Our commitment

We value your trust in us as a member-owned bank. It is important for us to keep your information secure. As a bank it is also important for us to keep your information confidential. To achieve this we will comply with the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code (CR code). The Privacy Act 1988 sets out how we are to collect, use, disclose and store personal, credit and credit eligibility information. The Privacy Act 1988 also requires us to have a privacy policy.

Outline of our Policy

Our Policy sets out:

  • what information we collect and hold
  • how we deal with credit information
  • how we collect and hold information
  • why we collect, hold, use and disclose your information
  • how you can access your information
  • how you can correct your information
  • how you can make a complaint
  • how we will deal with your complaint
  • in what overseas countries we are likely to disclose your information.

Information we collect and hold

We will collect and hold your information. This Means:

  • your personal information (any information which identifies you or from which you may be identifiable, such as: your name, date of birth, contact details and evidence of identity).
  • your tax file number
  • passwords, passcodes and secret questions used to confirm your authorisation of a transaction
  • credit and debits to your accounts
  • information about your membership of a professional association which is a requirement for you to become a member.

When you apply for a loan we will also collect and hold your credit information. Such as:

  • information about your financial position, identification information, repayment history.
  • your current credit history, including default & payment information.
  • credit eligibility information (such as information derived about you from a credit reporting body).

We will only collect information that is related to our providing, or arranging others to provide:

  • banking products and services
  • financial advisory services
  • financial accommodation
  • general insurance
  • travel services.

How we collect your information

We will collect information about you and your financial position from you directly When you apply for a loan, we will collect information about your credit history from a credit reporting body.

Credit Information

We may collect credit information or credit eligibility information about you from the CRB Equifax (previously Veda). We may also disclose your credit information to Equifax.

We collect your credit information from Equifax to allow us to assess your application and your credit worthiness.

We may also exchange personal information and credit information about you with other credit providers, such as SG Fleet, in the assessing your application and your credit worthiness.

We may notify other credit providers, such as SG Fleet, of any defaults by you.

What information do we use from your credit report?

We use your credit report to check if what you have told us about your financial history is correct. We look at the following information:

  • what are your current loans
  • what loans have you applied for
  • if available, your repayment history on any loans and your default history
  • any payment defaults reported by service providers such as telcos and energy companies
  • whether there are any Court judgments against you
  • whether you are, or have recently been, a bankrupt
  • whether you have committed any serious credit infringements.

Your credit report will usually only contain information from the past 5 years. It may contain information from up to the past 7 years if you have committed a serious credit infringement. We may ask you to explain why your credit report differs from what you have told us about your financial history.

Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

We collect and use your information for a number of reasons, such as to:

  • provide membership benefits, financial services and products or information about those benefits, services and products
  • give you information about financial services and products from third parties we have agreements with
  • conduct market and demographic research in relation to the products and services our members acquired from us.
  • keep track of products or services you view on our website using cookies, if your settings allow it, so that we can send you information and advertising about those products or services.
  • contact you to assist you to complete online applications you have started and not submitted. Personal information provided in these applications is destroyed after 30 days.

Marketing Opt Out

If you do not want to be contacted by us, you can opt out by:

Our Website Terms of Use provide more information about cookies, how they are used by Police Bank, and how you can adjust your settings to not use them. We also collect and hold personal information as required by law, for example:

  • for our register of members
  • to verify your identity
  • to assess your capacity to pay a loan.

We collect and use your information:

  • when you apply for a loan – to establish your eligibility for a loan and your capacity to repay
  • when you have a loan with us – to disclose the following information to a credit reporting body:
  • the fact that you have applied for a loan
  • details of the loan, when approved
  • when payments are due
  • whether you have paid on time
  • when you actually paid.

We disclose your information to other entities such as

  • entities that verify identity
  • our third party contractors or agents, such as SG Fleet Australia Pty Limited, Cage Security
  • lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, brokers and agents who represent you
  • contractors for statement printing and mail out, card and cheque production, market research or direct marketing
  • affiliated product and service suppliers to provide information to you about their services and products
  • credit reporting bodies and other financial institutions that have previously lent to you
  • persons you use as referees
  • for property loans – property valuers and insurers
  • mortgage documentation service
  • trustee and manager of securitised loan programs
  • any proposed guarantor of a loan
  • debt collection agencies, lawyers, process servers
  • our auditors.

We will also disclose your information to law enforcement and government agencies as required by law.

How we hold your information

We hold your information in our banking system. We have security systems to guard against unauthorised access. We also limit access to our employees on a needs basis. We will destroy or de-identify information when we no longer need it.

Disclosure to overseas recipients

We may disclose your information to third parties that are based overseas for processing. These third parties are located in the United States of America.

How you can access and/or correct your information

You can request access to your information at any time. If the information we hold is incorrect, you can request us to correct it. You can make a request by contacting us:

  • in person at one of our Service Centres. Visit our website www.policebank.com.au for a list of Service Centres locations.
  • by calling us on 131 728.
  • by email at info@policebank.com.au.
  • in writing to 25 Pelican Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010.

We do not currently charge any fees for giving you access to your information. We may charge a document retrieval fee to cover the costs of retrieving and making copies but we will disclose the estimated costs beforehand when you make the request.

Making a complaint

You may make a complaint to us if you consider that we have not complied with the relevant provisions of the APPs or relevant credit reporting provisions the Privacy Act. You can complain:

  • in person at one of our Service Centres
  • by calling us on 131 728
  • by email at info@policebank.com.au
  • in writing to 25 Pelican Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010.

We will deal with your complaint under our internal dispute resolution procedure. We will give you a copy of our Complaints Handling & Dispute Resolution Guide when you make your complaint. We are also part of an external dispute resolution scheme. If you are not satisfied with how we handled your complaint, you can take the matter there. We will tell you at the time how you can contact the external dispute resolution scheme.

You can also access our Privacy Notification here.