Financial Services

Australia

Volvo Financial Services
Privacy and Credit Reporting Policy

Updated: 23 February 2022

Volvo Finance Australia Pty Ltd, ACN 071 774 233, also trading as Volvo Financial Services, (“VFS”, “we”, “us”, “our”) are committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information, including credit information (as those terms are defined herein).  In handling your personal information, we are bound by, and comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (“Privacy Act”), the Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”) and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code (“Code”).  In this Privacy Policy, “you” (and “your”) means you the individual with whom we are dealing or, in the case of a legal entity, that legal entity, and its individual owners, officers, guarantors, employees, contractors or representatives whose personal information we may need to process in order to provide the requested services and for any of the purposes described below.

This Privacy Policy sets out how we process your personal information, how you can access personal information we hold about you and how you can complain about our processing of your personal information.

A. DEFINITIONS

"credit information" has the meaning given under the Privacy Act, and may include any of the following types of personal information:

  • identification details;
  • credit liability;
  • credit eligibility information;
  • repayment history;
  • credit Reporting Body enquiries;
  • product details – loan/lease details;
  • defaults;
  • payment information;
  • payment arrangements;
  • court actions and other enforcement proceedings;
  • insolvency events;
  • publicly available credit information; and
  • serious credit infringements – credit fraud (attempted or actual) and/or avoidance of loan/lease obligations.

"Credit Reporting Policy" means our credit reporting policy contained within this Privacy Policy, and including but not limited to Part C, which sets out how we manage your credit information and credit eligibility information where this is relevant to you, in accordance with our obligations under Part IIIA of the Privacy Act and the Code.

"personal information" means any information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

i. whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

ii. whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not, and includes “personal information” as defined under the Privacy Act and “personal data” as defined in the GDPR. Personal information may also include vehicle and telematics data to the extent that it falls within the aforementioned definition of “personal information”.

"Privacy Policy" means this privacy policy which sets out the manner in which we process personal information, in accordance with our privacy obligations under the Privacy Act and other applicable data protection laws.

“process” means to collect, hold, use, copy, disclose or perform any other set of operations on, personal information.

“Volvo Group” means AB Volvo, the company incorporated under Swedish law with official registration number 556012-5790, and all of its global affiliates and subsidiaries, including VFS.

"Website" in this Privacy Policy means our local website www.vfsco.com.au

B. PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION

1.  The Collection of information – WHAT WE GATHER

The personal information we collect may include personal identification, contact details, financial information, lending and default history, banking details, personal and trade references, vehicle & telematics data (including geolocation data), and employment or business history, depending on the relationship you have with us.  In particular, but not exclusively, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the personal information collected and processed by us about you, may include:

  •  name;
  • gender;
  • date of birth;
  • address;
  • telephone numbers;
  • e-mail address;
  • occupation;
  • drivers licence number;
  •  drivers licence state;
  • ABN;
  • purchase details;
  • any credit information (subject to our Credit Reporting Policy) including default history and related court proceedings or enforcement actions;
  •  warranty and service transaction information provided by our dealer network, affiliates or third parties; and
  •  any other relevant information.

If you choose not to provide this information, our ability to assist you or contract with you may be restricted.

Wherever possible, and subject to our Credit Reporting Policy, we will collect your personal information directly from you, or from your broker/dealer, should you wish to apply for financing or to obtain services we provide.  In some cases we may collect personal information from another member of the Volvo Group, where reasonably necessary to provide you financing or other services, or for our business purposes.  We may also collect personal information about you from other third parties, such as your accountant or a credit reporting body, for a particular purpose. Wherever possible we will tell you who we need to contact and why.

Subject to any restrictions imposed on us by any legislation, we may also collect personal information from you or a third party such as a credit reporting body if you choose to use our website to communicate with us. We will collect the personal information you provide through our interactive facilities, such as customer enquiry, online finance application or comment forms.

