Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Form”) applies to the collection, use, storage, and disclosure of personal information by RPS Energy Finance Pty Ltd A.C.N. 661 275 529 (“RPS Energy”) referred to as “we”, “our”, “us” and “RPS Energy”, and including our employees, contractors, agents, and assigns.

RPS Energy is committed to providing you with a quality service and handling your private information fairly and lawfully. We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles as set out in the Privacy Act.

RPS Energy Finance is a Credit Representative (CRN:548147) of Energy Lend Pty Ltd: ABN 30 625 772 787 (Australian Credit License 516776)

You can view the Energy Lend Privacy Policy at https://www.energylend.com.au/privacy.html

RPS Energy

RPS Energy offers finance solution services and maintains a website (the “Site”) which includes information about RPS Energy and the services we provide.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may collect personal information from you as required to provide you with access to the Site and to provide services to you, and as otherwise required by law. The personal information which we may collect may include but is not limited to.

• Information about your identity, such as name, address and contact details.
• Financial and credit information.
• Photographic information such as your identity documentation.
• Tax file numbers and prior tax returns.
• Visa, work permit or foreign investor status.
  
• Details of investment, superannuation, and insurance plans.
• Salary and employment history.
• Trust, company and other business and family structure documents; and
• IP address and information regarding what pages of the Site are accessed and when.

We will not collect sensitive information unless it is for the primary purpose of the service we are providing and with prior notice to you, unless otherwise required by law.

You acknowledge that the personal information which we collect is reasonably necessary for us to provide our services to you and/or for us to comply with our professional obligations. Although you have the option of not identifying yourself or using a pseudonym, we do not recommend this as it will greatly limit or prevent our ability to provide services to you.

Where reasonable and possible, we collect personal information directly from the individual to whom the personal information relates via methods such as client questionnaires, telephone conversations, email correspondence and face to face meetings. You acknowledge and agree that we may also collect personal information about you from other organisations for the purpose of providing our services to you, including credit information from a credit reporting body. All such personal information will be managed in accordance with the Privacy Act and this Privacy Form.

You acknowledge that our server automatically collects information about your use of the Site. This “Navigational Data” includes the type of browser you are using, your IP address, the URL you have come from, and the time spent at that URL, cookies and your domain type and server. We use this information to monitor your use of the Site.

You acknowledge that when using the Site, cookies will be placed on your device to keep track of your use of our Site, designed to provide a better user experience for you. Cookies do not capture or track any personal information; however, you may elect to set your device so that cookies are not so placed.

You acknowledge that our Site may contain links to third party websites and mobile applications, for your convenience. You acknowledge that we do not have any control over how third parties manage their websites and mobile applications, and we recommend that you review their respective privacy policies.

You acknowledge that if you provide personal information to us about a third party, you will have first taken reasonable steps to make that third party aware of the matters referred to in this Privacy Form and you are warranting to us that you have their consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that personal information. All such personal information will be managed in accordance with the Privacy Act and this Privacy Form.

YOUR INFORMATION — COLLECTION AND CREDIT REPORTING BODY (CRB)
(‘CRB’) DISCLOSURES

When we collect information from you in the credit application process, we use that information in several ways to assess your credit application and to source a suitable credit provider or lessor and/ or insurance provider.

We may:

• Disclose your identification information to a CRB and in some cases obtain a credit report.
• Use any information the CRB provides in that report to assist us to preliminarily assess your consumer credit or guarantor application.
• Disclose your personal information to an insurer or insurers to source any insurances you wish to obtain; and
• Disclose your credit information to a credit provider or credit providers to apply for finance on your behalf.
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The information we obtain from you is used, subject to compliance with Australia’s privacy and credit reporting laws, only for the purposes listed in this Consent and is not disclosed to any other person except with your permission or as permitted, or required, by law.

CREDIT PROVIDERS

As part of providing our services to you, we may undertake tasks for a credit provider which is reasonably necessary to manage the application process. When doing so, we are acting as agent for the credit provider, with the same privacy law requirements applying to both of us

We may submit your application to one or more credit providers. Those credit providers and their website addresses are set out in the Schedule 1 at the end of this document.

A credit provider, to whom we submit an application, may disclose information about you to, and collect information about you from, from one or more CRBs.

The website of each credit provider contains details of each CRB with which it deals and other detail about information held about you, including whether that information may be held or disclosed overseas and, if so, in which countries. The websites also describe your key rights. This detail may be described on the credit providers websites as” notifiable matters”, ”privacy policy”, ”credit reporting policy” or ”privacy disclosure statement and consent”, or similar.

For each CRB the website details will include the following specific information:

• That the CRB may include information the credit provider discloses about you to other credit providers to assess your credit worthiness.
• That, if you become overdue in making consumer credit payments or commit a serious credit infringement, the credit provider may disclose that information to a CRB.
• How you can obtain the credit provider’s and/or CRB’s policies about managing your credit information.
• Your right to access and/or correct information held about you and to complain about conduct that may breach the privacy and credit reporting laws.
• Your right to request a CRB not to undertake pre- screening for purposes of direct marketing by a credit provider; and
• Your right to request a CRB not to release information about you if you believe you are a victim of fraud
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This detail will also be included by the credit provider who approves your application in the privacy disclosure statement and consent document it will provide to you.

