Legal Agreement

Terms of Service

Terms and conditions governing your use of Verify Now services

Last updated: 7 October 2026

South African Law

Governed by SA legislation

POPIA Aligned

Data protection controls

Fraud Purpose

Prescribed-purpose checks

Secure Platform

Enterprise security

Overview

This website is operated by Verify Now. Throughout the site, the terms "we", "us" and "our" refer to Verify Now. Verify Now offers this website, including all information, tools, and services available from this site to you, the user, conditioned upon your acceptance of all terms, conditions, policies, and notices stated here.

The Service is provided by Urban Luxury Brands (Pty) Ltd trading as VerifyNow, registration number 2007/013732/07.

VerifyNow is operated by Urban Luxury Brands (Pty) Ltd (registration 2007/013732/07).

By visiting our site and/or purchasing something from us, you engage in our "Service" and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions ("Terms of Service," "Terms"), including those additional terms and conditions and policies referenced herein and/or available by hyperlink.

For business customers, API users, and customers who generate or use an API key, our Data Processing Agreement is incorporated into these Terms and forms part of the written agreement between the parties.

AML processing and transfer safeguards are set out in the Data Processing Agreement.

Please read these Terms of Service carefully before accessing or using our website. By accessing or using any part of the site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this agreement, then you may not access the website or use any services.

1. Online Terms

By agreeing to these Terms of Service, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence
You may not use our products for any illegal or unauthorized purpose nor may you, in the use of the service, violate any laws in your jurisdiction
You must not transmit any worms or viruses or any code of a destructive nature
A breach or violation of any of the Terms will result in an immediate termination of your services

2. General Conditions

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time
Your content may be transferred over secure networks as needed to provide the Service. Payment card and bank details are handled by payment processors and are not stored by VerifyNow
The API policies accepted during API-key generation permit integration of enabled VerifyNow checks into your business workflows. Use remains subject to account permissions, available credits, required licences and a lawful purpose. Enterprise clients and API integration partners may agree an implementation scope and commercial schedule with VerifyNow. API white-label is available for enterprise and business clients under the applicable licence. Hosted workspaces and the self-hosted template are coming soon. VerifyNow acts as a data processor for customer-directed checks
The headings used in this agreement are included for convenience only and will not limit or otherwise affect these Terms

3. Accuracy, Completeness and Timeliness of Information

We are not responsible if information made available on this site is not accurate, complete or current. The material on this site is provided for general information only and should not be relied upon or used as the sole basis for making decisions without consulting primary, more accurate, more complete or more timely sources of information. Any reliance on the material on this site is at your own risk.

This site may contain certain historical information. Historical information, necessarily, is not current and is provided for your reference only. We reserve the right to modify the contents of this site at any time, but we have no obligation to update any information on our site.

4. Modifications to the Service and Prices

Prices for our products are subject to change without notice
We reserve the right at any time to modify or discontinue the service (or any part or content thereof) without notice at any time
We shall not be liable to you or to any third-party for any modification, price change, suspension, or discontinuance of the service

5. Products or Services

Certain products or services may be available exclusively online through the website. These products or services may have limited quantities and are subject to return or exchange.

We reserve the right, but are not obligated, to limit the sales of our products or services to any person, geographic region, or jurisdiction. We may exercise this right on a case-by-case basis.

We do not warrant that the quality of any products, services, information, or other material purchased or obtained by you will meet your expectations, or that any errors in the service will be corrected.

6. Accuracy of Billing and Account Information

We reserve the right to refuse any order you place with us. We may, in our sole discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per household, or per order. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an order, we may attempt to notify you by contacting the e-mail and/or billing address/phone number provided at the time the order was made.

You agree to provide current, complete and accurate purchase and account information for all purchases made on our website. You agree to promptly update your account and other information, including your email address and billing contact details, so that we can complete your transactions and contact you as needed. VerifyNow does not store your payment card details or customer bank-account payment credentials; those are handled by our payment processors.

6A. Refunds and Cancellations

Prepaid Verification Credits

Verification credits are non-refundable once purchased. Unused credits remain available for use until account termination. Credits do not expire while your account remains active.

FICA Training Courses

Effective 20 August 2026, FICA course seats are bought with VerifyNow credits. Credits are deducted when the purchaser confirms the seat order. Each seat belongs to the learner email entered in that order and may be used by that learner. A certificate is issued after every module meets its recorded time requirement and the learner achieves the stated assessment pass mark. The accountable institution remains responsible for its RMCP, role-based training, refresher schedule, staff supervision, and decisions required under FICA. VerifyNow Learning issues its certificates independently from the Financial Intelligence Centre and supervisory bodies. Customers should obtain professional advice for legal interpretation.

