Yard’s Credit Reporting Policy

  1. Introduction
    1. “We", "us" and "our") refers to the following entities:
      1. Yard Consolidated Pty Ltd ACN 633 936 419;
      2. Yard Financial Pty Ltd ACN 623 357 513, Australian Credit Licence 509481; and
      3. Yard Home Loans Pty Ltd ACN 634 101 901, Authorised Credit Representative Number 517113 for Yard Financial Pty Ltd ACN 623 357 513,
      together and each to be referred to as (“Yard”).
    2. When you apply for a product and/or service from Yard, we may request credit reports about you from credit reporting bodies. These credit reports contain information which assists us to assess your application, including information about your credit history with other credit providers (i.e. credit applications that you have made for personal or household purposes, credit in connection with a business, for other commercial purposes and includes information about you as a guarantor of a loan “credit information”).
    3. This policy explains how we manage your credit information. We may provide more details on how we manage your credit information when we collect your credit information. Our handling of credit information is regulated by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2014 (“CR Code”). The Privacy Act and CR Code outlines your rights as well as the obligations of organisations who handle and share your credit information.
  2. Credit Reports
    1. Credit reports are designed to assist credit providers to accurately assess an individual’s ability to repay credit. To request a report, Yard will provide information that identifies you and information about your application – including the type and amount of credit you are applying for and we may request such reports for consumer credit or commercial credit applications.
    2. Yard also discloses information about you to credit reporting bodies that can then be included in reports provided to other credit providers.
  3. Credit Information

    1. The main reason we collect, use, hold and disclose credit information is to provide you with our products and services.

      This includes:

      1. checking whether you are eligible for the product or service;
      2. providing the product or service to you;
      3. helping manage the product or service provided to you; and
      4. if you make a hardship application and any other information about your personal circumstances.
    2. If you are offering to act as guarantor your credit information will be necessary to assess whether the borrower will be eligible for a loan if you act as guarantor.
    3. We may also use your credit information for other purposes. For instance, to comply with legislative or regulatory requirements in any jurisdiction, to prevent fraud, crime or other activity that may cause harm in relation to our products or services and help us run our business.
    4. We may also use your credit information to tell you about products or services we think may interest you, subject to legal restrictions on using this type of information for marketing purposes.
  4. Credit reporting bodies

    We disclose information to the following credit reporting bodies:

