Privacy

In handling your personal information, the Credit Union is committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988, the National Privacy Principles and the Mutual Banking Code of Practice.

The National Privacy Principles also form part of this Privacy Policy and are available on the Privacy Commission’s website at www.privacy.gov.au.

Our Commitment to Privacy

The Credit Union understands the importance you attach to information that identifies you (‘personal information’), and protecting the confidentiality of that information is fundamental to the way we do business. We treat very seriously the ongoing trust you have in us to keep information we have about you private and confidential.

This Privacy Policy relates to all personal information you may provide to us as you do business with us, and will be used to safeguard your privacy, unless you give us permission to use your information in another way. In summary, this Policy controls how we collect, use, store and disclose personal information about you.

If you have any questions relating to this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact our office on (08) 8088 2199.

Personal Information:

What Information do we collect?

In carrying on our business, the Credit Union must collect certain personal information that is necessary to establish a relationship with us and help you access our products and services.

The nature of personal information collected and maintained generally comprises your name, address, account numbers, contact details (including telephone, fax and e-mail), tax file number, date of birth, annual income and other financial details, place of work, credit history and transaction history.

What Information don’t we collect?

The personal information we collect does not usually comprise sensitive information or opinion about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal records or health information.

We must not collect the information is you instruct us not to. However, if you provide incomplete or inaccurate information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you are seeking where the information we need is relevant to the service.

Use of Personal Information

We collect your personal information for the primary purpose of servicing our relationship with you, for example, opening an account or seeking a loan.

We may also use or disclose your personal information for purposes secondary to the primary reason we collect it, such as:

  • Internal accounting & administration
  • Regulatory reporting & compliance
  • Protecting you & the Credit Union from error & fraud
  • Helping us to identify and inform you about other products or services that may be of benefit to you

We may also contract out some of our functions and activities. For example, we may provide names and addresses to a mailing house to mail account statements to you, or we may provide information to other third parties such as our Rewards Partners associated with the Credit Union MyCard MasterCard.

In these situations, we have sought assurances from the relevant third parties that they will not use personal information about you except for the specific purpose for which we supply it.

Your Consent to Disclosure

In certain circumstances, your consent will be obtained so that we can disclose your information.

Your consent is important, and can be express or implied.

Your express consent can be verbal or written. For example, when you sign an application for a loan, you are giving your express consent for us to obtain a credit reference about you from a credit-reporting agency. Another example of express consent is when you open an account and you agree to us sending you material about other products or special offers. We will continue to send you such information until you expressly instruct us not to.

You imply consent when we can reasonably conclude that you have given consent by some action you have taken, or when you decide not to take action. For example, when you request a cheque book, we disclose identifying information about you to a printer so that your cheque book can be personalized. Naturally, the confidentiality of your personal information is still maintained.

Security of Personal Information

The Credit Union stores your personal information with a strong emphasis on its security and the protection of your privacy. In considering the security of your personal information, the Credit Union has taken into account:

  • Physical security
    • All files containing personal information are secured in locked storage areas after hours and during business hours is stored in a “staff only” area when not in use. The Credit Union requires its staff to maintain clear desks when unattended.
    • All files containing personal information are accessible only by staff requiring them for the completion of specific duties
    • Inactive paper records are held for seven years in a secure area and at the end of the seven year period the paper records are destroyed.
  • Computer and network security
    • Access to the computer network is by user identification and password only. The system administrator can identify all users by their user identification
    • The system administrator regularly reviews computer logs for security breaches and reports any breaches to the relevant Manager
    • Computer files are regularly reviewed for continued relevance by a staff member with appropriate security clearance and where necessary deletion and purging of files no longer required is undertaken on a system wide basis.
    • Files are regularly backed up and saved at a separate and secure site
    • Network security includes firewall and virus protection and network intrusion detection systems
  • Communications security
    • No personal information is provided over the telephone or facsimile until the identity of the applicant is verified
    • Access to internet, telephone and mobile banking is password protected
  • Personnel security
    • Hard file and computer copies of unsuccessful applications for employment are filed in a secure area
    • Appropriate and lawful enquiries are made before an offer of employment is made to any persons (in line with the Credit Union’s Fit & Proper Policy)
    • Access to your personal information is given to staff strictly on the basis of their need to have access to the material in order to fulfill their function within the Credit Union.

Keeping your Information up-to-date

By keeping your information accurate and up-to-date, we can provide you with a better service. As such, we are committed to ensuring your personal information is accurate, complete and up-to-date whenever we collect or use it.

If at any time you find that the information we hold about you is incorrect, please contact our office on (08) 8088 2199 or call in and see us.

Access to your Personal Information

You may access specified personal information that we hold about you at any time by asking us. Specified information generally includes records of your address, occupation, marital status, age, sex, accounts with the Credit Union and balances and statements relating to those accounts.

Depending on the nature of your request, information will be provided to you within 14 to 30 days.

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 and supervising this access.

Access to your personal information will be denied 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.
  • Where your request for access is frivolous or vexatious.

Direct Marketing

We will use your personal information to provide you with information, specific promotions and products that may be of interest to you. We may also provide your details to our authorised agents with whom we have a business alliance or relationship for the purpose of these organizations marketing to you relevant products or services approved by us for this purpose.

You may at any time advise us that you do not wish to receive any direct marketing communication from us or our authorised agents. You may notify us in person at the branch or be letter, email or fax.

Complaints

If you have any concerns, questions or complaints about the Privacy Policy 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:

The Broken Hill Community Credit Union
2 Chloride Street
Broken Hill NSW 2880

Phone: (08) 8088 2199
Fax: (08) 8087 6730
Email: ann.grose@bhccu.com.au

If you are not satisfied with our response you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Contact details are available in the branch or can be supplied on request.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may amend this policy from time to time. Amended versions of the policy will be available at the Credit Union office and will be posted on the Credit Union’s website.

This Privacy Policy is made on behalf of The Broken Hill Community Credit Union Ltd and all references to “the Credit Union”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this statement refers to The Broken Hill Community Credit Union Ltd (ABN: 12 087 650 762).