1. Who we are
GRO Technologies Ltd ("GRO", "we", "us" or "our") is the controller of the personal information described in this policy.
Website: grorewards.co.uk
Company number: 16980742
Registered office: Suite A, 1st Floor Unit 1 Eurogate Business Park, 1600 Eureka Park, Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom, TN24 8XW
Privacy contact: hello@joingro.io
ICO registration: ZC153568
2. Information we collect
Information you give us
- Your name, date of birth, email address, mobile number, postcode and residential address.
- Your renting status, tenancy start date, personal monthly rent responsibility, usual rent date, rent recipient and landlord, agent or property-manager details.
- Your selected GRO goals, service choices, reporting instruction and communication preferences.
- Information you provide when asking us to correct a record, support a request or contact you.
- For a partner enquiry: your work email, organisation, organisation type, portfolio size and the information included in your message.
Information generated or received when you use GRO
- Open Banking account and transaction information that you choose to make available through the regulated account-information provider, including information used to identify possible rent payments.
- Rent-payment records, match results, amounts, dates, recipients, payment status, source, verification method and verification date.
- Identity, contact and tenancy verification evidence and statuses, including information received from an authorised landlord, agent, property manager or verification provider.
- Credit-reporting eligibility, submissions, acceptance, rejection, correction and dispute information for each participating credit reference agency.
- Basic technical and security information, such as browser or device information, IP-derived request data and timestamps.
- Referral and campaign information, including the page you visited, referrer and UTM campaign fields.
GRO does not ask for online-banking passwords or security credentials. The public waitlist does not ask for bank details, full residential addresses or tenancy information.
3. How and why we use your information
Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests include operating a secure GRO service, maintaining accurate rental and credit-reporting records, preventing fraud and supporting responsible decisions. We consider and balance those interests against your rights and reasonable expectations.
4. Marketing and launch communications
We send promotional email or text messages to individuals only where we have a valid permission or another lawful route. The marketing email and launch SMS choices on our form are separate and optional.
You can withdraw consent at any time by using an unsubscribe option in a message or emailing hello@joingro.io. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing already carried out lawfully. We may keep a minimal suppression record so we can respect your choice.
We may still send essential, non-marketing messages connected with a request you make, such as confirming your early-access registration.
6. International transfers
Some service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where that happens, we use an appropriate safeguard, such as UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses, together with relevant security measures.
7. How long we keep information
We keep early-access registration and partner-enquiry information while the relevant programme or conversation is active and normally for no longer than 24 months after your last meaningful interaction with GRO.
We keep verified rental records, reporting instructions, submission records, corrections and audit information while you use the relevant GRO service and afterwards for as long as reasonably necessary to maintain an accurate record, resolve a correction or complaint, meet contractual or legal requirements, prevent fraud and establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Different information may therefore have different retention periods.
Credit reference agencies are separate controllers and apply their own retention periods. These are explained in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN). Stopping future reporting or disconnecting Open Banking does not require a credit reference agency to delete information it has already received where it continues to have a lawful basis to retain and process it.
When information is no longer required, we delete or anonymise it securely.
8. How we protect information
We use proportionate organisational and technical measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or loss. Access is limited to people and providers that need it for an authorised purpose. No online service can promise absolute security, but we review safeguards as GRO services evolve.
9. Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
- ask for a copy of your personal information;
- correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
- ask us to delete or restrict the use of information;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, including an absolute right to object to direct marketing;
- receive certain information in a portable format; and
- withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on consent.
To exercise a right, email hello@joingro.io. We may need to verify your identity. These rights can be subject to legal limits and exemptions.
10. Open Banking, Rental Data and credit reporting
Important: Open Banking permission and rent reporting are separate. Disconnecting your bank or withdrawing Open Banking permission stops future account access, but it does not automatically remove Rental Data already supplied to a credit reference agency.
What we mean by Rental Data
Rental Data may include your name, date of birth, current and previous address information, tenancy details, your own rent responsibility, rent amount and due date, landlord, agent or property-manager details, verified payment dates and amounts, payment status, reporting identifiers and information needed to correct or dispute a record. GRO will report only information that is eligible for the relevant reporting route.
Open Banking and rent verification
Open Banking is powered by Equifax. Account information services are provided by Consents Online Limited, an Equifax company, registered with the Financial Conduct Authority for Account Information Services under FRN 792642. You choose the account information you make available and authorise access with your bank. The access is read-only: GRO cannot move money and does not see your bank password.
Open Banking information may help GRO identify a possible rent payment using the amount, date and recipient. A payment that is not detected is not automatically treated as late or missed; it may need clarification or other evidence.
Sharing Rental Data with credit reference agencies
If you activate rent reporting and the service is available and you are eligible, GRO may share Rental Data with credit reference agencies, including Equifax. The agencies may match it with information they already hold and disclose it to their customers for purposes including verifying identity, assessing the risk of giving credit, preventing fraud, tracing debtors, managing accounts and other purposes described in the CRAIN.
Credit reference agencies are separate controllers of the information they receive. Their identities, the information they hold, their lawful bases, how they use and share information, retention periods and your rights are explained in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice (CRAIN). You should read the CRAIN before asking GRO to activate rent reporting.
How rent reporting may affect you
Accurately reported rental payments may support your credit history, but GRO does not guarantee a higher credit score, access to credit, a tenancy, a mortgage or any other lending outcome. Where verified late, missed, partial or other adverse rental information is reported, your credit record and score may be adversely affected. This may affect whether credit or services are offered to you and the terms or price offered. Credit reference agencies and lenders use their own data and decision methods, which GRO does not control.
Your reporting instruction is separate from Open Banking permission
Your choice to activate rent reporting is an instruction and contractual permission for GRO to provide the optional reporting service. It is not the legal basis on which Equifax or another credit reference agency processes Rental Data. Credit reference agencies generally process credit-reference information on the basis of legitimate interests, as explained in the CRAIN.
You can tell GRO to stop new Rental Data being prepared or submitted in the future. You can also withdraw future Open Banking access separately. However, Equifax and other credit reference agencies may continue to process Rental Data they have already received, even if Open Banking permission is later revoked, you disconnect your bank or you stop future reporting, where they have a lawful basis to do so. Stopping future supply does not erase accurate historical information already held by a credit reference agency.
Accuracy, corrections and your rights
You can ask GRO to check or correct Rental Data through your GRO Account or by emailing hello@joingro.io. You may also exercise rights directly with the relevant credit reference agency using the contact details in the CRAIN. Rights to object, restrict or erase information are not absolute and depend on the circumstances and the lawful basis being relied on.
The public waitlist does not make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. If GRO introduces such processing within a service, we will explain how it works and the rights available to you before it applies.
12. Contact and complaints
Questions or requests can be sent to hello@joingro.io or posted to our registered office above.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office. Visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or telephone 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concern first.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as GRO services evolve or legal requirements change. The latest version will appear here with a revised update date. Where a change materially affects how we use existing information, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention.