Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

PRIVACY ACT 1988 - SECT 11B

             (1)  For the purposes of this Act, but subject to subsection (2), a person is a credit provider if the person is:

                     (a)  a bank; or

                     (b)  a corporation (other than an agency):

                            (iii)  a substantial part of whose business or undertaking is the provision of loans (including the provision of loans by issuing credit cards); or

                            (iv)  that carries on a retail business in the course of which it issues credit cards to members of the public in connection with the sale of goods, or the supply of services, by the corporation; or

                             (v)  that:

                                        (A)  carries on a business or undertaking involving the provision of loans (including the provision of loans by issuing credit cards); and

                                        (B)  is included in a class of corporations determined by the Commissioner to be credit providers for the purposes of this Act; or

                     (c)  a person:

                              (i)  who is not a corporation; and

                             (ii)  in relation to whom paragraph (b) would apply if the person were a corporation; or

                     (d)  an agency that:

                              (i)  carries on a business or undertaking that involves the making of loans; and

                             (ii)  is determined by the Commissioner to be a credit provider for the purposes of this Act.

          (1A)  If an agency is a credit provider because of paragraph (1)(d), Part IIIA has effect in relation to the carrying on by the agency of a business or undertaking involving the making of loans despite anything in Part III or in the Freedom of Information Act 1982 .

             (2)  For the purposes of this Act, a corporation that would, but for this section, be a credit provider is not to be regarded as a credit provider if it is included in a class of corporations declared by the regulations not to be credit providers.

             (3)  A determination under sub-subparagraph (1)(b)(v)(B) or subparagraph (1)(d)(ii) is to be made by notice in writing published in the Gazette .

             (4)  A notice so published is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 .

          (4A)  Subsection (4B) applies to a person who carries on a business that is involved in one or both of the following:

                     (a)  a securitisation arrangement;

                     (b)  managing loans that are the subject of a securitisation arrangement.

          (4B)  While a person to whom this subsection applies is performing a task that is reasonably necessary for purchasing, funding or managing, or processing an application for, a loan by means of a securitisation arrangement (being a loan that has been provided by, or in respect of which application has been made to, a credit provider):

                     (a)  the person:

                              (i)  is taken, for the purposes of this Act, to be another credit provider; and

                             (ii)  is subject to the same obligations under this Act as any other credit provider; and

                     (b)  for the purposes of this Act, the loan is taken to have been provided by, or the application for the loan is taken to have been made to, both the person and the first‑mentioned credit provider.

          (4C)  Nothing in this Act prevents a report (within the meaning of subsection 18N(9)) to which section 18N applies being disclosed if:

                     (a)  the disclosure is reasonably necessary for purchasing, funding or managing, or processing an application for, a loan by means of a securitisation arrangement (being a loan that has been provided by, or in respect of which an application has been made to, a credit provider); and

                     (b)  the disclosure takes place between a person to whom subsection (4B) applies in relation to that loan and:

                              (i)  the credit provider; or

                             (ii)  another person to whom that subsection applies in relation to that loan.

          (4D)  A reference in subsection (4B) or (4C) to purchasing or funding a loan by means of a securitisation arrangement includes a reference to credit enhancement of the loan.

           (4E)  A reference in subsection (4B) or (4C) to managing a loan does not include a reference to an act relating to the collection of overdue payments in respect of the loan if the act is undertaken by a person whose primary function in relation to the loan is the collection of overdue payments.

             (5)  Subject to subsection (6), while a person is acting as an agent of a credit provider in performing, on behalf of the credit provider, a task that is necessary:

                     (a)  in processing an application for a loan; or

                     (b)  in managing:

                              (i)  a loan given by the credit provider; or

                             (ii)  an account maintained by any person with the credit provider;

the first‑mentioned person:

                     (c)  is taken, for the purposes of this Act, to be another credit provider; and

                     (d)  is subject to the same obligations under this Act as any other credit provider.

             (6)  Nothing in this Act prevents such an agent of a credit provider disclosing to the credit provider, in the agent's capacity as such an agent, a report (within the meaning of subsection 18N(9)) to which section 18N applies.

             (7)  The reference in subsection (5) to the management of a loan does not include a reference to any act relating to the collection of payments that are overdue in respect of the loan.