Each credit provider website includes information on how to contact the credit provider and how to obtain a copy of its privacy documents in a form that suits you (e.g., hardcopy or email).

YOUR RIGHTS

 You have the right to ask:

• Us to provide you with all the information we hold about you.
• Us to correct the information we hold if it is incorrect.
• Us for copies of our privacy policy and this document, in a form that suits you; (e.g., hardcopy or email)
• The CRB not to use your information for direct marketing assessment purposes, including pre- screening; and
• The CRB to provide you with a copy of the information it holds about you.
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You can gain access to the information we hold about you by contacting our Privacy Officer on 03 or email at [email protected]. In some cases, an administration fee may be charged to cover the cost of providing the information.

Our Privacy Policy is available on our website, or we will provide you with a copy if you ask us.

Schedule 2 at the end of this document sets out the contact details for each CRB service.

DISCLOSURE

We may:

• Use your personal and credit information to:
• Assess your consumer or commercial credit and/or guarantee application and/or to assess a credit application by a company of which you are a director.
• To source any finances, you required.
• To source any insurance, you require; and
• As the law authorises or requires
• Disclose to, and obtain from, any prospective credit provider or insurer, information about you that is reasonably necessary to obtain the finance and insurances you require.
• Check your information with the document issuer or official record holder for the purpose of confirming your identity.
• Obtain from, and disclose to, any third party, information about you, the applicant(s) or guarantor(s) that is reasonably necessary to assist you to obtain the finance and insurances required.
• Provide your information, including your credit report(s), to one or more of the credit providers specified in Schedule 1 so they can assess your application, or the application of a company of which you are a director, or your suitability as a guarantor.
• Provide credit information about you to a guarantor, or prospective guarantor.
• Provide you, or the company of which you are a director, with offers or information of other goods or services we, or any of our associated entities, may be able to provide to you or the company, unless you tell us not to.
• Disclose your personal and credit information to the extent permitted by law to other organisations that provide us with services, such as contractors, agents, printers, mail houses, lawyers, document custodians, securitises and computer systems consultants or providers, so they can perform those services for us. This includes service providers located overseas. It is not practical to list every country in which recipients will be located, however it is likely to include, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Malaysia Philippines, India, Singapore, Japan & United States of America; and
• Disclose your personal information to any other organisation that may wish to acquire, or has acquired, an interest in our business or any rights under your contract with us, or the contract with us of a company of which you are a director.
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We may also, where appropriate disclose to:

• A CRB disclosing consumer credit information to one or more credit providers specified in the Schedule 1 below for the purpose of assessing your application for consumer or commercial credit or your guarantor application, and/or assessing a credit application by a company of which you are a director.
• When you are a prospective guarantor, a credit provider using that information to assess your suitability as a guarantor.
• A credit provider disclosing to another credit provider, to your agent, such as us as your broker, or to a servicer, for a particular purpose, information it holds about you.
• We endeavour to only use personal information held about you for the primary purpose of providing our services to you.
• As RPS Energy operates through two broker groups, National Finance Choice Pty Ltd ABN 95 156 544 464 (“NFC”), COG Aggregation ACN 124 319 857 (“COGA”). When dealing with RPS Energy Finance, your personal information may also be shared with NFC and/or COGA.
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We may disclose personal information held about you.

• To such other third parties as may be required in connection with our providing services to you (which may include government agencies; entities who provide finance or other products, or to whom an application has been made for such finance or products; financial consultants, accountants, lawyers and advisers; any of our associates, related entities or contractors; referees such as your employer to verify information you have provided; any person considering acquiring an interest in our business or assets; and any organisation providing online verification of your identity).
• If we are under a duty to disclose your personal information to comply with any legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property or safety of RPS Energy, its clients, or others (including in response to any complaint regarding our services); or as otherwise required or permitted by law.
• We may also use and disclose personal information held about you for secondary purposes which are related to the primary purpose of providing services to you. You acknowledge and agree that those secondary purposes may include.
• Recommending a service offered by RPS Energy or a trusted referral partner which we believe may be of interest to you i.e., Home Loan, Commercial Loan or Asset Finance.
• Sending you regular updates or newsletters by email or post. Which you may at any time decline to receive by notifying us by email or phone.
• Notifying you of any changes to our business or other news which may be relevant to your circumstances; and contacting you for sales purposes.
• When the primary or secondary purpose of providing a service to you relates to a consumer lending service (i.e., Home Loan), You acknowledge and agree that RPS Energy Finance will use, share, and disclose your personal information with their trusted referral partner, RPS Financial Services Pty Ltd ABN 81 608 348 205.
• You can view the RPS Financial Services Privacy Policy at  https://www.rpsfinancialservices.com.au/privacy-policy.php

We may use or disclose your personal information to let you know about other products and 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 practical.

