Privacy Policy

Fundo Loans Pty Ltd

1. Introduction

Fundo Loans Pty Ltd ACN 604 639 143 (referred to as ‘Fundo Loans’, ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’) is a credit provider for people who need a small or medium amount of money for a short time.

We recognise that our success depends on us maintaining the utmost commitment to upholding customers’ privacy rights when we collect, hold, use or disclose customers’ personal information. We have established procedures and protocols to help us keep personal information we hold secure, accurate, up-to-date and complete.

This Policy applies to and covers all operations and functions of Fundo Loans. All staff and third parties (including suppliers, sub-contractors and agents) that have access to or use personal information (which includes credit-related information) collected and held by Fundo Loans must comply with this Privacy Policy.

This Policy outlines our obligations to manage and protect personal information and reflects the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles (‘APPs’), the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code (‘the Code’) and Part IIIA of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“the Privacy Act”) and other relevant law. This Policy may be accessed from our website: LINK

This Policy also outlines our practices, procedures and systems that ensure compliance with the Privacy Act, APPs and the Code.

2. DEFINITIONS

‘Credit-related information’ means:
1. ‘Credit information’ which includes an individual’s identity; the type, terms and maximum amount of credit provided, including when that credit was provided and when it was repaid; repayment history information; ‘financial hardship information’ (including information that any repayments are affected by a financial hardship arrangement); default information (including overdue payments); payment information; new arrangement information; details of any serious credit infringements; court proceedings information; personal insolvency information and publicly available information; and
2. ‘Credit eligibility information’, is credit reporting information supplied to us by a credit reporting body (CRB), and any information that we derive from it.
‘Disclosure’ of information means providing information to persons outside Fundo Loans.
‘Personal information’ means information or an opinion relating to an individual, which can be used to identify that individual. Personal information may also include credit-related information.
‘Privacy Officer’ means the contact person within Fundo Loans for questions regarding Fundo Loans’ Privacy Policy. Contact details are 1800 161 391 or email hello@fundo.com.au.
‘Sensitive information’ is personal information that includes information relating to an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political persuasion, memberships in trade or professional associations or trade unions, sexual preferences, criminal record, or health.
‘Third Parties’ mean customers, suppliers, sub-contractors, agents or other people having a commercial relationship with Fundo Loans.

3. WHAT KINDS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD?

We may collect the following types of personal information about an individual :

name;
address;
phone number;
date of birth;
employment details and pay advices;
bank account details and account statements;
passport, Driver’s licence or Medicare card details;
marital status and dependents;
credit-related information; and
any other information that is relevant to the services that we provide.

In most circumstances it will be necessary for us to identify an individual in order to successfully do business with them. However, where it is lawful and practicable to do so, we will offer an individual the opportunity of doing business with us without providing us with personal information, for example, if an individual makes general inquiries about interest rates or current promotional offers.

4. HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

We generally collect personal information directly from the individual where it is reasonable and practicable to do so.

For example, we collect personal information when:

an individual enquires about or applies for credit; or
call us or send us correspondence.

Sometimes we may collect personal information about an individual from third-party sources, such as:

financial institutions;
mortgage and finance brokers;
employers;
accountants;
lawyers;
other credit providers;
electronic verification services;
a CRB;
social media; or
public registers

We may collect personal information about an individual when a person with whom the individual holds a bank account gives us information about that account.

We will not ask an individual to supply personal information publicly over Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform that we use.

When we obtain credit eligibility information from a CRB about an individual, we may also seek publicly available information and information about any serious credit infringement that an individual may have committed.

Fundo Loans may receive unsolicited personal information about an individual. We destroy or de-identify all unsolicited personal information, unless it is relevant to our purposes, under this Policy.

5. WEBSITE COLLECTION

We collect personal information from our website www.fundo.com.au, we receive emails and online account application forms.

When an individual uses our website we may collect information about their location or activity including IP address, telephone number and whether they have accessed third party sites, the date and time of visits, the pages that are viewed, information about the device used and other user location information.

We may also use Third Parties to analyse traffic at the website, which may involve the use of cookies. Information collected through such analysis is anonymous. For more information, please see our Website Privacy & Cookies Policy at [LINK]

6. WHY DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We may collect and hold personal information to:

assist us in assessing an application for credit and managing that credit;
verify an individual’s identity and financial situation;
provide individuals with our promotional material and manage our relationship with an individual;
protect our business and other customers from fraudulent or unlawful activity;
conduct our business and perform other management and administration tasks;
bring, defend, or manage any legal action involving an individual and Fundo Loans;
comply with relevant laws, regulations and other legal obligations, including the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009; and
help us improve our products and services and to enhance our overall business.

7. HOW MIGHT WE USE AND DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION?

The primary purpose for which personal information is collected is for providing individuals with credit and managing that credit.
Secondary purposes for personal information collection are related to this primary purpose, such as keeping individuals informed about changes to their loan, or new products and services.
Other purposes authorised by the Privacy Act may also apply.

