§ Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated · 27 April 2026

1. Who we are

Hardship Hub Pty Ltd (ACN 695 494 181) (“Hardship Hub”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is an APP entity bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use, disclose, and protect your personal information, and how you can access or correct it.

Hardship Hub provides credit assistance as an authorised representative of Revive Financial Pty Ltd (Australian Credit Licence number to be confirmed) under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth). Any contractual agreements that bind a licensed credit provider (for example, a settlement agreement reached with one of your creditors) are entered into by Revive Financial Pty Ltd as the licensee; Hardship Hub operates the platform and provides the consumer-facing service. Personal information you give us is held by Hardship Hub for the purposes set out in this policy and may be shared with Revive Financial in its capacity as our licensee. See our Financial Services Guide for a fuller description of this relationship.

By using our platform and services, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this policy.

2. Anonymity and pseudonymity (APP 2)

You can ask general questions about our service anonymously or under a pseudonym. However, because we negotiate with creditors on your behalf and distribute money in your name, we cannot establish a Temporary Hardship Plan for you without verifying your identity and collecting the information set out in section 3.

3. Information we collect

3.1 Information you provide directly

  • Full name, date of birth, and contact details (email, phone, address).
  • Identity verification documents (driver’s licence, passport, or Medicare card).
  • Financial information including income, expenses, debts, and creditor details.
  • Employment details and information about your financial circumstances.
  • Information about your hardship event — which may include health, relationship, or family-violence information (“sensitive information” under APP 3.3). We only collect this where you provide it with your consent and only for the purpose of sizing and managing your plan.
  • Communications you send to us, including contact form submissions and support enquiries.

3.2 Information collected automatically

  • Device and browser information (type, operating system).
  • IP address and approximate geographic location (from server request logs).
  • Usage data including pages visited, time spent, and navigation patterns.
  • Cookies and similar browser-storage mechanisms — described in our Cookies Policy.

3.3 Children

Our service is for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and our Terms of Service require applicants to be 18 or older.

4. Why we collect it and how we use it (APP 6)

We use your personal information to:

  • Create, manage, and administer your Temporary Hardship Plan.
  • Communicate with your creditors on your behalf regarding hardship arrangements.
  • Verify your identity and assess your financial situation.
  • Process and distribute payments to your creditors.
  • Communicate with you about your plan, including updates and notifications.
  • Respond to your enquiries and provide customer support.
  • Improve our platform, services, and user experience.
  • Comply with legal, regulatory, and record-keeping obligations.

5. Disclosure of your information

We disclose personal information to:

  • Your creditors, as necessary to negotiate and manage your plan.
  • Service providers that help us run the platform:
    • Stripe (card / direct-debit processor for the application fee). Processed in the United States and Ireland.
    • Zai (direct-debit collection and creditor distribution for your monthly plan payments). Processed in Australia.
    • Our identity-verification provider (processed in Australia).
    • Our hosting, email, and cloud infrastructure providers.
  • Financial counsellors or advisors, with your consent.
  • External dispute resolution bodies (such as AFCA) if required to resolve a complaint.
  • Government agencies or regulators where required by law.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We do not disclose your information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

5.1 Overseas disclosure (APP 8)

Some of the service providers listed above process personal information outside Australia. Specifically, Stripe processes payment information in the United States and Ireland. Before disclosing your information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure the overseas recipient handles it consistently with the APPs — typically through written contractual obligations. By applying for a Temporary Hardship Plan, you consent to this disclosure.

5.2 Credit reporting

Hardship Hub is not a credit provider or credit reporting body. We do not disclose your personal information to credit reporting bodies, and we do not obtain a credit file or credit score about you as part of your application. Your creditors may continue to report your accounts to credit reporting bodies under Part IIIA of the Privacy Act in the ordinary course of their business — entering a Temporary Hardship Plan does not itself change that.

6. Data security

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information. Our measures include:

  • Encryption of data in transit (TLS) and at rest (AES-256).
  • Secure access controls and authentication for all systems.
  • Regular security assessments and vulnerability testing.
  • Staff training on data protection and privacy obligations.
  • Australian-hosted primary data storage using reputable cloud infrastructure.

6.1 Identity documents

Copies of identity documents (driver’s licence, passport, Medicare card) are processed by our identity-verification provider. Once your identity is verified, we retain the verification result but delete the underlying document image from our systems.

6.2 Notifiable data breaches

If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act.

7. Data retention (APP 11)

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to satisfy our legal and regulatory obligations. In most cases we retain client records for a minimum of seven (7) years after the end of our relationship, reflecting obligations under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, ASIC Regulatory Guide 271 (record-keeping of complaints), and tax and corporations legislation. When information is no longer required, we take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify it.

8. Marketing communications

We only send marketing communications where we have your consent and in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). Every marketing email contains an unsubscribe link that works for at least 30 days after the email is sent, and will be processed within 5 business days. Transactional messages about your plan (payment confirmations, proposal updates, account notices) are not marketing and will continue to be sent while your plan is active.

9. Your rights: access and correction (APP 12 + 13)

You have the right to:

  • Accessthe personal information we hold about you — free of charge.
  • Correct any inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant, or misleading information.
  • Request deletion of your personal information, subject to our legal retention obligations (section 7).
  • Opt out of marketing at any time (section 8).
  • Make a privacy complaint (section 11).

To make a request, email privacy@hardshiphub.com.au. We may need to verify your identity before releasing information or making changes. We will respond to an access request within 30 days, and a correction request as soon as reasonably practicable. If we decline a request, we will tell you why in writing and explain your right to complain.

10. Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar browser-storage mechanisms. The specifics — names, purposes, how to change your preferences — are set out in our Cookies Policy.

11. Privacy complaints

If you believe we have breached the APPs or mishandled your personal information, please tell us. The fastest route is the process set out on our Feedback & Complaintspage — we acknowledge complaints within 1 business day and respond in writing within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can escalate to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au or 1300 363 992. For complaints about the financial-service aspects of our product, you can also escalate free of charge to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) — see the Feedback & Complaints page for full AFCA contact details.

12. Third-party links

Our platform may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy with a revised “Last updated” date and, for material changes, provide direct notice to active customers.

14. Contact

  • Privacy enquiries and requests: privacy@hardshiphub.com.au
  • Phone: 1300 000 000
  • Post: Privacy Officer, Hardship Hub Pty Ltd, [registered office address]