Our Credit Information Policy

Credit-related information is a broad term that describes a number of different categories of information about an individual that are related to credit. It can include information about the individual's credit eligibility that we have collected directly or information obtained from a credit reporting body. It may also include information which is derived from information held by us or by a credit reporting body (such as a credit score).  

A list of the main categories of credit-related information that we may collect or hold is set out in section 2 below. 

As a credit provider, we may collect credit-related information about you in certain circumstances where you are associated with a third party who has been provided with commercial credit by us, or who is applying for commercial credit with us. This includes commercial credit in connection with a business (where you are associated with that business, for example as a director), and covers information about you as a guarantor (or proposed guarantor) of a commercial credit facility. This may involve us conducting a credit check on you (with Equifax) as an individual. 

We will only collect, use or disclose credit-related information as permitted by law and in accordance with our policies (including this policy). 

In addition to collecting personal information about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy, we may collect, hold, use and disclose certain credit-related information about you. We may obtain this information from you, your advisers or authorised representatives or from third parties, including from an application for credit, credit reporting bodies, other credit providers, information service providers or from public sources, in order to assist us in determining whether we will provide, or continue to provide, any commercial credit to you or your associated entity. 

If you (or your associated entity) ask us for credit, or you propose to provide a guarantee in relation to credit, we may check your credit reports. We might collect information about you from, and give it to, credit reporting bodies as permitted by law. We may share your credit-related information with them so they can provide credit reports to others. We may not need your consent to do so (see section titled "Our Statement of Notifiable Matters" of this policy for more information). We currently deal with the following credit reporting body: 

Equifax Pty Ltd
PO Box 964, North Sydney NSW 2059
Telephone: 138 332 or 1300 762 207
Website: www.equifax.com.au or www.mycreditfile.com.au 

You can request a copy of Equifax’s credit reporting policy from its website or by contacting them directly using the details set out above.

We may use this information to derive or calculate a credit assessment score in relation to you, which will 
then help us in conducting our assessment of your credit worthiness.

We may also use the credit-related information that is collected and held by us to help us decide whether to 
provide commercial credit to your associated entity.

We may use or disclose your credit-related information to: 

The above referenced third party entities may in turn disclose your credit-related information to any other 
entities as described in their privacy policies, credit information policies or equivalent statements.

We do not currently disclose credit-related information to entities that do not have an Australian link.

Where required by law we will make a written note (which may be kept in electronic form) of any use or disclosure that we may make relating to your credit-related information and if:

The security of your credit-related information is important to us and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We hold credit-related information in different forms securely in the manner detailed in our Privacy Policy.

In any circumstance where we intend to disclose credit-related information to overseas recipients, we will comply with applicable law and practices relating to overseas disclosure detailed in our Privacy Policy.

When your credit-related information is no longer required, we may destroy or delete it (if permitted by law to do so) in the manner detailed in our Privacy Policy.

Complaints about access or correction of information

If you have a complaint regarding our failure to provide access to or to correct any credit-related information that we hold about you, you may lodge it with us or directly to the:

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
GPO Box 5288, SYDNEY NSW 2001 
Phone: 1300 363 992
Website: www.oaic.gov.au or email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au. 

The OAIC will then provide you with further information about the next steps in their complaints process. You are not required to let us first assist you with your complaint. However, the OAIC might refer the complaint to us for resolution before they assist you. Further information about making a privacy complaint to the OAIC is at: http://www.oaic.gov.au/.

Other complaints in relation to our handling of your credit-related information
You have the right to make a complaint if you have a concern in relation to our handling of your credit-related information. If you wish to make a complaint regarding our handling of your credit-related information (but it is not a complaint relating to access or correction, as described above), you must first lodge it with us. Please lodge your complaint in writing using the contact details below and provide us with details of the incident so that we can investigate your complaint. For complaints made directly to us, we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint (and set out how we will deal with it) within seven calendar days and we will endeavour to understand and resolve your complaint as soon as possible, and in any case within 30 calendar days, in accordance with our Complaints Policy. If we cannot resolve the matter within 30 calendar days, we will contact you and explain the reason for the delay, the expected timeframe to resolve the complaint and seek your agreement to extend the period for resolving your complaint. 

If your complaint relates to the correction of your credit-related information and the resolution of your complaint requires us to correct your information, we will inform each other credit provider and credit reporting body that we have previously disclosed your information to, that you have made a correction complaint in relation to that information and that we have corrected your information because of the outcome of that complaint. However, we will not give such notification if doing so is impracticable or prohibited under an Australian law or court / tribunal order. 

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint or our proposed resolution, you have a right to lodge a further complaint to the OAIC (contact details are listed on the website above). 

This policy is subject to regular review. Any changes to it will be notified publicly by us posting an updated 
version on our website, and the changes will be effective from that date.

Any information we hold will be governed by the most current Credit Information Policy and Privacy Policy
where applicable.

This policy was last updated in February 2025.

If you wish to contact us regarding our handling of your personal information or any of the matters covered in this policy, you can contact our Privacy Officers  by:
• Post: Attention: Privacy Officer, Export Finance Australia, Level 11, 22 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000  
• Phone: +61 (0)2 8273 5333 
• Email: privacy@exportfinance.gov.au