Our Privacy Policy is designed to provide you with general information about how we collect, store and disclose your personal information. We understand that the details you provide to us are private and personal.
What do we mean by ‘Personal Information’?
Personal information means any details about you, from which your identity is apparent or can be uncovered. The kinds of personal information we may collect about you include your name, date of birth, address, account details, occupation and any other information we may need to identify you. We may also collect the ages and number of your dependants and cohabitants, the length of time at your current address, your employment details and proof of earnings and expenses.
“Sensitive information” is a subcategory of personal information which includes information about your health. We may be required to collect sensitive information about your health in certain circumstances. We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent.
“Credit information” includes the type and amount of credit provided to you, repayment history information, default information (including overdue payments) and court information.
What is Ballast’s commitment to privacy?
At Ballast we recognise that your privacy is very important to you, it is to Ballast as well. We handle personal information provided by you and other people every day. By personal information we mean information or an opinion about a person whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.
Our aim is to both support and ensure that we comply with the NCPPs that form the basis of legislation introduced to strengthen and protect privacy for the general public and our clients. The information below is a brief summary of our obligations under NPPs.
Ballast believes that this Statement (Privacy Document) will address any potential concerns you may have about personal information that you provide to Ballast; how it is collected, held, used, corrected, disclosed, transferred and protected. At all times you can request a copy of your personal information we hold. See Contact Us or Additional Privacy Information for further details.
What information does Ballast collect and why?
As a leading boutique Australian financial services provider, we collect, hold and verify appropriate personal information on our clients through our network of representatives and professional members of our organisation. These include Authorised Representatives (Financial Planners), Mortgage Brokers and our service providers. Our main purpose for obtaining personal information includes assessing the suitability of applicants to be providing services and or membership of the Ballast group of companies, to update our records, to facilitate training programmes, to disseminate topical information and details of events of interest, to regulate the activities of members and to facilitate the provision of a referral service to interested members of the public.
For our advisory clients, details are collected to determine suitability of the most appropriate advice for the clients including the many available strategies, products and facilities for optimal client usage.
We will only collect personal information from you in a lawful and fair manner that is necessary for one or more of our functions without being unreasonably intrusive such as when you complete a Fact Finder, Application Form, Membership Application or other similar type document as required. We also may collect Tax File Numbers (TFN) and Australian Business Numbers (ABN) to identify your tax structure or for the purpose of providing our services through agreed third parties. We require your permission to keep your TFN on record and you have the right to not disclose this to us or ask Ballast to not record your TFN.
Ballast is also obligated to conduct Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) Customer Identification Procedures to mitigate these risks in the Australian Economy for which we will need to collect, verify and record personal information.
When we collect personal information from you, we will take reasonable steps to explain why we are collecting this information, whom else we are likely to disclose this information to and what will happen if you don’t disclose personal information to us. We will reasonably and practically endeavour to only obtain personal information about you, from you.
Wherever it is lawful and practicable, we will give you the option of not identifying yourself or personal information when entering into transactions with us. Failure to provide all appropriate information may mean we are unable to provide services to you properly. If appropriate, once we hold information on you, we will reasonably try to keep it accurate, complete and up to date.
Do we collect your personal information from third parties?
Sometimes we collect your personal information from other sources. Examples of where we may receive personal information about you from another source and why this may happen are:
- A credit reference about you from a credit reporting agency
- Your agent, where you have appointed an agent to act on your behalf in dealing with us, such as a broker, legal adviser or other representative such as a friend of family member;
- Publicly available sources of information such as telephone directories;
- As required or authorised by law, for example to government agencies, or regulatory bodies for purposes related to public health or safety or the prevention or detection of unlawful activities;
- A third party to whom we have contracted to provide a financial service or product to our customers;
How does Ballast use the information and what should I know?
Ballast will only use your personal information for the main purpose we told you it was needed, except where you consent to us using that personal information for another purpose, where the other purpose is related to the main purpose and you would reasonably expect us to use this information for that purpose, or where it is permitted or required by law, or we reasonably believe it is necessary on health or public safety grounds to use the information for another purpose.
