Version: November 2019

By verifying and creating an account, you agree to receive Canstar and Canstar Blue’s periodic newsletters. You also agree to the Canstar Account Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Canstar Blue Privacy Policy as set out below.

  1.   Use of Canstar Account

This Canstar account service (“Canstar Account Service”) and the Canstar website at canstar.com.au (“Canstar website”) are operated by Canstar Pty Limited (ACN 053 646 165) (“Canstar”). Canstar Blue Pty Limited (ACN 142 285 434) (“Canstar Blue”) operates the website under the domain name “www.canstarblue.com.au” (“Canstar Blue website”). By using the Canstar Account Service and/or the information, graphics, materials and services on the Canstar website (“Canstar services on this website”) you agree to be governed by these Canstar Account Service terms of use and the privacy policy of Canstar. If you decide to use the Canstar Account Service to access services, information, graphics, materials and services provided by Canstar Blue (“Canstar Blue services on this website”), you also agree to be governed by the Canstar Blue website terms of use, incorporated into these terms, and the Privacy Policy of Canstar Blue set out below. In addition to the terms contained in this document, there are also specific terms and disclosures which form part of the terms of use and govern your use of, and access to, certain sections of the Canstar and Canstar Blue websites. Since you are also bound by these additional terms and disclosures, you should review them wherever they are accessible by you on the Canstar’s website or Canstar Blue’s website.

  1.   Use of Canstar Media

As a Canstar account holder, you may, from time to time, use services provided on other Canstar websites. Your use of the Canstar websites and any Canstar social media outlets (eg. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) (‘Canstar Media’) on each occasion means that you accept the terms and conditions set out in these terms including the Privacy Policy. Canstar may, from time to time, change the contents of the Canstar Media (including the relevant legal notices) without notice. If you do not accept these terms and conditions you must not visit or use the Canstar Media. The information provided in the Canstar Media is a guide only and may not be complete for your purposes. Canstar does not warrant the accuracy of any information on Canstar Media and recommend that you confirm it with third party product providers before acting on it. Third party product and service information is for information purposes only and must be confirmed with the company quoted. In the case of Canstar, rates indicated are available to new customers only or may include special rates available for a limited time. In the case of Canstar Blue, survey results reflect the survey respondents’ subjective opinions of the product or service under consideration. If Canstar requests that you stop using the Canstar Media, you must immediately comply with that request. To the extent any of these account terms of use, relating to the use of the Canstar website or Canstar Blue website, contradict the Canstar website standard terms of use, those standard terms of use will prevail.

  1.   Liability disclaimer

Although great care has been taken to ensure the reliability of any statements of opinion or general ratings information provided by Canstar, Canstar gives no warranty in relation to statements and information contained in the Canstar Media and subject to the following paragraph, disclaims all liability to the fullest extent possible arising from any persons using the Canstar or acting on the information and statements contained therein. You agree that you use the Canstar Media at your own risk and subject to these terms and conditions. Canstar assumes no responsibility or obligation to provide updates on any published statement or report. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall be construed to exclude, restrict or modify any guarantee applicable to a consumer that may apply under the Australian Consumer Law contained in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (‘Consumer Guarantee’).  Where a Consumer Guarantee is not able to be excluded, Canstar’s liability shall be limited at its sole discretion, to supplying the service again, or payment of the costs of having the service supplied again. Subject to the foregoing, Canstar shall have no liability to any user of any of the Canstar Media or the information on it, for any reason.

  1.   Copyright

The Canstar Media is owned by entities within the Canstar and is subject to copyright. The Canstar Media may also contain third party supplied material that is subject to copyright. Canstar takes no responsibility for the use of information provided on Canstar Media. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968, you may not reproduce, transmit, disseminate, sell, or publish information on Canstar Media without prior written permission from Canstar, provided that you may use the information for your private or internal purposes. Reference to any products, services or other information, by trade name, trademark or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation of them by Canstar, and does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation of Canstar by the respective trademark owner. Rates are for information purposes only and must be confirmed with the company quoted. Canstar Media may contain links to other websites. Such links do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation of any material on those linked websites or any third party products and services offered by, from or through those sites.  Please refer to Canstar Pty Limited’s Financial Services and Credit Guide (FSCG) for more information. Any company and product names mentioned on our website are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. If a trademark owner prefers not to have its logo displayed, please let us know at enquiries@canstar.com.au and we will change it to plain text.

  1.   Links

This website may contain links directly to other websites (“Link” or “Linked Website”) or via an affiliated marketing network. Such Links do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation of any material on those linked websites or any third party products and services offered by, from or through Linked Websites. Linked Websites are independently owned and Canstar has no control over their content. Canstar is not responsible for and shall not be liable to any party in relation to the use or content of a Linked Website. You must take your own precautions to ensure that Linked Websites are free from viruses or other potentially damaging material.

