Legal
Privacy Policy
How we collect, use, share and protect your personal information when you use our website and financial services.
Effective date:
Fully Licensed by the CBK as WELEND
1. Introduction
This Privacy Policy explains how WeLend Limited ("WeLend", "we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects your personal information when you use our website and our financial services, including loan applications, credit facilities, savings and our financial technology services.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information safely and responsibly, in line with applicable Kenyan law, including the Data Protection Act, 2019. By using our services, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
2. Information we collect
We collect information you provide directly to us when you contact us, apply for a financial product, create or update an account, use our services, or communicate with us. Depending on the service, this may include:
- Personal identification information, such as your name, phone number, email address and national ID or passport details
- Financial information, such as income, employment details, bank or mobile money statements and credit history
- Biometric data, such as facial images used for identity verification
- Information about any asset used as security, such as vehicle and logbook details
- Content of your communications with us, including messages sent through WhatsApp or the WeLend Assistant
- Information about how you use our services
We also automatically collect certain technical information when you visit our website, such as your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you view. This is used to operate, secure and improve the website.
3. How we use your information
We use the information we collect to:
- Provide, maintain and improve our financial services
- Process applications and carry out credit assessments
- Verify your identity, including through facial verification
- Respond to your enquiries and communicate with you about our products and services
- Develop new products and services
- Monitor and analyse usage and trends to improve our website and services
- Detect, investigate and prevent fraud and other illegal activities
- Protect the rights and property of WeLend, our clients and others
- Comply with our legal obligations and applicable financial regulations
4. Biometric data and identity verification
Where identity verification is required, we may collect facial data — such as facial feature points and liveness checks — for the sole purposes of confirming that an applicant matches their government-issued ID, preventing identity theft and fraudulent applications, and confirming that a live person is present during verification.
Verification data may be processed by our trusted KYC verification provider solely to verify identity. Raw facial data is not stored on our servers; we retain only the encrypted verification results and biometric templates needed for authentication and compliance.
You may opt out of facial verification, request deletion of your biometric data, ask how your facial data is used, or withdraw consent for biometric processing at any time. Opting out may mean we need to verify your identity another way before we can provide certain services.
6. Data security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration or unauthorised access. Personal information is stored on secure servers, and data transmitted between your device and our services is encrypted.
However, no method of transmission over the internet or of electronic storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
7. Data retention
We keep personal information only for as long as necessary to provide our services and to meet our legal, regulatory, accounting and reporting obligations. Biometric templates are retained for the duration of your account activity plus seven years, to comply with financial regulations.
9. The WeLend Assistant and WhatsApp
The WeLend Assistant on our website answers general questions about our services. Messages you type into it are sent to an AI service provider to generate a reply and are not saved to an account. Please do not share sensitive personal information in the assistant — it is designed to refuse PINs, passwords, OTPs and card details.
When you choose to contact us on WhatsApp, your conversation is also subject to WhatsApp's own privacy policy.
10. Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act, 2019, you have the right to:
- Be informed of how your personal information is used
- Access and receive a copy of your personal information
- Have inaccurate or incomplete personal information corrected
- Have your personal information deleted in certain circumstances
- Object to or restrict the processing of your personal information
- Data portability
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on your consent
- Opt out of facial recognition verification
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. You may also lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for operational, legal or regulatory reasons. We will post the updated policy on this page and update the effective date at the top.
We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of our services after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
12. Contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our use of facial verification, please contact us:
- Phone / WhatsApp: +254 714 991111
- Email: [email protected]
- Office: Chandaria Incubation and Innovation Center, Thika Road, Nairobi, P.O. Box 43844 – 00100
We will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.