An Individual’s Rights

Individuals in New Zealand have rights under the Privacy Act 1993 (Privacy Act) in relation to the access, storage and use of their personal credit information.

The Privacy Act promotes and protects an individual’s privacy and has established a number of principles in relation to:

• the collection of personal information,
• the storage of personal information,
• the access to and correction of personal information,
• the use of personal information,
• the disclosure of personal information, and
• the use of unique identifiers.

Types of Information Collected

Creditnet International Ltd (Creditnet) collects or has access to personal information so that it can supply its products and services, including

• Commercial Credit Reporting and
• Industry Group (reporting).

These products and services provide information that is business related, however, some of the information relates to the owners or principals of the business and may extend to the directors, officers, and senior management of the business.

Information is sourced either directly from the business, third parties who may undertake transactions with the business, or publicly available databases.

Creditnet also collects information about its customers, or employees or offices of its customers. This is to allow it to deliver products and services to its customers, and in general complete business transactions and provide administration or customer support to its customers. In some cases it is required for regulatory reasons.

Website Data Collected

Visitors to the Creditnet website are not asked to provide any identifiable information except in the following circumstances.

• In respect to a Consumer Credit Check directed to Centrix Group Ltd (see below for further information)
• An existing customer who has been assigned a User Name and Password
• Where an individual is seeking a Sales Representative contact them.

Existing customers of Creditnet will visit the website with User Names and Passwords already assigned, and other parties who wish to become customers of Creditnet will provide standard contact information including name, mail and email address, and telephone contact details.

Disclosure and Use of Information

Creditnet collects information for the purpose of carrying out its business and the information held and retained by Creditnet will only be used and disclosed for the following purposes.

• The purpose for which it was collected.
• Some third parties who may be engaged by Creditnet.
• Creditnet’s parent, subsidiary, and or sister companies.
• Where required or permitted by law to do so.

Creditnet may engage trusted third parties for the purpose of carrying out services on its behalf – examples of this include hosting services, lawyers, and accountants or auditors.

Creditnet will retain personal information for no longer than necessary in order to carry out its business.

It is of great importance that Creditnet adhere to strict internal guidelines on the Types of Information Collected and its Use and Disclosure, and in this respect the Creditnet staff are provided with strict guidelines on the handling of personal information and the privacy interests of individuals and businesses.

Centrix Group Limited

Centrix Group Limited ("Centrix") carries on business as a Credit Reporter. Creditnet has a contractual relationship with Centrix and accepted Subscribers to Centrix’s Consumer Credit Bureau whereby Creditnet is appointed as agent for the Subscriber in the delivery of credit information on individuals to the Subscriber. When a Subscriber requests a Consumer Credit Check supplied by Centrix via the Creditnet website, Creditnet will, upon delivery of the service by Creditnet to the Subscriber (as its agent), immediately purge and destroy the information it holds in relation to the service.

Under the Privacy Act, the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2004 (the Code) has been issued and it provides specific rights in relation to how Credit Reporters handle individual’s personal credit information. Should you wish to access a complete version of the Code go to www.privacy.org.nz or the Privacy Act go to www.legislation.org.nz

Individuals have certain rights with regard to the personal credit information that Centrix holds about them, and in particular they can:

• access their own personal credit information,
• request incorrect information be amended or a statement of correction be added to their credit file, and
• expect the information to be safely stored, and used by or disclosed only to authorised people.

Should you wish to contact Centrix for any of these reasons please do so by going to www.centrix.co.nz

Contact Us

Should you wish to make an enquiry in respect to this policy or make a complaint in relation to how Creditnet handles your personal information please contact us at creditnet@rmlgroup.co.nz