  1.   User contributions to Canstar Media

If you post a contribution to any of Canstar’s feedback, blog, comment facilities or forum pages, you agree to the rules set out below (‘Rules’). If you breach the Rules, our webmaster may delete the post, suspend your ability to post, or ban you from posting altogether. The webmaster may use its absolute discretion when taking action in relation to these rules. The rules apply to anything that you can enter into a field or be published on any Canstar Media (e.g. user name, post content, post responses).

1. Content you cannot post on Canstar Media:

  •   No abuse, insults, personal attacks or foul language;
  •   No trolling, inflammatory comments, personal messages or “religious” debates;
  •   No inappropriate, illegal or defamatory material;
  •   No advertising goods or services to buy or sell, no business advertising;
  •   No cross-posting or spamming;
  •   No content which may contain software viruses; and
  •       No complaints about content (see section 3 below about how to make a complaint).

2. Removal of material

  •   Canstar may in its absolute discretion edit or remove any material from Canstar Media at any time, including material you have posted to Canstar Media.
  •   In particular (but without limiting our ability to remove other content from Canstar Media) Canstar’s webmaster will remove material that is defamatory, offensive or illegal immediately upon our becoming aware of it.
  •   Defamation is where your post lowers or harms the reputation of another person.
  •   Illegal posts include anything that encourages illegal conduct or breaks the law in any way e.g. inciting others to attack a product supplier’s website, racial vilification, discriminatory comments on the basis of age, gender, or sexual orientation.
  •   Offensive content is anything that you wouldn’t say in front of a prospective employer or your child’s school teacher e.g. sexual references and racist comments. It might not be illegal, but if it is offensive, the webmaster will remove it.  Canstar’s opinion as to what is offensive is final and not open to debate.
  •       Canstar has instructed the webmaster to take a zero tolerance approach to such posts.

3. Complaints about user contributions and posts

  •   Canstar may not moderate or scrutinise every single comment posted to the Canstar Media.
  •   It does not endorse or necessarily agree with user comments and takes no responsibility for those comments.
  •   If you believe that a user comment is inappropriate, please forward a complaint to the webmaster at enquiries@canstar.com.au setting out
    • where the material is located on the Canstar Media,
    • why you consider the material to be inappropriate and
    • your name and contact details.
  •   Canstar takes complaints seriously and we will act upon all complaints received provided that the relevant information has been provided.
  •   If you do not provide your name and contact details with the complaint we may treat it as vexatious and not act on it.
  •       We aim to deal with complaints promptly but we cannot guarantee that we will read your complaint and act on it within a particular timeframe.

4. Content

  •   Canstar entities may post comments or respond to posts from time to time. If we do this, we are not to be taken as endorsing or agreeing with the views of any user.
  •   You should not post or provide to Canstar Media any information that you consider to be confidential or proprietary. All information that we receive from you via Canstar Media is deemed not to be confidential.
  •   You agree that unless we state otherwise, all communications made to Canstar Media by any means are public.
  •   You have no expectation of privacy in relation to posts you make to  Canstar Media in any location.
  •       You grant to Canstar a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive worldwide, royalty free, licence to use, copy, sub-licence, distribute, display, reproduce, transmit, modify, edit and otherwise exploit any public communication you make in any Canstar Media, in all media and for any purpose.
  1. Recommended Browser

To ensure the best browsing experience, we suggest you download the latest version of ChromeMicrosoft Internet ExplorerMozilla Firefox or SafariViruses Canstar does not represent that any information (including any file) (‘Information’) obtained through any Canstar Media is free from faults or defects, including computer viruses or similar malignant code. It is your responsibility to scan any such files to ensure that they are safe for your use. Canstar will not be liable to you or any other person for any loss or damage (however caused) and whether by negligence or otherwise, which may result directly or indirectly from any such information. To the extent that liability may not be excluded, Canstar’s liability shall be limited (at its choice) to the re-supply of the relevant Information, or the cost of re-supply of the relevant Information.

