How safe is your financial information?

O

onetwothreefour

Hi,

Recently I approached a broker to help us in refinancing our PPOR.

He wanted us to fill out a 'fact-find' forms. So he sent the form via email.

There were sooo many questions in the form. Most questions were ok, just usual stuff. Some were not ok to us, as they were too personal. Questions like our life insurance policy name, beneficiary, acct, bsb no, smsf etc.

Our main concern is that some one somewhere down the chain will be able to claim our information as his/her information.

The banks have spent big money to make sure things are safe & secure, and sometimes they were not so successful.

What kind of safety measure that the mortgage brokers have taken to make sure that our information are safe?

Do they have security guard 24hrs outside their office? What happen if their laptops/ipads get stolen?

Do the brokers have secure encrypting system for their electronic files? What types of internet security system do they have in their office?

Have they done background check on their employees?
Have they done background check on their visitors, cleaners?

Am I too paranoid?
 
I definitely don't think you're being paranoid. Speaking for myself:

To get physical access you'd need to defeat several locks and a monitored alarm.
All staff have had appropriate background checks.
All stored data is heavily encrypted.
There's several layers of firewall and additional protection on all computers.
If my laptop is stolen, it would become a large brick, my phone would become a small one.

I'd actually assess the biggest vulnerability as being the clients computers, or the transmission sent to the bank, as this is defined by the banks systems and out of our control (they want us to send files via email, not via encrypted uplink). Many clients have lousy protection on their own computers.

Part of the process of obtaining a credit license is that you do need to address physical and digital security.
 
I think it is a legitimate concern and not just re brokers, but also lawyers and bank staff, fin planners, accountants, ASIO etc.

Brokers are required under the NCCP Act and privacy acts to take precautions. Make sure data is secured, back ups secured etc. I don't keep any files on my computer, but use a secured cloud server with a complex password (namely 123456789) (joke btw). Also laptops and computers have passwords as must mobile devices. I also have some software on my phone so that if I did lose it I could send a msg to a certain number and it would wipe my phone contents automatically.

Lawyers are the same, under the Legal Professsional Act they have kee files secure.

In my office i don't maintain any physical files, except for brief periods before I scan documents in. I also make sure I shred everything. I used to be in the AFP and we used to look in garbage bins....
 
Terry, our lawyer has big thick files tied with woven ribbon. Is this unusual. I'm assuming his files are locked in fireproof safes but through the day they are at risk in the office I guess.
 
I can see why some of those questions are asked because we keep getting hounded by our compliance people to ask for insurance information about clients as part of our 'responsible lending' obligations. Personally I think it is our aggregators trying to push for the cross sell since a client's insurance policy has little to do with the loan.
 
Did you try filling in the information you did know and / or were comfortable with providing? Did you then try discussing with the MB the remainder?

I'm more than happy to fill in such information to a well referred and trusted broker. If he has all the pieces, he can put the puzzle together if needed and give me advice. If he's asking the right questions he can give you advice that you wouldnt have gotten if you went direct to a bank.

On the flipside, if something fraudulent were to happen or the bank stuffs something completely up, then its evidence of the information you provided, shifting blame away from yourself.

Think about if you were signing up for a new phone service:
Telstra: "How many calls do you make?"
You: "Around $50 per month"
Telstra: "Do you call any mobiles at night time?"
You: "Sorry I dont want to answer that, its a bit personal"
Telstra: "So I'll put you on a basic plan then, it has cheap calls during the day, expensive calls to mobile at nite so you won't be able to call your mistress anymore"

:rolleyes:
 
Aaron_C said:
I can see why some of those questions are asked because we keep getting hounded by our compliance people to ask for insurance information about clients as part of our 'responsible lending' obligations. Personally I think it is our aggregators trying to push for the cross sell since a client's insurance policy has little to do with the loan.
Click to expand...