HOLDING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We hold personal information in hard copy and electronic formats. We have stringent security measures in place relating to both the physical and technological information we retain, including a firewall system on our computers, password protection for our software systems and restricting access to electronic files to only the employees directly involved in your matter.

To comply with our service obligations, our document retention policy is to keep all communication records and records relating to current and past clients for a minimum of 7 years.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to us electronically and any transmission is at your own risk.

Upon receiving your personal information, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that it is secure from any unauthorised access, misuse, or disclosure. However, we do not guarantee that personal information cannot be accessed by an unauthorised person, or that unauthorised disclosure will not occur.

ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

You may, at any time, request access to the personal information which we hold about you by email or by visiting our offices. We will respond to such request within a reasonable time of it being received by us.

We will endeavour to provide access in the manner requested by you if it is reasonable and practicable to do so, otherwise we will take such steps as are reasonable to provide access in a way that meets both your and our needs.

We will generally not charge you to access your personal information. We may charge if large expenses are incurred in which circumstance, the fee will be a reasonable estimate such as an hourly rate and photocopying expenses. Our fee would be discussed and agreed with you, and payment in full required, prior to our making access available.

We will only deny you access to your personal information if we reasonable foresee it adversely impacting the privacy of a third party, compromising our professional obligations or if it is considered commercially sensitive. We will inform you if this is the case and explain our decision.

CORRECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

You may, at any time, request us to update or correct the personal information which we hold about you by email or by visiting our office. We will respond to such request within a reasonable time of it being received by us.

We will not charge you to update or correct your personal information.

Where personal information which has previously been disclosed to another organisation in accordance with the Privacy Act and this Privacy Form has been corrected you may, at any time, request us to notify the other organisation of the correction. We will take such steps as are reasonable to give that notification unless it is impracticable or unlawful to do so.

CHANGES TO PRIVACY FORM

RPS Energy reserves the right to update or modify this Privacy Form as we reasonably see fit. Any changes will be notified by publishing a copy of the updated Privacy Form on our Site.

If you continue to use our Site and/or deal with RPS Energy after the publication of such updated Privacy Form, you will be deemed to have read and understood the terms of the updated Privacy Form.

QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS

If you require any further information, have any questions, believe your privacy as been breached or wish to make a complaint regarding how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy Protection Team.

• By mail:
  Privacy Officer
  RPS Energy Finance Pty Ltd
  32/195 Wellington Road, Clayton VIC 3168

• By email:
  [email protected]

We will take steps to respond to you and address any concerns or complaints within 30 days of receipt. We will work collaboratively with you to investigate and resolve any complaint. If you are not satisfied with the resolution of any complaint, you may refer your concerns to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, they can be contacted through their website www.oaic.gov.au or by calling 1300 363 992.

DATA BREACHES

We have implemented a data breach response plan to assist us to contain and respond to suspected unauthorised access to and use of personal information.

Our data breach response plan sets out the process for our staff to identify a data breach, appoints a team to handle the breach and outlines the notification process of affected parties and the Australian Information Commissioner. It also outlines the post-breach review and assessment procedures.

EMAIL

RPS Energy email transmissions and any documents, files and previous messages attached to it are private and confidential. They may contain proprietary or copyright material or information that is subject to legal professional privilege. They are for the use of the intended recipient only.

Any unauthorised viewing, use, disclosure, copying, alteration, storage, or distribution of, or reliance on, a RPS Energy email message is strictly prohibited. No part may be reproduced, adapted, or transmitted without the written permission of the owner. If you have received a transmission in error, or are not an authorised recipient, please immediately notify the sender by return email, delete this message and all copies from your e-mail system, and destroy any printed copies.

Receipt by anyone other than the intended recipient should not be deemed a waiver of any privilege or protection. RPS Energy does not warrant or represent that this e-mail or any documents, files and previous e-mail messages attached are error or virus free.

SITE DISCLAIMER AND DISCLOSURE

• The information provided on the Site is of a general nature only and has not considered your specific objectives, needs and financial situation. The information may not be appropriate to your individual needs, and you should seek advice from your financial adviser before making any financial decisions.
• This Site is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide commercial, financial, investment, accounting, tax, or legal advice. It is provided to you for your own personal use. It is not for purposes of resale, distribution or public display or any other uses by you in any form or manner whatsoever.
• The performance of the Site and all information contained within or accessed from the Site are provided to you on an “as is” basis, without warranties of any kind whatsoever, including any implied warranties or warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement of the rights of third parties.
• RPS Energy shall not be responsible for any problems or malfunctions of any telephone network or computer on-line systems, servers, Internet access providers, computer equipment, software, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to your hardware or another person’s hardware or software, as a result of using the Site. RPS Energy reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, disable and discontinue temporarily or permanently, any part/all the Site.
• We may alter or withdraw any information contained on the Site without liability or notice to you. As a visitor to our Site, you acknowledge and agree that any reliance on or use of any information available on the Site shall be entirely at your own risk. In no event will RPS Energy nor any of its data providers be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or exemplary damages arising from the use or the performance of the Site Policy.