We use and disclose personal information for the purposes outlined above. Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless an individual agrees otherwise, or if certain other limited circumstances apply (e.g. where required by law).

8. TO WHOM MIGHT WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We may disclose an individual’s personal information to:

a related entity of Fundo Loans;
prospective funders or other intermediaries in relation to an individual’s finance requirements;
to other organisations that are involved in managing or administering an individual’s finance, such as third party suppliers, printing and postal services, call centres, credit providers, mortgage insurers and trade insurers.
an agent, contractor or service provider we engage to carry out functions and activities in connection with approving or administering credit products or services, such as our electronic verification service, lawyers, accountants, debt collectors or other advisors;
associated businesses that may want to market products to an individual;
companies that provide information and infrastructure systems to us;
any person who represents an individual, such as finance brokers, lawyers, mortgage brokers, guardians, persons holding power of attorney and accountants;
borrowers (if more than one) or prospective borrowers including in relation to any credit an individual guarantee’ or proposes to guarantee.
organisations involved in a transfer or sale of all or part of our assets or business;
investors, agents or advisers, trustees, rating agencies or any entity that has an interest in an individual’s finance or our business;
our auditors, insurers, re-insurers and health care providers;
where we are authorised to do so by law, such as under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), government and law enforcement agencies or regulators;
a CRB;
an individual’s financial institution/s, referee/s, employer, co-account holder or authorised signatory; and
anyone else to whom the individual authorises us to disclose it.

Prior to disclosing an individual’s personal information to another person or organisation, we will take all reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that:

the person or organisation has a commitment to protecting an individual’s personal information at least equal to our commitment; or
the individual has consented to us making the disclosure.

If we intend to provide default information about an individual to a CRB, we will give that individual at least 14 days’ written notice of our intention to do so. If we disclose default information to a CRB, and the individual subsequently repay the amount owed, we will tell the CRB that the amount owing has been repaid. We will not disclose to an CRB credit repayment history information that is more than 2 years old or which relates to an amount owing of less than $150.

9. WHY MIGHT WE USE AND DISCLOSE CREDIT-RELATED INFORMATION?

We will use and disclose an individual’s credit-related information only for the following purposes:

assessing an application by the individual for credit and managing that credit;
responding to questions in the course of an investigation by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA);
exchange and sell customer data to credit providers;
purposes required or authorised by law.

The third parties we may disclose credit-related information to are outlined at clause 8.

10. SENDING INFORMATION OVERSEAS

We may disclose an individual’s personal information to overseas entities that provide support functions to us.

We will not send personal information to recipients outside of Australia unless:

we have taken reasonable steps to ensure the recipient does not breach the Privacy Act, the APPs and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code;
the recipient is subject to an information privacy protection regime similar to that required by the Privacy Act; and
the individual has consented to the disclosure.

We may also use cloud storage to store the personal information we hold about an individual. The cloud storage and the IT servers may be located outside Australia. The countries in which the cloud storage and IT servers are likely to be located include India, Nepal, Pakistan and The Phillipines.

An individual may obtain more information about these overseas entities by contacting us.

11. MANAGEMENT OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CREDIT-RELATED INFORMATION

The APPs require us to take all reasonable steps to protect the security of personal information, including credit-related information. Fundo Loans employees respect the confidentiality of the personal information we collect.

We will take a range of measures and reasonable steps to protect an individual’s personal information.

An individual’s personal information will always be stored in a secure environment. We may store an individual’s personal information in paper and electronic form. We will also take reasonable steps to protect any personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

12. NOTIFIABLE MATTERS

The law requires us to advise individuals of ‘notifiable matters’ in relation to how we may use credit-related information. An individual may request to have these notifiable matters (and this policy) provided in an alternative form.

We exchange individuals credit-related information with CRBs. We use the credit-related information that we exchange with CRBs to confirm an individual’s identity, assess creditworthiness, assess an application for finance, and manage that finance.

The information we may exchange with CRBs includes identification details, what type of loans an individual may have, how much that individual has borrowed, whether or not an individual has met their loan payment obligations, whether an individual has entered into a financial hardship arrangement (either with us or some other third party), and if an individual has committed a serious credit infringement (such as fraud).

If an individual fails to meet its payment obligations in relation to any finance that we have provided or arranged, or if they have committed a serious credit infringement, we may disclose this information to a CRB.

An individual has the right to request access to the credit-related information that we hold about them and make a request for us to correct that credit-related information if needed. See ‘Access to Personal Information’ below for further information.

Sometimes credit-related information will be used by CRBs for the purposes of ‘pre-screening’ credit offers on the request of other credit providers. An individual can contact the CRBs at any time to request that their credit-related information is not used in this way.

An individual may contact the CRBs to advise them that they believe that they may have been a victim of fraud. CRBs must not use or disclose that credit-related information for a period of 21 days after an individual notifies them that they may have been a victim of fraud. An individual can contact any of the following CRBs for more information:

Equifax Pty Limited – www.equifax.com.au – contact on 13 83 32; see privacy policy at https://www.equifax.com.au/privacy;
Illion (Australia) Pty Limited – www.illion.com.au – contact on 13 23 33; see privacy policy at https://www.illion.com.au/privacy-policy; and
Experian Australia Credit Services Pty Limited – www.experian.com.au – contact on 1300 783 684; see privacy policy at https://www.experian.com.au/privacy-policy-terms-conditions.

13. DIRECT MARKETING

Fundo Loans does not use personal information for the purposes of direct marketing, unless:

the personal information does not include sensitive information; and
an individual would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for the purpose of direct marketing; and
we provide individuals with a simple way of opting out of direct marketing; and
an individual has not requested to opt out from receiving direct marketing from us.

If an individual would not reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for the purpose of direct marketing, we may use or disclose that information for direct marketing only if the individual has consented to the use or disclosure of the information for direct marketing or it is impracticable to obtain that consent.

Individuals can opt out of direct marketing by contacting us and we will give effect to the request within a reasonable period of time. Individuals can opt out of direct marketing by contacting us. We will give effect to the request within a reasonable period of time. Fundo Loans will provide individuals with the source of its information about them on request, free of charge, within a reasonable period of time.

We will not use or disclose credit-related information for the purposes of direct marketing.

We may use or disclose sensitive information about an individual for the purpose of direct marketing only with that individual’s consent.

14. IDENTIFIERS

We will not use identifiers assigned by the Government, such as a tax file number, Medicare number or provider number, for our own file recording purposes, unless one of the exemptions in the Privacy Act applies. Fundo Loans endeavours to avoid data-matching.

15. HOW DO WE KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCURATE AND CURRENT?

Fundo Loans takes reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information, including credit-related information, it collects, uses and discloses is relevant, accurate, complete and current.

If any of the personal or credit-related information we hold about an individual is incorrect, inaccurate or out of date, that individual may request that we correct the information by telephoning us on 1800 161 391 or emailing us at hello@fundo.com.au.

If we correct information that has previously been disclosed to another entity, we will notify the other entity of the correction within a reasonable period of time of the correction being notified to us. If we are satisfied that personal information we hold is inaccurate, we will take reasonable steps to correct the information immediately (if practicable) or within 30 days, We do not charge for correcting personal information.

If we refuse to correct personal or credit-related information we will provide an individual with our reasons for not correcting the information.

16. ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will provide an individual with access to the personal and credit-related information we hold about them. An individual may request access to any of the personal information we hold about them at any time by contacting the Fundo Loans Privacy Officer.

We will provide access within 30 days of receipt of such request. If we refuse to provide access, we will provide reasons for the refusal.

17. DATA BREACHES

A data breach occurs when personal information held by us is lost or subjected to unauthorised access or disclosure. If we suspect or know of a data breach, we will take immediate steps to limit any further access or distribution of the affected personal information or the possible compromise of other information.

When we have reasonable grounds to believe that a data breach is likely to result in serious harm, and we cannot mitigate the risk of serious harm with remedial action, we will notify individuals at likely risk as soon as practicable and make recommendations about the steps they should take in response to the data breach. We will also notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Examples of serious harm include, but are not limited to:

identity theft;
significant financial loss; or
threats to physical safety.

Notifications will be made using our usual method of communicating with an individual, such as by a telephone call, email, SMS, physical mail, social media post, or in-person conversation. If we are unable to contact an individual (or nominated intermediary) by any of the above methods we will publish a statement on the front page of our website and place a public notice on our reception desk.

18. UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

This Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and the business environment. A copy of the current version may be obtained upon request.

This Policy was last updated in November 2023.

19. ENQUIRIES AND COMPLAINTS

Individuals wishing to raise a matter with us or who would like to discuss any aspects of our Privacy Policy, may contact our Privacy Officer. Our Privacy Officer will investigate the issue and determine the steps we will undertake to resolve the enquiry or complaint. If additional information is required by us, this will be advised. We will notify the determination of our Privacy Officer in writing within 30 days of the determination. We can be contacted by:

telephoning us on 1800 161 391
writing to: The Privacy Officer at Level 9, 46 Kippax Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010 Australia
emailing hello@fundo.com.au

Individuals not satisfied with our response may contact:

Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) telephone 1800 931 678, www.afca.org.au or PO Box 3, Melbourne, VIC 3001; or
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner telephone 1300 363 992, emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au, or
Writing to Director of Complaints, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001.

20. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND CONSENT

By submitting a loan application, an individual specifically acknowledges that:

they have been advised of this Privacy Policy and its contents;
we may elect, at our discretion, to make an enquiry of the individual’s credit history file with a CRB and the individual explicitly grants consent to this enquiry being made.
a failure to grant consent to a credit history file enquiry being made may result in the application not being able to be considered for approval.