FindARoom | UCC Hostel Finder

1. Overview

FindARoom operates a student housing marketplace and related manager tools that help room seekers, listers, and administrators create accounts, verify identity, communicate, publish listings, and manage trust and safety issues. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, when it is shared, and the choices you have.

By using FindARoom, including the main app, manager portal, messaging tools, verification flows, and support channels, you agree to the practices described in this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of information:

Account and authentication data: name, email address, Firebase authentication identifiers, provider details, profile photo, and login metadata.
Profile and marketplace data: room-seeker profile information, listing information, biography text, preferences, location, budget, move timing, occupancy details, and other content you choose to publish.
Contact data: one or more phone numbers, verification status, and whether each verified number is enabled for contact.
Verification data: phone verification records, phone claim records used to prevent duplicate verification abuse, ID verification status, verification request IDs, Didit session IDs, document type, webhook status updates, and related verification metadata.
Messaging and inbox data: chat messages, message attachments, timestamps, unread counts, message replies, report reasons, block actions, chat clear timestamps, and per-user chat hide or delete states.
Support and safety data: reports about users or listings, issue reports, support requests, incoming and outgoing support emails, moderation notes, and admin review records.
Payment and transaction data: payment references, transaction status, purpose of payment such as ID verification, featured placement, or contact unlock, and limited payment metadata. We do not store full card details.
Device and technical data: browser information, app usage signals, Firebase Cloud Messaging tokens, notification permission status, and service worker related data needed to deliver alerts.
Local device storage: drafts and progress states such as room-seeker profile draft information stored in your browser for convenience until removed or overwritten.

3. How We Use Information

To create and maintain your account and profile.
To publish listings and room-seeker profiles you choose to make available on the platform.
To connect seekers and listers through inquiries, inbox conversations, and contact workflows.
To verify phone numbers and identities, and to reduce fraud, impersonation, abuse, and duplicate account misuse.
To process verification payments, featured placements, and similar platform transactions.
To send password resets, email change verification links, service notifications, and push alerts if you enable them.
To let you manage privacy choices, including whether a verified phone number can be used for contact.
To review abuse reports, blocked users, suspicious activity, and support requests.
To improve product performance, reliability, and user experience.
To comply with legal obligations and enforce our rules.

4. What Other Users Can See

Some information is visible to other users when you choose to participate in the marketplace. This may include your name, public profile image, listing content, room-seeker profile content, and information you submit in messages or inquiries.

Verified phone numbers are not automatically public just because they are verified. If a number is marked private or contact is disabled for it, we are designed not to reveal that number through public profile surfaces or chat contact flows that respect this setting.

5. Messaging, Blocking, Reporting, and Chat Controls

When you use FindARoom messaging, we process conversation metadata and message content so chats can be delivered, marked unread, cleared, hidden, or reported.

Clear chat: clearing a chat removes message visibility for your view of the conversation, but does not necessarily erase the conversation for the other participant or from our systems.
Delete chat: deleting a chat is currently scoped to your own inbox view and may not delete the other participant's copy.
Block actions: if a participant is blocked or made unavailable, we may store that status to prevent further messaging.
Reports: if you report a user or conversation, we may collect your reason, the reported user's profile details, and recent message context so administrators can review the matter.

6. Verification and Trust Systems

We use verification systems to improve trust on the platform. Phone verification helps confirm control of a phone number. ID verification helps confirm identity for certain trust-sensitive features.

ID verification sessions are facilitated through Didit. We may receive status updates, verification request IDs, session identifiers, document type information, and webhook events from that provider. We also keep related payment and verification references needed to manage the process and resolve disputes or errors.

7. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it only as needed to operate FindARoom, including in the following situations:

With other users: when your listing, seeker profile, inquiry, or chat makes certain information visible as part of the marketplace experience.
With service providers: including providers that support authentication, database hosting, storage, push notifications, email handling, ID verification, and payment processing.
With administrators and moderators: when support, fraud review, abuse reports, safety checks, or enforcement actions require internal access.
For legal reasons: where disclosure is required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect rights, safety, and platform integrity.

Current service providers and infrastructure may include Firebase and Google services, Didit for ID verification, Paystack for payment processing, and Resend for support email handling.

8. Notifications, Email, and Support Communications

If you allow browser notifications, we may store one or more push notification tokens associated with your account so we can send alerts. If you email us or use contact and support tools, we may store the content of those messages, metadata such as sender and subject, and any replies we send.

If you request an email change, we use a re-authentication and verify-before-update flow so the account email changes only after the new inbox is confirmed.

9. Data Retention and Deletion

We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for platform operations, safety, legal compliance, dispute handling, and legitimate business needs.

Room-seeker profile deletion: you can delete your room-seeker profile without deleting your entire account.
Account deletion: when you request account deletion, we remove the active account record, related user profile records, wishlist data, and where applicable lister and seeker profile records, and we attempt to remove the stored profile avatar managed by us.
Retained records: even after account deletion, we may keep limited records such as deletion logs, payment references, verification references, abuse-prevention records, or other information required for legal, security, accounting, fraud-prevention, or audit purposes.
Backups and residual copies: some information may remain in backups or internal logs for a limited period before secure deletion cycles complete.

10. Security

We use technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information, including managed authentication, database controls, protected API routes, verification checks, and cloud storage security. However, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on applicable law, including the Ghana Data Protection Act, 2012 and, where applicable, the GDPR, you may have rights to access, correct, update, restrict, object to, export, or request deletion of your personal information.

You can edit profile information and manage some privacy choices directly in your account.
You can control whether certain verified phone numbers are enabled for contact.
You can request password resets and securely initiate email changes from within the product.
You can delete your seeker profile or your full account from supported profile settings.

To exercise rights we do not currently expose directly in product, contact us at support@findaroom.app.

12. Children's Privacy

FindARoom is intended for older students, renters, property managers, and related adults. We do not knowingly design the service for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without appropriate authorization.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as our product, verification systems, support tools, or legal obligations change. When we do, we will post the updated version here and revise the Last Updated date.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or would like to make a privacy request, contact us at:

Email: support@findaroom.app
Website: findaroom.app