Privacy and Credit Reporting Policy

Skale Capital Pty Ltd (ACN 686 616 928, Corporate Authorised Representative No. 001319476) (Skale, we, us) originates, assesses and manages commercial loans, and is the manager of the Skale Capital Fund (Fund). Brindabella Investment Group Pty Ltd (ACN 626 692 984, AFSL 510735) is the trustee of the Fund and Skale's licensee (Trustee).

This policy explains how we handle personal information across our business: our website, loan enquiries and applications, loan management, investor onboarding and fund administration. We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. For credit-related information, we also comply with Part IIIA of the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code. Section 6 is our credit reporting policy and statement of notifiable matters.

When you apply for a loan, we also give you a privacy notice specific to that application. It applies together with this policy.

What we collect depends on how you deal with us.

We do not ask for sensitive information as a matter of course. It may be collected in limited cases, such as health information you choose to give us to support a hardship request, or information returned by sanctions and politically exposed person screening carried out on our behalf. We collect sensitive information only with your consent or where the law requires or authorises it.

We collect most information directly from you through our website, application forms, investor platform, email and phone.

We also collect information from third parties where that is lawful and reasonably necessary, including your broker, other participants in your application, your accountant or other advisers, Equifax, the solicitors acting on your loan, valuers, the Trustee, our investment platform provider, and public registers such as ASIC, land titles offices, the Personal Property Securities Register and court and insolvency records.

If you give us information about another person, you must have told them and have their authority to do so.

You can make a general enquiry without identifying yourself. We cannot assess a loan or accept an investment on that basis.

We collect, hold and use personal information to:

respond to enquiries and provide indicative terms;

assess loan applications and proposed guarantees, and verify the information we are given;

arrange identity verification and meet anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations;

prepare loan and security documents, arrange funding and settle loans;

manage, vary, enforce and recover loans;

onboard investors, administer investments and meet tax reporting obligations;

prevent and investigate fraud;

handle complaints and disputes;

operate and secure our website and systems;

send marketing where permitted (see section 14); and

meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

If you do not give us the information we need, we may be unable to assess your application, accept your investment or deal with your request.

We exchange personal and credit-related information with your broker to process your application and manage your loan.

Where permitted by law, we may also disclose personal information to:

other borrowers and guarantors on your application;

our funders, including the Fund and our wholesale funding partners, and any prospective funder or assignee of a loan;

investors in a loan, who receive information about the loan, the borrower, any guarantors and the security, including credit reports where you have consented;

the Trustee, for audit and compliance oversight. The Trustee takes no part in credit assessment;

our auditors and professional advisers;

solicitors, valuers, insurers and verification providers;

our investment platform provider and other technology, hosting, electronic signing, communications and AI service providers;

banks and payment providers;

debt collectors; and

government, regulatory and law enforcement bodies and courts.

Credit reports are shared only as described in section 6. We do not sell personal information.

This section is our credit reporting policy and statement of notifiable matters. It explains how we handle credit-related information about individuals, including applicants and guarantors.

6.1 Our role

Skale assesses every loan application and is the entity that obtains and holds credit-related information. Our loans are funded through the Fund, acting through the Trustee, by the investors in each loan, and through our wholesale funding partners. The legal lender is named in your loan documents.

6.2 When we obtain a credit report

Our loans are for business purposes. We obtain consumer credit reporting information about you only with your express consent, and only to assess a loan application or whether to accept you as a guarantor. We may also use it, if needed, to collect overdue payments, and disclose it for those purposes to our funders, including investors in the loan. Each individual gives their own consent. We obtain any further consent required by law or the relevant credit reporting body before making additional enquiries.

6.3 What we hold

Identification details: name, date of birth, current and previous addresses, and identity document details.

Credit applications and enquiries made to other credit providers.

Details of credit accounts, including the type of credit, limits, and opening and closing dates.

Default information, payments made after a default, and any serious credit infringement.

Court judgments, personal insolvency information and publicly available information about creditworthiness.

Credit scores and assessments, whether supplied by Equifax or derived by us from its information.

6.4 Credit reporting body

We use Equifax (www.equifax.com.au, 13 83 32). Equifax's policy on how it manages credit-related information is available on its website.

6.5 Things you should know

Equifax may include information we give it in reports to other credit providers, to help them assess your creditworthiness.

