Credit Reporting Policy

WHO ARE WE?

This policy applies to Ampol Group (being Ampol Limited (ACN 004 201 307) and its related bodies corporate in Australia. In this policy, Ampol Group is interchangeably referred to as "Ampol", “Ampol Group”, “we” or “us”.

WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF THIS POLICY?

Ampol is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including the applicable parts of the credit reporting requirements in Part IIIA of the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2014 (together, referred to as “Privacy Laws”).

This policy outlines how we manage credit-related personal information that we collect and use in our business.

Our Privacy Policy provides further detailed information about the management of personal information in Ampol’s business.

WHY DOES AMPOL COLLECT CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Ampol collects, uses, holds and discloses credit-related personal information in connection with the provision of products and services on credit. This includes situations where:

1. we provide commercial credit to your business; or
2. if you are a customer who is an individual - you pay for the products or services after we have provided those to you. Where the terms of payment of your account to us are greater than 7 days, Ampol is considered to be a “credit provider” for the purposes of the Privacy Laws.

In this policy, where we refer to “consumer credit” we mean the provision of our products or services on credit to an individual. For example, an individual who buys electricity or gas from us.

WHAT CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES AMPOL COLLECT AND HOLD?

Credit-related personal information that Ampol collects and uses in its business includes the following personal information:

(a) credit eligibility information, being the information that Equifax, the credit reporting body used by Ampol, provides to us. This includes your credit score, to enable us to assess your credit worthiness. In the commercial credit context, this may include both a corporate and director credit score as well as credit score of individuals who are sole traders;

(b) information that Ampol, as a credit provider, derives from credit reporting information disclosed to us by Equifax, such as internal credit risk rating; and

(c) other credit information that Ampol may collect, hold and disclose in connection with the provision of credit such as:

1. identity particulars of individuals, including contact name, addresses, date of birth, phone numbers, employer and drivers licence number. For commercial credit, this information is collected about the directors, shareholders, partners, trustees or principals of the business, but some personal information may also be collected about others in that business (such as the account management staff or a guarantor, where deemed necessary by Ampol);
2. financial information relating to individuals, directors, shareholders, partners, trustees or sole traders, and any person who acts, or proposes to act, as a guarantor;
3. historical insolvency and court proceedings information of individuals, directors, shareholders, partners, trustees, sole traders or managers associated with a business applying for credit;
4. publicly available information about the individual that relates to the individual’s credit worthiness that is not court proceedings information or insolvency information;
5. consumer credit information (including consumer credit liability information) of directors, partners, trustees or sole traders, anyone acting or proposing to act as a guarantor, or any individual applying for credit. This information is obtained from credit reporting bodies where Ampol believes it is necessary to assess the credit worthiness of individuals associated with the applicant for credit, including guarantors;
6. a record that we have made a request with a credit reporting body for credit-related information;
7. where an application for commercial credit is made by a sole trader or an application for consumer credit is made by an individual, and we have made a request with a credit reporting body in connection with such an application, the type and amount of credit that has been applied for;
8. our opinion, based on reasonable grounds, that you have committed a serious credit infringement (“serious infringement information”);
9. repayment history information;
10. default information (certain situations where your payment in relation to the credit provided by Ampol is overdue);
11. payment information, where an overdue payment, previously disclosed as part of the “default information”, has been made; and
12. new arrangement information, being a statement that the terms of the original credit arrangement have been varied or new credit arrangements have been entered into.

In collecting, using and disclosing credit-related personal information, Ampol will comply with the applicable requirements of the Privacy Laws.

HOW DOES AMPOL COLLECT AND HOLD CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In most cases Ampol collects credit-related personal information directly from you. For example, when you sign-up to an energy plan with us.

Ampol may also collect credit-related personal information about you from third parties, such as credit reporting bodies that we use, other credit providers or persons acting on your behalf.

Ampol holds credit-related personal information in a range of electronic and, occasionally, paper-based forms. Part II of our Privacy Policy provides information on how we keep your personal information, including credit-related personal information, secure.

WHAT DOES AMPOL USE CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR?

Ampol principally collects, holds, uses and discloses credit-related personal information to assess applications for credit and to manage a credit account in the name of the applicant (if the application is successful), and otherwise as permitted by law. This may involve one or more of the following:

1. assessing the credit worthiness of the applicant, or individuals associated with the applicant (in the case of a business applying for commercial credit) where that is deemed necessary by Ampol, including obtaining both consumer and commercial credit reports from credit reporting bodies;
2. disclosing credit-related personal information to credit reporting bodies before, during or after the granting of credit to the applicant, including but not limited to:
   • identity particulars (as outlined above),
   • default and payment information;
   • repayment history information;
   • onew arrangement information; and
   • serious infringement information;
3. obtaining and verifying personal information from a motor vehicle or land title registry or from a business that provides credit worthiness information; providing, to or exchanging credit-related personal information with, any person whose name is given to Ampol in connection with an application for credit;
4. providing credit-related personal information to debt collection and recovery agencies and lawyers in connection with debt collection activities;
5. providing credit-related personal information to other energy providers that provide or are intending to provide credit to the credit account holder;
6. to comply with relevant law and regulatory obligations;
7. to manage complaints and disputes; and
8. exchanging credit-related personal information with another credit provider who is named in an application for credit or in a credit report issued by a credit reporting body, or a credit provider who proposes to provide credit to an applicant, principally for (but not limited to) the following purposes:
   • assessing the applicant’s credit worthiness;
   • assisting the applicant to avoid defaulting in their credit obligations;
   • assessing the applicant’s position if they fall into arrears;
   • onotifying other credit providers of the applicant’s default;
   • exchanging information about the applicant’s credit obligations with other credit providers; and
   • administering the applicant’s credit facility.

