Notice to Customers relating to Customers’ Data

This Notice is provided to notify customers of the data policies of Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited (“Company”).

(a) From time to time, it is necessary for customers to supply the Company with data in connection with the opening or continuation of accounts and the establishment or continuation of credit facilities or provision of other services.

(b) Failure to supply such data may result in the Company being unable to open or continue accounts or establish or continue credit facilities or provide other services.

(c) It is also the case that data are collected from customers in the ordinary course of the business including those given in person or through telephone or internet in processing new or renewal of loan applications or services. This includes information obtained from  credit reference agencies approved for the participation in the Multiple Credit Reference Agencies Model (hereinafter referred to as “credit reference agencies”).

(d) Data collection

[1] From time to time, we may collect information about customers and other individuals for the purposes set out in this notice. Such customers and other individuals may include, but are not limited to, the following (referred to as “data subject(s)”, “your”, “you”):

(1a) Applicants and users of credit, mortgage and related services, products and credits (referred to as “Credit, Products and Services”);

(1b) Persons who provide or propose to provide security or security for obligations owed to us; and

(1c) Other persons involved in our client relationships.

[2] The data which may collect from you include but not limited to personal data (including but not limited to your name, ID number, date of birth, residential and mailing address, telephone number, email address, credit-related information, image, fingerprint , biometric authentication, and electronic footprints such as your IP address and GPS location etc.).

[3] Failure to provide us with such data may result in our failure to provide (or continue to provide) some or all of our credit, products and services to you or relevant applicants or persons related to you.

[4] We may collect data directly or indirectly from you or someone acting on your behalf in the following circumstances:

(4a) In the ordinary course of our business or in the maintenance of our relationship with you, for example we may collect information when you issue a check, make a deposit, conduct a transaction or you communicate with us (verbally, electronically or in writing) ;

(4b) When you browse or use our website and mobile applications; and/or

(4c) Collected from other sources such as:

(i) Any member of Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited (other than us);

(ii) Third parties such as our business partners (subject to you giving our business partners consent to transfer your data to us), credit reference agencies (“CRA”) (including CRA approved for participation in the Multiple Credit Reference Agencies Model) and third party service providers with whom you interact in connection with the marketing of our products and services and/or in connection with the your application for our products and services.) ; and/or

and/or

(iii) The public domain, cookies, behavioural or location tracking tools.

Data may also be combined with other data available to any member of Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited.

(e) Use of data

The purposes for which personal data relating to a customer may be used by the Company or the recipient of such data are as follows:-

(i) the processing of applications for services and credit facilities and the daily operation of the services, credit facilities provided to customers;
(ii) conducting credit checks at the time of application for credit and at the time of regular or special reviews which normally will take place one or more times each year;
(iii) assisting other money lenders and/or financial institutions, credit or charge card issuing companies and debt collection agents to conduct credit checks and collect debts;
(iv) ensuring ongoing credit worthiness of customers;
(v) designing financial services or related products for customers’ use;
(vi) marketing services and products and other subjects (please see further details in paragraph (f) below;
(vii) determining the account transactions/balances between the Company and customers;
(viii) collection of amounts outstanding from customers, or those providing security for customers’ obligations or other co-borrower(s);
(ix) complying with the obligations, requirements or arrangements for disclosing and using data that apply to the Company or any of its branches or that it is expected to comply according to:

(1) any law binding or applying to it within or outside the territory of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Hong Kong”) existing currently and in the future;
(2) any guidelines or guidance given or issued by any legal, regulatory, governmental, tax, law enforcement or other authorities, or self-regulatory or industry bodies or associations of financial services providers within or outside the territory of Hong Kong existing currently and in the future;
(3) any present or future contractual or other commitment with local or foreign legal, regulatory, governmental, tax, law enforcement or other authorities, or self-regulatory or industry bodies or associations of financial services providers that is assumed by or imposed on the Company or any of its branches by reason of its financial, commercial, business or other interests or activities in or related to the jurisdiction of the relevant local or foreign legal, regulatory, governmental, tax, law enforcement or other authority, or self-regulatory or industry bodies or associations;

(x) complying with any obligations, requirements, policies, procedures, measures or arrangements for sharing data and information within Group of Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited and/or any other use of data and information in accordance with any group-wide programmes for compliance with sanctions or prevention or detection of money laundering, terrorist financing or other unlawful activities;
(xi) enabling an actual or proposed assignee of the Company, or participant or sub-participant of the Company’s rights in respect of the customer to evaluate the transaction intended to be the subject of the assignment, participation or sub-participations;
(xii) conducting matching procedures;
(xiii) creating and maintaining the Company’s credit scoring models;
(xiv) facilitating consolidated supervision of the company for the conduct of internal audit and the performance of risk management; and
(xv) purposes relating thereto.

