Privacy Policy

1. Two distinct categories of data

Most directories conflate "data we collect from visitors" with "data we publish about advisers." We do not. Read this section first — the rules differ.

1a. Adviser profile data (sourced from FSPR — public)

Names, FSP numbers, business addresses, registration dates, dispute resolution schemes, license types, and parent FAP relationships shown on profile pages are sourced from the public Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR), maintained by the New Zealand Companies Office. We do not collect this information from advisers directly. Each profile shows a "synced YYYY-MM-DD" footer indicating when it was last refreshed. To correct inaccuracies in your record, the FSPR is the authoritative source — see also section 6.

1b. Visitor data (collected from you)

When you submit the matching form, contact us, or browse the site, we collect the data described in section 2. The remainder of this policy applies to that data.

2. Information we collect from you

From the matching form (/match) and contact forms

• Contact: name, email, phone (if you provide one).
• Need: the type of advice you are seeking and any free-text context you supply.
• Location: the city or region you nominate.

We do not ask for, and do not want, financial-account numbers, IRD numbers, or any payment details.

Automatic technical data

• IP address (used transiently to detect abuse and for hosting logs).
• Browser, device, and OS strings sent in standard request headers.
• Referrer URL and the page path you visited.
• Cookies — see section 7.

3. How we use the information

• Routing leads to a Financial Advice Provider (FAP). Submissions to /match are routed to the FAP company associated with up to five FSPR-registered advisers who match your stated need and city. We send the lead to the FAP, not to every individual adviser.
• Replying to enquiries sent through contact forms.
• Operating the site — generating sitemaps, building cached pages, monitoring uptime.
• Detecting abuse — rate-limiting and rejecting spam or scripted submissions.

4. Who we share information with

4a. Financial Advice Providers

When you submit the matching form, we forward your contact details and stated need to the FAP entity that supervises matched advisers. We do not share the same submission with multiple FAPs unless the matched advisers belong to different FAPs and you indicated openness to multiple introductions.

4b. Service providers we rely on

• Supabase (database hosting; data stored in the region configured for our project).
• Netlify (web hosting and form processing; servers in the United States).
• Google Maps Platform (where map widgets render on the site).

Each is bound by their own data-processing terms. Where data is stored outside New Zealand we rely on the receiving entity's compliance with a comparable privacy regime, consistent with section 22 of the Privacy Act 2020.

4c. Legal requirements

We will disclose information if required by New Zealand law, a court order, or to protect rights and safety.

4d. We do not

• Sell your data.
• Share your matching submission with anyone other than the matched FAP.
• Send you marketing emails — we operate no newsletter list at present.

5. Data retention

• Match submissions: retained for 24 months in our leads table for service-quality and dispute-resolution purposes, then deleted. You may request earlier deletion (see section 6).
• Contact-form submissions: retained for as long as the conversation reasonably requires plus 12 months.
• Hosting and access logs: retained per our hosting provider's defaults (typically 30 days).
• Adviser profile data: not subject to retention by us — it is a daily-synced view of the public FSPR.

6. Your rights under the Privacy Act 2020

You have the right to:

• Access: request a copy of any personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate. For factual errors in an adviser's profile, also use our report an issue form — we will route the change to the FSPR if it is theirs to correct.
• Deletion: request deletion of personal information about you (we may retain some records where law requires).
• Complain to the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner if we cannot resolve a concern.

Email hello@financeadvisers.co.nz with the subject line "Privacy request". We aim to respond within 20 working days.

7. Cookies and tracking

We use a minimal set of cookies. Some are essential (e.g. preventing duplicate form submissions, remembering your consent choice). With your consent we may also use cookies to understand how the site is used so we can improve it.

The first time you visit, you'll see a banner asking you to choose Essentials only or Accept all. Your choice is stored locally as fa_consent and persists across visits. To change it, clear the value via your browser's site-data settings and reload the page. We do not currently use third-party analytics or advertising cookies; if that changes, we will update this page and re-prompt for consent.

8. Third-party links

Profile pages link out to advisers' own websites, the FSPR, Google Maps, and similar resources. Those sites have their own privacy policies — we are not responsible for them.

9. Children

The service is not intended for under-18s. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If we become aware that we have, we will delete it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The "Last updated" date at the top of the page reflects the most recent change. For material changes we will display a notice on the homepage for at least 14 days.

11. Contact

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, email hello@financeadvisers.co.nz with the subject line "Privacy request".