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Privacy Policy

TRANSUNION CREDIT BUREAU (PTY) LIMITED ("TRANSUNION")

GENERAL

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to TransUnion's Terms and Conditions as reflected on this website.

TransUnion strives to ensure that your privacy is protected. This Privacy Policy therefore regulates the manner in which we collect, use, disclose, transfer and store your personal information. We also comply with the principles, outlined in Sections 50 and 51 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act ('ECT Act'), which govern your right to having your personal information kept private, which principles are covered in this Privacy Policy.

By using TransUnion's applications and products, you signify your agreement to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Should we elect to amend this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised policy here, along with the date of revision. Any changes will apply only from date of the revision.

You will be asked to provide your personal information when registering with a TransUnion website or purchasing your Consumer Credit & Alerts Report, Car Value Report or Business Credit Report. In this regard, we may collect a variety of information, including your:

  • full name,
  • telephone number,
  • email address,
  • SA ID number,
  • address details, and
  • security questions relating to information on your credit report and/or payment profile

For purposes of this Privacy Policy "Consumer Credit Information" means consumer credit information as defined in the National Credit Act ("NCA").

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information is data that can be used to uniquely identify or contact a single person, and includes Consumer Credit Information. TransUnion compiles your personal information contained in your credit report from applications you have made to for example: credit providers or services providers for credit or services.

The following personal information is included in your credit report:

  • Identifying information such as: name, surname, ID number, physical and postal address, contact numbers, marital status, spouse details, and current employer and occupation;
  • Account History / Payment Profile: Your Account History / Payment Profile is a 24 month record of all your accounts with credit / service providers and a history of how you pay these accounts on a monthly basis;
  • Enquiries: A list of credit / service providers authorized by yourself or permitted in terms of the NCA to receive your credit report;
  • Public Records: Information that is publically available as permitted by law such as judgments, sequestrations, and rehabilitation;
  • Default Data: A Default is recorded on your credit profile when you fail to make the payment of money owed. Default Data is submitted by the credit / service providers to the credit bureaus.

Information of the following nature is not included in your credit report:

  • Race, creed, colour, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or political affiliations;
  • Your medical history or status;
  • Major purchases paid in full with cash or cheques.

TransUnion collects your information from recognized data sources in terms of the NCA, including the following information sources:

  • Reports about you that are provided to TransUnion by service providers that are responsible for obtaining your consent to provide the information to us;
  • Account History / Payment Profile information from credit / service providers;
  • Payments made by a consumer in respect of a debt, where the debt has been ceded or sold by the credit / service provider to another party;
  • Directly from you in response to any dealings we have with you;
  • Other registered credit bureaus;
  • Educational institutions;
  • Public record, i.e. the courts.

TransUnion limits the collection, use and disclosure of personal information to include only what is permitted and prescribed in terms of the NCA or in instances where consumers have consented to such collection, use and disclosure, and which is necessary to our clients for credit / service application to enable them to make meaningful and accurate decisions. Furthermore, TransUnion takes all reasonable steps to ensure that all records of Consumer Information are submitted, processed and maintained in accordance with the standards required in terms of the NCA, including by placing stringent requirements in this regards on its "data suppliers" (including credit providers and other recognized data sources in terms of the NCA).

Obtaining Consent

In the majority of instances, TransUnion is not capable of being provided with direct consent by consumers. Such consent is directly provided by consumers to TransUnion's data suppliers. TransUnion however takes all reasonable measures to ensure that all data suppliers are contractually bound to ensure that all legally required consents are obtained prior to accessing any Consumer Credit Information contained in our reports.

NON-PERSONAL INFORMATION

Non-personal information is data that does not permit direct association with any specific individual. We may collect this information in a number of ways. Should we elect to combine non-personal information with personal information; the combined information will be treated as personal information for as long as it remains combined.

HOW AND WHY WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

The following are reasons why we would collect your personal and non-personal information:

  • to identify you;
  • where applicable, to create a user account (login user name and password);
  • to fulfil your requests for any information which you're entitled to request and access;
  • to provide service and support;
  • to help us develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising;
  • to send important communications regarding any purchases or changes to the terms and conditions and or to advise you of any other important circumstances;
  • for internal purposes such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve TransUnion products, services, and customer communications; and
  • for purposes of any TransUnion promotional competitions.

Please note that we may also use (but will not disclose) your personal information to promote and market additional products, services and special offers from us and/or our affiliates that may be of interest to you. You may opt-out from receiving such communications, at any time. If you wish to opt-out, please contact us at webmaster@transunion.co.za

HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

Confidentiality of your personal information is important to us. We will not sell, rent or lease your personal information to others. Unless we have your permission, we will not use or share your personal information in ways unrelated to the ones described in this Privacy Policy or disclosed to you when you provide us with your data.

We remind you that you are solely responsible for ensuring the security and secrecy of your user name and password that may be provided to you for any TransUnion account. TransUnion cannot bear any responsibility for your failure to ensure this. You therefore indemnify TransUnion for any losses that may result from your failure to ensure the security and secrecy of your user name and password.