  1.   Referral Services

The Canstar websites allow users to click on a range of content to be to be transferred to a third party’s website or landing page (‘Third Party Provider’), where you may find more information, complete an application form or request contact from the Third Party Provider about its products and services (‘Canstar Referral Service’). If you do not accept these terms and conditions you must immediately stop use of the Canstar Referral Service and not take any further action in relation to that Third Party Provider, which might include progressing to the making an application and/or completing an online form in relation to a financial product. If you choose to use the Canstar Referral Service, you agree with Canstar that:

  1. you acknowledge that the comparison, product and/or quoting information you have requested is provided by the Third Party Provider identified on the Canstar page containing the link to these terms and conditions;
  2.     we are referring you to the Third Party Provider for further information about the product or service;
  3.     we may ask you to provide some information in a form before you are referred to the Third Party Provider. If you choose to provide that information, it will be dealt with in accordance with these terms and conditions;
  4.     by clicking an action button (for example ‘Get Quote’, ’Visit Site’, ‘Proceed’, ‘Request a Callback’), by proceeding to obtain a quote or by completing and submitting an application, in all cases you consent to us providing your personal information and other details in the online form to the Third Party Provider for the purpose of the Third Party Provider providing you with more information about a particular product or service;
  5.     if you telephone a number shown on the form, you will be telephoning and speaking to employees or agents of the Third Party Provider and not Canstar;
  6.     the Third Party Provider is not our employee, contractor or agent, and we will have no liability to you in relation your dealings with the Third Party Provider including any advice or recommendations it may make, or in relation to any product or service you may acquire from it;
  7. if you proceed to purchase a product from an information provider, you will deal directly with the information provider. Canstar makes no representation and gives no warranty to you about the suitability or quality of/or any other matter in relation to, the product you purchase.
  8.     if the Third Party Provider is a financial product provider, you acknowledge that it is selling its own financial product products and services;
  9.     you will make all arrangements in relation to services you require from the Third Party Provider and you will be responsible for all fees and charges (if any) payable in relation to any product or service you acquire from the Third Party Provider;
  10.   we make no recommendation to you about the skills, expertise or suitability of the Third Party Provider for your purposes. If you are considering  a financial product, you should consider seeking advice from a qualified financial adviser prior to proceeding;
  11.   a Product Disclosure Statement relating to the product you are interested in should be obtained and considered before making any decision about whether to acquire the product. Refer to the Third Party Provider’s Financial Services Guide or Credit Guide.
  12.   we may contact you to seek your response to a survey in relation to your dealings with the Third Party Provider;
  13.   we (or one of our related companies) may receive a commission or other payment in relation to the referral. For more information see How We Get Paid;
  14.   you have read and accept the terms of Canstar’s Privacy Policy below and these account terms of use. These terms limit your ability to make a claim against Canstar;
  15.   “We” and “us” means Canstar Pty Limited ACN 053 646 165 and/or Canstar Blue Pty Limited ACN 142 285 434 as the context provides.
  1.   General terms

For the purpose of this clause, Canstar Gold means Canstar Pty Limited ACN 053 646 165 and Canstar Research Pty Limited ACN 114 422 909 (“Canstar Research”) who together, provide the services relating to financial products on the Canstar website at www.canstar.com.au. Both Canstar and Canstar Research hold AFS Licences and Australian Credit Licences. You can read more about these licences on the Licence Details page. General Advice Warning To the extent you access any Canstar Gold data, ratings or commentary constitutes general advice, this advice has been prepared by Canstar Gold and does not take into account your individual investment objectives, financial circumstances or needs. Information provided on and available from this site does not constitute financial, taxation or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. Canstar Research recommends that, before you make any financial decision, you seek professional advice from a suitably qualified adviser. Any reference by Canstar Research to the past performance of a financial institution or service provider is not necessarily indicative of future performance. A Product Disclosure Statement relating to the product should also be obtained and considered before making any decision about whether to acquire the product. Please refer to Canstar Research’s Financial Services Guide and Credit Guide for more information. Our policy in relation to legal threats and demands made against Canstar can be found on our legal threats policy page.

 

CANSTAR PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy covers the collection, use and disclosure of information by Canstar Pty Limited A.C.N 053 646 165, AR 443019 (“Canstar”). Canstar recognises the importance of protecting your privacy and abides by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. This privacy policy explains how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use and disclose that information. It also provides some detail about your privacy rights along with our general rights and obligations, and our policy in relation to the personal information we keep on record. By using Canstar’s website and/or accepting Canstar’s Privacy Policy, you are consenting to the matters set out in it. This privacy policy does not apply to parties that may be linked or associated with our website and to whom you disclose personal information. Those website owners are responsible for the privacy of the information they collect and should be contacted directly for details of their privacy policies. When we refer to our ‘website’, we are referring to the Canstar websites on any device, social media sites, Canstar Gold’s AdviserInfo service, Canstar View, Canstar Gold’s Investor Hub service, emails we send, Canstar apps, and any new technology we implement on any of these platforms.

  1.   How do we collect your information?

Because we strive to provide our website users with personalised services showing the information most relevant to them, from time to time we request and store some private information about you.  We will only use that information in accordance with this policy. We collect and hold information about you when you access and use our services through our website.  The types of information we keep on record will depend on the type of product or service requested by you. For example, we may collect and hold information about you when you:

  •       complete an online form or use a Website Tool;
  •       provide us with your email address and/or telephone number;
  •       access and use our services through our website; or
  •       sign in as a visitor to the Canstar office.
  1.   What information do we collect?

