Privacy Policy
The short version
- We collect what we need to verify who you are, move your money safely, and meet Canadian anti-money-laundering law.
- We never sell your personal information or use it for advertising.
- We share it only with the companies that help us run the service (identity checks, payments, hosting, email) and with authorities when the law requires it.
- The law requires us to keep your identity and transaction records for at least five years, even after you close your account.
- You can see, correct or ask about your information at any time.
1. Who we are
Jaara is a money transfer service operated by ModeSwift Financial Inc. (“we”, “us”), a company registered in province, Canada, at business address. We are responsible for the personal information described in this policy. Our Privacy Officer is name, who you can reach at [email protected].
This policy covers the Jaara app and website. It follows Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy laws.
2. What we collect
When you create an account
- Your name and email address, from Google or the email you sign up with.
- Your mobile phone number.
When you verify your identity
- Photos of your government-issued photo ID and the information on it: name, date of birth, document type, number, issuing province or country and expiry date.
- A selfie, compared with the photo on your ID to confirm it’s you. Our verification provider creates a biometric template of your face for this comparison only.
- Your home address, occupation, and why you’ll use Jaara, which the law requires us to ask.
When you add money and send transfers
- The email addresses you link for sending Interac e-Transfers, and for each deposit: the sender’s name and email as your bank reports them, the amount and the date.
- Your recipients: their name as their bank confirms it, the bank, and the account number.
- Each transfer: amounts, exchange rate, the reason you gave, its status and references.
- Your balance and its history.
From your device
- A random ID the app creates for each phone, so we can recognise phones you’ve confirmed. A new phone can’t send money until you confirm it with a code we text you.
- A push notification token, if you allow notifications.
- Whether you turned on Face ID or fingerprint unlock. Your face or fingerprint data stays on your phone; we never receive it.
- Basic technical information our servers record when the app connects to them, such as IP address and time, for security.
We don’t use advertising trackers or sell data, and we don’t collect your contacts, location or photos beyond the ID and selfie you take for verification.
3. Why we use it
- To provide the service: your account, your balance, your transfers, and keeping you informed by in-app, push and email notifications.
- To meet our legal obligations: as a money services business we must verify your identity, keep records, check transactions against sanctions lists, monitor for unusual activity, and report certain transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
- To keep you and others safe: preventing fraud, confirming deposits come from bank accounts in your own name, and confirming recipients’ names with their bank before you pay them.
- To support you: answering questions and resolving problems.
We ask for your consent when you sign up and verify your identity. Some uses are required by law, and we can’t provide the service without them.
4. Who we share it with
We share only what each company needs to do its job for us, under contracts that require them to protect it.
| Who | What for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Hosting our database and sign-in | Canada |
| Didit | Checking your ID and selfie | confirm (European Union) |
| Fincra | Receiving your Interac e-Transfers and paying your recipients | confirm (Nigeria, United Kingdom and other countries it operates in) |
| Your recipient’s bank | Confirming the account name and receiving the payment | The recipient’s country |
| Sign-in with Google, and address suggestions while you type | United States and other countries | |
| Twilio | Texting you codes, and checking that a phone number is a Canadian mobile number | United States |
| Expo | Delivering push notifications | United States |
| email provider | Sending emails such as codes, security notices and statements | confirm |
We also disclose information to FINTRAC, law enforcement or other authorities when Canadian law requires it. We may not be allowed to tell you when we do.
If our business is sold or merged, your information may pass to the new owner, who must keep protecting it as this policy describes.
5. Information outside Canada
Some of the companies above store or process information outside Canada, and sending money abroad means sharing your recipient’s details with banks in their country. Information outside Canada is subject to the laws of that country, and authorities there may be able to access it.
6. How long we keep it
- Identity and transaction records: for as long as your account is open, so you can get statements for any period, and at least five years after the transaction or after your account closes, as the law requires.
- Your ID photos and selfie: held by our verification provider for as long as needed to prove the check took place, then deleted confirm period with Didit.
- Text-message codes: stored only in a scrambled form, and useless after 10 minutes.
- Everything else (linked emails, saved recipients, notifications, push tokens, confirmed phones): until you remove it or close your account.
When we no longer need information, we delete it or make it anonymous.
7. Closing your account
You can close your account in the app under Account → Close my account. If your account has no identity check or transactions, we delete everything. Otherwise we delete your sign-in, linked emails, saved recipients and notifications straight away, and keep the records the law requires for the period above.
8. Your rights
- Ask what personal information we hold about you and get a copy. You can also email yourself monthly statements of your account from the app (Account → Statements).
- Ask us to correct information that’s wrong. You can update your email, phone number, address and occupation in the app. To change your legal name, contact us so we can verify it again.
- Withdraw consent, subject to legal requirements. Some uses are needed to provide the service, so withdrawing consent may mean closing your account.
- Turn off push notifications in your phone’s settings at any time.
Email our Privacy Officer at [email protected]. We reply within 30 days. If you’re not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
9. How we protect it
Your information is encrypted in transit and stored with providers that encrypt it at rest. Access is limited to staff who need it, and every back-office decision is logged. The app locks itself when you leave it and can require Face ID or a fingerprint. Every transfer needs your PIN, and a phone you haven’t confirmed sees only part of your details. After your PIN is reset or your email or phone number changes, sending waits 24 hours and we let you know, so you can freeze your account if it wasn’t you. No system is perfectly secure: if a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we’ll notify you and the Privacy Commissioner as the law requires.
10. Children
Jaara is for adults only. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of majority in their province.
11. Changes
If we make important changes to this policy, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before they take effect.
12. Contact
ModeSwift Financial Inc. · business address · [email protected]