Privacy Policy

Table of Contents

Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to SONTAL. This privacy statement provides information about the personal information that SONTAL collects and the ways in which SONTAL uses that personal information.

In compliance with The South African Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act) – POPIA

What is the AXCEL Privacy Statement?

This Statement sets out how your personal information will be used by AXCEL and applies to any information, including personal and special personal information, that you give to AXCEL, or which AXCEL may collect from third parties.

It is important that you read this Statement carefully before submitting any personal information to AXCEL.

By submitting any personal information to AXCEL you provide consent to the processing of your personal information as set out in this Statement.

The provisions of this Statement are subject to mandatory, unalterable provisions of Applicable Laws.

Please do not submit any personal information to AXCEL if you do not agree to any of the provisions of this Statement. If you do not consent to the provisions of this Statement, or parts of the Statement, AXCEL may not be able to provide its products and services to you.

Important Terms:

“Applicable Laws” means local, foreign and international laws, regulations, treaties and codes, for example, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001, the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 and the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.

“AXCEL” or “we” means AXCEL (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (Registration Number 2009/192296/23), including any of its subsidiaries.

“AXCEL Affiliate” means a particular entity within AXCEL.

“Client” or “you” means any prospective, new or existing client of any AXCEL Affiliate.

Can this Privacy Statement be amended?

We may amend this Statement from time to time for any of the following reasons:

to provide for the introduction of new systems, methods of operation, services, products, property offerings or facilities;

to reflect an actual or expected change in market conditions or general financial services or lending practices;

to comply with changes to any Applicable Laws;

to ensure that this Statement is clearer and more favourable to you;

to rectify any mistake that might be discovered from time to time; and/or

for any other reason which AXCEL, in its sole discretion, may deem reasonable or necessary.

Any such amendment will come into effect and become part of any agreement you have with AXCEL when notice is given to you of the change by publication on our website. It is your responsibility to check the website often.

How does AXCEL handle security and privacy on the website?

We endeavour to keep our website secure at all times. We use state of the art security protocols and encryption on our website and server. We do however advise you that we cannot guarantee the security of any information provided to us or by us through our website, email, internet or social media.

We cannot be held responsible for any loss or unauthorised use or interception of information transmitted via the internet which is beyond our control.

Third-party websites

Our website may contain links to other websites outside of the AXCEL Group. We are not responsible for the content, privacy or security of other websites.

Cookies

Cookies are information that is used to track visitor use of a website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. If you wish to restrict or block cookies, you can do this through your browser settings.

Social Plugins

We use social plugins of social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.

Please note that we have no influence on or control over the extent of the data retrieved by the social networks’ interfaces and we can accordingly not be held responsible or liable for any processing or use of personal information transmitted via these social plugins.

For information on the purpose and extent of the data retrieval by the social network concerned, and about the rights and settings possibilities for the protection of your private sphere, please refer to the data protection information provided by the social network in question.

What personal information does AXCEL collect, and how?

We may collect the following information about you:

Your name and surname, address, cellphone number and contact details.

For online payments, we use SSL secure encrypted payment gateways such as Peach Payments. These payment gateways are using the highest level of security and encryption and you can visit their Privacy Policy at the following link: Peach Paments Privacy Policy

Records of correspondence or enquiries from you or anyone acting on your behalf;

Details of transactions you carry out with us;

Your credit history, where you have applied for credit or where we have agreed to provide credit to you; and

Sensitive or special categories of personal information, including biometric information, such as images, fingerprints and voiceprints.

If you are under 18 please do not provide us with any personal information unless you have the permission of your parent or legal guardian to do so.

How does AXCEL collect information?

You may provide personal information to us either directly or indirectly, by completing an application for our products and services or requesting further information about our products and services, whether in writing, through our website, over the telephone, through any other means.

We may receive information about you:

When you contact us directly, either via our website, web chat service, our Customer Service teams, by email, telephone or via social media to make an enquiry or other request;

From third parties, such as credit bureaus, when we do credit checks or decide whether to enter into an agreement with you; or

Occasionally from other third parties who may lawfully pass your information on to us.

Telephone calls to us may be recorded and/or monitored for training and quality assessment purposes.

How do AXCEL process and store my information?

Is my information safe with AXCEL?

We continuously implement technical and organisational security measures in order to protect the data we hold against unauthorised access as well as accidental or wilful manipulation, loss or destruction.

It is also important that you take all necessary and appropriate steps to protect your personal information yourself (for example, by ensuring that all login details, including passwords and access codes are kept secure).

How is my personal information processed?

 We take the privacy and protection of your personal information very seriously and will only process your personal information in accordance with the Applicable Laws and this Statement.

Accordingly, AXCEL will comply with the relevant data privacy principles or conditions relating to the processing (including, but not limited to, the collection, handling, transfer, sharing, correction, storage, archiving and deletion) of your personal information set out in Applicable Laws.

AXCEL employees attend regular data protection training. Your personal information will only be processed for purposes set out in this Statement or if we are entitled to do so under Applicable Laws.

Can AXCEL retain my information?

We may retain your personal information indefinitely unless you object, in which case we will only retain it if we are permitted or required to do so in terms of Applicable Laws.

However, as a general rule, we will retain your information in accordance with retention periods set out in Applicable Laws, unless we need to retain it for longer for a lawful purpose (for example, for the purposes of complaints handling, legal processes and proceedings).

What rights do I have regarding my personal information?

You have the right to contact the relevant credit bureau(x), to have the credit record(s) disclosed and to correct any inaccurate information.

You have a right in certain circumstances to request the destruction or deletion of and, where applicable, to obtain restriction on the processing of personal information held about you. If you wish to exercise this right, please contact us using the contact details set out in our PAIA Manual.

You have a right to object on reasonable grounds to the processing of your personal information where we claim such processing is necessary to pursue our legitimate interests, your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party to which the information is supplied.

We may then stop such processing unless Applicable Laws provide for such processing.

Can information be shared with third parties?

Can AXCEL share my information?

 We may share your personal information with:

Other AXCEL entities, our agents and sub-contractors, third parties who process personal information on our behalf and AXCEL affiliates, in South Africa;

Our service providers and agents who perform services on our behalf;

Any person if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any Applicable Laws, or to protect the rights, property or safety of AXCEL, its clients or other third parties;

We may disclose your personal information to these third parties for any purpose permitted in terms of Applicable Laws, including to-

determine which products and services may be of interest to you and/or to send you information about such products and services unless you object or choose not to receive such communications;

comply with Applicable Laws requiring AXCEL and/or any third party to collect personal information;

detect and report fraud and criminal activities, to identify the proceeds of unlawful activities and to combat crime;

use for marketing purposes unless you object or choose not to receive such communications; and

make reports to any regulator or supervisory authority, if AXCEL is required to do so in terms of Applicable Laws.

We do not share your personal information with any third parties, except if:

we are legally permitted or obliged to provide such information for legal or regulatory purposes;

we are required to do so for purposes of existing or future legal proceedings;

we are selling one or more of our businesses to someone to whom we may transfer our rights under any agreement we have with you;

Necessary for purposes of preventing fraud, loss, bribery or corruption;

they perform services and process personal information on our behalf;

it is required in order to provide or manage any information, products and/or services to you;

needed to help us improve the quality of our products and services.

If you do not wish us to disclose this information to third parties, please contact us at the contact details set out herein. We may, however, not be able to provide products or services to you if such disclosure is necessary.

Can I share information with AXCEL on third Parties?

Where you provide us with the personal information of third parties you should take steps to inform the third party that you need to disclose their details to us and identify us.

We will process their personal information in accordance with this Statement. If you give us information on behalf of someone else, you confirm to us that you have their permission to do so and that they are aware of the contents of this Statement and do not have any objection to us processing their information in accordance with this Statement.

What is my personal information used for?

Subject to Applicable Laws, we may use your personal information for a variety of purposes, including:

Legal Contractual

Legal or contractual purposes;

To manage your credit agreement or other contractual arrangement or relationship;

To detect and prevent fraud and money laundering and/or in the interest of security and crime prevention;

To verify your identity;

To comply with applicable laws, including lawful requests for information received from local or foreign law enforcement, government and tax collection agencies;

Marketing & Data Analytics/Enrichment

Data analytics and/or enrichment;

To carry out analysis and customer profiling;

To identify other products and services which might be of interest to you;

To assess and deal with complaints and requests;

To conduct market research and provide you with information about AXCEL’s products or services from time to time via email, telephone or other means (for example, events).

Where you have unsubscribed from certain direct marketing communications, for the purposes of ensuring that we do not send such direct marketing to you again.