We may keep a record of the following types of information about you:

  •   personal information that you give us when you use the website or interact on our social media pages, such as your name, email address, address, and postcode;
  •   if you provide them to us, the name of your product provider, credit provider or product details for specific products that you hold;
  •   the Facebook profile information identified in the ‘Log in’ form, if you choose to log in or sign up to our website using Facebook;
  •   pages of the website that you have visited; your IP address for your interaction with various parts of our website (your IP address is the identifier for your computer when you are using the internet);
  •   other information voluntarily provided by you;
  •   if you use a forum, feedback/rating tool, calculator, online survey or other tool (“Website Tool”) on our website, the information that you enter into the Website Tool;
  •   personal information that you give us when you visit the Canstar office, such as photographs we take of you with your permission, and physical or digital signatures; and
  •   any other information we need to enable us to deliver services to you.

We do not seek to collect sensitive information (for example health information or information about your racial or ethnic origin or any criminal record), unless it is necessary for our business purposes. If we do have to collect sensitive information, we will do so in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. During our dealings with you, we may gather information about you relating to all products and services that we or our business partners provide to you. This information is used to help us decide how we can improve our service delivery to you, or to provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you. Cookies As you browse any Canstar websites, your web browser may automatically accept cookies and local storage on your computer. A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website. Canstar also works with selected third parties in providing you services that we think may be of interest to you. Canstar may attach a cookie to your browser during your visit to our websites. These cookies may be used to provide relevant advertising to you by us or third parties, or to determine what marketing or advertising is delivered to you on our website and on other sites. We also collect some anonymous information from you, such as your demographics and interests, by use of cookies, local storage, use of de-identified or aggregated data, data caches and tracking tags (for example, the number of visitors, pages viewed, types of transactions conducted, time online and information accessed). Some of this statistical information is collected by using cookies, but none of the statistical information we collect allows us to identify a visitor. We use this information to evaluate our website performance and continually improve our services. We may disclose this information in an aggregated form to third parties including advertisers or potential advertisers. Other than for statistical information and user behaviour on our website, we do not collect any information about you through our website unless you voluntarily provide the information to us. Our display advertising partners from time to time enable us to present you with retargeting advertising on other sites based on your previous interaction with Canstar. The techniques our partners employ do not collect personal information such as your name, email address, postal address, or telephone number. You can visit this page to opt out of targeted advertising if the advertiser is a member of NAI. You can usually modify your settings to decline cookies and/or local storage if you wish. Note that if you do that, this might stop you from being able to use all the services on our website.  It is usually possible to stop your browser accepting cookies, disable local storage or to stop it accepting cookies from a particular website. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your preferences. You need not give us any of the personal information that we may request. However, without that information, we may not be able to fulfil your request or provide you with the services you want. If you use a link on our website that takes you to a third party website, this policy will no longer operate.  Third party websites are not operated by or endorsed by Canstar, and the privacy policy of that website will apply to any information you give while visiting it.

  1.   Information collected for particular services

Credit Score By using the Credit Score service, you confirm to Canstar that you are authorised to provide the requested personal details to Canstar. You also confirm to Canstar that you are aware of and consent to:

  • the purpose for which your personal information is sought as disclosed by Canstar Gold in the Credit Score service website pages;
  • that personal information provided by you in relation to the Credit Score services will be used by Canstar Gold and its third-party service provider for the verification of your identity. This is done by use of an Information Match Request made to an Official Record Holder, and (if verified) the provision of a credit score;
  • that any Information Match Result provided in response to the Information Match Request will be provided via the use of third party systems; and
  • Canstar Gold retaining a record of access to the Credit Score service being initiated by you, and all consents you give to the collection, use and storage of your personal information in relation to the Credit Score service.

Home Loan Rate Checker In order to provide the service, we need to collect data about your current home loan including state, loan amount, loan term, lender, loan type, repayment type and repayment frequency. This information is used in an automated tool that enables our database to show you comparable loan products and interest rates. We do not store this data. For compliance purposes we retain a log file of the time of the session and results displayed. As part of this service we collect and store separately from the log file your name and email address for the purpose of sending you email updates about home loan products and related services.

If you’ve used one or more of our services, you consent to us contacting you with further information or reminders about our services, or to provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you.

