Privacy statement

How may Southern Cross use information about you and your pet?

You authorise us to use information about you and your pet for the following purposes:

to consider your pet’s eligibility for cover under the policy;
to consider the specific terms applying to the policy (including any pre-existing conditions);
to administer the policy;
to consider whether any qualifying treatment is eligible for cover under the policy;
to confirm membership of Southern Cross Health Society in order to apply the relevant discount; and
to process, investigate and review any claims made and/or paid (including historical claims).

You also authorise us and other 'Southern Cross' branded businesses to use information about you and your pet for the following additional purposes:

to assist with the administration of any products you have with other 'Southern Cross' branded businesses;
to contact you from time to time, including within a reasonable time of your pet ceasing to be covered by the policy, with information about products and services relating to us, other ‘Southern Cross’ branded businesses, and our trusted business partners;
to prevent, detect and investigate any fraud including where in our reasonable opinion we suspect any fraud;
to conduct analysis and research in relation to the above purposes; and
where permitted or required by law

Who may Southern Cross collect information about you and your pet from?

You authorise us to collect information about you and your pet for the above purposes, directly from:

you (e.g. via the application form and claim form);
your vet;
a previous Southern Cross Pet Insurance (formerly known as Ellenco) policy (including previous application(s), certificate(s) of insurance and/or claims);
‘Southern Cross’ branded businesses and our trusted business partners; and
any other third party authorised by you.

You also authorise the disclosure of such information by such parties for any of the above purposes.

Please note that we generally record inbound and outbound telephone calls we have with you for operational and training purposes.

Who may Southern Cross disclose information about you and your pet to?

You authorise us to disclose information about you or your pet for the above purposes, directly to:

you;
your vet;
any third party authorised by you;
other ‘Southern Cross’ branded businesses and our trusted business partners (for example, suppliers of services such as mailing houses, research and insight agencies, and information technology); and
any other party in accordance with the law.

Is the information we hold about you and your pet secure?

We take all reasonable steps to make sure your information is kept safe from loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure and/or misuse, in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act.

How can you access and correct your information?

You are entitled to have access to and request correction of any of your personal information held by us. Please contact us on 0800 800 836.

We do our best to ensure that the information about you that we collect, store, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date. Prompt notification of any changes to your contact details will help us to do this. If we do not have your correct contact details we may not be able to provide you with important information about the policy.

From time to time Southern Cross or other 'Southern Cross' branded businesses may send you marketing and other information electronically such as by email or text message. If you have provided your email address or mobile phone number we take this as your implied consent to us doing this. If you wish to withdraw your consent at any time please contact us.

If you do not provide us with your information, what then?

If the information provided to us is not accurate or complete we may not be able to process the application or claim, or it may result in us not being able to provide your pet with cover until such information is provided. The consequences of providing incomplete, false or misleading information are set out in your policy document.

Need more information?

If you have any queries about the privacy of information held by us and/or our Privacy Statement, please contact us at [email protected]. Your information is collected and held by Southern Cross Medical Care Society, Level 1, Te Kupenga, 155 Fanshawe Street, Auckland City 1010.

Version updated October 2020