As a financial services organisation, we are subject to certain legislative and regulatory requirements that require us to obtain and hold detailed information that personally identifies you and/or contains information about you. We refer to such information as ‘personal information’.
Stonehouse Financial Partners Pty Ltd (Stonehouse) abides by the Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) established as part of the Privacy Act 1988 which cover the collection, use, disclosure and storage of personal information.
The ability for Stonehouse to provide you with comprehensive financial advice and service is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information about you, including:
- employment details and employment history;
- details of your financial needs and objectives;
- details of your current financial circumstances, including your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, insurance cover, investments and superannuation;
- details of your investment preferences and aversion to, or tolerance of, risk;
- details of your health for insurance and superannuation purposes;
- information about your employment history, employment circumstances, family commitments and social security eligibility; and
- details of your estate planning requirements.
We will not collect any personal information about you except when you have knowingly provided that information to us or authorised a third party to provide that information to us.
Generally, your personal information will be collected either through face-to-face interviews, over the telephone or by way of an online client engagement form. From time to time additional and/or updated personal information may be collected through one or more of these methods.
We will only collect, maintain and use personal information about you if it is necessary for us to adequately provide to you the services you have requested, including:
- the preparation of financial advice;
- the provision of financial advice to you;
- making investment recommendations;
- reviewing any financial advice;
- reviewing securities and investment recommendations; and
- considering other areas relevant to your needs and objectives.
We will not use or disclose personal information collected by us for any purpose other than:
- the purposes for which it was provided or secondary related purposes in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure; or
- where you have consented to such disclosure; or
- where the APP’s authorise use or disclosure, where required or authorised under law, in circumstances relating to public health and safety and in connection with certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body.
We are required under the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Financial Planning Association of Australia to make certain information available for inspection by the Association and other compliance consultants on request to ensure ongoing compliance with mandatory professional standards. This may involve the disclosure of your personal information.
We are also obliged under the Corporations Act to maintain certain transaction records and make those records available for inspection by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
We may use the personal information collected from you for the purpose of providing you with direct marketing material, such as articles that may be of interest to you. However, you may, by contacting us by any of the methods detailed below, request not to receive such information and we will action that request.
We may disclose your personal information to superannuation fund trustees, insurance providers and product issuers for the purpose of implementing your financial plan and the recommendations made by us.
Your personal information is generally held in your client file (hard and soft copy format). Information may also be held in a computer database, with a third party provider who has strict privacy guidelines to ensure the security of such data.
We will, at all times, seek to ensure that the personal information collected and held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. At all times your personal information is treated as confidential and any sensitive information is treated as highly confidential. All paper files are stored in lockable cabinets, which are locked outside normal business hours.
Client data is backed up regularly and stored securely off site. In the event that you cease to be a client of this organisation, any personal information that we hold about you will be maintained in a secure storage facility for a period of seven years in order to comply with legislative and professional requirements, following which time the information may be destroyed.
You may contact us at any time to request access to your personal information and we will (subject to the following exceptions) provide you with access to that information. We will do so either by providing you with copies of the information requested, allowing you to inspect the information requested or providing you with an accurate summary of the information held. We will, prior to providing access in accordance with this policy, require you to provide evidence of your identity.
We will not provide you with access to personal information that would reveal any confidential formulae or the detail of any in-house evaluative decision making process, but may instead provide you with the result of the formulae or process or an explanation of that result.
We will not provide you with access to your personal information if:
- providing access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of a person;
- providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
- the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
- the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between us and would not be discoverable in those proceedings;
- providing access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations;
- providing access would be unlawful;
- denying access is required or authorised by, or under, law; and
- providing access would be likely to prejudice certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body or an enforcement body requests that access not be provided on the grounds of national security.
In the event that we refuse you access to your personal information, we will provide you with an explanation for that refusal.
We will endeavour to ensure that, at all times, the personal information that we hold about you is up to date and accurate. In the event that you become aware, or believe, that any personal information that we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or outdated, you may contact us and provide us with evidence of the inaccuracy or incompleteness or out-datedness and we will, if we agree that the information requires correcting, take all reasonable steps to correct the information.