  1.   How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information to:

  •   respond to your requests and directions;
  •   provide products and services to you and, where possible, to provide information customised for you;

– administer competitions and scholarships, and provide competition and scholarship prizes;

  •   improve our website, products and services;
  •   contact you from time to time by telephone or email about new products, services or offers;
  •   update you about what we’re doing that you may find of interest;
  •   deal with complaints or issues you may have in relation to our services;
  •   review your dealings with us, including the products and services you use, your potential needs, and new products that might be of interest to you or other customers;
  •   maintain our internal records, such as billing;
  •   ensure our internal business operations are running smoothly which may include fulfilling legal requirements and conducting confidential systems maintenance and testing;
  •   help preserve the personal safety and security of our customers, website users, staff and the public; and
  •   provide you with relevant and timely advertising.

Information collected by cookies or tracking tags on our website may be disclosed in a non- identified or aggregated format to third parties including website analytics services (e.g. Google Analytics), data management platform operators, advertisers, referral partners and media agencies.  We do not share your personal information with our partners unless it is required for the provision of a particular website service, and we have disclosed this to you and you have consented. We use information we collect to help us decide how we can improve our service delivery to you, or to provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you. If you have provided us with your email address and subscribed to any of our Newsletters, we may send you information from time to time that we think is relevant to you and your interests. The Canstar Newsletters include:

  •   the periodic “Canstar News” emails sent by Canstar Gold;
  •   any other newsletters that Canstar sends from time to time.

Canstar is committed to providing you with free, informative and accurate information. If you would no longer like to receive a Newsletter, we include links to unsubscribe from our newsletters in each email Newsletter we send. You can also email your request to privacy@canstar.com.au.

  1.   How do we store personal information?

We provide a robust level of security when you use our website or when you sign in as a visitor to our office. We have physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information which is held by us. Access to information stored electronically is restricted to staff and contractors whose job purpose requires access. We use secure methods to destroy or de-identify any personal information as soon as the law permits, provided the information is no longer needed by us for any purpose. Data is retained for up to 7 years as required by law. We continuously monitor and update our website security to minimise the risk of hacking.

  1.   Where do we share your personal information?

We must get your consent before we disclose your personal information. You can give us your consent expressly or it may be implied by your conduct. We many publish the names of competition or scholarship winners as set ou in the terms and conditions of the relevant competition or scholarship.  By using our services you are deemed to have consented to our use, disclosure and other matters in relation to your personal information, as set out in this policy. We may share your personal information:

  •   to any organisation which you request us to, including a financial institution, financial adviser, service provider, product specialist, broker, solicitor, or accountant;
  •   to the cloud, as part of our normal business operations (e.g. backing up our systems, operating a third party app on our website);
  •   to our external service providers such as IT service providers (e.g. a provider of web hosting services). Some of these may be located overseas. Canstar may store your personal information on servers in overseas web hosting facilities;
  •   to our related companies and other organisations where reasonable to do so in relation to the operation of our business;
  •   to protect and defend our rights or property;
  •   if we consider it necessary to do so in order to enforce or apply the terms of any of our agreements with you;
  •   to contractors providing licensed collections services, credit card payment processing and CRM services, who comply with our privacy and security policies;
  •   if we sell our business or part of it;
  •   in extreme circumstances, to protect the personal safety of our customers, website users, staff or the public; and
  •   to law enforcement, regulatory and government bodies, government agencies and courts, if we are required by law to do so.

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Cross Border disclosure of personal information Data used and stored by Canstar is mostly hosted in Australia. From time to time Canstar may store (disclose) your personal information on servers in overseas web hosting facilities. The Australian Privacy Principles require that we take reasonable steps, dependent on the circumstances of that personal information, to ensure that the overseas service provider to whom personal information is disclosed does not breach Australian privacy laws (the “Requirement”). When you provide us with your personal information you consent to the disclosure of your information to an overseas provider. Your consent to this disclosure means that the Requirement does not apply and Canstar will not be held accountable under the Privacy Act for any breaches of the Privacy Act by the overseas provider. Where commercially feasible, Canstar will contract with hosting providers who comply with the Australian Privacy Principles.

  1. Safety and fraud

Credit Card safety We have put in place a credit card payment facility for some of our services.  This is provided by ‘SecurePay’, a third party payment gateway supplied by Australia Post.  We do not store your credit card details, or have access to them. When you input your credit card details, SecurePay retains the information and issues Canstar with a unique token identifier. This token then allows Canstar to process your payment against your credit card.  If applicable, it also allows us to update the date your subscription is paid to. Fraud warning Canstar will never send you emails requesting bank account details. Please be aware that if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Canstar offering to sell you a product or service, these calls are fraudulent. These scams are also known as ‘cold calling’, with scammers sometimes pretending to be a sales team member. Scammers also send ‘phishing’ emails asking consumers to ‘verify’ and ‘record’ personal financial details or to view a document by clicking on a link. These links often lead to fake websites. Do not reply to these types of emails and do not click on any links. Please do not provide any information in response to unsolicited phone calls or phishing emails. If you’ve received a telephone call or an email of this type, please contact privacy@canstar.com.au or call (07) 3837 4100 immediately. If in doubt, do not provide any details.