In some circumstances, brokers, dealers, accountants, referees, external dispute resolution schemes, your agents and government bodies may provide us with your personal information. The circumstances in which third parties provide us with personal information may include purchase or service requirements, employment or finance applications, account management and complaints.

A note about “sensitive” information

We do not usually need to collect or process any sensitive information (such as personal information about your racial or ethnic origin, health information, political opinions, membership of a political association, professional or trade association or trade union, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, genetic information, biometric information or biometric templates).  If we do require such sensitive information to be provided or are required to share such sensitive information, it will be for a specific purpose and we will ask for your consent first unless we are otherwise required or permitted by law to collect or disclose the same.

2.  The Processing - Use & Sharing/Transfer of Data – WHAT WE DO WITH IT

By signing a credit application, otherwise contracting/engaging with VFS for the provision of financial or other services (a “VFS Dealing”), you acknowledge and consent that we may:

a)  collect and process personal information relating to you (or individuals whose data you have lawfully collected and shared with us) and which you have provided to us (directly or indirectly) or which we have lawfully obtained from a third party for the Purposes described below, including to avoid doubt, any personal information comprised in telematics data obtained from the vehicle(s) which you own, possess or operate and in respect of which we provide financing or other services; and

b)  transfer or otherwise share any such personal information as described above to: (a) any of our affiliates within the Volvo Group, and their employees, contractors, auditors and advisers and/or (b) a third party with whom we do business or from whom we obtain services.  Such transfers may be to a third country (i.e. a country other than the country in which the data was first collected and that third country may be inside or outside the EU).  It is not possible to anticipate or list all third countries to which we might need to transfer data but, as a guide, the countries to which we are most likely to transfer or share your data will be the countries in which we presently do business and, more particularly, where we presently have our Global or Regional Headquarters.  You can check our Global Headquarters website (www.vfsco.com) from time to time to look up where our offices are located, and this will help you keep up to date.  Our Global and Regional Headquarters and data center locations are often the most likely countries to which we will need to share or transfer your data as a result of our day-to-day operations and legitimate business purposes.  As at the date hereof, those countries are: (1) USA, (2) Sweden, (3) France, (4) China, (5) Brazil, (6) Poland, (7) the Netherlands, (8) India and (9) Belgium.  When transferring or sharing data to an affiliate within the Volvo Group or any third-party recipient in a third country (“Data Importer”), VFS will use reasonable endeavors to satisfy itself that the relevant Data Importer has adequate protections in place, to the extent required by applicable law.  If applicable, this may include putting in place appropriate Data Transfer Agreements and/or Data Processing Agreements in a format that meets applicable legal requirements for the protection of personal information.

In addition, and without limitation to the scope of paragraph (b) above, third parties with whom we may disclose or share personal information may include:

  • credit reporting bodies;
  • service providers (e.g. computer systems consultants, document custodians, mailing houses, etc.) to enable them to perform those services), including our IT service providers;
  • your agents, including your broker, where required;
  • insurers, insurance brokers and insurance assessors;
  • debt collection agencies;
  • referees, where authorised;
  • companies to which we are related or with whom we collaborate; and
  • government authorities and law enforcement agencies, as required by law only.

3.         The Purposes – WHY WE PROCESS YOUR DATA

We may collect, use and process your personal information – and we may share or transfer all or part of your personal information to a Data Importer - as we deem necessary for the legitimate business purposes of ourselves and the Volvo Group, or on the basis of other legal grounds, including but not limited to:

a)          Evaluating whether or not to offer, extend or modify any financing or other services requested by, or provided to, you (as a customer or obligor (including guarantor)) (each such occurrence, a “Credit Decision”).  Credit Decisions may be made on a manual or automated basis and may include processing in connection with any risk analysis tool or method we choose to use from time to time to help with same.

b)         Using, processing, sharing/transferring or engaging in analytics of your personal information for (i) routine business purposes; or (ii) the purposes of new business or product development.  This may include developing (and, where applicable, directly or indirectly offering, extending or modifying) specific or bespoke financing products or other services (including usage-based contracts, service & maintenance contracts, payment solutions, and the provision of insurance related services, etc.) and also including, but not limited to, any one or more of the specific purposes mentioned below.