A credit enquiry is recorded on your credit file and may affect your credit score.

If you fail to meet your payment obligations or commit a serious credit infringement, we may report this to Equifax. We do not report a default under a business loan as a consumer credit default.

You can ask Equifax not to use your information to pre-screen you for direct marketing by credit providers.

You can ask Equifax not to use or disclose your information if you believe on reasonable grounds that you have been, or are likely to be, a victim of fraud.

You can ask us for access to, or correction of, the credit-related information we hold about you, and complain to us about how we handle it.

6.6 How we use and disclose it

We use credit-related information only to assess the application or proposed guarantee and, if needed, to collect overdue payments. We do not use it for marketing.

We disclose it only as Part IIIA of the Privacy Act permits. This includes disclosure, with your consent, to our funders, including investors in the loan, and to the Trustee for audit and compliance, to a prospective funder or assignee of the loan, to debt collectors, and to regulators and dispute resolution bodies.

6.7 Where it is held

We store credit-related information in Australia. Some software we use to review application documents, including AI tools, is operated by providers that process information overseas, most commonly in the United States. Section 10 explains how we manage overseas disclosure.

6.8 Access and correction

You can ask for access to the credit-related information we hold about you. We do not charge for a request and will respond within 30 days.

If you think the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, ask us to correct it. We will respond within 30 days, or a longer period you agree to in writing. We may need to consult Equifax or another credit provider. We will tell you the outcome in writing and, if we do not make the correction, why.

6.9 Complaints about credit-related information

We will acknowledge a complaint within 7 days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If we need longer, we will tell you why and ask for your agreement. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (section 16).

The solicitors acting on a loan verify the identity of borrowers and guarantors on our behalf before settlement. They also screen names against sanctions and politically exposed person lists where the law requires. This supports obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth).

Skale does not run electronic identity checks itself. The solicitors may verify identity in person, by video or through a verification service, and give you their own notice. Some services check identity documents with the issuer or use face matching, which involves biometric information. That is done only with your consent, and you can ask the solicitor for another method.

Investors are verified through our investment platform provider when they register, under that provider's own privacy notice.

We keep verification records for seven years after our dealings with you end. We do not keep copies of full identity documents longer than we need them.

We collect tax file numbers from investors only where tax law authorises it. Providing one is not compulsory, but tax may be withheld from distributions at the highest marginal rate if you do not. We do not use a tax file number as an identifier.

We do not need tax file numbers from loan applicants. Please remove them from tax returns, notices of assessment and other documents before sending them to us. Where one reaches us, we securely destroy it or permanently redact it.

No decision that significantly affects you is made solely by a computer program. Credit decisions are made by our Credit Committee, and investment decisions by people.

Computer programs assist our staff with the following decisions.

We also use automated and AI tools for administrative tasks such as extracting data from documents, summarising material and drafting correspondence. A person reviews the output before it is relied on.

You can ask us how an automated tool was used in a decision about you.

We hold personal information primarily in Australia. Some of our service providers store or access information overseas. Our investment platform provider operates in Australia and New Zealand. Providers of email, document storage, electronic signing and AI tools most commonly operate in the United States.

Before disclosing personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles it consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These include access controls, encryption, audit logs, staff training and due diligence on our service providers.

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy or as the law requires. Loan, investment and AML/CTF records are generally kept for at least seven years after the relationship ends. We then destroy or de-identify the information.

If a data breach is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the site, keep it secure and understand how it is used. You can disable cookies in your browser, although parts of the site may not work as intended.

If you submit a scenario or enquiry through the website, we use the details to respond and, where relevant, provide indicative terms. We do not obtain a credit report or verify identity at the enquiry stage.

Our website may link to other sites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.

We may send you information about our lending and investment activities where you have consented or the law otherwise permits. Every message includes a way to opt out, and you can also opt out by contacting us. We do not use credit-related information for marketing.

You can ask for access to the personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct it. We will verify your identity first and respond within 30 days. If we refuse a request, we will give you written reasons and tell you how to complain. Section 6.8 covers credit-related information.

Contact our Privacy Officer using the details in section 17. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and aim to resolve it within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

Privacy Officer, Skale Capital Pty Ltd Level 1, 84 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Phone: 1300 031 099 Email: support@skalecapital.com.au

A paper copy of this policy is available free on request.

We update this policy from time to time. The current version is always available on our website.