Privacy policy

Last updated: August 6, 2026

1. Privacy Policy (mandatory)

Under Australian Privacy Principle 1 (APP 1) of the Privacy Act 1988, any business handling personal information must have a clearly expressed, up-to-date privacy policy freely available on its website. APP 1 requires an entity to take reasonable steps to implement practices, procedures and systems that ensure compliance with the APPs and allow it to deal with related inquiries and complaints.

For a debt collection agency specifically, your privacy policy needs to cover:

  • What personal/financial information you collect (debtor details, credit files, contact info) and how
  • Why you collect it and how you use/disclose it (including to credit reporting bodies, clients, courts)
  • How debtor information is securely stored and handled to prevent unauthorised disclosure
  • How individuals can access/correct their information and lodge a complaint
  • Note: if you ever obtain credit reporting information, Part IIIA of the Privacy Act imposes additional, stricter rules — you'll likely need a specific credit reporting policy too.

2. Terms and Conditions / Terms of Use

Standard website T&Cs (intellectual property, liability limitations, governing law) plus, because you're a regulated financial/credit-adjacent service:

  • Clear identification of your business — legal entity name, ABN/ACN, registered address
  • Description of services offered
  • Any Australian Credit Licence (ACL) number, if you hold one or act as a credit representative

3. Debt collection conduct disclosures

The ACCC and ASIC jointly publish a Debt Collection Guideline covering obligations under Commonwealth consumer protection laws, and while the guideline itself isn't a "website disclosure" requirement per se, good practice (and what regulators expect to see) includes publishing on your site:

  • Your complaints and dispute resolution process, including how a debtor can dispute a debt or raise hardship
  • How your organisation handles hardship requests, including that they'll be assessed promptly and fairly
  • A statement on fair conduct standards — no misleading language, no unnecessary pressure, no disclosing account details to third parties like employers or family without permission

4. External Dispute Resolution (EDR) membership — likely mandatory

AFCA membership is a requirement under law or licence condition for financial firms and financial service providers operating in Australia, and its members include debt collection agencies. If you collect consumer credit debts (not just commercial/B2B debts), you'll almost certainly need to:

  • Join AFCA
  • Display your AFCA membership number and a link/description of how debtors can escalate a complaint to AFCA if unresolved internally

This is a big one — check with ASIC directly whether your specific business model requires an Australian Credit Licence or AFCA membership before you launch.

5. Other standard site disclosures

  • Cookie/tracking consent notice if you use analytics/marketing cookies
  • Accessibility statement (good practice, not strictly mandated)
  • Contact details for privacy complaints (some businesses also need to register with the OAIC depending on turnover/activities)

A few questions this depends on

Whether you need an ACL, AFCA membership, and how detailed your credit reporting policy needs to be depends heavily on whether you'll be collecting consumer debts (credit card, personal loan, utility) vs purely commercial/B2B debts, and whether you're a first-party collector or purely third-party (which you've said you are). Given the compliance stakes, I'd strongly recommend a lawyer who specialises in credit/collections regulation draft the actual privacy policy, T&Cs, and complaints process rather than relying on templates — the ACCC/ASIC guideline carries real penalty exposure for getting conduct standards wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Privacy Policy

Fairway Collections ABN [68 646 296 015] Last updated: 31/07/2026

1. About this policy

Fairway Collections ("we", "us", "our") provides third-party debt collection services. We are committed to protecting the privacy of personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, including information about people whose debts we are engaged to collect ("debtors"), our clients, and visitors to our website.

2. What personal information we collect

Depending on our role, we may collect:

  • Identification details (name, date of birth, address, phone, email)
  • Financial and account information relating to the debt (account numbers, balances, payment history)
  • Employment details, where relevant to assessing capacity to pay
  • Information provided during hardship applications or payment arrangement negotiations
  • Credit reporting information, where we are permitted to obtain it under Part IIIA of the Privacy Act
  • Correspondence and call recordings between us and debtors, clients or third parties
  • Website usage data (IP address, browser type, pages visited) via cookies and analytics tools

3. How we collect personal information

  • Directly from our clients (the original creditor) who engage us to recover a debt
  • Directly from debtors, where they contact us or make payment arrangements
  • From credit reporting bodies, where permitted
  • From publicly available sources, for the purpose of locating a debtor or verifying identity
  • Automatically, through cookies and similar technologies when you visit our website

We do not knowingly collect sensitive information (such as health information) unless it is volunteered by a debtor in the context of a hardship request, and only to the extent necessary to assess that request.

4. Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

We use personal information to:

  • Recover debts on behalf of our clients
  • Verify the identity of debtors before discussing account details
  • Assess and respond to hardship requests
  • Communicate with debtors, clients, and — where legally necessary — third parties such as solicitors, courts, or tribunals
  • Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including reporting to AFCA and responding to OAIC inquiries
  • Manage and improve our website and services

We do not disclose account or debt details to a debtor's employer, family members, or colleagues, except with the debtor's consent or as otherwise permitted by law.

5. Credit reporting information

Where we deal with consumer credit debts, we may collect and disclose credit reporting information in accordance with Part IIIA of the Privacy Act and the Credit Reporting Privacy Code. [Include a dedicated Credit Reporting Policy here or link to a separate document if this applies to your business — this section requires more detailed drafting with a lawyer if you handle consumer credit debts.]

6. Disclosure of personal information

We may disclose personal information to:

  • Our client (the original creditor), to report on the status of the debt
  • Credit reporting bodies, where permitted by law
  • Our professional advisers, including lawyers and auditors
  • Courts, tribunals, and regulators, where required by law
  • Service providers who assist us in operating our business (e.g. IT providers), under confidentiality obligations

We do not sell personal information to third parties.

7. Overseas disclosure

[State whether any personal information is stored or processed overseas — e.g. cloud hosting providers — and list the countries, if applicable. If none, state: "We do not disclose personal information to overseas recipients."]

8. Data security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, including [describe measures: encryption, access controls, staff training, secure storage]. Access to debtor information is restricted to staff who require it to perform their duties, and staff verify a debtor's identity before discussing account details.

9. Website cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to [analyse website traffic / improve functionality — customise this]. You can disable cookies through your browser settings, though this may affect site functionality.

10. Access and correction

You may request access to, or correction of, the personal information we hold about you by contacting us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable period and, in most cases, free of charge. There may be circumstances where we are not required to provide access, in which case we will explain why.

11. Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Privacy Act or an Australian Privacy Principle, you can lodge a complaint with us using the contact details below. We will investigate and respond within 21 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to:

  • The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) — oaic.gov.au
  • The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) — afca.org.au, Member number: [AFCA membership number] (include only if your business is an AFCA member — required for most debt collection agencies handling consumer credit debts; confirm your obligation with ASIC)

12. Contacting us

For privacy questions, access/correction requests, or complaints:

Privacy Officer

Fairway Collections

Address:

Parcel Locker 10336 51586

Shop 3061

17 Patrick St

Blacktown NSW 2148

Email: fairwaycollections@hotmail.com

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website.