Can a finance company contact my bank for information without my permission?

If any business, such as a finance company, wants to collect information from any other business, it must have your consent, or be authorised under law to do so.

The nature of the consent or authorisation that is required depends on the situation and the purpose for the disclosure or collection of information, and may be contained in a contract or in terms and conditions that you agree to when applying for credit or opening an account.

In turn, an agency must not disclose your personal information to anyone else unless:

• Disclosing the information was one of the purposes the information was collected in the first place
• It has obtained your consent
• It is to comply with anti-money laundering regulations
• It is authorised under law to do so (for example, when the other agency has a lawful purpose to collect the information without your explicit consent).

If you would like to check if a disclosure has been made without your permission, you can make an access request under the Privacy Act’s information privacy principle 6. You can do this using our AboutMe online tool.

Updated December 2020