(f) Data held by the Company relating to a customer will be kept confidential but the Company may provide such information to the following parties (whether within or outside the territory of Hong Kong) for the purposes set out in paragraph (d):-

(i) any agent, contractor or third party service provider who provides administrative, telecommunications, Electronic Fund Transfer service, computer, payment, debt collection, information service or other services to the Company in connection with the operation of its business;
(ii) any branch, subsidiary, holding company, associated company or affiliate of the Company;

(iii) any other person under a duty of confidentiality to the Company which has undertaken to keep such information confidential;

(iv) credit reference agencies (including the operator of any centralized database used by credit reference agencies), and, in the event of default, to debt collection agencies or law firms;

(v) any person to whom the Company or any of its branches is under an obligation or otherwise required to make disclosure under the requirements of any law binding on or applying to the Company or any of its branches are expected to comply, or any disclosure pursuant to any contractual or other commitment of the Company or any of its branches with local or foreign legal, regulatory, governmental, tax, law enforcement or other authorities, or self-regulatory or industry bodies or associations of financial services providers, all of which may be within or outside the territory of Hong Kong and may be existing currently and in the future;
(vi) any party giving or proposing to give a guarantee or third party security to guarantee or secure the customer’s obligations and any co-borrower(s); and
(vii) any actual or proposed assignee of the Company or participant or sub-participant or transferee of the Company’s rights in respect of the customer; an

(1) Any member of Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited;
(2) third party financial institutions, insurers, credit card companies, securities and investment services providers;
(3) third party reward, loyalty or privileges programme providers;
(4) co-branding partners of the Company (the names of such co-branding partners can be found in the application form(s) and/or advertising leaflet(s) / poster(s) for the relevant services and products, as the case may be);
(5) charitable or non-profit making organisations; and
(6) external service providers (including but not limited to mailing houses, telecommunications companies, telemarketing and direct sales agents, call centres, data processing companies and information technology companies) that the Company engages for the purposes set out in paragraph (d) (vi). Such information may be transferred to a place outside Hong Kong.

(g) USE OF DATA IN DIRECT MARKETING

The Company intends to use a customer’s data in direct marketing and the Company requires the customer’s consent (which includes an indication of no objection) for that purpose. In this connection, please note that:

(i) the name, contact details, products and services portfolio information, transaction pattern and behaviour, financial background and demographic data of a customer held by the Company from time to time may be used by the Company in direct marketing
(ii) the following classes of services, products and subjects may be marketed:

(1) financial services and related products including insurance products;
(2) reward, loyalty or privileges programmes and related services and products;
(3) services and products offered by the Company’s branding partners (the names of such co-branding partners can be found in the application form(s) and/or advertising leaflet(s) / poster(s) for the relevant services and products, as the case may be); and
(4) donations and contributions for charitable and/or non-profit making purposes;

(iii) the above services, products and subjects may be provided or (in the case of donations and contributions) solicited by the Company and/or:

(1) Any member of Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited;
(2) third party financial institutions, insurers, credit card companies, securities and investment services providers;
(3) third party reward, loyalty, co-branding or privileges programme providers;
(4) co-branding partners of the Company; and
(5) charitable or non-profit making organisations;

(iv) in addition to marketing the above services, products and subjects itself, the Company also intends to provide the data described in paragraph (f)(i) above to all or any of the persons described in paragraph (f)(iii) above for use by them in marketing those services, products and subjects, and the Company requires the customer’s written consent (which includes an indication of no objection) for that purpose;
(v) The Company may receive money or other property in return for providing the data to the other persons in paragraph (f)(iv) above and, when requesting the customer’s consent or no objection as described in paragraph (f)(iv) above, the Company will inform the customer if it will receive any money or other property in return for providing the data to the other persons. If a customer does not wish the Company to use or provide to other persons his data for use in direct marketing as described above, the customer may exercise his opt-out right of mail, email, Mobile Message,telephone by notifying the company without charge.