TO WHOM IS CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Ampol discloses credit-related personal information to third parties in the circumstances and for the purposes described in the section above, including to the following credit reporting bodies Ampol uses:

To obtain a copy of your credit file held by the relevant credit reporting body, or to view a copy of the credit reporting body’s policy about its management of credit-related personal information, please visit its website:

1. Equifax - www.mycreditfile.com.au;
2. CreditorWatch - www.creditorwatch.com.au.

Both CreditorWatch and Equifax, as credit reporting bodies, may include credit-related personal information that Ampol provides to them in reports that the credit reporting bodies then provide to credit providers to assist those credit providers to assess the individual’s credit worthiness.

SOME OF YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO CREDIT REPORTING BODIES

(a) Opting out of pre-screening

Under the Privacy Laws, a credit reporting body may use your credit-related personal information to assist a credit provider to market to you by pre-screening you for direct marketing by the credit provider. You have a right to request a credit reporting body to exclude you from such a direct marketing pre-screening by contacting that credit reporting body.

(b) Suspicion of fraud

If you reasonably believe you have been, or are likely to be, a victim of fraud (including identity fraud), you have a right to request a credit reporting body not to use or disclose any credit-related personal information held by that body about you for a minimum of 21 days (referred to as a "ban period"). Ampol reserves the right to delay or refuse any application for credit where it reasonably believes it requires credit-related personal information about an individual, but is unable to obtain such information because a ban period is in effect for that individual.

DOES AMPOL SEND YOUR CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATION OVERSEAS?

As noted in “Does Ampol send your personal information overseas?” section in Part I of our Privacy Policy, Ampol may disclose personal information overseas. This, at times, may include the disclosure of your credit-related personal information.

HOW CAN YOU ACCESS YOUR CREDIT-Related PERSONAL INFORMATION?

You can request access to your credit-related personal information held by Ampol, by submitting your detailed written request to Ampol at the details set out below. Ampol will need to verify your identity before giving you access to your credit-related personal information.

Ampol will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time, and in relation to credit eligibility information, within 30 days of the request (unless unusual circumstances apply).

Where permitted by the Privacy Laws, Ampol may charge you a reasonable fee in connection with your request to access credit-related personal information. This fee will reflect  Ampol's reasonable administrative costs in providing the information to you.

If Ampol declines your request to access your credit-related personal information, we will advise you in writing and notify you of your right to make a complaint about our decision.

To ensure you have access to the most up-to-date information, you should also request access to credit reporting information held by credit reporting bodies about you.

CORRECTION OF CREDIT-RELATED PERSONAL INFORMATIOn

You can request that Ampol corrects credit-related personal information that we hold about you by contacting us in writing at the contact details set out below.

Ampol will notify you in writing of its decision as to whether it agrees to correct that information. Where Ampol does not agree to amend credit-related personal information held about you, Ampol will provide you with reasons for its decision and details of how you may make a complaint about Ampol's decision.

HOW DO YOU MAKE A COMPLAINT?

If you wish to make a complaint to Ampol about Ampol’s handling of your credit-related personal information, please provide full details of your complaint to us in writing (see contact details below).

If you believe Ampol has not complied with its obligations under the Privacy Laws in connection with its handling of your credit-related personal information, Ampol will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days of receiving it, and aim to investigate and resolve it within 30 days. If that is not possible, we will seek to agree a longer period with you. Ampol will notify you in writing of the outcome of its investigation  and of the details of your available options if you are not satisfied with Ampol’s decision (such as making a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner).

HOW WILL CHANGES TO THIS POLICY BE NOTIFIED?

Ampol may amend this Credit Reporting Policy from time to time to take into account new laws and technology, changes to Ampol's operations and practices, and the changing business environment.  The most current version of this policy will be located on Ampol's website.

A copy of this policy can also be obtained by contacting Ampol’s Privacy Compliance Officer.

HOW TO CONTACT US?

If you would like more information concerning Ampol's approach to privacy or have any concerns above how Ampol handles your personal information, including credit-related personal information, you can contact Ampol’s Privacy Compliance Officer using the following contact details:

By post:

The Privacy Compliance Officer
Ampol Limited 
29-33 Bourke Road

Alexandria NSW 2015

Online:at https://www.ampol.com.au/get-in-touch – using our secure enquiry form

Updated: 12 April 2023