Financial Care Services Privacy Policy Statement
Our Commitment
At Financial Care Services we recognise that your privacy is very important to you.
We handle personal information including ‘sensitive information’ about individual people every day.
By personal information we mean information, or an opinion, about a person whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained. We are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles “(APP”) set out in the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000. The information set out below is largely a summary of our obligations under the APP.
We are committed to protecting the personal information that we hold about you.
We believe that this Statement will address any potential concerns you may have about how the personal information that you provide to Financial Care Services is collected, held, used, corrected, disclosed and transferred. You can obtain more information on request about the way we manage the personal information that we hold.
What personal information is collected?
Financial Care Services collects personal information that is reasonably necessary for us to provide you with personal financial advice and, where requested, recommend financial products suitable for your needs and personal situation. The kind of personal information we collect and hold will depend upon the matters that you are seeking personal financial advice about and the type of products and services that you request from us.
The personal information that Financial Care Services collects may include:
Basic information that you give us when you request a financial advice service from us. This information includes your name, date of birth, residential address, contact details including a telephone number, a postal address and email address.
Sensitive information you give us about yourself or a person for whom you are the Attorney or Court appointed Administrator such as
• your health, aged care needs assessment and place of residence possibly in a hospital or aged care facility;
• your current or previous employment, and personal circumstances including the name, health status, aged care needs and date of birth of your ‘partner’ and/or any other family members who reside with you; and
• compensation payments that you receive as reparation from another country that could identify you as a member of a racial, ethnic or cultural group; and
• your periods of residence in Australia, immigration status and periods of residence in other countries.
Financial information about you such as your financial position, your debts, your recent gifts to others and the type and amount of any Commonwealth income support you receive, such as means tested Age, Disability or Service Pensions or DVA compensation benefits. Financial Care Services does not accept payments via credit cards or EFTPOS. Thus Financial Care Services does not record any banking or credit card information.
How is personal information collected?
Financial Care Services usually collects your personal information directly from you or your Attorney or Court appointed Administrator, such as when you meet with us, or provide the information in an email or in an Aged Care Financial Checklist or from third parties such as your accountant, investment adviser, lawyer or other agents you authorise.
What if you do not provide certain information?
If you do not provide us with the information requested by us, we may not be able to provide you with the services that you require of us.
Use and disclosure of your personal information
Financial Care Services may collect, use and disclose your personal information for the primary purpose of providing the personal financial advice, products and/or services requested by you;
Your personal information may be used by Financial Care Services for our direct marketing including our Newsletters.
Your personal information may be disclosed as part of our compliance with laws and regulatory requirements, including anti-money laundering, financial services and taxation laws, or in complying with any request made by a governmental authority in connection with legal proceedings or the prevention or detection of fraud and crime;
We may also disclose your personal information in complying with our risk management policies and procedures, and to professional service firms that provide services to us, such as, legal and audit services, professional indemnity insurers and debt collection agencies
Storage and security of information
Financial Care Services stores personal information in a combination of computer storage facilities, paper-based files and other records. These are held on our premises and systems. We will take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, interference or misuse, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Where personal information is no longer required to be retained, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to de-identify the information or put it beyond use.
Identifiers, Anonymity and Pseudonymity
Financial Care Services does not use any government-issued identifiers (such as TFNs, Centrelink CRNs, Medicare numbers and Drivers Licence numbers) as its own identifier.
Access to the Financial Care Services public website and general enquiries may be done anonymously or using a pseudonym.
The legal requirements for financial advisers to have a reasonable basis for any financial advice or recommendation of financial investments, and for financial product providers to identify their customers, means that in most situations Financial Care Services is unable to provide personal financial advice or assist you to arrange a financial transaction on the basis of anonymity (including the use of pseudonym).
What if my personal information is accessed?
If we discover that your personal information was involved in a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to you then we will notify you promptly. This notification must include recommendations about the steps that individuals should take in response to the breach. We must also promptly notify the Australian Information Commissioner about such data breaches.
We must comply with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme introduced into the Australian Privacy Act 1988 from 22 February 2018. You can read more about the Australian Information Commissioner and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme at www.oaic.gov.au .
Complaints Resolution
We are committed to providing clients, and other parties whose personal information we hold, a fair and reasonable system for the handling of their complaints.
If we become aware that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or irrelevant, then we will take reasonable steps to amend it.
If we receive a request from you to correct your information, then we will seek to correct it within 30 days.
If you and Financial Care Services disagree about the accuracy, completeness or currency of our records, then you have the right to request that we note your disagreement on those records.
If at any time you have any complaints in relation to privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer. We will seek to address your concerns through our complaints handling processes.
If you wish to take matters further, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). For more information, please contact the OAIC hotline service on 1300 363 992 or email enquiries@oaic.gov.au.
Contact Financial Care Services
You are entitled to obtain access to the information which we hold about you from our Privacy Officer at 172 Warrigal Road Camberwell Vic 3124, telephone +61 9808 0338
Additional Privacy Information
Further information about privacy in Australia may be obtained by visiting the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au