Privacy Policy
Clean Credit Life (“we”, “us”) takes your privacy seriously. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and how you can exercise your rights under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). It applies to this website, our client portal, our email, WhatsApp and telephone communication with you, and our services.
1. Who is responsible
Clean Credit Life is the “responsible party” (the party that decides why and how your personal information is processed) under POPIA.
Address: 505 Renaissance Centre, 16-20 New South Road, Gandhi Square, Johannesburg
Telephone and WhatsApp: 060 017 1565
Email: info@cleancreditlife.co.za
Information Officer: the head of Clean Credit Life, contactable through the email address above (mark your message “Information Officer”).
2. Information we collect
When you make an enquiry on our website
Your name, mobile number, email address (optional), province, preferred way to be contacted, the service you are interested in, a few answers about your situation (for example the type of credit problem and how urgently you need help), and your consent. For security we also record the technical details of the request, such as your IP address and the page you came from, and any campaign information in the link you used.
When you become a client
Identity and contact details (including your South African ID number or passport number, date of birth, physical and postal address), employment and income details where relevant to your matter, credit reports and credit information (including listings, judgments, defaults, accounts and balances), correspondence with credit providers, bureaus, courts and other parties, the documents you upload to the client portal (for example identity documents, proof of address and statements), signed consents and powers of attorney, invoices and payment records, and records of our communication with you (emails, WhatsApp messages, and notes of calls).
When you use our portal and systems
Login details, security and activity logs (for example when you signed in and what you uploaded), and the device and browser information your browser sends automatically.
We collect information directly from you and, with your written consent or instruction, from credit bureaus, credit providers, courts and other sources relevant to your matter. We do not collect information about children, and we do not knowingly collect more than we need to do the work you ask for.
3. Why we use it
| Purpose | Legal basis under POPIA |
|---|---|
| To respond to your enquiry, contact you, and assess how we can help | Your consent, and steps you ask us to take before entering into an agreement |
| To deliver the services you engage us for: reviewing your credit position, preparing disputes, applications and correspondence, and dealing with bureaus, creditors and other parties on your instruction | Performance of our agreement with you, and your consent or instruction |
| To verify your identity and keep your information accurate | Our legitimate interests and yours, and our agreement with you |
| To invoice you, receive payment and keep financial records | Performance of our agreement, and legal obligations (including tax and accounting law) |
| To protect our website and systems, prevent fraud and abuse, and keep audit records | Our legitimate interests |
| To comply with the law and respond to lawful requests from courts, regulators and authorities | Legal obligation |
| To improve our service and training, using de-identified or aggregated information wherever possible | Our legitimate interests |
We use your information only for the purposes above, or for a closely related purpose. We do not sell your personal information, and we make no decisions about you by purely automated means.
4. Who we share it with
We share personal information only where needed and only with:
- Credit bureaus, credit providers, creditors, courts, attorneys and other parties relevant to your matter, when you instruct or authorise us to act.
- Service providers (“operators”) who process information for us under written agreements that require them to keep it confidential and secure: cloud hosting and database providers (Vercel and Neon), email delivery and mailbox hosting providers (including Resend and our mail host), Cloudflare (website security and bot protection), Meta (WhatsApp Business messaging, once you message us or we message you on WhatsApp), and our card payment provider (Yoco) where you pay by card.
- Professional advisers such as auditors, accountants and legal advisers, under duties of confidentiality.
- Regulators, law enforcement and courts where the law requires or permits it.
Our team members can only access client information that they need for their role, and every access is logged.
5. Transfers outside South Africa
Some of our providers store or process information outside South Africa, mainly in the European Union (our database and hosting run in Frankfurt, Germany) and the United States. We transfer information abroad only where the recipient is subject to law, binding rules or a contract that provides a level of protection substantially similar to POPIA, or where you consent or the transfer is necessary to perform our agreement with you, as POPIA section 72 requires.
6. How long we keep it
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, or as the law requires.
- Website enquiries that do not become a client matter: up to 12 months, then deleted or anonymised.
- Client records and documents: for the duration of our relationship and then for five years after it ends, which covers our tax and accounting record-keeping duties and the period in which disputes can arise, unless a longer period is required by law or you ask us to delete earlier information we are not obliged to keep.
- Messages, audit and security logs: up to 24 months, unless they form part of a client record.
When the retention period ends we securely delete or irreversibly de-identify the information.
7. How we protect it
We take appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational measures to prevent loss, damage, unauthorised access and unlawful processing of your information. These include encrypted connections (HTTPS) to our website and portal, access limited by role and recorded in an audit trail, protection against automated abuse, separate secure storage of documents, and agreements with our providers. Our portal does not ask you to send identity documents or bank statements by email: please upload them through the secure portal.
No system is perfectly secure. If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will notify the Information Regulator and you as soon as reasonably possible, as POPIA section 22 requires.
8. Your rights
Under POPIA you may, free of charge unless the law allows a fee for access to records:
- ask us to confirm whether we hold personal information about you and to give you a copy of it;
- ask us to correct or delete personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained;
- object, on reasonable grounds, to our processing of your information (and object at any time to direct marketing);
- withdraw your consent where we rely on it (this does not affect processing already done, and may mean we can no longer provide a service that needs that information);
- complain to the Information Regulator (see section 13).
To use these rights email info@cleancreditlife.co.za with the subject “Privacy request”. We may ask you to verify your identity first, to protect your information, and we aim to respond within 30 days. You can also request access to records under the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA) in the same way.
9. Marketing and communication
We use the contact details you give us to respond to your enquiry and to deliver our service, including by phone, WhatsApp and email, using the way you tell us you prefer. We send you marketing messages only if you have given consent or the law otherwise allows it, and every marketing message will let you opt out. WhatsApp messages: reply STOP at any time to stop non-essential messages.
10. Cookies and similar technology
Our website currently uses only what it needs to work and to keep it secure: an essential bot-protection check by Cloudflare when you submit a form, and fonts loaded from Google Fonts, which means your IP address is shared with Google when a page loads. The client portal uses essential session cookies to keep you signed in. We do not currently use advertising or analytics cookies. If that changes we will update this policy and ask for your consent where it is required.
11. Children
Our services are for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information of children.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The version number and effective date at the top show when it last changed. If we make a material change we will tell clients through the portal or by email.
13. Contact and complaints
Questions or concerns: info@cleancreditlife.co.za or 060 017 1565. We would like the chance to resolve any concern first, but you may complain to the regulator at any time:
The Information Regulator (South Africa)
Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Telephone: 010 023 5200 · Toll free: 0800 017 160
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Website: inforegulator.org.za
See also our Terms and Conditions.