Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out how Strata Community Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd (“we” or “us”) manages your personal information.

We give priority to protecting the privacy of your personal information. We do this by handling personal information in a responsible manner and in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

We may also provide you with other privacy information, in writing or verbally, when we provide you with certain products or services.

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time and we will publish any changes on our website.

Kinds of personal information we collect and hold

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not the information or opinion is true or recorded in a material form.

Types of personal information we generally collect may include names, gender, dates of birth and contact details, addresses and other details of any property being insured.

In some cases we may also need to collect your sensitive personal information, such as health and medical information or any criminal convictions you may have.

For employment applications we may also collect current and past employment information, educational qualifications, information about professional association memberships, residency status and proof of identity details.

How personal information is collected and held

In most cases when we need to collect personal information we will, where possible, collect the information directly from you whether in person, in writing, by telephone, through our online services or otherwise. Unless we are required or permitted by law to collect sensitive information about you, such as health and medical information, we will only do so after first obtaining your consent.

We retain the content of email that you send to us if we believe we have a legal reason or requirement to do so. The content of emails from you and any responses from us may also be monitored for security and quality assurance purposes.

We collect personal information that you submit when you are using our online services, including certain payment information or recruitment information processed by our service providers.

We may also use common internet technologies, such as cookies. Cookies are small information files that an end user’s web browser places on their computer when a website is visited, and may be disabled by adjusting the privacy settings in your browser. Cookies are used to collect general statistical information on visitors to our websites and to assist you in your use of our online facilities. We do not collect personal information from cookies or use them for marketing purposes.

We may collect generalised statistics on web pages visited (such as time, date and number of visits) but do not record personal information of visitors to our websites.

Your personal information is held in secure environments including computer systems and databases, paper records and telephone recordings. When you supply information via the internet, all information you submit is held securely and is not retained on our web servers. Credit card details submitted via our websites are processed through our service providers. Other information held on our systems cannot be accessed through the internet connection. Our online payment facilities are secure and the data, once collected, cannot be accessed through the internet.

We may utilise related companies, agents and third party suppliers for data storage services.

We may record incoming and/or outgoing telephone calls for training or verification purposes. Where your telephone call is recorded, you can be provided with a copy at your request, where it is reasonable to do so.

Purposes for collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal information

We only collect personal information where it is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities, such as:

  • assessing risks or arranging and administering an insurance application or policy;
  • processing a claim;
  • assessing an individual for employment;
  • marketing our services and products and those of related entities that may interest you;
  • handling complaints and disputes; and
  • detecting, investigating and preventing fraud.

Where the personal information is sensitive – such as health and medical information – we will also obtain your consent before collecting the information unless we are permitted by law or an exception under the Act applies. An example of an exception would be where the collection is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or safety.

If you request, there are limited circumstances where you may be able to deal with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym. Examples include where you are seeking only general information about one of our products or services, or are looking only for indicative pricing. In most cases it will not be reasonably possible for you to deal with us in this way.

If you do not supply the information we request we may not be able to process your application for insurance, administer your policy, process your claim or accept your expression of interest or application for employment with us.

How we use and disclose your personal information

We will only use or disclose your personal information for purposes including those outlined above, in other ways that you would reasonably expect, in order for us to provide and market insurance products and services to you, provide you with online training or allow you to use our recruitment facilities. We will request your consent for any other purpose.

Whenever we contact you to advise you about or offer other products or services that may be of interest, we will give you the opportunity to opt out of receiving such communications. You may also opt out at any other time by contacting us.

Who we may disclose your personal information to and who may we collect it from

We or our authorised agent may disclose your personal information to, or collect it from:

  • any person authorised by you;
  • our related companies;
  • our or your agents or representatives such as strata managers and insurance brokers;
  • another person named as a co-insured on your policy;
  • our advisors (including legal, actuarial and accounting advisers) and service providers such as marketing organisations and debt collecting agents;
  • insurers and reinsurers;
  • insurance reference bureaus;
  • government, law enforcement, dispute resolution, statutory, regulatory or enforcement bodies and agencies;
  • a mail house, records management company or technology services provider (such as for printing and/or delivery of mail and email, including secure storage and management of our records);
  • a financier whose name appears on your policy schedule (for the purpose of confirming the currency of your policy or when you have a claim and the insured property is a total loss, to confirm if the financier has a current interest);
  • an organisation that provides you with banking facilities (for the purpose of arranging direct debit or other payment transactions or confirming payments made by you to us);
  • a company who conducts surveys on our behalf for the purpose of improved customer services;
  • people who are involved in a claim or assist us in assessing, investigating, processing or settling claims, such as third parties claiming under your policy, loss adjusters, investigators, recovery agents, lawyers, witnesses, medical service providers, external claims data collectors and verifiers; and
  • any other party required by law.

In some instances these parties may be located overseas. Where we disclose personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure they do not breach the APPs. The countries that overseas recipients are located in will vary from time to time, but may include Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and other countries where we or the Allianz Group have a presence or engage subcontractors.

Accessing and seeking correction of your personal information

Our aim is to always have accurate, complete, up-to-date and relevant personal information. When you receive documents from us including quotes, policy schedules and renewal notices, you should check that the information is correct. You may contact us to request access to your personal information that we hold at any time, and request us to correct any errors in that information. Generally no restrictions or charges will apply.

How you can make a complaint

We will always do everything possible to provide you with outstanding service and manage your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you believe that we have interfered with your privacy and you wish to make a complaint, please contact us. We will handle your matter in accordance with our complaints handling and dispute resolution procedures.

If you are unhappy with your outcome, you may be able to refer your matter to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The contact details for these bodies are as follows:

Australian Financial Complaints Authority
Website: www.afca.org.au
Email: info@afca.org.au
Telephone: 1800 931 678 (free call)
In writing to: Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Email:
enquiries@oaic.gov.au 
Telephone:
1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

Your consent
By providing us with personal information you and any other person you provide personal information for, consent to these uses and disclosures until you tell us otherwise. If you wish to withdraw your consent, including for things such as receiving information on products and offers by us or persons we have an association with, please contact us.

Contacting us
If you wish to:

Ask any questions or request further information;
Request access to or correct any errors in your personal information we hold;
Opt out of receiving offers in relation to products and services; or
Make a complaint,
please call 1300 SCINSURE (1300 724 678) or send an email to: compliance@scinsure.com.au.