c)          Processing all or part of the vehicle or telematics data generated by the vehicle(s) which are the subject of your VFS Dealing for the legitimate business purposes of the Volvo Group, whether or not sent directly to us or received from another Volvo Group company, including but not limited to:

•            GPS location data for use in tracking or “geofencing” vehicles for the purpose of:

o      Routine floorplan audits (wholesale/dealer financing).

o      Repossession & recovery on default.

o      Compliance with contractual restrictions on permitted geographical use (e.g. to ensure compliance with trade sanctions, other regulatory requirements or agreed permitted use restrictions).

•            Usage based contracts:

o      Use of time, mileage or other odometer readings for the purpose of ”power by kilometer” or “power by the hour” contracts or ascertaining certain return conditions under an operating lease.

o      Use of telematics to assist with fleet management services.

•            Use of telematics to assist us in confirming that required maintenance & servicing is being done throughout the lifetime of a lease as per agreed contract terms or, for example, tracking mileage or hours used to help us determine current market values on return or repossession of a unit.

•            Use of telematics for the purposes of developing and providing insurance related products and services, including but not limited to “connected insurance”.

•            Use of GPS data to help us understand a customer’s operational use for credit underwriting purposes.

•            Data analytics to help us anticipate trade-in or replacement needs going forwards and proactively support your business needs.

•            Regarding vehicle performance, we may collect telematics data related to fuel consumption as well as vehicle utilization for the purpose of helping customers optimize their operations and better select the right vehicle specification for the job at hand.

•            Regarding safety, we may collect safety-related data such as safety systems activation (ABS, anti-roll systems, hard braking, hard cornering events, speed, seat belt usage, etc.). The purpose of collecting such data includes the ability to offer safety-improvement programs to customers, either directly or through partners, and may also be required for connected insurance products.

d)         Unless you expressly “opt out”, we may process your data as defined above for the purposes of marketing & advertising to you of products and services provided by or through the Volvo Group.

e)          Further, once financing or services are contemplated or have been provided, we reserve the right to sell any ownership interest therein and related future receivables to a third party (a “Capital Markets Partner”).  In evaluating such decision, all or part of your data may be disclosed to Capital Markets Partners as Data Importers and to such other third parties with whom we or a Capital Markets Partner is in dialogue regarding the sale of such ownership interests (including rating agencies, securities & exchange regulators and potential investors).

f)           For the purposes of enhancing the scope of products and services we can offer to you or the method of delivery of same, we may share or transfer all or any part of your data (as described above) to a third party who is a potential business partner or actual provider/supplier of outsourced services to us.

(each such occurrence and any one or more of them combined are referred to as a “Purpose”.)

In respect of vehicle and telematics data (as described in section c) above), where you are not the driver of the vehicle(s), you undertake to provide the notice available at https://www.volvotrucks.com.au/en-au/tools/privacy/operators-and-drivers.html to such persons who may be drivers of the vehicle(s) from time to time for so long as we continue to provide services that collect telematics data to you in respect of that vehicle.  We will disclose your information to third parties only as the Privacy Act permits and where there is a valid reason to do so.  All third parties are obliged to use your information only for the specific purpose for which we supply it.

4.         Storage and security

We keep your personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the Purposes and in accordance with any applicable legal reporting or documentation retention requirements.

We may use your personal information to send you further information, if it relates to the purpose of collection, which we consider being of importance to you, but we will always provide you with the opportunity to tell us if you do not want to receive this further information.

We will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorized access, modification or disclosure, including by:

•           storing your information in an environment protected by a combination of physical and technological measures;

•           maintaining strict procedures and systems designed to protect the security of your information.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Whilst we strive to protect your information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from our online products or services sites. You conduct these activities at your own risk.

If a data breach occurs in respect of your information we will notify you about such data breach if we are required by law to do so.

