Purchet

1. Who We Are

Purchet runs an online platform for student accommodation in Ghana. For the personal information described here, Purchet decides why and how it is used.

This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and what you can do about it. It applies to students, hosts, members of a host's team and visitors.

2. What We Collect

What you give us

Account details: your name, email address, phone number, password (stored only as a one-way hash), gender, and profile photograph if you add one.
For students: your university, course and year, student number, and an emergency contact.
Identity verification: photographs of an identity document, and for hosts, documents showing the right to let a property.
For hosts: your organisation's name, address, contact details, tax identification number if you give one, and the payout account your earnings go to.
Listings: descriptions, photographs, prices, rules and location.
Bookings: the room, dates, the tenancy agreement you accepted, and the status of the booking.
Messages you send through Purchet, and any attachments.
Reviews, reports, damage reports, maintenance requests and support tickets, with any photographs you attach.

Payments

Payments are handled by Paystack. We do not receive or store your full card number, its security code or your mobile money PIN.
We keep a record of each payment: the amount, date, status and Paystack's reference. If you save a payment method, we keep Paystack's reference to it, its type and its last four digits.
For hosts, we keep the payout account's name, type and last four digits.

What is recorded automatically

Sign-in records: the time, the device and browser, and the IP address, so you can see where your account is signed in and so we can detect misuse.
Security settings: whether two-factor authentication is on, passkeys you have registered, and Google sign-in if you linked it. Two-factor secrets are stored encrypted.
An audit trail of important actions on your account, such as sign-ins, changes to roles and suspensions.
Listings you have viewed or saved.
Technical logs and error reports needed to run and fix the service.
With your consent only: analytics about how you use the site. See the Cookie Policy.

3. Why We Use It

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it to make automated decisions that have legal effects on you.

To run your account and let you sign in securely.
To publish listings, and to make, manage and record bookings and the tenancy agreement.
To take payments, pay hosts, issue refunds and keep financial records.
To let students and hosts message each other and to send you notifications by email, SMS, in the app and, if you allow it, by push notification.
To verify identity and check listings, and to prevent fraud, abuse and breaches of our terms.
To handle reports, disputes and support requests.
To meet legal and tax obligations.
To understand and improve the service, using analytics only if you have agreed to it.

4. Who Sees Your Information

Other users

Your public profile (name and photograph) is shown with your reviews and messages.
When you book, the host and the members of their team who handle bookings see your name, the booking and your messages. A host's contact details are shared with you once you have a booking or a viewing with them.
An organisation's owner sees its members and their roles. An owner can choose which members are shown on the organisation's public page.
An auditor invited by a host sees that organisation's financial records and booking references, but not the tenants' names or contact details.

Companies that work for us

We use other companies to run parts of Purchet. Each receives only what it needs for its task, is bound to keep it confidential, and may not use it for anything else. They fall into these groups:

Payments: Paystack processes payments, holds saved payment methods and pays hosts.
Sign-in: Google, only if you choose to sign in with Google.
Hosting: the companies that run our servers and databases and deliver the website.
File storage and delivery: where uploaded photographs and documents are kept, and the network that delivers images.
Messaging: the services that send our emails, SMS messages (including verification codes) and push notifications.
Search and maps: search receives public listing information only. Map images are requested by your browser from the map provider.
Security: a check that sign-ups and sign-ins come from people and not software.
Error monitoring: reports of faults, so we can fix them.
Analytics: only if you have accepted analytics cookies. The Cookie Policy says which tools and what they store.

Asking who they are

You can ask us for the names of the companies that have received your personal information. Email hello@purchet.com with the subject "Privacy request" and we will tell you.

When the law requires it

We may disclose information where the law requires it, to respond to a valid legal request, or to protect someone's safety or prevent fraud.

5. Where It Is Kept

Several of the companies above store and process information on servers outside Ghana. By using Purchet you understand that your information is transferred to and kept in other countries. We choose providers that protect it and limit what each one receives.

6. How Long We Keep It

Account information: for as long as you have an account.
Financial records (payments, refunds, payouts and the ledger): permanently, or for as long as the law requires. They are not deleted when an account is closed, because they are the record of money that moved.
Bookings and tenancy agreements: kept as part of the same record.
Photographs and documents uploaded with a listing, a report, a message or a verification: kept even after you remove them from view, because they may be needed as evidence in a dispute.
Sign-in records and the audit trail: kept for security and to investigate misuse.
Analytics: only if you consented, and you can withdraw consent at any time.

7. Your Rights and Choices

Under Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) you have rights over your personal information. You can:

see and correct most of your information in your account settings;
ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
ask us to correct anything that is wrong;
ask us to delete your account. We will remove or anonymise what we can, and keep what we must: financial records, and material needed for a dispute or required by law;
object to, or ask us to limit, a particular use of your information;
turn analytics on or off at any time from Cookie Settings in the footer;
choose which notifications you receive, in your settings;
complain to the Data Protection Commission of Ghana if you believe we have mishandled your information.

8. How to Make a Request

Email hello@purchet.com from the address on your account, with the subject "Privacy request", and tell us what you would like. We may ask you to confirm who you are before acting. We aim to answer within 30 days.

9. How We Protect It

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.

Passwords are stored as one-way hashes and cannot be read by us.
Connections to Purchet are encrypted.
Two-factor authentication and passkeys are available to everyone, and are required for administrators.
Identity documents and property documents are stored privately and are visible only to the staff who review them.
Staff access follows roles: a member of staff sees only what their role needs.
Financial records cannot be edited or deleted once written, and are checked for tampering.

10. Age

Purchet is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will remove it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We will update this policy when what we collect or who we share it with changes. The date at the top shows the latest version, and we will tell you about significant changes.

12. Contact

Purchet operates online and does not yet have a public office.

Email: hello@purchet.com
Phone: +233 20 010 1594

Privacy Policy

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