In order to fulfill the purposes set out above we may provide access to your personal information to third parties with whom we have a business relationship, for example, those who manage our database, mail outs and other services. You accept that not all recipients of your information have adequate or any privacy policies in place and you consent to the disclosure of your personal information for those reasonable purposes.
In relation to direct marketing, where practicable, we will seek your permission first. Should you wish to not receive marketing material, we maintain an ‘opt out list’ which you can inform us that you no longer wish to receive marketing material.
Ballast will not sell, rent or trade your information. We will only disclose your personal information to and receive personal information from these parties for the purposes we have told you in this Privacy Policy and in compliance with the privacy regimes in Australia. In the course of operating our business we may disclose your personal information to service providers who assist us in our business.
Examples of these types of services and providers are:
- Information technology, administration and business management services;
- Printers and mail service and delivery providers, imaging and document management services
How do you access and correct your personal information?
The information we hold about you is yours to access and correct, and as such we can provide you with general information, such as your name, address anc contact details quite easily. More detailed information may take longer and involve a fee to cover the costs of retrieving and supplying the details you want. If you need to access your detailed information, write to us at the contact address provided.
If any of the personal information we hold about you is incorrect, inaccurate or out of date you may request that we correct the information. If appropriate we will correct the personal information at the time of the request, otherwise we will provide an initial response to you within seven days of receiving your request. Where reasonable, and after our investigation we will provide you with details about whether we have corrected the personal or credit information within 30 days.
What will happen if you do not provide your personal information to us?
If we request personal information about you and you do not provide it we may not be able to provide you with the financial product or service that you request. In addition, if we are required to comply with certain legislation to provide you with the products and services you choose, then collection of certain personal information will be mandatory.
How safe and secure is the information we hold about you?
We take great care with the information we hold about you. Our aim is to ensure that any details are securely protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We will take reasonable care to make sure that we keep your information in an accurate, complete and up to date manner. When that information is no longer required to be held by law or needed, it will be permanently destroyed or de-identified.
How does the Ballast website collect my information?
When you visit our website, details may be recorded about your visit, such as time and date, your server address, pages accessed, time spent and type of browser. This information is used in an anonymous form for statistical purposes and as such cannot identify you individually.
We may use cookies to identify your browser so that next time you visit our website we remember your log in details. A cookie is a small file which remains on your computer and contains information enabling our website to recognise your browser. If you do not wish to use cookies, you can adjust the settings on your browser to reject cookies or notify you when they are being used.
Does Ballast protect my information?
We will protect your personal information from misuse and loss, and destroy or permanently de-identify personal information we no longer need.
Is my information sent overseas or shared through the internet?
We will not send any personal information about you overseas unless you consent to this, or we reasonably believe that the other country has privacy laws substantially similar to our own, or we provide the information in other circumstances like giving you protection.
Our website contains a number of links to other websites, including the websites of our commercial partners. When this occurs be sure to check the privacy policy of those websites as we are not responsible for the privacy practise of those other parties.
What if I’m not happy with the handling of my information?
We are committed to providing members and other parties whose personal information we hold, a fair and resealable system for the handling of their complaints. If at any time you have any complaints in relation to privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer at one of the points referred to below. We will seek to address any concerns that you have through our complaints handling process, but if you wish to take matters further you may refer your concerns to the Office of Federal Privacy Commission on 1300 363 992.
Contact Us
If you seek further information from Ballast about this Statement or our privacy policy please contact our head office:
9/233 Berrigan Drive, Jandakot WA 6164 PO Box 5143, Southlake WA 6964
Ph No: (08) 9417 4727 Email: enquiries@ballast.com.au
Additional Privacy Information
For further information, contact the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.com.au or 1300 363 992.
Companies
Ballast Accountants – Registered Tax Agent 76473006
Ballast Compliance & Learning Centre
Ballast Finance – Australian Credit Licence Number 366520
Ballast Financial Management – Australian Financial Service Licence Number 233180
Ballast Legal
Ballast Lending Central – Australian Credit Licence Number 431251
Ballast Finance Academy – Australian Credit Licence Number 432272
Ballast Property
Ballast Superannuation Management