If you wish to complain about any breach or potential breach of this privacy policy, you should contact us via the below details and request that your complaint be directed to the Privacy Officer.
We will consider, and respond to, your complaint as soon as possible. It is our intention to use our best endeavours to resolve any complaint to your satisfaction, however, if you are unhappy with our response, you are entitled to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner who may investigate your complaint further.
We will not sell your information or disclose it to others for marketing purposes. We will retain any emails submitted by you to us, and may use your email address to send information which may be of interest to you. You can at any time request to be removed from our mailing list.
Any personal information that is recorded on our server or one of our third party product provider’s servers is protected by a system of secure passwords, logons and/or other procedures to ensure the security of such data.
Contact us
If you would like more information about how we manage your personal information, or if you have any questions, please contact the Privacy Officer by phone on (07) 3871 4944, email at licensee@stonehousegroup.com.au or in writing to the below address.
Privacy Officer, Stonehouse Group, GPO Box 460, Brisbane, Qld 4001.
Credit Advice Privacy Policy
At Stonehouse, we are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This Privacy Policy describes our current policies and practices in relation to the handling and use of personal information.
What information do we collect and how do we use it?
We will ask you for personal information when we assist you with your finance. Personal information may include any sensitive information (including health information) and may include any information you tell us about any vulnerability you may have. We use the information you provide to advise about and assist with your credit needs. We only provide your information to the companies with whom you choose to deal (and their representatives).
We also use your information to send you requested product information and to enable us to manage your ongoing relationship with us e.g. invoicing, client surveys etc. We may do so by mail or electronically unless you tell us that you do not wish to receive electronic communications.
We may occasionally notify you about promotions, new services and special offers, events or articles we think will be of interest to you. We may send you regular updates by email or by post. If you would rather not receive this information, email or write to us.
We may also use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.
What if you don’t provide some information to us?
If you don’t provide us with full information, we can’t properly advise or assist you with your credit needs.
How do we hold and protect your information?
We strive to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness, and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We keep personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements
We hold the information we collect from you in your client file (hard and soft copy format). Information may also be held in a computer database, with a third party provider who has strict privacy guidelines to ensure the security of such data.
We ensure that your information is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. At all times your personal information is treated as confidential and any sensitive information is treated as highly confidential. All paper files are stored in lockable cabinets, which are locked outside normal business hours.
Client data is backed up regularly and stored securely off site. In the event that you cease to be a client of this organisation, any personal information that we hold about you will be maintained in a secure storage facility for a period of seven years in order to comply with legislative and professional requirements, following which time the information may be destroyed
Will we disclose the information we collect to anyone?
We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others.
We may need to provide your information to our credit licensee e.g. for administration and supervision activities, contractors who supply services to us e.g. to handle mailings on our behalf, or to other companies in the event of a corporate sale, merger, re-organisation, dissolution or similar event. However, we will do our best to ensure that they protect your information in the same way that we do.
We may also provide your information to others if we are required to do so by law or under some unusual other circumstances which the Privacy Act permits.
How can you check, update or change the information we are holding?
Upon receipt of your written request and enough information to allow us to identify the information, we will disclose to you the personal information we hold about you. We will also correct, amend or delete any personal information that we agree is inaccurate.
If you wish to access or correct your personal information, please write to please contact the Privacy Officer by phone on (07) 3871 4944, email lending@stonehousegroup.com.au or in writing to the below address.
Privacy Officer, Stonehouse Group, GPO Box 460, Brisbane, Qld 4001.
We do not charge for receiving a request for access to personal information or for complying with a correction request. “We do not charge for providing access to personal information”.
Your consent
By asking us to assist with your credit needs, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.
Tell us what you think
We welcome your questions and comments about privacy. If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact the Privacy Officer by phone on (07) 3871 4944 or email licensee@stonehousegroup.com.au.
Complaints
Internal Dispute Resolution
If you do have a complaint, please let us know by email, because if we don’t know about it we can’t fix it. You may also contact us by email addressed to; The Complaints Officer at licensee@stonehousegroup.com.au, please make sure you include as much information as you can.
You should explain the details of your complaint as clearly as you can. You must do this in writing. When we receive a complaint, we will attempt to resolve it promptly.