  1.   How can you access your information?

You can request access at any time to personal information we hold about you by using the contact details below. We will process your request within a reasonable time, usually 14 days for a straightforward request. More time may be needed, depending on the nature of the request. There is no fee for requesting access to your information; however we may charge you the reasonable cost of processing your request. Sometimes we are not required to provide you with access – for example, if the law says we can deny access. If we refuse you access to your personal information, we will tell you the reason why.

  1.   How can you correct your information?

We try to ensure that all information we hold about you which we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. You must promptly notify us if there are any changes to your personal information. You may ask us at any time to correct personal information held by us about you, which you believe is incorrect or out of date. We will deal with your request within a reasonable time

  1. How to make a complaint?

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about our privacy policy or practices please contact our Privacy Officer

  •   By telephone: (07) 3837 4100 9am – 5pm on business days in Brisbane, Queensland.
  •   By email: privacy@canstar.com.au

We will try to answer any questions you may have, correct any error on our part or resolve any complaint that you may have about our information handling practices. If we do not resolve a complaint to your satisfaction, you also have the right to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”) by telephone on 1300 363 992, by email at enquiries@oaic.gov.au or on the OAIC website https://www.oaic.gov.au.

  1. Amendments to this policy

We may amend this policy from time to time. Not all changes to our privacy policy will require your consent, for example where office security procedures are changed. We will notify you of any change to our information handling policy that requires your consent before being implemented. If you do not wish to receive information about our products and services then please tell us by writing to us or telephoning us at the contact details listed below.

  1. Contact Details

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about our privacy policy or practices please contact our Privacy Officer by:

Telephone (07) 3837 4100 (during business hours in Brisbane, Queensland)
Email privacy@canstar.com.au
Post Level 21, 143 Turbot Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
Web https://www.canstar.com.au/contact-us/

You acknowledge and accept that your use of the Canstar website indicates your acceptance of the Canstar website Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy.  

 

CANSTAR BLUE PRIVACY POLICY

Any use of the Canstar Blue website in connection with the Canstar Account Service is covered by this Privacy Policy. This privacy policy covers the collection, use and disclosure of information by Canstar Blue Pty Limited A.C.N. 142 285 434 (“Canstar Blue”). Canstar Blue recognises the importance of protecting your privacy and abides by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. This privacy policy explains how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use and disclose that information. It also provides some detail about your privacy rights along with our general rights and obligations, and our policy in relation to the personal information we keep on record. By using Canstar Blue’s website and/or accepting Canstar Blue’s Privacy Policy, you are consenting to the matters set out in it. This privacy policy does not apply to parties that may be linked or associated with our website and to whom you disclose personal information. Those website owners are responsible for the privacy of the information they collect and should be contacted directly for details of their privacy policies. When we refer to our ‘website’, we are referring to the Canstar Blue websites on any device, social media sites, emails we send, Canstar Blue apps, and any new technology we implement on any of these platforms.

  1.   How do we collect your information?

Because we strive to provide our website users with personalised services showing the information most relevant to them, from time to time we request and store some private information about you.  We will only use that information in accordance with this policy. We collect and hold information about you when you access and use our services through our website.  The types of information we keep on record will depend on the type of product or service requested by you. For example, we may collect and hold information about you when you:

  •       complete an online form or use a Website Tool;
  •       provide us with your email address and/or telephone number;
  •       access and use our services through our website; or
  •       sign in as a visitor to the Canstar Blue office.
  1.   What information do we collect?

We may keep a record of the following types of information about you:

  •   personal information that you give us when you use the website or interact on our social media pages, such as your name, email address, address, and postcode;

– personal information that you give to us when you enter our competitions or apply for our scholarships;

  •   if you provide them to us, the name of your product provider, credit provider or product details for specific products that you hold;
  •   the Facebook profile information identified in the ‘Log in’ form, if you choose to log in or sign up to our website using Facebook;
  •   pages of the website that you have visited; your IP address for your interaction with various parts of our website (your IP address is the identifier for your computer when you are using the internet);
  •   other information voluntarily provided by you;
  •   if you use a forum, feedback/rating tool, calculator, online survey or other tool (“Website Tool”) on our website, the information that you enter into the Website Tool;
  •   personal information that you give us when you visit the Canstar Blue office, such as photographs we take of you with your permission, and physical or digital signatures; and
  •   any other information we need to enable us to deliver services to you.

