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Legal

PAIA Manual

Our manual under the Promotion of Access to Information Act: the records ARS Financial keeps, and how to ask for access to them.

Version 1.0 · Effective 8 November 2026

In short
  • This manual explains which records ARS Financial keeps and how to ask for access to them under PAIA.
  • Requests go to our Information Officer, using the Information Regulator’s Form 2.
  • Asking for your own personal information carries no request fee.
  • We answer within 30 days, unless the law allows an extension and we tell you why.
  • If we refuse, you can complain to the Information Regulator or apply to court.

This summary helps you find your way. The full manual below is what applies.

01About this manual

This is the manual of ARS Financial (Pty) Ltd (“ARS”, “we”, “us”) under section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA), read with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). It explains the records we hold, how to request access to them, and how we process personal information.

ARS provides commercial Debt Recovery, Credit Control, customer credit checks, debtor tracing and credit-bureau listings to South African businesses. We are a registered debt collector (Council for Debt Collectors no. 00130149/26).

02Who to contact

Our head and Information Officer is Kyle Ethan Zorger (director), registered with the Information Regulator under reference 2026-067321. Requests and questions about this manual go to him:

03The Information Regulator’s guide

Under section 10 of PAIA the Information Regulator publishes a guide on how to use the Act and exercise the rights in it. It is available in all official languages on inforegulator.org.za, or from the Regulator:

04Records available without a request

These are freely available on our website, with no need for a formal request:

Our company records at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) are also public.

05Records we keep because the law requires it

We keep records as required by the laws that apply to us, including, where applicable:

  • the Companies Act 71 of 2008;
  • the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011;
  • the Debt Collectors Act 114 of 1998, including our trust account records;
  • the National Credit Act 34 of 2005, for reporting to a registered credit bureau;
  • the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013;
  • the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002;
  • the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008; and
  • labour and tax laws for people who work with us, as they apply.

06The records we hold

We hold records in these categories. Listing a category does not mean access will be given: each request is decided under PAIA, including the grounds for refusal below.

  • Company: registration documents, statutory records, registrations with regulators, policies.
  • Financial: accounting records, invoices, payments, bank and trust account records, tax records, audit reports.
  • Clients: agreements, instructions, correspondence, invoices and statements, and portal account records.
  • Debt Recovery cases: the debts handed to us, the debtor’s contact details, our messages and calls, payments, letters of demand, payment arrangements and acknowledgements of debt.
  • Credit Control: clients’ unpaid invoices and their customers’ contact details, reminders sent and payments.
  • Customer checks, tracing and listings: consent forms, credit and property reports, trace results, and notices and reports to the credit bureau.
  • People who work with us: agreements and payment records of our representatives and partners.
  • Marketing: enquiries, sales contacts and our do-not-contact list.
  • Systems: security, access and audit logs, and backups.

07How to request access

  • Complete Form 2 (Request for access to a record of a private body), available on inforegulator.org.za, and send it to our Information Officer by email or post.
  • Describe the record clearly enough for us to find it, say how you would like access (for example a copy by email), and give an address or email for our reply.
  • Show that you need the record to exercise or protect a right, and say which right. We may ask you to confirm who you are.
  • If you are asking on someone else’s behalf, include proof that you may act for them.

Fees. Asking for your own personal information carries no request fee. Other requests may need the request fee prescribed in the PAIA regulations before we process them, and an access fee for searching, preparing and copying records may apply. We tell you the amount before we do the work.

Time. We decide within 30 days. We may extend this once, by up to 30 more days, where PAIA allows it, and we tell you why. If we have not answered in time, the request is treated as refused.

08Grounds for refusal

PAIA requires or allows us to refuse access in some cases, including where releasing a record would:

  • unreasonably disclose personal information about someone else (a debtor, client or other person);
  • disclose a third party’s trade secrets or confidential commercial information, or information given to us in confidence;
  • put someone’s life, safety or property at risk;
  • disclose a record that is privileged from production in legal proceedings; or
  • disclose ARS’s own trade secrets or commercial information where that would harm our business.

If only part of a record must be withheld, we give access to the rest.

09If you are not satisfied

We have no internal appeal. If we refuse your request, or you disagree with a fee or extension, you may complain to the Information Regulator within 180 days (inforegulator.org.za), or apply to court for relief.

10Personal information we process (POPIA)

Why we process it: to recover debts and follow up invoices on our clients’ instructions, to run customer checks, tracing and credit-bureau listings when a client asks for them, to look after our clients, representatives and partners, to keep our accounts, and to meet our legal duties.

Whose information, and what:

  • Clients and their staff: names, contact details, company details, banking details for verification, and portal logins.
  • Clients’ customers and debtors (businesses and individuals): names, contact details, the amounts owed and their history, and, for checks, tracing and listings, ID or registration numbers and addresses.
  • Representatives, partners and applicants: names, contact details, ID numbers, banking details and agreements.
  • Prospects and website visitors: business contact details and enquiries, and cookie data as our Privacy Policy explains.

Who receives it: our clients, about their own cases; debtors, about the debt they owe; a registered credit bureau (through SearchWorks), only when a client instructs a listing after the legal notice; attorneys, when a client chooses legal action; our auditors and regulators where the law requires it; and the service providers named in our Privacy Policy.

Outside South Africa: some providers process information abroad, for example Google (email and encrypted backups), Anthropic (reading uploaded invoices), Twilio (phone calls) and Apple and Google (app notifications). We only use providers bound to protection substantially similar to POPIA, as section 72 requires.

How we protect it: encrypted (HTTPS) connections, strong one-way hashing for passwords, encrypted saved logins and backups, access restricted to authorised people with two-step sign-in for administrators, and a hardened, monitored server in South Africa. If a breach ever affected personal information, we would notify those affected and the Information Regulator, as POPIA requires.

11Where to find this manual

This manual is published on our website at arsfinancial.co.za/paia, and we send a copy free of charge to anyone who asks. It is available to the Information Regulator on request, and we update it when our services or records change. The version and date at the top show when it last changed.

12Our details

Our company details and the address for requests.

Company
ARS Financial (Pty) Ltd, a private company
Registration number
2026/112551/07
Debt collector registration
Council for Debt Collectors no. 00130149/26 (company) and 00188053/26 (director)
Director
Kyle Ethan Zorger
Address for legal notices
5 St Andrews Drive, St Francis Links, St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, 6312
Telephone
077 471 6623
Website
arsfinancial.co.za
Information Officer (POPIA)
Kyle Ethan Zorger · Information Regulator ref. 2026-067321
VAT
Not registered for VAT