Privacy Policy

Effective date: 1 June 2026

Ubuntu Finance (Pty) Ltd ("Ubuntu Fin", "we", "us") is a registered credit provider (NCRCP19123). This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), the National Credit Act (NCA) and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA). It applies to our mobile app, our WhatsApp service and this website.

1. Responsible party

Ubuntu Finance (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party under POPIA. Our Information Officer can be reached at support@ubuntufin.co.za or WhatsApp +27 64 851 5983.

2. Information we collect

Identity: first name, surname, SA ID number, DOB, nationality.
Contact: WhatsApp number, mobile number, email, residential address.
Financial: bank account number and branch, payslip data, 3-month bank statement, salary and payday.
Employment: employer name, job title, monthly net income.
Biometric: selfie and ID document image processed by SmileID for FICA-compliant biometric KYC.
Device & logs: IP, device model, OS, app version, interactions (fraud detection).

3. Lawful basis (POPIA Section 11)

Contractual necessity, compliance with legal obligations (NCA / FICA), your consent (e.g. bureau check), and our legitimate interest in fraud prevention.

4. Sharing

We do not sell your data. We share only with:

Card and payment processors (Paymentology, PayCentral, Blue Label).
Identity verification — SmileID, for FICA KYC.
Credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, XDS, Compuscan) — NCA Section 70.
Regulators — only where required by law.
Cloud infrastructure — Google Cloud and Cloudflare, under written DPAs.

5. Credit checks & automated decisions (POPIA Section 71)

When you apply for a salary advance or loan we check your credit record with registered credit bureaus and may share your repayment behaviour with them, as the NCA requires. We use automated scoring (affordability and risk) to decide quickly. You have the right to ask for the reasons behind an automated decision and to request that a person review it — contact us at support@ubuntufin.co.za.

6. Direct marketing & your choice (POPIA Section 69)

We only send you marketing about our own products, and only by channels you have agreed to. Every message includes a way to opt out, and you can stop marketing at any time by replying STOP on WhatsApp or emailing us. Opting out of marketing does not stop essential service messages (e.g. loan statements, security alerts).

7. International transfers (POPIA Section 72)

Some processors (Google Cloud, Cloudflare) operate outside South Africa. Transfers comply with POPIA Section 72 via binding contractual clauses or providers offering adequate protection.

8. Retention

FICA records: 5 years from account closure (FIC Act §42).
Loan agreements: 5 years from final repayment (NCA + Tax Administration Act).
Device and log data: 13 months.

9. Security

TLS in transit, AES-256 at rest.
Cloudflare Zero Trust controls on admin tooling.
Documents stored in Cloudflare R2 with presigned-URL access only.
All employee access to customer data is logged and reviewed.

10. Children

Our products are for people 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we learn we have, we delete it.

11. Cookies & website tracking

This website uses only the cookies needed to serve the page securely (provided via Cloudflare). We do not run advertising or cross-site tracking cookies here. Our mobile app uses device identifiers solely for security and fraud detection, as described above.

12. Your rights

Under POPIA you can access, correct, object to processing, or request deletion of your information (subject to legal retention). To exercise any right, contact our Information Officer at support@ubuntufin.co.za.

13. Complaints

Tell us first — email support@ubuntufin.co.za and we will respond within a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) for privacy matters, or the National Credit Regulator for credit matters.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date above shows when it last changed; material changes will be notified in the app.

15. Contact

support@ubuntufin.co.za · WhatsApp +27 64 851 5983 — Ubuntu Finance (Pty) Ltd, South Africa.