We may only access and/or disclose your personal information without your consent in exceptional circumstances. These include circumstances where we believe such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on us; (b) comply with requests for information from police or government authorities, (c) protect and defend our rights or property (including the enforcement of our agreements); (d) protect the public interest; (d) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our employees or members of the public; (e) where applicable, with your implied consent ; and (f) to the extent permitted or required in terms of the NCA and other relevant national legislation.

ENSURING THAT YOUR INFORMATION REMAINS ACCURATE

We aim to ensure that your personal information is accurately recorded. To be able to achieve this we adhere to processes that help ensure and maintain data accuracy. We provide individuals with reasonable access to review and correct their personal information, as detailed in our website.

When gathering your personal information TransUnion works with our data suppliers to increase their awareness of the importance of providing only personal information that is accurate, complete, and up to date. TransUnion however, cannot alter the information reported by such data suppliers, unless the information is determined to be wrong, incomplete or inaccurate. If you do not agree with the accuracy of information TransUnion has on file, we have procedures in place to ensure that such information is verified, and where appropriate, amended or corrected. We however rely on you to bring any such information challenges to our attention.

To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access to or making alterations to data we maintain. If you wish to contact us, access, update, or correct your personal information please contact us at any time or write us to:

  • by e-mail: webmaster@transunion.co.za
  •  or to the following postal address:
    • TransUnion PO Box 4522 Johannesburg 2000
  • or telephonically: TransUnion Contact Centre: 0861 886 466

When you contact us please let us know your name, address, any email address you have provided on our website(s) and a description of the circumstances under which you provided the data. We will make reasonable efforts to incorporate as soon as practicable the changes in personal information that we maintain.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 18 and our websites do not target children under 18. We encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children's online activities and interests.

SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

We have and shall continue to use our best endeavours to ensure that your personal information remains secure. Furthermore, your personal information is only accessible to those TransUnion employee members/agents/contractors for business purposes and on a strictly need to know basis.

TransUnion has adopted many security measures aimed at securing your personal information. These include the use firewall technology to protect its data from would be intruders and has numerous processes in place to secure our information such as passwords and security codes, encryption of data, antivirus software and physical security measures. Managerial procedures and a security department are in place to safeguard our information.

RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION

We retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected and to comply with applicable laws and your consent to such purpose(s) remains valid after termination of our relationship with you. Furthermore, we retains your Consumer Credit Information in our credit information database in accordance with the data retention periods prescribed by the NCA.

COOKIES

Cookies are small pieces of data that may allow the TransUnion web server to recognise you. Cookies are issued by a specific web server, stored in your web browser and can only be read by the issuing server. TransUnion may use cookies to save your e-mail and username so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit our site. We may also use cookies to customize your preference settings for future return visits which also facilitate a speedy service to you. Should cookies be used by TransUnion, at no point will any of your personal information be stored in a cookie.

THIRD PARTY SITES

Some pages on our websites may contain links to third-party websites. We do not endorse and have no control over the privacy practices or content of such websites. We recommend you carefully read the privacy policies of each site you visit.

ONLINE ADVERTISING

TransUnion engages third parties that help it deliver its banner advertisements and other online communications. The third parties may collect and use information about TransUnion’s customers to help us understand the offers, promotions, and types of advertising that are most appealing to its customers. The personal information they collect is aggregated and cannot be linked to a person. If you do not wish your personal information to be used in this way, please notify us.

  • Third party vendors, including Google and DoubleClick, show TransUnion's ads on sites on the internet.
  • Third party vendors, including Google and DoubleClick, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to TransUnion's website. o Users may opt out of Google and DoubleClick¹s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page or by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page.

COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

Our compliance with this Privacy Policy will be monitored on a regular basis. Should you have any queries with our Privacy Policy or the manner in which your personal information is treated, we encourage you to direct any such queries or concerns to TransUnion by contacting us at the following email address webmaster@transunion.co.za or TUCompliance@TransUnion.co.za. We will ensure you are contacted without delay in an effort to respond to your queries and/or attempt to resolve your concerns in accordance with the principles embodied in this Privacy Policy.

A WORD OF CAUTION

Identity theft is one of South Africa's fastest growing crimes and one that can result in significant damage to an individual's credit report. There are a number of ways that you could fall victim to this crime, including "phishing" (seemingly genuine but forged e-mails from a seemingly reputable company that ask you to provide them with personal information in a linked website) and "garbage sifters" (individuals who sort through your rubbish looking for bank statements, invoices, etc. that reveal your personal information. The best way to avoid becoming a victim is to be alert and aware of suspicious activities and modus operandi used by potential fraudsters.

CONTACTING TRANSUNION

Consumers' are welcome to contact TransUnion should they require more information or have any questions. We can be contacted using the details indicated in this Privacy Policy above.

Last revised 24 June 2014
TransUnion