Who are we?
‘We’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to Green Finance Group Pty Ltd ACN 145 035 221, authorised under LMG Broker Services Pty Ltd ACN 632 405 504 Australian Credit Licence 517192, located at Level 1 / 161 Robertson Street Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, 4006 trading as Green Finance Group.
Our commitment to protect your privacy
We understand how important it is to protect your personal information. This document sets out our privacy policy commitment in respect of personal information we hold about you and what we do with that information.
We recognise that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes we have collected it 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 that ensures protection of your personal information.
Our commitment in respect of personal information is to abide by the Australian Privacy Principles for the protection of personal information, as set out in the Privacy Act and any other relevant law.
What information do we collect?
We collect most personal information directly from you, whether in person, on the phone, electronically or if you deal with us in some other way.
When we refer to personal information we mean information or an opinion from which your identity is reasonably apparent. Typically this will refer to:
Credit related information – information which is used to assess your eligibility to be provided with finance and may include any finance that you have outstanding, your repayment history in respect of those loans, and any defaults. Usually, credit information is exchanged between credit and finance providers and credit reporting bodies.
Identification Information – this may include your name, date of birth, address, account details, occupation, and any other information we may need to identify you.If we collect government identifiers, such as your tax file number, we do not use or disclose this information other than required by law. We will never use a government identifier in order to identify you.
Financial information – information required for making credit-related decisions, such as credit reports from credit reporting bodies (CRBs), bank account information, employment status, income and expenses, assets and liabilities and credit and loan repayment history. We may also collect the ages and number of your dependants and cohabitants as part of any finance application.
Sensitive Information – the personal information we collect may also include sensitive information — such as information about your religion, ethnicity, health or criminal record. The Privacy Act protects your sensitive information and we will generally only collect this information from you if it is reasonably necessary and with your consent.
Why we collect your information
We collect your personal information for the purposes of assessing your application for finance and managing that finance. This allows us to:
- verify your identity;
- assist you in obtaining approval or the provision of a product or service;
- provide the products and services you require and assist in managing these over time;
- contact you, for example if we need to tell you something important;
- conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness and for fraud;
- manage our risks and help identify and investigate illegal activity;
- research and develop our products or services provided
- help us manage our relationship with you, including, for example, dealing with any feedback, disputes or enquiries or ;
- conduct and improve our businesses and improve your customer experience;
- comply with our legal obligations and assist government and law enforcement agencies or regulators
- provide you with current information about finance, 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 (see below for more details)
Direct marketing
From time to time we may use your personal information to provide you with current information about finance, 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 this marketing information, you can make us aware at any time by telephoning us on 07 3899 2866 or by emailing us here. If the direct marketing is by email you may also use the unsubscribe function.
How we collect your personal information
We may collect personal information in a number of ways, including:
- directly from you, such as when you provide information to your broker, in application forms or when you submit your personal details through our website;
- from your joint applicants, co-applicants or guarantors;
- when you visit our websites;
- from third parties such as social media platforms, marketing websites, related companies, or CRBs;
- from your representatives, e.g. solicitors, accountants, conveyancers, builders, agents;
- from referral partners, who refer your business to us or;
- when legally required to do so — for example, in the provision of specific credit services.
How we disclose your personal information
We may disclose your personal information to:
- Australian Banks, non-bank lenders and providers of credit, financial or insurance services;
- to other organisations that are involved in managing or administering your finance such as third party suppliers, printing and postal services, call centres;
- to associated businesses that may want to market products to you;
- to companies that provide information and infrastructure systems to us;
- to anybody who represents you, such as finance brokers, lawyers and accountants;
- to anyone, where you have provided us consent;
- where we are required to do so by law, such as under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth);
- to investors, agents or advisers, or any entity that has an interest in our business; or
- to your employer, referees or identity verification services.
Prior to disclosing any of your personal information to another person or organisation, we will take all reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that:
(a) the person or organisation has a commitment to protecting your personal information at least equal to our commitment, or
(b) you have consented to us making the disclosure.
Transfer of Information Overseas
We may disclose personal information to our related entities, third party suppliers and service providers located overseas for some of the purposes listed above. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipients of your personal information do not breach the privacy obligations relating to your personal information.
Further, we will only transfer personal information we have collected about you overseas, if permitted to do so under the Australian Privacy Principles.
We may disclose your personal information to entities located outside of Australia, including the following:
- our data hosting and other IT service providers, located in various countries; and
- other third parties located in various foreign countries, including New Zealand, the Philippines & USA.
Your personal information may also be stored in the cloud in an overseas country. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it is not always practicable to know in which country your information may be held.
