary to disclose some or all of your personal information to the following parties:

1. Credit reporting agencies;
   
2. Other financial institutions;
   
3. Mortgage insurers used by us and re-insurers of any mortgage insurer;
   Our agents, contractors and external advisers (including Credit Union Services Corporation (Australia) Limited) whom we engage from time to time to carry out, or advise on, our functions and activities;
   
4. Your agents and contractors, including your finance broker, legal adviser, financial adviser, builder and settlement agent;
   
5. Your executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or attorney;
   
6. Your referees, including your employer;
   
7. Regulatory bodies, government agencies, law enforcement bodies and courts;
   
8. Any person who introduces you to us;
   
9. Other organisations (including Credit Union Services Corporation (Australia) Limited) with whom we have alliances or arrangements (including rewards programs) for the purpose of promoting our respective products and services, and any agents used by us and our business partners in administering such an arrangement or alliance;
   
10. Anyone supplying goods or services to you in connection with a rewards program associated with a facility;
    
11. Debt collecting agencies;
    
12. External payment systems operators;
    
13. Your insurers or prospective insurers and their underwriters;
    
14. Your sureties and guarantors and prospective sureties and guarantors;
    
15. An organisation proposing to fund the acquisition of, or to acquire, any interest in any obligation you may owe us (whether under a loan, guarantee or security), that organisation's agents, persons involved in assessing the risks and funding of the acquisition and, after acquisition, the purchaser and any manager;
    
16. Any person to the extent necessary, in our view, in order to carry out any instruction you give to us;
    
17. (Unless you tell us not to) our related bodies corporate for the marketing of their products and services; and
    
18. our legal advisers.

Personal Information about Third Parties
Whenever you supply us with personal information about another person (for example, a referee), you will be required to say whether the person has agreed that you may do so and you agree to inform that person who we are, that we will use and disclose their personal information for the purposes set out above, and that they can gain access to that information.

Access to Your Personal Information

1. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete (for our purposes) and up-to-date.
   
2. You may access personal information that we hold about you at any time by asking us. Depending on the nature of your request, information will be provided to you within 14 to 30 days.
   
3. There is no charge for lodging a request for access to your personal information. However, we may charge you a reasonable fee for processing your request.
   
4. Access will be denied to your personal information in the following circumstances:
   
   • Where providing access will pose a serious threat to life or health of anyone or pose an unreasonable impact on another's privacy.
   • Where access would be unlawful, may prejudice an investigation of unlawful activity, may prejudice enforcement of laws, denying access is specially authorised by law or where access may be prejudicial to our negotiations with an individual.
   • Your request for access is frivolous or vexatious

Personal Information Security
The Credit Union will take reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information collected is stored in a secure and safe environment. We have put in place appropriate physical and electronic procedures to protect your personally identifiable information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure.

We will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed for the purpose(s) for which it may be used or disclosed under this policy.

Web Site and Internet Banking
The Credit Union may use its web site to collect information about visitors to the site by the use of "cookies". Cookies are text files we place in your computer's browser to store your preferences. Cookies do not tell us your email address or other personally identifiable information. We only collect statistical information regarding such occurrences as the number of visitors over a period, time spent online and documents downloaded, to name a few. The site is secure.

Direct Link, the Credit Unions Internet Banking System, uses a range of security techniques to help protect your personal information. This includes the latest and strongest 128-bit SSL data encryption technology to help provide the best protection currently available for your password and account details and any other information exchanged with Direct Link.

Direct Marketing
You may at any time advise us that you do not wish to receive any direct marketing communication from us. You may notify the Credit Union in person at any branch or by letter, or facsimile the details for which are indicated at the end of this document. In such a notice, you should include your name, address and membership number so that we may correctly identify the information to be accessed.

Correction of Information
The Credit Union tries to ensure all information collected, stored or disclosed is accurate, complete and up to date. Should your personal information change, please notify us as soon as possible.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may amend this policy from time to time. Not all changes will require your consent, for example where office procedures are changed. We will notify you of any change to our procedures for managing personal information that requires your consent before being implemented.

Complaints
If you have any concerns, questions or complaints about the Privacy Statement or about the personal information we collect, use or disclose about you, in the first instance please contact the Privacy Complaints Officer of the Credit Union at:

La Trobe University Credit Union Co-operative Limited
ABN 93 087 651 536
Upper Southern Agora,
La Trobe University,
Bundoora, Victoria 3083
Email:
Telephone: 03 9478 8222
Fax: 03 9479 3680

If you are not satisfied with our response you may refer your complaint to the Australian Privacy Commissioner who may be contacted at:

Level 8, Piccadilly Tower,
133 Castlereagh Street SYDNEY NSW 2000
Postal Address: GPO Box 5218 SYDNEY NSW 1042
Web: www.privacy.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
Fax: 02 9284 9666