We do not seek to collect sensitive information (for example health information or information about your racial or ethnic origin or any criminal record), unless it is necessary for our business purposes. If we do have to collect sensitive information, we will do so in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. During our dealings with you, we may gather information about you relating to all products and services that we or our business partners provide to you. This information is used to help us decide how we can improve our service delivery to you, or to provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you. Cookies As you browse any Canstar Blue websites, your web browser may automatically accept cookies and local storage on your computer. A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website. Canstar Blue also works with selected third parties in providing you services that we think may be of interest to you. Canstar Blue may attach a cookie to your browser during your visit to our websites. These cookies may be used to provide relevant advertising to you by us or third parties, or to determine what marketing or advertising is delivered to you on our website and on other sites. We also collect some statistical information about visitors to our website and their attributes by use of cookies, local storage, use of de-identified or aggregated data, data caches and tracking tags (for example, the number of visitors, pages viewed, types of transactions conducted, time online and information accessed). Some of this statistical information is collected by using cookies, but none of the statistical information we collect allows us to identify a visitor. We use this information to evaluate our website performance and continually improve our services. We may disclose this information in an aggregated form to third parties including advertisers or potential advertisers. Other than for statistical information and user behaviour on our website, we do not collect any information about you through our website unless you voluntarily provide the information to us. Our display advertising partners from time to time enable us to present you with retargeting advertising on other sites based on your previous interaction with Canstar Blue. The techniques our partners employ do not collect personal information such as your name, email address, postal address, or telephone number. You can visit this page to opt out of targeted advertising if the advertiser is a member of NAI. You can usually modify your settings to decline cookies and/or local storage if you wish. Note that if you do that, this might stop you from being able to use all the services on our website.  It is usually possible to stop your browser accepting cookies, disable local storage or to stop it accepting cookies from a particular website. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your preferences. You need not give us any of the personal information that we may request. However, without that information, we may not be able to fulfil your request or provide you with the services you want. If you use a link on our website that takes you to a third party website, this policy will no longer operate.  Third party websites are not operated by or endorsed by Canstar Blue, and the privacy policy of that website will apply to any information you give while visiting it.

  1.   How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information to:

  •   respond to your requests and directions;
  •   provide products and services to you and, where possible, to provide information customised for you;

– administer competitions and scholarships, and provide competition and scholarship prizes;

  •   improve our website, products and services;
  •   contact you from time to time by telephone or email about new products, services or offers;
  •   update you about what we’re doing that you may find of interest;
  •   deal with complaints or issues you may have in relation to our services;
  •   review your dealings with us, including the products and services you use, your potential needs, and new products that might be of interest to you or other customers;
  •   maintain our internal records, such as billing;
  •   ensure our internal business operations are running smoothly which may include fulfilling legal requirements and conducting confidential systems maintenance and testing;
  •   help preserve the personal safety and security of our customers, website users, staff and the public; and
  •   provide you with relevant and timely advertising.

Information collected by cookies or tracking tags on our website may be disclosed in a non- identified or aggregated format to third parties including website analytics services (e.g. Google Analytics), data management platform operators, advertisers, referral partners and media agencies.  We do not share your personal information with our partners unless it is required for the provision of a particular website service, and we have disclosed this to you and you have consented. We use information we collect to help us decide how we can improve our service delivery to you, or to provide you with information that we think may be of interest to you. If you have provided us with your email address and subscribed to any of our Newsletters, we may send you information from time to time that we think is relevant to you and your interests. The Canstar Blue Newsletters include:

  •   the periodic “Consumer News” emails sent by Canstar Blue; and
  •   any other newsletters that Canstar Blue sends from time to time.

Canstar Blue is committed to providing you with free, informative and accurate information. If you would no longer like to receive a Newsletter, we include links to unsubscribe from our newsletters in each email Newsletter we send. You can also email your request to privacy@canstar.com.au.

  1.   How do we store personal information?

We provide a robust level of security when you use our website or when you sign in as a visitor to our office. We have physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your information which is held by us. Access to information stored electronically is restricted to staff and contractors whose job purpose requires access. We use secure methods to destroy or de-identify any personal information as soon as the law permits, provided the information is no longer needed by us for any purpose. Data is retained for up to 7 years as required by law. We continuously monitor and update our website security to minimise the risk of hacking.

