MFAA - Privacy & Security

MFAA Privacy Policy

The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) Privacy Policy describes how we manage personal information that we may collect, hold, use or disclose for the purposes of the Association.

Our Privacy Policy ensures your right to privacy because we recognise that any personal information we may collect about you will only be used for the purposes indicated in our policy. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we collect from you or is received by us, will be treated with appropriate respect ensuring protection of your personal information.

Our commitment in respect of personal information is to abide by the National Privacy Principles for the protection of personal information, as set out in the Privacy Act and any other relevant law.

About the MFAA

The MFAA represents individuals and companies operating in the mortgage and finance industry. It advocates ethical business practices, offers industry specific education, provides compliance and legal information, lobbies various governments and regulators, and runs a consumer information program and industry networking events.

Its mission is to ensure the ethical working of the mortgage and finance industry in Australia.

Click here to view the MFAA Constitution, Code of Conduct or Disciplinary Rules.

Personal Information

When we refer to ‘personal information’ we mean information from which your identity is apparent. This information may include information or an opinion about you, from which your identity can reasonably be ascertained.

Why we collect your personal information

Generally, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the purpose of pursuing our mission. Specific purposes include:

to enable us to communicate with our members and other organisations and individuals with an interest in the mortgage and finance industry; and
to identify, understand and respond to policies, ideas, attitudes and opinions of members to adequately represent them and the mortgage and finance industry.

We may disclose your personal information on our website or other lists of members and associates.

How do we collect your personal information?

Where reasonable and practical we will collect your personal information only directly from you.

To whom will we disclose your personal information?

In line with common business practices, we may disclose personal information to:

those organisations as required or authorised by law; and
our representatives, such as our legal advisers; MFAA Investigating Officer and the MFAA Disciplinary Tribunal
service providers such as printers and posting services and organisations involved in the provision and maintenance of our business systems and infrastructure; and
those organisations where you have given your consent.

Your information will be accessible on the MFAA website for any organisation or individual to look at. You have the right to request that your information will not be displayed on the website.

Where your personal information is disclosed, we will seek to ensure that the information is held, used or disclosed consistently with the National Privacy Principles and other applicable privacy laws and codes, including this policy.

Updating your personal information

It is important to our relationship that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date. During the course of our relationship with you we will ask you to inform us if any of your personal information has changed. If you wish to make any changes to your personal information, visit the Member Centre in this website. We will generally rely on you to assist us in informing us if the information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete.

Access to your personal information

We will provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you. To access personal information that we hold about you please contact us.

There may be situations where we are not required to provide you with access to your personal information. For example, such a situation would be information relating to an existing or anticipated legal proceeding including you, or if your request is vexatious. However, we will provide an explanation if we deny you access to the personal information we hold on you.

How safe and secure is your personal information that we hold?

We will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information by storing it in a secure environment, and when the information is no longer needed for any purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed, it will be destroyed or permanently de-identified.

We will also take reasonable steps to protect any personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Privacy Disclosure Statement and Consents

I acknowledge that any personal information collected by the MFAA - and this includes any supporting documentation I have provided to the MFAA - for the purposes of this application and including related purposes:

is being collected to enable the MFAA to assess this application;
the MFAA may not be able to process this application if this personal information is not provided;
if this application is granted, the MFAA may publish my personal information with my MFAA member contact details in public lists of MFAA members and in MFAA publications, including the MFAA website;
this personal information may be used by the MFAA Board, Chief Executive, relevant state Council or Committee, staff and consultants engaged by the MFAA to administer the Association;
all statements made by me in relation to this application can be investigated by the MFAA or persons authorised by the MFAA;
the MFAA may disclose my personal information to other businesses in accordance with the MFAA Constitution, Code of Practice and/or Disciplinary Rules. These other businesses may include, but are not limited to:
- the MFAA Investigating Officer,
- the MFAA Tribunal,
- the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC),
- the Credit Ombudsman Service Limited (COSL) or other External Dispute Resolution (EDR) scheme approved by COSL,
- lawyers,
- accountants,
- printers,
- mailing houses and,
- others who may assist the MFAA from time to time and /or as required by law.

I consent to the collection and use of my personal information for the purposes described above.

I acknowledge that I can gain access to this information from the MFAA at 40 Yeo St, Neutral Bay, NSW 2089 or P.O. Box 604, Neutral Bay, NSW, 2089.