C.         CREDIT REPORTING POLICY

1.           What information we collect and how it is used and held

In addition to the information collected by us under Section B above, we collect as much of this credit information from you where we can.  Some credit information is also obtained from a Credit Reporting Body (CRB), credit providers identified in your credit application and other parties, as necessary.

Information we obtain in, or derive from, your credit application and/or from a CRB is defined as credit eligibility information.  We use this information, and also derived information, to assist us to determine whether you meet our credit criteria. We also use other information to decide whether to accept or decline your application.  Such information is used by us in accordance with Sections B.2 and B.3 above.

All information we hold about you is held in electronic and/or hardcopy form, and securely stored in accordance with Section B.4 above.

2.          Credit Reporting Body Disclosures and Exchange of credit information

When we collect credit information from you in the credit application process, we use that credit information in a number of ways to assess your credit application and to manage any credit contract that results.  For example, we may:

•           disclose your credit information to Equifax or any other credit reporting body/bodies (CRB);

•           use credit information the CRB provides to assist us assess your credit or guarantor application, or the application of a company of which you are director;

•           notify the CRB of any overdue payments on consumer credit, provided they are more than 60 days overdue, we have attempted to collect the payment and we have notified you of our intention to do so;

•           notify the CRB of a serious credit infringement of your consumer credit if we have reasonable grounds to believe your fraudulently obtained, or attempted to obtain, credit from us or that you have shown an intention to evade your obligations under the contract with us. Note that we will only do this if we have not been able to contact you over a 6-month period;

•           check the CRB for updated contact details if we lose contact with you;

•           ask the CRB to assess your eligibility to receive direct marketing material from us; or

•           the CRB may include your credit information in reports to other credit providers to assist them in assessing your credit worthiness.

In addition, we may collect and exchange your credit information (in so far as is permitted by any applicable law) with third parties such as:

•           any other credit provider where you may have a consumer or commercial credit interest;

  • the dealership where your vehicle is purchased or other authorised dealerships for the purpose of:
  • managing your finance contract/guarantee (including the current standing of your account with us);
  • enforcing overdue accounts due to us;
  • any other applicants or guarantors;
  • your insurer and/or broker; or parties who you refer to us or parties who refer us to you.

D. YOUR RIGHTS AND HOW TO CONTACT US (Access, Correction & Complaints, etc.)

You have the right to ask us to:

  • provide you with the personal information we hold about you; and 
  • correct the personal information we hold if it is incorrect.

If you wish to request access to or correction of the personal information we hold about you, notify us of your new contact details, make a complaint relating to data protection, privacy or our credit reporting practices or have any questions in relation to this Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer by:

Email:

vfs.customerservice@volvo.com

Address:

Volvo Finance Australia Pty Ltd
41 Bivouac Place
Wacol Qld 4076

Volvo Finance Australia Pty Ltd
PO BOX 4047
Mt Ommaney Qld 4074

Telephone:

1300 720 078

Telefax:

+64 7 3718 3391

Website:

www.vfsco.com.au

If you lodge a complaint, we will keep you informed and provide you with a written response to your complaint within 30 days.

You may also lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (Telephone 1300 363 992 or email enquiries@oaic.gov.au).

You can also access your credit information the CRB holds about you by contacting them for a copy of that information at:

Website:

www.equifax.com.au/contact

Address:

Equifax Australia
PO Box 967
North Sydney NSW 2059

Telephone:

13 83 32 (local number from within Australia)

E.  MISCELLANEOUS

We may provide access to other sites by way of hyperlinks from our website. These other sites may not be subject to our privacy and credit reporting standards and procedures. You should make your own enquiries as to the privacy standards for each linked site.

This Privacy Policy, as may be amended from time to time, applies to all personal information submitted by you to VFS or which we otherwise collect as contemplated by this Privacy Policy, whether prior to or after the date of this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our personal information and credit reporting practices.  We will indicate at the top of the Privacy Policy (as posted on our website) when it was most recently updated.  We will not separately notify you of changes to the Privacy Policy.