Subscription Plans

Monthly subscriptions may be cancelled at any time, effective at the end of the current billing period. No refunds are provided for partial months. Annual plans may be cancelled with a pro-rata refund for unused months, less any discounts received.

Service Issues

If you experience technical issues that prevent you from using the service, please contact support. We may provide credit or refunds at our discretion for verified service outages or defects.

7-9. Third-Party Tools and Links

We may provide you with access to third-party tools over which we neither monitor nor have any control nor input. You acknowledge and agree that we provide access to such tools "as is" and "as available" without any warranties, representations, or conditions of any kind and without any endorsement.

Third-party links on this site may direct you to third-party websites that are not affiliated with us. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy, and we do not warrant and will not have any liability or responsibility for any third-party materials or websites.

User comments and submissions grant us the right to edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate and otherwise use in any medium any comments that you forward to us. We are and shall be under no obligation to maintain any comments in confidence or to pay compensation for any comments.

10. Personal Information

Your submission of personal information through this website is governed by our Privacy Policy. To view our Privacy Policy, please see Privacy Policy.

11-12. Errors and Prohibited Uses

Occasionally, there may be information on our site that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies, or omissions. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies, or omissions and to change or update information at any time without prior notice.

You are prohibited from using the site or its content for:

Any unlawful purpose or to solicit unlawful acts
Violating any laws, regulations, or ordinances
Infringing intellectual property rights
Harassment, abuse, or discrimination
Submitting false or misleading information
Uploading viruses or malicious code
Collecting personal information of others
Spam, phishing, or scraping activities
Interfering with security features

13. Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability

We do not guarantee, represent, or warrant that your use of our service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free. The service and all products and services delivered to you through the service are provided 'as is' and 'as available' for your use, without any representation, warranties, or conditions of any kind, including all implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, merchantable quality, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, title, and non-infringement.

In no case shall Verify Now, our directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents, contractors, or service providers be liable for any injury, loss, claim, or any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages of any kind.

Maximum Liability Cap

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the total liability of Verify Now for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service exceed the greater of: (a) the amount actually paid by you for the Service in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or (b) R1,000 ZAR. This limitation applies regardless of the form or source of claim, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise.

13B. Third-Party Data Sources and Verification Accuracy

Our verification services rely on data obtained from third-party sources including, but not limited to, the Department of Home Affairs, Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), licensed South African data sources, and other government registries and data providers. You acknowledge and agree that:

Some VerifyNow services are fulfilled using authorised third-party verification and data suppliers. These suppliers provide the relevant verification data under their own permitted-use frameworks. VerifyNow is not a credit bureau and does not provide credit information.

We make no warranty, representation, or guarantee regarding the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or timeliness of any information obtained from third-party data sources
Verification results reflect information as provided by third-party sources at the time of the query and may not reflect the most current status
We are not responsible for any errors, omissions, inaccuracies, or delays in third-party data, regardless of how such data is transmitted to us
Third-party data sources may experience downtime, maintenance periods, or technical issues beyond our control
You should not rely solely on our verification services for making critical decisions and should verify information through multiple sources where appropriate

Data Source Indemnification

You indemnify and hold harmless Verify Now from any claim, liability, damage, or loss arising out of or related to any defect, error, inaccuracy, omission, or delay in any information obtained from third-party data sources, database records, database APIs, database administrators, government registries, licensed South African data sources, or any other data providers, whether such information is accessed directly or indirectly through our Service.

13A. Service Availability and Support

Service Availability

We strive to maintain high availability for our verification services. Planned maintenance will be communicated in advance where possible. Service status updates are available through our dashboard.

Support Channels

Email support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with an initial response within 24 hours. Enterprise customers receive a WhatsApp support contact during onboarding. A P0 incident means a complete or near-complete loss of production service with no reasonable workaround, or a confirmed critical security incident that prevents production use. P0 incidents receive an initial human response and triage within 4 hours of receipt through a designated support channel. Resolution time depends on the incident and any upstream service involved.

Incident Notification

In the event of a security incident affecting your data, we will notify you within 48 hours of confirmation, in accordance with our Data Processing Agreement and applicable law.