  1.   Where do we share your personal information?

We must get your consent before we disclose your personal information. You can give us your consent expressly or it may be implied by your conduct. By using our services you are deemed to have consented to our use, disclosure and other matters in relation to your personal information, as set out in this policy. We may publish the names of competition or scholarship winners as set out in the terms and conditions of the relevant competition or scholarship.  We may share your personal information:

  •   to any organisation which you request us to, including a financial institution, financial adviser, service provider, product specialist, broker, solicitor, or accountant;
  •   to the cloud, as part of our normal business operations (e.g. backing up our systems, operating a third party app on our website);
  •   to our external service providers such as IT service providers (e.g. a provider of web hosting services). Some of these may be located overseas. Canstar Blue may store your personal information on servers in overseas web hosting facilities;
  •   to our related companies and other organisations where reasonable to do so in relation to the operation of our business;
  •   to protect and defend our rights or property;
  •   if we consider it necessary to do so in order to enforce or apply the terms of any of our agreements with you;
  •   to contractors providing licensed collections services, credit card payment processing and CRM services, who comply with our privacy and security policies;
  •   if we sell our business or part of it;
  •   in extreme circumstances, to protect the personal safety of our customers, website users, staff or the public; and
  •   to law enforcement, regulatory and government bodies, government agencies and courts, if we are required by law to do so.

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Cross Border disclosure of personal information Data used and stored by Canstar Blue is mostly hosted in Australia. From time to time Canstar Blue may store (disclose) your personal information on servers in overseas web hosting facilities. The Australian Privacy Principles require that we take reasonable steps, dependent on the circumstances of that personal information, to ensure that the overseas service provider to whom personal information is disclosed does not breach Australian privacy laws (the “Requirement”). When you provide us with your personal information you consent to the disclosure of your information to an overseas provider. Your consent to this disclosure means that the Requirement does not apply and Canstar Blue will not be held accountable under the Privacy Act for any breaches of the Privacy Act by the overseas provider. Where commercially feasible, Canstar Blue will contract with hosting providers who comply with the Australian Privacy Principles.

  1.   Safety and fraud

Credit Card safety We have put in place a credit card payment facility for some of our services.  This is provided by ‘SecurePay’, a third party payment gateway supplied by Australia Post.  We do not store your credit card details, or have access to them. When you input your credit card details, SecurePay retains the information and issues Canstar Blue with a unique token identifier. This token then allows Canstar Blue to process your payment against your credit card.  If applicable, it also allows us to update the date your subscription is paid to. Fraud warning Canstar Blue will never send you emails requesting bank account details. Please be aware that if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Canstar Blue offering to sell you a product or service, these calls are fraudulent. These scams are also known as ‘cold calling’, with scammers sometimes pretending to be a sales team member. Scammers also send ‘phishing’ emails asking consumers to ‘verify’ and ‘record’ personal financial details or to view a document by clicking on a link. These links often lead to fake websites. Do not reply to these types of emails and do not click on any links. Please do not provide any information in response to unsolicited phone calls or phishing emails. If you’ve received a telephone call or an email of this type, please contact privacy@canstar.com.au or call (07) 3837 4100 immediately. If in doubt, do not provide any details.

  1.   How can you access your information?

You can request access at any time to personal information we hold about you by using the contact details below. We will process your request within a reasonable time, usually 14 days for a straightforward request. More time may be needed, depending on the nature of the request. There is no fee for requesting access to your information; however we may charge you the reasonable cost of processing your request. Sometimes we are not required to provide you with access – for example, if the law says we can deny access. If we refuse you access to your personal information, we will tell you the reason why.

  1.   How can you correct your information?

We try to ensure that all information we hold about you which we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. You must promptly notify us if there are any changes to your personal information. You may ask us at any time to correct personal information held by us about you, which you believe is incorrect or out of date. We will deal with your request within a reasonable time

  1.   How to make a complaint?

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about our privacy policy or practices please contact our Privacy Officer

  •   By telephone: (07) 3837 4100 9am – 5pm on business days in Brisbane, Queensland.
  •   By email: privacy@canstar.com.au

We will try to answer any questions you may have, correct any error on our part or resolve any complaint that you may have about our information handling practices. If we do not resolve a complaint to your satisfaction, you also have the right to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”) by telephone on 1300 363 992, by email at enquiries@oaic.gov.au or on the OAIC website https://www.oaic.gov.au.

  1. Amendments to this policy

We may amend this policy from time to time. Not all changes to our privacy policy will require your consent, for example where office security procedures are changed. We will notify you of any change to our information handling policy that requires your consent before being implemented. If you do not wish to receive information about our products and services then please tell us by writing to us or telephoning us at the contact details listed below.

  1. Contact Details

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about our privacy policy or practices please contact our Privacy Officer by:

Telephone (07) 3837 4100 (during business hours in Brisbane, Queensland)
Email privacy@canstar.com.au
Post Level 21, 143 Turbot Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
Web https://www.canstar.com.au/contact-us/

You acknowledge and accept that your use of the Canstar Blue website indicates your acceptance of the Canstar Blue website Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy.