Privacy Policy

Stellar Loans (Pty) Ltd ("Stellar Loans", "we", "us") is a registered credit provider with the National Credit Regulator ("NCR"). This notice is given to you in terms of section 18 of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 ("POPIA") and explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what your rights are.

1. Who is the Responsible Party

Stellar Loans (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party in respect of your personal information. Our Information Officer can be reached at privacy@stellarloans.co.za.

2. Information we collect

• Identity information: full name, South African ID number, date of birth, gender.
• Contact information: cellphone number, email address, residential address.
• Employment and income: employer, net monthly income, pay frequency, salary date.
• Banking: bank name, account number, account type, recent bank statements.
• Verification documents: copy of your ID, a selfie holding your ID, payslip (optional).
• Application activity: status of your loan, communication history, internal notes.

3. Why we collect it

• To verify your identity and prevent fraud (NCA, FICA).
• To assess affordability and reach a credit decision (NCA s.81).
• To pay out approved loans and collect repayments.
• To meet our record-keeping obligations under the NCA, POPIA and FICA.
• To respond to your queries and complaints.

4. Who we share it with

• Registered credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, XDS, Compuscan) for affordability and reporting.
• Your bank and our payment partners (e.g. NewPay) to disburse funds and collect instalments.
• Regulators including the NCR, the Information Regulator, and the Financial Intelligence Centre on lawful request.
• Cloud infrastructure providers (e.g. Supabase / Amazon Web Services) used to host this platform.

Cross-border transfer (POPIA s.72): Some of our infrastructure providers process data outside South Africa (typically in the EU or United States). We rely on providers that contractually commit to a level of protection at least equivalent to POPIA.

5. How long we keep it

We retain credit-application records for at least 3 years from the date of the last transaction or credit decision, as required by the NCA and FICA. After that, records are securely deleted unless we are required by law to keep them longer.

6. How we protect it

Personal information is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. Access is restricted to authorised staff on a least-privilege basis and audited via row- level security on the database. Bank statements and ID documents are stored in private buckets that require signed, short-lived links to access.

7. Your rights (POPIA s.23–25)

• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Request that we correct or update inaccurate information.
• Request that we delete information we no longer need to keep.
• Object to direct marketing at any time.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za).

8. Cookies

We use a small number of strictly necessary cookies — for sign-in sessions and to remember your interface preferences. We do not use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.

9. Contact us

Email: privacy@stellarloans.co.za
Or see our complaints procedure.