Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information, and how you can access it, correct it, or make a complaint. We are committed to protecting your privacy and to handling your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and the credit reporting provisions of the Privacy Act.

Who we are

"We", "us" and "our" refer to NU Home Loans Pty Ltd, trading as Money Brain (ABN 79 620 942 065). We are a credit representative (Credit Representative 501592) authorised under our aggregator's Australian Credit Licence, Connective Credit Services Pty Ltd (ACN 143 651 496), Australian Credit Licence 389328. When you deal with us, references to "we", "us" and "our" also include Connective and its related companies where relevant to the services we arrange for you. This policy also covers Property Brain, our buyers-agent service.

This policy covers our general handling of personal information. When we provide you with credit assistance, we also give you a separate Credit Guide and Privacy Consent document, which contains the specific consents that apply to obtaining and using your credit information. Please read both together.

The kinds of personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on the service you ask us to provide. It may include:

• Your name, date of birth, contact details and residential history
• Identification documents (such as your driver licence or passport) collected to meet Verification of Identity and Anti-Money Laundering / Counter-Terrorism Financing obligations
• Financial information, including income, assets, liabilities, living expenses, bank and transaction account details, and tax details
• Employment and business details
• Details of the property or properties involved in your loan
• Your credit information and credit history (see the Credit Reporting section below)
• Information about your objectives, requirements and financial situation, so we can assess whether a loan is not unsuitable for you

Sensitive information

In some cases we may collect sensitive information, such as health information, where it is relevant to your circumstances or a lender's requirements. We only collect sensitive information with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary for the services we provide.

How we collect and hold your information

Wherever reasonable and practical, we collect personal information directly from you — in person, by phone, by email, or through forms and enquiry tools on our website. Sometimes we collect information from others, including your accountant, financial planner, a referral partner, a co-borrower or guarantor, lenders, and credit reporting bodies, where you have consented or where the law allows.

We hold your information in secure electronic systems, including our loan management platform and other software we use to run our business. We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Access to your information is limited to people who need it to provide our services to you.

Why we collect, use and disclose your information

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information to:

• Assess your needs and objectives and provide you with credit assistance
• Prepare, submit and manage your loan application with lenders
• Verify your identity and meet our legal and regulatory obligations
• Communicate with you and respond to your enquiries
• Manage our ongoing relationship with you, including reviewing your loan over time
• Provide you with information about products, services or offers that may be relevant to you, where you have not opted out

Who we disclose your information to

To provide our services, we may disclose your personal information to:

• Lenders and credit providers, and lenders mortgage insurers
• Our aggregator, Connective, and the platforms it provides
• Credit reporting bodies and other parties in the credit reporting system
• Your other advisers and representatives, such as your accountant, solicitor, conveyancer or a person holding power of attorney, where you have authorised this
• Valuers, and providers of property and settlement services
• Our external service providers, such as IT, administration and document services
• Any person or organisation where you have given consent, or where we are required or authorised by law

Before disclosing your personal information to another organisation, we take reasonable steps to ensure they are subject to privacy obligations at least equivalent to ours, or that the disclosure is otherwise permitted.

Credit reporting

To arrange finance for you, we may obtain and use credit-related personal information about you. With your consent, we may request a credit report about you from a credit reporting body, and we may disclose your information to, and collect it from, credit reporting bodies and credit providers.

The credit reporting bodies we may deal with include Equifax, Experian and illion. Each has its own credit reporting policy explaining how it manages credit-related information, including how to access and correct it and how to make a complaint. You can obtain a copy of a credit reporting body's policy from its website.

The specific consents that apply when we obtain and use your credit information are set out in the Credit Guide and Privacy Consent document we provide to you when we assist you.

Disclosure to overseas recipients

Some of the third parties we deal with, including software and cloud service providers, may store or process personal information on servers located outside Australia. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

If it is practicable to do so, the countries in which overseas recipients are likely to be located include the United States, the Philippines, India and Nepal. Where we cannot practicably specify the countries, we will take reasonable steps to ensure any overseas disclosure is protected.

Our website

Our website uses Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to count visits and see how the site is used. Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser so it can tell one visit from another. It records the pages you view, how long you stay, your device, your approximate location (city and state), how you reached us, and what you do on a page, such as scrolling, pressing a link that leaves our site, downloading a file, running a calculator, pressing the booking link or sending an enquiry. Google Analytics does not receive your name, mobile number, email address or anything you type into a form, and Money Brain does not use it for advertising. Google processes this information on its own servers, which may be outside Australia. Google explains how it uses information from sites like ours at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can stop Google Analytics recording your visits with Google's opt-out add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Our website also uses Microsoft Clarity, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to see how people use our pages so we can make them easier to read. Microsoft Clarity sets cookies in your browser and records how you move, press and scroll on a page, which Money Brain sees as heatmaps and replays of visits. Money Brain sets Microsoft Clarity to hide all text on the page and everything typed into a form, so it does not receive your name, mobile number, email address or anything you type. Microsoft processes this information on its own servers, which may be outside Australia, and explains how it uses it at privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement.

Your browser remembers your light or dark display choice on your own device. Our website is hosted by Cloudflare, which receives your device's internet address to deliver the pages and may set cookies needed to keep the site secure. Your browser also loads fonts from Google, which receives your internet address to deliver them. If you book a call, the booking is handled by Google Calendar, under Google's privacy policy, and Google may set its own cookies. If you play a video on our website, it is served by YouTube, which is owned by Google and may set its own cookies. If you send us an enquiry through a form on our website, the details you enter reach us through a Google Apps Script address (script.google.com), run by Google, and we handle them under this policy. We will update this policy before we add any other tracking tool to our website.

Emails we send

Some emails Money Brain sends you can tell us when the email was opened and when a link in it was pressed. The image in the email's signature and the links pass through go.money-brain.com.au, an address Money Brain runs on Cloudflare. No outside tracking company is involved. That address keeps a random code for the email, whether it was an open or a link press, which link, the time and the broad type of mail app. It does not keep your name, your email address or your internet address. We match the code to your email in our own system and add a note to your file, so we know when to follow up. An open only tells us the image loaded. Some mail apps load images by themselves, so Money Brain does not treat an open as proof you read the email. You can stop the open signal by turning off images in your mail app, and every link works the same either way.

Software and AI tools

We use software, including artificial intelligence tools, to help us prepare documents and analysis for your loan. A person at Money Brain reviews that work and makes every recommendation to you.

If you send us a message through our website, you may receive an automatic reply written by an artificial intelligence tool. It gives general information and next steps only, and a person at Money Brain reads every message.

If someone recommends you to us, such as your accountant or financial planner, they give us your name and email address with your agreement, and we may email you an automatic first message saying who recommended us and how to book a time.

Direct marketing

From time to time we may use your contact details to send you information about finance, our services, or offers we think may be relevant to you. You can opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by contacting us using the details below, or by using the unsubscribe option in the message. We will action your request promptly.

Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, and you can ask us to correct it if you believe it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. To do so, contact us using the details below. We will usually give you access within seven days, and a decision on a request to correct your information within 30 days. There is generally no charge for making a request, although in some cases a reasonable cost may apply to providing access, in which case we will let you know first.

Making a complaint

If you have a concern or complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first using the details below. We take privacy complaints seriously and will work with you to resolve the matter promptly and fairly. We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days and give you our response within 30 days.

If your complaint is not resolved, or you have not heard from us within 30 days, you can take it to our external dispute resolution scheme, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), free of charge:

You may also make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or the law. The current version will always be available on our website. Please check back periodically for any updates. This policy was last updated on the date shown at the top of this page.