Numbers & Sense Pty Ltd (ABN 83 663 638 015) (“Numbers & Sense”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information, and how we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
It applies to the personal information we handle when providing our accounting, taxation, bookkeeping and mortgage broking services, and when you use our website at www.numbersandsense.com.au.
1. The personal information we collect
Depending on the services you ask us to provide, we may collect:
- Identity and contact details — your name, date of birth, residential and postal address, email address and phone number;
- Financial information — income, assets, liabilities, expenses, bank and superannuation details, accounting and taxation records, and supporting documents such as payslips and bank statements;
- Government-related identifiers — including your tax file number (TFN), Australian Business Number, Medicare and driver licence details, collected only where necessary to provide our services or where required by law;
- Credit information — where we assist you with a loan, information about your credit history and credit worthiness, including information obtained from credit reporting bodies;
- Employment information — your occupation, employer and employment history; and
- Website and technical information — information collected automatically through cookies and analytics when you use our website.
2. How we collect your information
We collect personal information:
- directly from you — when you contact us, complete a form, engage our services or provide documents;
- from third parties you have authorised — such as your employer, accountant, financial institution, the Australian Taxation Office, lenders and credit reporting bodies; and
- automatically — through our website, as described in the “Cookies and website analytics” section below.
Where it is lawful and practicable, you may deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym. However, we usually need to identify you in order to provide our services.
3. Why we collect, hold and use your information
We use your personal information to:
- provide accounting, taxation, bookkeeping and mortgage broking services;
- assess your objectives, financial situation and needs, and prepare and submit loan applications to lenders on your behalf;
- verify your identity and meet our obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, taxation law and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009;
- respond to your enquiries and communicate with you about your engagement; and
- manage, review and improve our services and website.
4. Disclosure of your information
We may disclose your personal information to:
- lenders, and our licensee or aggregator, where we assist you with credit;
- the Australian Taxation Office and other government agencies, where required;
- our professional advisers and external service providers (such as IT, software and secure storage providers) who assist us to operate our business;
- any person you have authorised us to deal with; and
- others where required or authorised by law.
We take reasonable steps to ensure that service providers who handle your information are bound to protect it. We do not sell your personal information.
5. Credit information
When we assist you to obtain finance, we collect and use credit information in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code. This may include obtaining information from, and disclosing information to, credit reporting bodies such as Equifax, illion and Experian. You have the right to access and correct your credit information, to ask a credit reporting body not to use your information for direct marketing or pre-screening, and to ask a credit reporting body not to use or disclose your information if you believe you have been, or are likely to be, a victim of fraud.
6. Tax file numbers
We handle tax file numbers in accordance with the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015. We only collect your TFN where necessary to provide taxation or related services, and we do not use it to identify you for other purposes.
7. Direct marketing
From time to time we may send you information about our services that we think may be of interest to you. You can opt out of receiving these communications at any time by contacting us or using the unsubscribe facility in the message.
8. Cookies and website analytics
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to help it function and to understand how visitors use it. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, although some parts of the website may not work as intended. We may use analytics tools that collect aggregated, non-identifying information about website usage.
9. How we store and protect your information
We hold your information in electronic and, where relevant, physical form, and take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure — including through secure systems, access controls and staff confidentiality obligations. We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide our services and to meet our legal and professional obligations (for example, taxation and credit records are generally retained for at least seven years), after which we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.
10. Accessing and correcting your information
You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete, by contacting us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable time. In some cases we may be permitted by law to decline a request, in which case we will explain why.
11. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first using the details below and we will endeavour to resolve it. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au. If your concern relates to credit assistance we have provided, you may also contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) at www.afca.org.au.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website, and the “last updated” date below indicates when it was last revised.
13. Contact us
Numbers & Sense Pty Ltd
Suite 4, Level 2, 24 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra ACT 2601
Email: info@numbersandsense.com.au
Phone: (02) 6193 3431