One of the questions was asking how many shares we have. Another one was how much we have in smsf. I don't think those questions were relevant for MB.

The form made the applicants vulnerable to fraud, even though they are dealing with reputable broker.

How much money out of the MB budget to spend on securing their clients or potential clients financial information? I know big banks spend big money to secure the information.

Coming from IT background, I believe fraud could easily be achieve.
 
Brokers are required to make "Reasonable Inquiries" & your Super is an asset, which, if disclosed in your Assets & Liabilities position makes the deal look stronger. Although not disclosing assets to the bank is not a crime (as apposed to not disclosing liabilities).
Unless of course you came to a "one stop shop" where they have a Financial Planner & Insurance broker as well and will try to cross sell.
Even then, I don't think it is a good practice & good customer service to get the client feeling in all these forms. It should all be discussed and recorded by the broker whilst having a chat with you.
 
onetwothreefour said:
One of the questions was asking how many shares we have. Another one was how much we have in smsf. I don't think those questions were relevant for MB.

The form made the applicants vulnerable to fraud, even though they are dealing with reputable broker.

How much money out of the MB budget to spend on securing their clients or potential clients financial information? I know big banks spend big money to secure the information.

Coming from IT background, I believe fraud could easily be achieve.
Click to expand...

Yea your number of assets have nothing to do obtaining finance. :rolleyes:
 
I totally agree that some/many of the questions in the fact find are a bit rich for a first/second point of contact. Mothers maiden name...last 3 addresses.....shoe size.....date of birth, et el. After one short phone call! Sorry, I'll happily provide assets/liabilities/income/expenses/employment status and when the time comes to apply for a loan then ask me what my DOB is.....I have no issue saying I was born in '73 but the exact date is irralevant to assessment of a loan amount. Unless of course it was Feb 29th in which case I'm 10yo ;)

As for asking what my Mothers maiden name is...you've got to be kidding!
 
onetwothreefour said:
One of the questions was asking how many shares we have. Another one was how much we have in smsf. I don't think those questions were relevant for MB.
Click to expand...

We've talked about credit scoring on this forum many times before. When lenders assess your loan application they look at many aspects of your financial circumstances, even though they don't actually verify a lot of it.

If you've been working for 10 years earning an average of $100k per year, you should be making super contributions of $9k per year. It would follow that you've probably got at least $100k in super. Lenders are trying to build a financial profile, this sort of data will follow from things like your employment history. If it doesn't add up, it will start to raise some red flags.

A couple of red flags aren't a big deal, but if you put up enough of them, your application will get knocked back. To give your loan application every chance of success your broker should be gathering this data. This information doesn't need to be backed up with evidence (so an estimate of your super is fine, we don't need an exact figure), but it does need to make sense in light of the other information in the application.
 
shady said:
As for asking what my Mothers maiden name is...you've got to be kidding!
Click to expand...

Some lenders require this information to be entered into broker software that is linked to the banks systems. Dont fill the space with the requested data and the application cant be submitted!
 
I think the NABs application form asks for it, perhaps some of the smaller lenders...

It's not a required field though. I've never collected the mother's maiden name. Stupid information for privacy, so easy to get.
 
PT_Bear said:
I think the NABs application form asks for it, perhaps some of the smaller lenders...

It's not a required field though. I've never collected the mother's maiden name. Stupid information for privacy, so easy to get.
Click to expand...

May have mixed it up with nearest relatives address which would be on a similar path to the post referred to.

Point being some of the information that a broker will request isn't their idea but a requirement of the bank/s.

I do agree that basic information is enough to begin with to get a snapshot of the applicants chances of securing the loan.
 
Terry_w said:
Wylie - old school!
Click to expand...

I know of one lawyer who has all his files on timber shelves behind his receptionist's desk. When she goes to lunch you can help yourself if he is in his office with a client.

The files that don't fit on the shelves are filed on the carpet ........

No security, no fire protection, no way I would use him
 
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