    1. Equifax
      Call:
      13 83 32
      Mail:
      Equifax Australia Information Services and Solutions Pty Limited,
      PO Box 964, North Sydney
      NSW 2059
      Email:
      customerserviceAU@equifax.com
      Web:
      www.mycreditfile.com.au
      For contact details and information on how Equifax manages credit related personal information please see their privacy policy available on their website.
    2. Illion
      Call:
      13 23 33
      Mail:
      illion Australia Pty Limited
      PO Box 7405, St Kilda Rd
      Melbourne VIC 3004
      Email:
      pac.austral@illion.com.au
      Web:
      www.checkyourcredit.com.au
      For contact details and information on how Illion manages credit related personal information please see their privacy policy available on their website.
    3. Experian
      Call:
      1300 783 684
      Mail:
      Experian Australian Pty Limited
      Level 20, 101 Miller Street
      North Sydney NSW 20160
      Email:
      creditreport@au.experian.com
      Web:
      www.experian.com.au
      For contact details and information on how Experian manages credit related personal information please see their privacy policy available on their website.
  5. Disclosing your credit information to credit reporting bodies
    1. The introduction of comprehensive credit reporting (CCR) as part of a government-initiated industry change to provide a more complete picture of consumers’ credit history, you will now see new information on your credit report.
    2. Your credit report will now contain credit enquiries, defaults, serious credit infringements, accounts opened and closed dates, types of credit, credit limits and up to 24 months of repayment history information.
    3. Yard may disclose the following information about your credit to credit reporting bodies:
      1. the credit that we provide to you;
      2. the type of credit you have with us;
      3. the amount of credit provided to you by Yard;
      4. when your credit account is opened and closed with us;
      5. how you repay your credit;
      6. if you fail to make repayments on your credit or you default on your obligations;
      7. if you make repayments on time or if you have corrected a default; or
      8. if we suspect you have committed a serious credit infringement (for example, if you fraudulently obtain or attempt to obtain credit or you deliberately seek to evade your repayment obligations).
  6. Privacy Act and CR Code
    1. The Privacy Act and the CR Code limit what we can do with the information we obtain from a credit reporting body. Generally, it can only be used in relation to the consumer credit products you hold through us.
  7. Marketing
    1. Credit reporting bodies offer a service to credit providers wishing to send direct marketing material about credit services to individuals. This is called “credit prescreening”. For some of our products Yard may, from time to time use the credit reporting body’s credit prescreening service. You have the right to request that the credit reporting bodies do not use your information for this purpose.
    2. To opt out of credit pre-screening, contact the credit reporting bodies, using the contact details on their website.
  8. Fraud
    1. You can also ask a credit reporting body not to use or disclose your personal information for a period if you believe on reasonable grounds that you have been or are likely to be a victim of fraud.
    2. You can do this by contacting the credit reporting body directly. If you make such a request, the credit reporting body will not disclose information about you for 21 days. You can request an extension to this period if you believe you are still, or still likely to be, a victim of fraud.
  9. How you can find out what’s in your credit report?
    1. Credit reporting bodies create and hold credit reports.
    2. There are few ways to find out what is in your credit report. You’ve got the right:
      1. to get a free copy of your credit report every 12 months; or
      2. to get a free copy of your credit report within 90 days of having an application for credit rejected.
  10. Accessing your information, requesting corrections or making complaints
    1. We manage the information we obtain about you from a credit reporting body in the same way as we manage all other personal information about you.
    2. Read our Privacy Policy for more information about how to access the information we hold about you, how to seek correction of that information and how you can lodge a complaint if you have concerns about the way that Yard has managed your personal information.
    3. If you think your credit report contains any inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading information from Yard, please contact us outlining your concerns to the Complaints Officer on the following email: help@yard.com.au.
    4. If you think your credit report contains any inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading information from other credit providers then you should contact the relevant credit reporting body and those credit providers to have that information rectified. Every credit provider and credit reporting body have a free complaint handling process. They are required to deal with your complaint. If you send a complaint to a credit reporting body, make sure you also send a copy to any relevant creditor. Remember to date, sign and keep a copy of your letter.
    5. If Yard or our credit reporting body refuses to correct your credit file, we will provide the reasons why and evidence proving the correctness of the information.
    6. If you’re not happy with our internal dispute resolution process, you can use the external dispute resolution processes including the relevant ombudsman scheme / complaints authority to the Privacy Commissioner.
  11. External Dispute Resolution

    1. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority can consider certain privacy complaints relating to either the provision of credit or credit reporting information in general. You can lodge your complaint with:

      Australian Financial Complaints Authority
      Online:
      www.afca.org.au
      Email:
      info@afca.org.au
      Phone:
      1800 931 678 (free call)
      Mail:
      Australian Financial Complaints Authority
      GPO Box 3
      Melbourne VIC 3001

    2. Under the Privacy Laws you may also complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) about the way we handle your personal information. Please note the OAIC requires any complaint must first be made to the respondent organisation. The law also allows 30 days for the respondent organisation to deal with the complaint before a person may make a complaint to the OAIC.

      The Commissioner can be contacted at:

      Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
      Phone:
      1300 363 992
      Email:
      enquiries@oaic.gov.au
      Website:
      www.oaic.gov.au
      Mail:
      GPO Box 5218
      Sydney NSW 2001
  12. Amendments
    1. We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
  13. Our details
    1. This website is owned and operated by Yard and we are incorporated under the laws of New South Wales, Australia.
    2. You can contact us by email: Attention to the Complaints Officer at help@yard.com.au.
    3. This Credit Reporting Policy is Version 2 dated 23 February 2021.