(h) Under and in accordance with the terms of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (the “Ordinance”), the Code of Practice on Consumer Credit Data and any statutory or regulatory guidelines issued by the Privacy Commissioner or other regulatory bodies, any customer has the right.

(i) to check whether the Company holds data about him and the right of access to such data;
(ii) to require the Company to correct any data relating to him which is inaccurate;
(iii) to ascertain the Company’s policies and practices in relation to data and to be informed of the kind of data held by the Company;
(iv) to be informed on request which items of data are routinely disclosed to credit reference agencies or debt collection agencies, and be provided with further information to enable the making of an access and correction request to the relevant credit reference agency or debt collection agency;
(v) in relation to any account data (including, for the avoidance of doubt, any account repayment data) which has been provided by the Company to a credit reference agency, to instruct the Company, upon termination of the account by full repayment, to make a request to the credit reference agency to delete such account data from its database, as long as the instruction is given within five years of termination and at no time was there any default of payment in relation to the account, lasting in excess of 60 days within five years immediately before account termination. Account repayment data include amount last due, amount of payment made during the last reporting period (being a period not exceeding 31 days immediately preceding the last contribution of account data by the Company to a credit reference agency), remaining available credit or outstanding balance and default data (being amount past due and number of days past due, date of settlement of amount past due, and date of final settlement of amount in default lasting in excess of 60 days (if any)).

(i) In the event of any default of payment relating to an account, unless the amount in default is fully repaid or written off (other than due to a bankruptcy order) before the expiry of 60 days from the date such default occurred, the account repayment data (as defined in paragraph (g)(v) above) may be retained by the credit reference agency until the expiry of five years from the date of final settlement of the amount in default.

(j) In the event any amount in an account is written-off due to a bankruptcy order being made against a customer, the account repayment data (as defined in paragraph (g)(v) above) may be retained by the credit reference agency, regardless of whether the account repayment data reveal any default of payment lasting in excess of 60 days, until the expiry of five years from the date of final settlement of the amount in default or the expiry of five years from the date of discharge from a bankruptcy as notified by the customer with evidence to the credit reference agency, whichever is earlier.

(k) The Company may access the database of credit reference agencies for the purposes of credit review from time to time. Which review may involve the consideration by the Company of any of the following matters:-

(i) an increase in the credit amount;
(ii) the curtailing of credit (including the cancellation of credit or a decrease in the credit amount); or
(iii) the putting in place or the implementation of a scheme of arrangement with the customer.

(l) In accordance with the terms of the Ordinance, the Company has the right to charge a reasonable fee for the processing of any data access request.

(m) The person to whom requests for access to data or correction of data or for information regarding policies and practices and kinds of data held are to be addressed as follows :-

The Data Protection Officer
Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited
Unit 201, 2/F, Kwong Fat Hong Building
No.1 Rumsey Street
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Fax: (852) 2531 0300

(n) The Company may have obtained a credit report on the customer from a credit reference agency in considering any application for credit. In the event the customer wishes to access the credit report, the Company will advise the contact details of the relevant entity.

(o) 「The expression “Customer” includes both borrower and guarantor as individuals or corporations (and the latter’s directors, shareholders or other officers) and unincorporated associations (sole proprietor or partners). Credit means consumer and commercial credit (including Hire Purchase and Leasing). All references to one gender are a reference to all other genders and the singular includes the plural.

(p) Data of a data subject may be processed, kept and transferred or disclosed in and to any country as the Company or any person who has obtained such data from the Company referred to in (e) above considers appropriate. Such data may also be released or disclosed in accordance with the local practices and laws, rules and regulations (including any governmental acts and orders) in such country.

(q) Nothing herein shall limit the right of customers under the Ordinance.

(r) This Notice shall upon a customer’s receipt, be deemed an integral part of all contracts, agreements, credit/banking facility letters, and other binding arrangements which the customer has entered into or intends to enter into with the Company.

(s) Customers may, at any time and without charge, request our Company cease using their personal data for direct marketing purposes by writing to the Data Protection Officer at the address or fax number provided in paragraph (I).

(t)Retention of Personal Data
The Company will take practical steps to ensure that your personal data will not be kept longer than necessary.

Zero Finance Hong Kong Limited