Privacy Policy

WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use, disclose and protect personal information collected through the website at https://australianmortgageguide.com.au (the website), including through our guide downloads, enquiry forms, email communications and marketing activity.

1. Who we are
The website is owned and operated by Time Home Loans (we, us, our), ABN 53 161 695 012, an Authorised Credit Representative under Australian Credit Licence 387025 (Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd trading as Specialist Finance Group).

Australian Mortgage Guide is a publishing and information brand operated by Time Home Loans. We are an APP entity and we are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Where we handle credit information or credit eligibility information, we are also bound by Part IIIA of the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2014.

Our contact details are set out in section 19.

2. What is personal information?The Privacy Act defines personal information as information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not the information or opinion is true, and whether or not it is recorded in a material form.

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and includes information about health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and criminal record. Sensitive information attracts a higher level of protection under the APPs.

Credit information and credit eligibility information are categories of personal information relating to consumer credit, and are regulated separately under Part IIIA of the Privacy Act.

Information that does not disclose your identity, and from which your identity cannot reasonably be ascertained, is not personal information and is not subject to this policy.

3. Dealing with us anonymously or using a pseudonym
You may browse the website without telling us who you are. Where it is lawful and practicable to do so, you also have the option of dealing with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym — for example, when making a general enquiry.

However, we generally cannot send you a requested guide, respond to a finance enquiry, or provide credit assistance without knowing who you are and how to contact you.

4. What personal information we collect
The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us. It may include:

• Contact and identity information — your name, email address, phone number, postcode or suburb, and any other details you choose to give us in a form, email, SMS, phone call or message.
• Enquiry information — the reason for your enquiry and information about your circumstances that you volunteer, such as whether you are a first home buyer, investor, refinancing, self-employed or an expat, your general borrowing goals, approximate property value or loan amount, and preferred contact times.
• Communications records — records of your calls, emails, SMS, web chat, social media messages and form submissions, including call recordings where we tell you a call is being recorded.
• Marketing and engagement data — which emails you open, which links you click, which pages and guides you view, your subscription and unsubscribe status, and your marketing preferences.
• Technical and device information — your IP address, approximate location derived from that IP address, browser and operating system, device type, referring website, search terms, the pages you view, the date and time of your visit, and identifiers set by cookies and similar technologies.

What we do not collect through this website. This website is an information and guide-download site. We do not collect finance application information — such as dates of birth, identity document details, income and employment details, asset and liability details, bank statements, tax file numbers or credit information — through this website.

If you choose to progress from an enquiry to obtaining credit assistance from us, that is a separate engagement. At that point we will collect that additional information from you directly, and the handling of it (including credit reporting, credit information and disclosure to lenders and credit reporting bodies) is governed by the Time Home Loans Privacy Policy and Credit Reporting Policy (https://timehomeloans.com.au/privacy-policy/), which we will make available to you at the time.

Sensitive information. We do not seek sensitive information through this website. If you volunteer sensitive information in a message to us, we will only collect and use it with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities.

5. How we collect personal information

We collect personal information:

• Directly from you — when you download a guide, complete an enquiry or contact form, subscribe to our emails, call or message us, book an appointment, or interact with us on social media.
• Automatically — through cookies, pixels, tags and analytics tools when you use the website (see section 9).
• From third parties — where you have consented or where it is otherwise permitted by law. This may include referrers who pass on your details with your consent, advertising and social media platforms where you submit a lead form on their platform, publicly available sources, and our service providers.

Where we collect personal information about you from someone other than you, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of that collection, unless an exception under the APPs applies.

Unsolicited personal information. If we receive personal information that we did not solicit, and we determine that we could not have collected it under APP 3, we will destroy or de-identify it as soon as practicable, provided it is lawful and reasonable to do so.

6. Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for the following purposes:

• to send you the guides, resources and other materials you request;
• to respond to your enquiries and provide the information or assistance you ask for;
• to contact you about mortgage and finance services offered by Time Home Loans, including arranging appointments and follow-up calls;
• to assess whether we may be able to assist you with credit assistance, and to begin that process if you ask us to;
• to send you direct marketing and educational communications, subject to section 8;
• to operate, maintain, secure, analyse and improve the website and our content;
• to personalise the content, offers and advertising you see;
• to manage our relationship with you, including administering your preferences and handling complaints;
• to detect, investigate and prevent fraud, misuse and security incidents; and
• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including under the Privacy Act, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) and the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), and to respond to lawful requests from courts, regulators and law enforcement.

We will not use or disclose your personal information for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was collected, or a related purpose you would reasonably expect, unless you consent or the use or disclosure is required or authorised by law.

7. Who we disclose personal information to

We may disclose your personal information to:

• Our personnel — our employees, contractors, brokers and support staff, on a need-to-know basis;
• Time Home Loans and its related broking operations, where you have enquired about or asked for finance assistance;
• Our aggregator, Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd trading as Specialist Finance Group (Australian Credit Licence 387025), and its systems and compliance functions;
• Service providers who help us operate our business, including customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation platforms, email and SMS delivery providers, website and cloud hosting providers, form and calendar booking tools, analytics providers, advertising platforms, IT support and cyber security providers, call and telephony providers, and document storage providers;
• Professional advisers, including our lawyers, accountants, auditors and insurers;
• Lenders, insurers, valuers and referrers, but only where you have asked us to assist you with finance and only in accordance with the disclosures and consents provided to you at that time;
• Courts, tribunals, regulators and government agencies, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), AUSTRAC and law enforcement, where required or authorised by law; and
• A purchaser or prospective purchaser of our business or assets, where the disclosure is made on a confidential basis for the purposes of that transaction.

We require our service providers to protect personal information and to use it only for the purposes for which we provide it to them. We do not sell your personal information.

8. Direct marketing and electronic messages
We use personal information to send you educational content, market updates, guides and offers relating to mortgage and finance services, by email, SMS and phone, and to show you advertising on third-party platforms.

We will only send you commercial electronic messages where we have your consent, consistent with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). Consent may be express — for example, where you download a guide, submit an enquiry form or subscribe to our list — or inferred from an existing business relationship. Every commercial electronic message we send will identify us as the sender and include a functional unsubscribe facility.

Merely visiting or browsing the website does not, by itself, constitute consent to receive direct marketing from us.

How to opt out. You can opt out at any time by:

• clicking the unsubscribe link in any of our marketing emails;
• replying STOP to any marketing SMS; or
• emailing us at adventure@australianmortgageguide.com.au or calling us on (07) 3194 0888.

We will action your request within a reasonable period and, in any event, within the timeframes required by law. We may still need to contact you with service or administrative messages relating to a request or matter you have with us.

If you ask us, we will tell you the source of the personal information we used to send you direct marketing, unless it is impracticable or unreasonable to do so.

9. Cookies, analytics and advertising technologies
The website uses cookies and similar technologies, including pixels, tags, session recording and local storage. These technologies may be set by us or by third parties on our behalf.

We use them to:

• make the website work and remember your preferences;
• measure website traffic, page performance and how visitors move through the site, including through heatmaps and session recordings;
• measure the performance of our advertising and email campaigns; and
• deliver and personalise advertising to you on third-party platforms, including search engines and social media, and to build audiences of people with similar characteristics.

Some of these tools are provided by third-party analytics and advertising platforms, which may set their own cookies and collect information directly from your device in accordance with their own privacy policies. That information may be combined with information those platforms already hold about you.

Most information collected in this way is not, on its own, capable of identifying you. Where it is linked to information that identifies you, we treat it as personal information and handle it in accordance with this policy.

Your choices. You can control cookies through your browser settings, including blocking or deleting them, though some parts of the website may not function properly if you do. You can also opt out of personalised advertising through the settings offered by the relevant advertising platforms, and manage device-level tracking preferences through your browser or operating system.

10. Disclosure of personal information overseas
Some of the service providers we use — including CRM, marketing automation, email and SMS delivery, website hosting, analytics, advertising and cloud storage providers — store or process personal information outside Australia, or are located outside Australia.

The countries in which those recipients are likely to be located include the United States of America. Depending on the providers we use from time to time, personal information may also be stored or processed in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, the Philippines and other countries in the European Union.

Before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient does not breach the APPs in relation to that information, including by using contractual protections. However, an overseas recipient may not be subject to the Privacy Act, and you may not be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act in the recipient’s jurisdiction.

By providing your personal information to us through the website, you acknowledge these overseas disclosures. If you do not want your personal information disclosed overseas, please contact us — but be aware that we may not be able to provide you with our services or content.

11. Credit information
We do not collect credit information or credit eligibility information through this website.

If you engage us for credit assistance, we may collect credit information about you and exchange credit information and credit eligibility information with credit reporting bodies (including Equifax Australia, Experian Australia and illion Australia), lenders, guarantors and other permitted recipients. That handling is governed by the Time Home Loans Privacy Policy and Credit Reporting Policy (https://timehomeloans.com.au/privacy-policy/), which sets out your rights in relation to credit reporting, including your right to request that a credit reporting body not use your information for pre-screening direct marketing, and your right to request a ban period if you believe you have been or may be a victim of fraud.

12. How we hold and protect your information
We hold personal information in electronic form in our CRM, marketing, email and cloud storage systems, and occasionally in paper records.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include access controls and role-based permissions, multi-factor authentication on business-critical systems, encryption of data in transit, use of reputable providers with their own security controls, staff training on privacy and security, and contractual obligations on our service providers.

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for keeping any password or account credentials you use with us confidential.

13. Retention, destruction and de-identification
We retain personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes set out in this policy, or for as long as we are required to retain it by law.

Where we are required or authorised by law to retain records — for example, credit assistance records under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), and records under anti-money laundering and taxation laws — we will retain them for the required period. Where we no longer need personal information for any purpose for which it may be used or disclosed, and we are not required by law or a court or tribunal order to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy it or de-identify it.

14. Data breaches
We are subject to the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act. If we have reasonable grounds to believe that an eligible data breach has occurred — that is, unauthorised access to, unauthorised disclosure of, or loss of personal information that is likely to result in serious harm to an affected individual — we will notify the affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as soon as practicable, in accordance with the Privacy Act.

We maintain a data breach response plan and will assess any suspected eligible data breach within 30 days of becoming aware of it.

15. Automated decision-making
We do not use computer programs to make, or to substantially and directly assist in making, decisions that could reasonably be expected to significantly affect your rights or interests.

We do use automated tools for marketing purposes — for example, to segment our contact lists, score engagement and decide which content or advertising to show you. These tools do not determine whether you are eligible for credit and do not make credit decisions. Any assessment of your finance needs and any recommendation of a credit product is made by a person.

If this changes, we will update this section to set out the kinds of personal information used in the automated decision-making technology and the kinds of decisions it makes or substantially assists in making, consistent with APP 1.7, which takes effect on 10 December 2026.

16. Access to and correction of your personal information
Under APP 12 you may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and under APP 13 you may ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

To make a request, contact us using the details in section 19. We will need to verify your identity before we release any information.

• We will respond to an access request within 30 days. We do not charge a fee for making a request; we may charge a reasonable fee for giving access, and we will tell you about any such fee before we incur it.
• We will correct information, and respond to correction requests, within 30 days, at no charge.
• In limited circumstances we may refuse access or correction — for example, where giving access would be unlawful or would unreasonably affect another person’s privacy. If we refuse, we will give you written reasons and tell you how to complain.
• If we correct information we have previously disclosed to a third party, you may ask us to notify that third party, and we will take reasonable steps to do so.
• If we do not agree to correct information, you may ask us to attach a statement to it noting that you consider it inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, and we will take reasonable steps to do so.

17. Complaints
If you believe we have breached the Privacy Act, the APPs, Part IIIA or the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code, or you are otherwise concerned about how we have handled your personal information, please tell us so we can try to fix it.

Step 1 — Contact us. Send your complaint to us using the details in section 19. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days, investigate it, and give you a written decision within 30 days. We may ask you for further information to help us understand your concerns. If we need more time, we will tell you why and keep you informed.

Step 2 — External escalation. If you are not satisfied with our response, or you do not receive a response within 30 days, you may refer your complaint to:

• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)

Phone: 1300 363 992

Web: www.oaic.gov.au (https://www.oaic.gov.au/)

Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
• Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) — for complaints relating to our credit assistance services

Phone: 1800 931 678

Web: www.afca.org.au (https://www.afca.org.au/)

Email: info@afca.org.au

Post: GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001

18. Other matters

Overseas visitors and the GDPR. The website is directed at people in Australia. We do not specifically target individuals in the European Union or the United Kingdom, and we do not monitor the behaviour of individuals located there. Accordingly, we do not consider the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation to apply to us. If you are located outside Australia and you provide us with personal information, you do so on the basis that it will be handled in accordance with this policy and Australian law.

Children. The website is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us and we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

Third-party websites. The website may contain links to third-party websites, including lender sites, social media platforms and calculators. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing them with personal information.

Changes to this policy. We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or to the law. The current version will always be available at https://australianmortgageguide.com.au/privacy-policy/ (https://australianmortgageguide.com.au/privacy-policy/) and will show the date it was last updated. Material changes will be brought to your attention where required by law.

19. How to contact us about privacy
If you have a question about this policy, want to access or correct your personal information, want to opt out of direct marketing, or wish to make a complaint, contact our Privacy Officer:

Privacy Officer — Time Home Loans

Email: adventure@australianmortgageguide.com.au

Phone: (07) 3194 0888

Post: Level 8, 490 Upper Edward Street, Spring Hill QLD 4000

A copy of this policy is available free of charge on request in an alternative format.