The release of new privacy regulations due to commence in March do not fully address the issues affecting brokers and borrowers, say lawyers.
Leading law firm Gadens Lawyers say the Privacy Regulations, which come into effect on March 12, are not as thorough as they would have liked.
”It was hoped the Privacy Regulations would give credit providers significant guidance to assist them to meet their obligations under the privacy amendments, however the regulations have only addressed specific issues,” said a statement on their website.
One of the issues clarified is repayment history information, said Gadens.
“The regulations clarify that an individual will be taken not to have met a monthly repayment if the individual misses any or all repayments due in a month, irrespective of whether the payment cycle is weekly, fortnightly or monthly.”
For more information on how the calculation of repayment history information will work in practice brokers and credit providers will need to refer to the credit reporting code – which is still to be approved by the Privacy Commissioner.
“The Privacy Regulations also clarify the information which makes up consumer credit liability information that is disclosed by the credit provider to a credit reporting body,” said Gadens.
“The type of information that makes up consumer credit liability information has been expanded to permit credit providers to report greater detail about the terms of the credit provided.”
Again, further guidance will need to be found in the credit reporting code. The Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner has indicated a final version of the credit reporting code will be published sometime in January.
