Consent to Privacy Policy

Please note that when you contact us through our website, our partner websites, social media pages or our apps, you agree to this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not contact us through any of our digital platforms but call us on 03 477 0530.

Who we are

MTF Finance means Motor Trade Finance Limited and includes any third party transferred MTF Finance’s rights.

MTF Finance Group we, us, or our means MTF Finance, MTF Finance’s subsidiaries and related entities, and the network of franchises and approved dealers who provide MTF Finance products and services.

You and your means our customers and other individuals who engage with us directly or indirectly.

Personal Information is defined in the Privacy Act as information about an identifiable individual (a natural person as opposed to a company or other legal entity).

We collect personal information in connection with our products and services including lending and financial advice. The law requires us to make reasonable enquiries that our products and services are suitable for you. So, it is important you provide accurate and complete information to us.

Types of personal information we collect

The types of personal information we collect will vary depending on the nature of your dealings with us, and we only collect personal information that is necessary. Where reasonable and practicable, we will collect your personal information directly from you and inform you that we are collecting it.

Generally, the types of personal information we collect, and hold include:

  • Your name, e-mail address, residential address, contact telephone numbers
  • Information about your employment, your income, and your financial and personal circumstances
  • Identity documents which verify your identity and other personal details (such as your passport or driver’s licence number)
  • Details about your credit history, credit accounts, credit that may have been extended to you and your repayment history

How we collect personal information

We mainly collect personal information directly from you, for example:

  • Over the telephone or a video call (such as over Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Skype) e.g., when you contact our staff.
  • Through one of our digital platforms like our website, social media pages and apps (including through any online chat, virtual assistant, or bots),
  • When you email or write to us.
  • When you participate in a marketing campaign, competition, or promotion (or a similar event) administered by us or our representatives.

If it is not obvious that we are collecting personal information from you, we will do our best to make it clear to you so that you are always aware when information is being collected.

We may also collect personal information about you from parties who are not covered by this Privacy Policy:

  • Our agents
  • Your employers, accountants, lawyers, referees, banks, landlords, guarantors, and financial advisors
  • Third parties you may have had dealings with
  • Credit reporting agencies and identification service providers
  • Insurers
  • Service providers like debt collection agencies, introducers, professional advisers, direct debit companies, and private investigators
  • Professional organisations
  • Public and subscribed databases
  • Publicly available sources e.g., via the internet.

We collect your personal information from the above parties where we have received your express consent to do so. We may also collect your personal information from publicly available sources without your express consent.

Online device information and cookies

If you are visiting us through our website, social media pages or apps, then we collect information about your use and experience on these by using cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your hard drive or on your mobile browser. They can record information about your visit to the site, allowing it to remember you the next time you visit and provide a more meaningful experience.

The cookies we send to your computer, mobile phone or other device cannot read your hard drive, obtain any information from your browser, or command your device to perform any action. When you interact with us through our website, social media pages or apps, the information collected through the cookies may include:

  • The date and time of visits.
  • Website page (or pages) viewed.
  • The website or app from which you accessed the internet and our website or other digital platform.
  • How you navigate through the website and interact with pages (including any fields completed in forms and applications completed (where applicable).
  • Information about your location.
  • Information about the device used to visit our digital platform; and
  • IP address (or addresses), and the type of web browser used.

We will not ask you to supply personal information publicly over Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform that we use. Sometimes we may invite you to send your details to us through a private message, for example, to answer a question. You may also be invited to share your personal information through secure channels to participate in other activities, such as competitions, but we would require your express consent prior to us including you in such activities.

Purpose of collection and use of personal information

Any personal information you provide to us may be used to:

  • Determine whether you are eligible for the product or services offered by us including:
  • Evaluate your credit worthiness by carrying out a credit check.
  • Verify your identity by carrying out identification checks.
  • Evaluate your financial position by assessing relevant financial data provided by you including but not limited to, your bank statements.
  • Facilitate the provision of the products or services offered by us.
  • Provide the information that you request about us, or our products and services.
  • Manage the products and services we provide.
  • Prevent and defend instances of fraud, unlawful conduct, and other risks to our products and services.
  • Facilitate internal and external dispute resolution.
  • Enforce our rights including debt collection, where necessary instituting legal action, and assigning debts to third parties.
  • Enable our associated entities and other selected entities to promote their products and services to you.
  • Ensure that we comply with relevant legislation and regulations in providing any services to you or providing you with access to any services that we provide.
  • Market products and services provided by us, other members of MTF Finance Group, and third parties for whom we act as an intermediary in the provision of our products and services.
  • Compile statistical data (for example credit scoring information).
  • Comply with specific New Zealand laws that make it mandatory for us to collect your personal information.

We also have an obligation to maintain personal information to disclose to regulatory and similar bodies - see “Disclosure of your personal information” below. These bodies have a legal right to such information.

Storage and protection of your personal information

We may electronically record and store personal information which we collect from you. When we do so, we will take all reasonable steps to keep it secure and prevent unauthorised disclosure.

However, we cannot promise that your personal information will not be accessed by an unauthorised person (e.g., a hacker) or that unauthorised disclosures will not occur. If we provide you with any passwords or other security devices, it is important that you keep these confidential and do not allow them to be used by any other person. You should notify us immediately if the security of your password or security device is breached, this will help prevent the unauthorised disclosure of your personal information.

Some information we hold about you will be stored in paper files, but most of your information will be stored electronically on our servers or in the cloud, by cloud service providers – see “Cloud-based service providers” below.

We use a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the security of the personal information we hold, including:

  • Access to information systems is controlled through identity and access management.
  • Our buildings are secured with a combination of locks, monitored alarms and cameras to prevent unauthorised access.
  • Employees are bound by internal information security policies and are required to keep information secure. Employees are required to complete training in information security and privacy.
  • When we send information overseas or use service providers to process or store information, we put arrangements in place to protect your information.
  • We regularly monitor and review our compliance (and our service providers’ compliance) with internal policies and industry best practice.
  • We have a data governance policy that governs how we manage our information and records to make sure we destroy any information that is outdated, irrelevant or unnecessary.

Cloud-based service providers

We use third party service providers to store and process most of the information we collect. We use cloud service providers located in New Zealand and Australia, and Europe. We ensure that our cloud-based service providers are subject to appropriate security and information handling arrangements and that the information stored or processed by them remains subject to confidentiality obligations.

Timeframes for keeping personal information

We take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify any personal information as soon as practicable after the date of which it has no legal or regulatory purpose, or we have no legitimate business purpose with it. We are required to hold personal information for at least seven years by the Companies Act 1993, the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 and other New Zealand laws. After this time, provided that the personal information is no longer relevant to any product or service we are providing you, we will take reasonable steps to safely destroy or de-identify any personal information.

We have a data governance policy that governs how we manage our information and records to enable us to destroy any information that is outdated, irrelevant or no longer necessary.

If there is a privacy breach

We work hard to keep your personal information safe. However, despite applying strict security measures and following industry standards to protect your personal information, there is still a possibility that our security could be breached. If we experience a privacy breach, we will respond to minimise harm.

If we consider the breach has caused, or is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify the Privacy Commissioner.

We may notify any customers affected by the breach or put a notice on our website advising customers of the breach.

If you think a privacy breach has occurred, please contact us as soon as possible.

Disclosure of your personal information

We may disclose your personal information to others outside MTF Finance Group for the following purposes:

  • Where it is necessary to enable us to achieve the purpose that we collected the information for.
  • When we are required or authorised by law or where we have a public duty to do so.
  • When you have expressly consented to the disclosure, or your consent can be reasonably inferred from the circumstances; or
  • When we are permitted to disclose information under the Privacy Act.

