Complaints and Privacy Policy

Making a Complaint

We endeavour to provide you with the best advice and service at all times. If you are not satisfied with our services, then we encourage you to contact us. Please call us, send us an email or put your complaint in writing to our office. You can direct your complaint to your financial adviser or the admin staff. We aim to resolve complaints immediately. Where this is not possible, we will acknowledge the receipt of your complaint within 48 hours. We will then explain our process to resolve your complaint and tell you who will handle your complaint.

Stephen Financial Solutions PO Box 382 North Sydney NSW 2059 or Phone: 02 8705 1285 or Email: client@stephenfinancial.com.au

If you are not satisfied with our response after 30 days, you can lodge your complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. You can contact AFCA on 1800 931 678 or via their website www.afca.org.au. AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution which is free to consumers.

Stephen Financial Solutions Pty Ltd (The Licensee) are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We understand the privacy of your information is important and we respect the confidentiality of the information that you provide to us.

This Policy describes our policies and practices for collecting, handling, storing, using and disclosing personal information. It also deals with how you can complain about a breach of the privacy laws, access the personal information we hold about you and have that information corrected (if necessary).

Why do we collect Personal Information?

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information so we can provide you with financial services and advice relevant to your needs. We may also collect, use and disclose your information for related purposes such as:

Complying with our legal obligations, such as verifying your identity
Assisting with your questions and complaints
Arranging for services to be provided by third parties
Internal operations, such as record keeping, data analytics, auditing or training

From time to time we may use your contact details to send you updates, articles, newsletters or other information about products and services that we believe will be of interest to you. We may also send you regular updates by email or by post. We will always give you the option of electing not to receive these communications and you can unsubscribe at any time by notifying us that you wish to do so.

What personal information do we collect and hold?

When we provide advice and give you financial services, we ask you for the information we need to provide the advice and services agreed upon. We collect your information through our fact-finding process and product applications. The information we collect could include (but is not limited to) your name, date of birth, contact details, financial information, employment details, residency and citizenship status.

It may also be a requirement to obtain personal information about your spouse, dependents, and other interested parties such as a business partner. You will need to tell that person that we hold personal information about them, the purpose for which we hold that information, and their right to access.

We will take all reasonable steps to collect the information from you alone. However, it may be necessary to obtain information about you from a third party, in which case we will obtain your consent.

We only collect sensitive information such as information about your health and tax file number with your agreement and if is necessary for us to do so to provide you with financial products and services.

Further, in some circumstances the law requires us to obtain and verify details of photographic and non-photographic identification documents.

What if you don’t provide information to us?

You have the right to not to provide personal information, including about your identity. However, in this case, your adviser will warn you about the possible consequences and how this may impact on the quality of the advice provided. Your adviser may also decline to provide advice if they feel they have insufficient information to proceed. In some instances, we will decline to provide services or advice if we feel we have insufficient information for the scope of the service or advice requested.

How do we store and protect your personal information?

We strive to maintain the relevance, accuracy and completeness and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We keep personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal reporting or document retention requirements.

We hold the information we collect from you within our secure office premises as well as electronically on financial planning software and on secure servers. We only use storage providers in Australia who are also regulated by the Privacy Act. We ensure that your information is safe by encrypted technology and a system of secure passwords, log-ons and other security measures. We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data and premises, by using locks and security systems.

Will we disclose your personal information to anyone?

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. We will disclose your information to product issuers with whom you are investing or taking out insurance policies with. This will vary according to the product or service involved, but could include:

any person acting on your behalf, including your financial adviser, solicitor, accountant, executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, or attorney
financial product and service providers, including financial planning software providers and paraplanners
for corporate superannuation members, your employer
lenders and other credit providers
other organisations within the Licensee including related bodies corporate and advice firms we have authorised
medical practitioners and health service providers, such as pathology services
companies involved in the payments system including financial institutions, merchants and payment organisations
organisations who assist us with certain business functions, such as auditors, compliance consultants, direct marketing, debt recovery and information and communication technology support
our solicitors, our insurers, courts, tribunals and dispute resolution organisations
other organisations who provide us with products and services so that they may provide their products and services to you or contact you on our behalf, and/or
anyone to whom we, or o1ur service providers, are required or authorised by law to disclose your personal information to (for example, law enforcement agencies, Australian and international government and regulatory authorities).

We may also disclose your information to a third party where you have given your consent or where you would reasonably expect us to disclose your information to that third party.

We may also disclose the personal information we hold about our financial advisers to professional organisations, companies and consultants that we work with. The only circumstances in which we would collect, use or disclose your government related identifiers is where we are required or authorised by law to do so. For example, we may be required to disclose your Tax File Number (TFN) to the Australian Taxation Office, a superannuation or retirement income product provider. Likewise, we may need to disclose your Medicare number to Centrelink in order to assess your social security
eligibility. Drivers license numbers and passport numbers may also be collected when we are required to verify your identity.

How can you check, update, or change the information we are holding?

You may ask us for access to your personal information and to correct it at any time. Upon receipt of enough information to allow us to identify the information, we will tell you what personal information we hold about you. We will also correct, amend or delete your personal information if we agree it is inaccurate, irrelevant, out of date or incomplete. We do not charge for receiving a request for access to personal information or complying with a correction request.

To access or correct your personal information, please write to:
The Privacy Officer
Stephen Financial Solutions
PO Box 382 North Sydney NSW 2059
Or Phone: 02 8705 1285 or Email: client@stephenfinancial.com.au
In some limited situations, we may need to refuse access to your information or refuse a request for correction. We will advise you as soon as possible after your request if this is the case and the reasons for our refusal.

What happens if you want to complain?

We welcome your questions and comments about how we manage your privacy. If you have any concerns about whether we have complied with the Privacy Act, the Australian Privacy Principles or this Privacy Policy, please write to our Privacy Officer at:

Stephen Financial Solutions
PO Box 382 North Sydney NSW 2059
Or Phone: 02 8705 1285 or Email: client@stephenfinancial.com.au

We will consider your complaint through our internal complaints resolution process. We will acknowledge receipt of a complaint immediately, however, where this is not possible, acknowledgement will be made as soon as practicable. We will then investigate the complaint and respond to you within 45 days. Some complex matters may require an extension to thoroughly investigate the complaint and bring it to resolution.

Your consent

By asking us to assist with your financial and lifestyle needs, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.

Updating this policy

This Privacy Policy was prepared on 13th January 2020. We may update it at any time. The new version will be published via our website.

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