Who we are
Welcome to Empire Financial Management ("we," "us," or "our"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is processed safely, securely, and lawfully in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, No. 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and the National Credit Act, No. 34 of 2005 (NCA) [1].
Empire Financial Management is a registered debt counselling practice regulated by the National Credit Regulator (NCR) under registration number NCRDC4137.
- Physical Address: 13 Uppercamp Road, Maitland, 7405
- Email Address: sales@empirefinancial.co.za
- Contact Number: 021 109 5199
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website address at: http://www.empirefinancial.co.za, or when you submit your details via our lead generation forms on social media platforms including Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and TikTok [2, 3]
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
- Identity Data: Full names, surname, and South African Identity Number.
- Contact Data: Email address, phone number, and preferred contact times.
- Financial Status Data: Current debt status, information regarding your active debt review listing, outstanding balances, and credit profile indicators.
- Technical & Usage Data: IP address, browser type, and user behavior captured via platform pixels (Meta Pixel / TikTok Pixel) used to track ad performance [2, 3].We process your personal information strictly for legitimate business and legal purposes, including:
- Assessing your eligibility for debt review exit, court applications, or clearance certificates [1].
- Contacting you via phone, WhatsApp, or email to provide a free, confidential financial assessment.
- Preparing statutory legal documents required by the Magistrate’s Court or the National Credit Regulator.
- Optimising our digital advertising campaigns and ensuring our marketing reaches the correct audiences [2, 3].
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select Remember Me, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Our website utilises tracking technologies such as cookies, the Meta Pixel, and the TikTok Pixel [2, 3]. These tools help us analyze website traffic and measure the effectiveness of our paid advertisements [2, 3]. You can choose to disable cookies through your personal browser settings, though it may affect your experience on our site.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Who we share your data with
- The National Credit Regulator (NCR) and Credit Bureaus: To pull your credit profile and update your legal status upon successful clearance.
- Our Retained Legal Counsel / Attorneys: To represent you in the Magistrate’s Court when applying to be declared no longer over-indebted.
- Authorised Service Providers: Secure cloud storage systems and CRM software that comply fully with POPIA data encryption standards.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, or as strictly mandated by the National Credit Act and consumer protection laws regarding financial records [1].
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
As a South African data subject, you hold the following rights:
- Right of Access: You may request confirmation of the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to Correction: You may request that we update or correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to Objection and Deletion: You may object to the processing of your data or request that we permanently delete your records from our active marketing systems.
Right to complain: If you believe we have used your data unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator South Africa.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
What third parties we receive data from
This website and our marketing campaigns are completely independent. This site is not a part of the Facebook/Meta website or Meta Platforms, Inc. [2] Additionally, this site is NOT endorsed by TikTok or Meta in any way [2, 3]. "Facebook" and "Instagram" are trademarks of Meta Platforms, Inc. [2] "TikTok" is a trademark of ByteDance Ltd [3].
Industry regulatory disclosure requirements
Under POPIA, we process your information because:
- You have provided explicit consent by submitting your details via our ad forms or website contact pages [1].
The processing is necessary to carry out actions for the conclusion or performance of a contract (assisting with your legal debt review exit or clearance certificate).
To comply with statutory obligations under the National Credit Act [1].