Financial

To help us recover debts;

To take credit decisions where you have applied for credit or where we have agreed to provide credit to you;

To request your consumer credit reports or those of any security provider from one or more credit reporting agency in connection with any agreement between you and an Axcel affiliate and where you direct us to do so, where applicable;

To use your credit score or other electronic data-check mechanisms when considering any credit application and when providing you with services and products, and verifying any information provided by you and making whatever enquiries we deem necessary from any source whatsoever to establish your creditworthiness;

To transmit to a registered credit bureau any information concerning your application for credit, our agreement with you, termination and non-compliance with the terms thereof, as well as information about your credit agreement;

Credit Application

In instances where you have applied for credit or where we have agreed to provide credit to you, we may conduct searches at credit bureaus and other third parties.

Details of our searches will be kept by the credit bureau and will be available to other businesses that conduct searches with that agency for the purposes of meeting our regulatory obligations, credit assessments, debt recovery, and management of your accounts, prevention of money laundering

and fraud and statistical analysis. In instances where you apply for credit, we will tell you, where required by Applicable Laws, if we make a decision about you relating to your credit scoring or eligibility for our products or services based solely on an automated decision-making process.

You will be given a reasonable opportunity if permitted by Applicable Laws or a code of conduct to make representations about a decision.

Operational & Customer Service

To obtain a single view of a customer for all of AXCEL;

To improve your customer experience;

To help us improve the quality of our products and services;

To provide you with the services, products or offerings you have requested, and to notify you about important changes to these services, products or offerings;

To comply with your instructions or requests;

For operational, marketing, auditing, legal and record-keeping requirements;

To transfer or process your personal information outside of the Republic of South Africa to such countries that may not offer the same level of data protection as the Republic of South Africa, including for cloud storage purposes and the use of any of our websites.

We will however only transfer your personal information across South African borders if the relevant situation requires trans-border processing and will do so only in accordance with Applicable Laws.

To record, access and/or monitor your telephone calls and electronic communications to/with AXCEL, including all forms of notifications, correspondence received by or sent from AXCEL (including its employees, agents or contractors) in order to accurately carry out your instructions and requests, to use as evidence and in the interests of crime prevention and to comply with Applicable Laws;

In circumstances where we wish to protect our legitimate interest, where:

we have exercised our right to terminate the agreement through a proper legal process as a result of default in respect of any of your obligations under an agreement; or

To disclose your personal information to third parties, including other AXCEL Entities, for reasons set out in this Statement or where it is not unlawful to do so;

To conduct surveys; and

To improve or evaluate the effectiveness of AXCEL’s business or products, services or offerings.

What should I do if my personal details change?

We strive to maintain the integrity and accuracy of your personal information at all times. You are responsible for informing us of any change in your details, such as a change of address. You have a right to ask us to correct any inaccuracies in the information we hold about you.

If your personal information changes at any time or our records appear to be incorrect, please inform us immediately so that we may update or correct our records accordingly. If you fail to keep your information updated, or if your information is incorrect, AXCEL may limit the products and services offered to you or elect not to provide any of these to you.

Can AXCEL contact me?

We (and these other parties) may contact you by post, telephone, e-mail, SMS and other electronic means, to inform you about services, products and offerings available from AXCEL, specific AXCEL Entities, the AXCEL Group, or selected third parties, which we believe may be of interest to you unless you have unsubscribed from receiving such communications. We will only send you marketing communications if we are entitled to do so under Applicable Laws.

Your participation is completely voluntary. You may unsubscribe or opt-out from receiving such communications from AXCEL Entities by accessing your online customer profile by making use of the “Unsubscribe” option available on the relevant communication or by contacting our Customer Contact Centre at any time.

You may also contact us utilising the contact details set out in this Statement if you have previously asked not to receive marketing communications from us but would now like to hear from us with news on AXCEL Group vehicles and other associated products and services. 

How do I contact AXCEL?

You can contact us through the following channels:

Email:  admin@Axcel.co.za

Telephone:  Customer Contact Centre at 012 941 8437; or

Information Officer: Johan Esterhuyse,

E-mail address: admin@axcel.co.za 

Our address: 494 William Nicol Street, Pretoria, 0181, Gauteng South Africa.

Contact Us: Send an e-mail

Should you believe that AXCEL has utilised your personal information contrary to Applicable Laws, you undertake to first attempt to resolve any concerns with AXCEL. If you are not satisfied with such a process, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator, using the contact details listed below:

E-Mail: inforeg@justice.gov.za

Can I request information that AXCEL has about me?

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (“PAIA”). Fees to obtain a copy or a description of personal information held about you are prescribed in terms of PAIA.

Confirmation of whether or not we hold personal information about you may be requested free of charge. If you would like to obtain a copy of your personal information held by AXCEL, please review our PAIA Manual.