Privacy Policy

Types of personal information we collect

Metro may collect the following personal information:

• Personal identifiers – such as your name, e-mail address, address, phone number, and other information about yourself.
• Customer record information – such as contact details (e.g. telephone number and address), or payment information (e.g., credit card numbers);
• Commercial information – such as information about any transactions, both free and paid, that you enter into via the the Website.
• Internet or online information – such as information about your computer and your activity on the Website including your IP address, operating system, geographical location, browser type, referring website addresses, length of visit and pages viewed.
• Geolocation data – such as device location.
• Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, or similar information – such as recordings of conversations with our sales representatives or customer support services. In these instances, you will be notified in advance of the recording and given the opportunity to request your interaction not be recorded.
• Professional or employment related information – Where relevant we may ask you for other information, for example, qualifications and employment history if you are applying for employment with us. We will also engage a third party to conduct a background check on a person who applies for employment with us if we are considering offering employment to that person.
• Sensitive personal information – such as tax file numbers, certain health information, and race or ethnicity information, which we only collect for employment or service-related purposes. Otherwise, we do not collect sensitive personal information about you unless you provide it to us voluntarily. If we need to collect any sensitive information for a specific purpose, we will ask for your consent.

The types of personal information that we collect also depends on our relationship with the individual.  In respect of loan applicants, we generally collect personal information about individuals who are loan applicants at different stages and in different ways.  In particular, during the application for a loan we usually collect personal information from the applicant’s broker or other representative.  Later, during the credit approval process, we collect personal information from other lenders, credit providers and CRBs.  After the loan has been approved, we may collect additional personal information directly from the loan applicant (who would then be our client). 

In respect of applicants for novated leases, we generally collect personal information about individual applicants from the applicant, their employer and salary packaging companies.  Later, during the credit approval process, we collect personal information from other lenders, credit providers and CRBs.

If we are not able to collect the information sought, we may be unable to process an application for a loan or a novated lease, or we may be limited in the other services or assistance we can offer to the applicant or client.

In some circumstances we are also required to collect information in accordance with laws that apply to our business:

• the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), which requires us to obtain information to assess applicants’ requirements, objectives and suitability relating to a loan;
• the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), which requires us to collect personal information about applicants when verifying their identities; and
• the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth), under which we may need to collect personal information about an individual to record a security interest on the Personal Property Securities Register

Information we collect from third parties

From time to time, we may receive personal information about you from third party sources. This may include publicly available information from service providers, or contact information from partners with which we offer co-branded services or engage in joint marketing activities. Examples of these type of partnerships would be when we co-author a white paper, co-sponsor a webinar series, or attend a conference as a vendor and receive information from the host regarding attendees. In all of these situations we confirm our partners are collecting this information in accordance with applicable law.

Other service providers may use cookies and other similar technologies for marketing analytics and advertising purposes. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services that you may be interested in. They may also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements. The information collected through this process does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details or other personally identifying information unless you choose to provide these.

We may also receive personal information about you from social media companies based on your engagement with us on their site (e.g. liking or commenting on our posts, or viewing our profile). For more information on how your engagement with us on social media may impact how your personal information is collected or shared, see Social Media Policy.

Information from brokers and authorised representatives

At the application stage, we obtain a broad range of personal information from the authorised representative or broker of loan applicants, which is necessary to enable us to consider each applicant’s eligibility for a loan and the administration of the loan. That personal information includes:

• name, address and contact details;
• previous addresses;
• date of birth;
• gender; 
• drivers licence number;
• name of an individual’s current employer and other employment (PAYG/Self-employed) information;
• profession, occupation or job title;
• marital status/family details and circumstances;
• bank details; 
• property addresses and title searches;
• how the asset we are financing will be used

Information from other lenders, credit providers and CRBs:

In the course of processing loan applications, we collect personal information from a range of other entities including other lenders, credit providers and CRBs.  That personal information may include:

• credit liability information regarding existing finance;
  • name of the credit provider
  • the type of finance;
  • how long the finance has been held;
  • the terms and conditions of the finance;
  • the maximum amount of finance available;
• repayment history information which is information about whether the applicant makes their repayments on time.  This may include default information concerning a payment owed by the applicant as a borrower or as a guarantor in connection with credit that remains overdue for more than 60 days; 
• information about the type and amount of finance that the applicant is applying for;
• default and payment information; 
• information about the credit worthiness, credit standing, credit history or credit capacity of the applicant;
• a statement that an information request has been made about the applicant by a credit provider, mortgage insurer or trade insurer;
• personal insolvency information about the applicant.  This may include information relating to whether the applicant is a bankrupt or subject to a debt agreement proposal or a debt agreement or a personal insolvency agreement executed by the applicant;
• new arrangement information about the applicant (for example, where a debt that the applicant owes has been varied because it was overdue);
• an opinion by a credit provider that the applicant has committed a serious credit infringement in relation to consumer credit provided by the credit provider to the applicant; and
• court proceedings information.

If we obtain credit-related information about an applicant from a CRB, we may derive information from it that has a bearing on the applicant’s credit-worthiness or could be used in establishing the applicant’s eligibility for credit.  This may include information such as credit scores and assessments which we generate from the information that we receive.

Information directly from the applicant or client:

Once the applicant has settled their loan and become our client, we may also collect personal information in certain instances such as where the client is experiencing difficulties and seeking assistance in servicing the loan.  We may also collect the personal information that clients provide to us directly through our websites or indirectly through use of our websites or online presence, or through our client representatives or client surveys.  Depending on the circumstances, that personal information includes:

• bank detail amendments;
• updated financial details (income, expenses, liabilities and assets);
• health information;
• family disruption (separation, divorce, family violence or financial abuse by partner);
• information about the death of a relative; and
• criminal history

Novated leases:

At the application stage, we obtain a broad range of personal information about the applicant which is necessary to enable us to consider each applicant’s eligibility for a novated lease and the administration of the novated lease. We obtain all or almost all that personal information from the applicant’s employer and other parties such as salary packaging companies who are assisting the applicant to apply for a novate lease. The personal information that we obtain from third parties includes:

• name, address and contact details;
• drivers licence number;
• name of the applicant’s current employer and other employment;
• employment-related information such as your profession, occupation or job title, employer and payroll information;
• vehicle-related information such as your driving speeds, patterns and locations, fuel fills and purposes of travel; and
• criminal history.

Less commonly, we may obtain personal information from the applicant directly in the course of verifying, completing or updating the personal information obtained from the other sources.