Personal Loan Guide · Last updated: 9 October 2026
Personal Loan Guide is an educational app. It explains how a short-term personal loan works in South Africa and gives you a checklist to work through before you apply. We are not a lender. We do not lend money, do not take loan applications, do not broker credit, and do not connect you with lenders.
This policy sets out what the app collects, what it does not, and who else is involved. It is written to meet the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
The app has no account and no sign-up. The only things it remembers are stored in the app's own storage on your phone, and we have no way to read them:
Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage in Android Settings, deletes all of it permanently.
The figures shown in the app are fixed illustrative examples built into it. You are never asked to enter your own.
The guide, the explainer and the checklist all work offline. The app also uses Google Firebase for the services below, which process technical data only and are governed by Firebase's privacy documentation and Google's Privacy Policy.
| Service | What it processes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Firebase Analytics | Usage events (screens opened, article opened, checklist step ticked), device model, OS version, country, and a resettable advertising ID | To see which parts of the guidance people actually use |
| Firebase Remote Config | Fetches configuration; sends the app version and country | To update content without shipping an app update |
| Firebase Cloud Messaging | A device notification token | To deliver notifications, if you allow them |
| Cloud Firestore | Reads public content only; nothing about you is written | To update articles without an app update |
Checklist ticks and reading progress are not sent to these services. Analytics records that a step was completed, identified by the step's own name — never anything about your finances.
Notifications are optional. Android asks for your permission and you can refuse or revoke it at any time in system settings. Promotional notifications have a separate switch inside the app, under Settings → Notifications; turning it off unsubscribes the device from those messages.
Firebase Analytics may use Android's advertising ID, for analytics only. We run no ads in the app and we do not sell or share your data with advertising networks or data brokers. You can reset or delete the advertising ID in Android Settings → Privacy → Ads.
The app is not directed at children and is not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from children.
Because your progress never leaves the device, you control it directly: clear the ticks in the app, clear the app's storage, or uninstall it.
For the technical analytics data held by Firebase you may, by writing to the address below:
We answer within 30 days. If you are not satisfied you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa), inforegulator.org.za.
Firebase processes the technical data described above on Google servers outside South Africa. POPIA permits this where the receiving country or the recipient provides comparable protection; Google's data processing terms provide it.
If this policy changes, the new version appears on this page with a new "last updated" date.
Personal Loan Guide is an educational tool. It is not a registered credit provider, it does not grant credit, does not guarantee approval, and does not provide personalised financial advice. Every figure it shows is a fixed illustrative example; the real terms of any loan are set by the credit provider in your pre-agreement quotation and contract.