Privacy Policy

Way Forward Debt Solutions is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your information. In accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), we have put in place procedures and systems to comply with our obligations with respect to your information. This Policy explains our obligations, and your rights, with respect to how we handle your information

1. What personal information does Way Forward Debt Solutions collect and hold?

In the course of providing our service, we may collect the following information about you:

  • Personal information – including your name, address, phone number and other information that can be used to identify you.
  • Credit information – information about your financial situation, including your debts, transaction history and statements from your banks and creditors.
  • Sensitive information – a special category of ‘personal information’ that we only collect with your consent, or if otherwise permitted by law.  This may include information about your personal circumstances or hardship.

2. Why do we collect your personal information?

We only collect your information that is reasonably necessary in the course of providing our service. For example, we may collect your information for the following purposes:

  • To verify your identity
  • To assess your financial situation
  • To help manage your repayments
  • To refer you to other services or support groups we think you may need

If we do not collect this information, we may not be able to provide our service to you

3. How is personal information collected?

Where possible, we collect your information directly from you. However, in some circumstances, we may need to collect your information from other sources – for example, from your banks and creditors to verify your identity and assess your financial situation.

When we collect your information we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.

If we think you may not be aware that we have collected the information, we will take reasonable steps to make sure you are made aware that we have collected it, how we plan to use it and your rights under this Policy.

4. Disclosure of your information

We may use or share your information with others only for the purpose for which we have collected it. For example, we may tell your creditors the sum of all your debts to be able to negotiate an affordable repayment plan between you and that creditor.

We also use a third-party cloud provider to store and archive information, so the information we collect about you may be shared to a third-party for that purpose.

We will only use or share your information for other purposes where we have your consent to do so, or where required or authorised by law.

5. Security of Personal Information

It is important to us that your information is kept secure. We take reasonable steps to make sure your information is protected from being lost, misused, shared or accessed in an unauthorised way.

We store information on a third-party cloud provider that has adequate measures in place to protect your information.

When we no longer need your information for the purpose for which we have collected it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify it. However, most of the information is stored in client files which we keep for a minimum of 7 years.

We train our staff about the requirements of the Privacy Act. We have also designated a Privacy Policy Officer in our team who is responsible for our overall compliance with the Privacy Act and this Policy.

6. Security Breaches

Way Forward endeavours to notify its customers if we become aware of a loss, unauthorised access to or disclosure of its customers’ personal information and if that loss, unauthorised access or disclosure is likely to result in serious harm to the customers.

If Way Forward confirms the personal information has been exposed to unauthorised recipients, the impacted individuals will be notified. Way Forward will also initiate the Notifiable Data Breach Reporting Procedure to report the breach to the Office of Australian Information Commissioner.

7. Integrity of your information

We take reasonable steps to make sure that your information is accurate, complete, up-to-date and, with respect to your credit information, that it is also relevant and not misleading. You have the right to ask us for access to the information we have about you, or for correction to that information. We will make sure to respond to you within a reasonable time by giving you access to the requested information, a notice confirming that we have corrected it, or our lawful reason(s) for refusing to do so.

8. Complaints and queries

If you would like to exercise any of these rights or have any questions about this Policy or our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Policy Officer at assist@wayforward.org.au.

9. Variations and availability of this Policy

This Policy may change from time to time and is available on our website.  More information about Australia’s privacy protection regime is available on the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/.

L O A D I N G