In the event that a disclosure is made in an overseas country, while they will often be subject to confidentiality or privacy obligations, they will not always follow the particular requirements of Australian privacy laws.
How do we hold and protect your information?
We strive to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We keep personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements.
We hold the information we collect from you initially in a working file, which when completed is electronically imaged and stored, after which any paper is destroyed. In some cases, your file is archived and sent to an external data storage provider for a period of time. We only use storage providers located in Australia who are also regulated by the Privacy Act.
We ensure that your information is safe by protecting it from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data and premises, by using locks and security systems. We also maintain computer and network security; for example, we use firewalls (security measures for the Internet) and other security systems such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to computer systems where your information is stored.
Will we disclose the information we collect to anyone?
We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others.
We may need to provide your information to contractors who supply services to us, e.g. to handle mailings on our behalf, external data storage providers or to other companies in the event of a corporate sale, merger, re-organisation, dissolution or similar event. However, we will take reasonable measures to ensure that they protect your information as required under the Privacy Act.
We may provide your information to others if we are required to do so by law, you consent to the disclosure or under some unusual other circumstances which the Privacy Act permits.
How can you check, update or change the information we are holding?
Upon receipt of your written request and enough information to allow us to identify the information, we will disclose to you the personal information we hold about you. We will also correct, amend or delete any personal information that we agree is inaccurate, irrelevant, out of date or incomplete.
If you wish to access or correct your personal information, please write to:
Attention: Privacy Officer
Green Finance Group
PO Box 1797
New Farm Qld 4005
We do not charge for receiving a request for access to personal information or for complying with a correction request. Where the information requested is not a straightforward issue and will involve a considerable amount of time, then a charge will need to be confirmed for responding to the request for the information.
In some limited cases, we may need to refuse access to your information, or refuse a request for correction. We will advise you as soon as possible after your request if this is the case and the reasons for our refusal.
What happens if you want to complain?
If you have concerns about whether we have complied with the Privacy Act or this Privacy Policy when collecting or handling your personal information, please write to:
Attention: Privacy Officer
Green Finance Group
PO Box 1797
New Farm Qld 4005
We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days. 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 make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner which can be contacted on either www.oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992.
You may also request further information about the way we manage your personal information by contacting us.
Website information and content
The information provided on this website does not cover all aspects of the law on the relevant subject matter. Professional advice should be sought before any action is taken based upon the matters described and discussed on this site.
To the extent permitted by law, we make no representations about the suitability of the content of this site for any purpose. All content is provided without any warranty of any kind. We disclaim all warranties and conditions with regard to the content, including but not limited to all implied warranties and conditions of fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.
We will not be liable for any damages or injury caused by, including but not limited to, any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, defect, delay in operation of transmission, computer virus, or line failure. To the extent permitted by law we will not be liable for any damages or injury, including but not limited to, special or consequential damages that result from the use of, or the inability to use, the materials in this site.
We believe the content of this site to be accurate, complete and current; however there are no warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the content. It is your responsibility to verify any information before relying on it. The content of this site may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.
We reserve the right to modify the content of this site from time to time.
Anonymous data
We use technology to collect anonymous information about the use of our website, for example when you browse our website our service provider logs your server address, the date and time of your visit, the pages and links accessed and the type of browser used. It does not identify you personally and we only use this information for statistical purposes and to improve the content and functionality of our website, to better understand our clients and markets and to improve our services.
Cookies
In order to collect this anonymous data we may use “cookies”. Cookies are small pieces of information which are sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Sometimes they identify users where the website requires information to be retained from one page to the next. This is purely to increase the functionality of the site. Cookies by themselves cannot be used to discover the identity of the user. Cookies do not damage your computer and you can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie so that you can decide if you want to accept it. Once you leave the site, the cookie is destroyed and no personal or other information about you is stored.
Forms – Our Website allows visitors to submit information via Self-Service forms (Enquiry Forms, Contact requests).
Information collected via on-line forms is sent to our offices via EMAIL (not encrypted) and is also stored on a database that is accessible by Green Finance Group staff only (password protected).
We may also use your information to send you requested product information and promotional material and to enable us to manage your ongoing requirements, e.g. refinancing after loan expiration, and our relationship with you, e.g. invoicing, client surveys etc.
We may occasionally notify you via direct marketing about new services and special offers, events or articles we think will be of interest to you. We may send you regular updates by email or by post on insurance matters. If you would rather not receive this information or do not wish to receive it electronically, email or write to us.
We may use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.
Tell us what you think
We welcome your questions and comments about privacy. If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact us on telephone number 07 3899 2866 or click here to email.