Parties we may disclose your information to

Your personal information may be used by us for the purpose of providing products and services to you and may also be used by agencies such as, but not limited to:

  • Other members of MTF Finance Group.
  • Any out-sourced service provider who assists in the services we are required to carry out such as auditors and external compliance reviewers.
  • Our external dispute resolution service.
  • Our Regulators and other New Zealand authorities.
  • Credit reporting and debt collecting organisations.
  • Financial and insurance institutions
  • Persons directly or indirectly involved in providing funding to MTF Finance Group.
  • Any organisation or person we consider assigning or transferring any of our rights under any agreement with you.
  • Any partner you have agreed to MTF Finance Group sharing your information with.

If we do not need to share your information with a third party to provide products and services to you, we will not pass on your information to them without your consent. Under no circumstances will we sell or receive payment for disclosing your personal information.

Sending your information overseas

We may send your personal information outside New Zealand, including to overseas service providers or other third parties who process or store our information, or provide certain services to us.

Where we do this, it does not change any of our commitments to you to safeguard your privacy. We make sure that appropriate security and information handling arrangements are in place and the information remains subject to confidentiality obligations.

All countries have different privacy laws and information protection standards. If we need to send your personal information to a country that has lower standards of information protection than in New Zealand, we will take appropriate measures to protect your personal information.

Third party websites

Through our website or our other social media pages, you may be able to link to other websites which are not under our control. We are not responsible for the privacy or security practices of those third-party websites and the sites are not covered by this Privacy Policy. Third party websites should have their own privacy and security policies, and we encourage you to read them.

In addition, we have no knowledge of (or control over) the nature, content, and availability of those websites. We do not sponsor, recommend, or endorse anything contained on these linked websites. We do not accept any liability of any description for any loss suffered by you by relying on anything contained or not contained on these linked websites.

Right to access, and correct personal information

You have the right to request access to, or correction of, your personal information. You can do so by contacting us at:

Motor Trade Finance Limited

Phone: 03 477 0530

E-mail: [email protected]

Postal Address: PO Box 885, Dunedin 9054

When you contact us with such a request, we will take steps to update your personal information, provide you with access to your personal information and/or otherwise address your query within a reasonable period after we receive your request. To protect the security of your personal information, you may be required to provide identification before we update or provide you with access to your personal information.

There is no fee for requesting that your personal information is corrected or for us to make corrections. In processing your request for access to your personal information, a reasonable cost may be charged. This charge covers such things as locating the information and supplying it to you.

There are some circumstances in which we are not required to give you access to your personal information. If we refuse to give you access or to correct your personal information, we will let you know our reasons, except if the law prevents us from doing so.

If we refuse your request to correct your personal information, you also have the right to request that a statement be associated with your personal information noting that you disagree with its accuracy. If we refuse your request to access or correct your personal information, we will also provide you with information on how you can complain about the refusal.

What happens if you do not provide us with your information?

If you do not provide information we have requested, this may affect the products and services we can provide to you. Please ask us if you are unsure what information is important and how this might affect you.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We review this Privacy Policy periodically to keep it current and available on our website. Any changes to the Privacy Policy apply to all information collected before and after the publication date. If the changes are significant, we may advise you directly. You may also obtain a copy of the latest version by calling us on 03 477 0530.

Privacy Policy queries and concerns

If you are concerned about how your personal information is being handled or if you feel that we have compromised your privacy in some way, please contact us at:

Motor Trade Finance Limited

Phone: 03 477 0530

E-mail: [email protected]

Postal Address: PO Box 885, Dunedin 9054

We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days of its receipt. We will let you know if we need any further information from you to investigate your complaint. We aim to resolve complaints as quickly as possible. We strive to resolve complaints within five working days, but some complaints take longer to resolve.

If your complaint is taking longer, we will let you know what is happening and a date by which you can reasonably expect a response.

If you are not satisfied with our response to any privacy related concern you may lodge a complaint on the Privacy Office website www.privacy.org.nz or send a complaint form to the Privacy Commissioner at:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Postal Address: PO Box 10094, Wellington 6143, New Zealand

Fax: (04) 474 7595

Phone: (0800) 803 909

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.privacy.org.nz