Agreed partner commercial terms

For negotiated referral partnerships, customers sign up with VerifyNow. Commission is set per service because margins vary, with a sliding scale based on qualifying referred volume. Exact rates, eligible activity and payment terms must be agreed in writing before referrals begin. A written partner schedule identifies the services and volumes to which it applies; published standard affiliate tiers continue to govern accounts without such a schedule.

Enterprise clients purchase prepaid VerifyNow credits for checks within their business workflows. Published volume discounts apply to qualifying monthly credit purchases under the pricing tiers.

API integration partners connect VerifyNow checks to agreed business workflows under the API terms accepted during key generation. A separate agreement can record the integration scope and commercial schedule. Enterprise enquiries should include expected verification volumes and account requirements.

SMS OTP processing and terms

SMS OTP sends and checks a one-time code on the customer’s instructions. The customer determines the lawful purpose, gives the recipient the required privacy notice and holds the account records. VerifyNow acts as operator for the requested processing and manages its own service security and billing obligations. OTP establishes access to the receiving phone.

Customers must request transactional codes for a recipient’s current verification journey. Promotional messages, purchased contact lists, unsolicited bulk messaging and attempts to bypass network or WASPA restrictions are prohibited. The customer must protect its credentials, implement signup abuse controls and respond to recipient complaints. Applicable POPIA duties and the WASPA Code of Conduct must be observed. VerifyNow may suspend abusive OTP use.

Urban Luxury Brands (Pty) Ltd trading as VerifyNow supplies this API service. Customers must have the bill-payer’s authority and obtain the recipient’s request and any required consent for the OTP. The recipient needs an SMS-capable mobile number and network coverage. Network or roaming charges may apply under the recipient’s plan. This service creates no recurring SMS subscription.

Report billing errors or unwanted codes through our contact page with the verification ID where available. We investigate the dispatch and billing record and process applicable refunds. Customers may also use the WASPA complaints process. These terms preserve applicable statutory rights.

One credit buys four SMS sends at standard pricing. When the SMS balance is empty, the next send buys a four-send pack using prepaid credits. Unused sends remain available to the same account. Verification and status polling are included. A confirmed rejection before acceptance releases the reserved SMS allowance. Credit refunds are handled manually. Accepted sends remain used if handset delivery fails. An uncertain send reserves one allowance and uses it after ten minutes unless rejection is confirmed.

Raw phone number and SMS code: Used in memory for dispatch and verification processing. VerifyNow does not write the raw number or plaintext code to its OTP database or application logs. The gateway request has a ten-second timeout.
Challenge code hash: Encrypted code hashes are stored in Cape Town with a five-minute expiry. Successful use, lockout and supersession trigger deletion; expiry remains the backstop if deletion is interrupted.
Abuse-prevention tokens: Keyed phone and reference tokens are stored in Cape Town and expire after 24 hours without further activity. IP tokens expire after one hour without further activity. These tokens are personal information.
Retry records: Encrypted request fingerprints and verification outcomes are stored in Cape Town for 72 hours to prevent duplicate sends and charges. Fingerprints are keyed and may be derived from submitted data; they remain subject to personal-information safeguards.
Billing and account records: Amounts, opaque transaction identifiers and OTP terms acceptance follow the existing billing and account retention schedule. They exclude recipient phone numbers and codes.

Temporary OTP code hashes, phone- and IP-derived abuse tokens, and retry payloads are encrypted and stored in Cape Town, South Africa. The account database keeps opaque processing references and billing controls. Customer-specific hourly counters contain aggregate counts and are retained for eight days for abuse detection. Administrative alerts are retained for 30 days.

Expiry prevents further verification. Physical cleanup runs on a schedule; database backups follow the infrastructure retention schedule and may contain earlier encrypted or hashed records until backup rotation. Restored data must undergo OTP expiry and cleanup before use.

This SMS OTP service supports South African mobile numbers only. SMS delivery partners and mobile networks apply their own retention requirements. Delivery metadata may be retained for approximately three years, and their terms permit cross-border processing. Message content may be retained for operational or lawful requirements. These delivery records have separate deletion schedules from VerifyNow’s temporary OTP data.

OTP terms acceptance is recorded with the accepting account user, version and timestamp. It applies to this service. Requests for access, correction or deletion can be sent through VerifyNow support, subject to identity verification and lawful retention obligations.

Subprocessor register · Data Processing Agreement · Privacy policy · WASPA Code of Conduct

Support response and statutory notices

General email support has an initial response target of 24 elapsed hours. High-priority production-impacting issues, including API incidents, have a four-hour initial human response and triage target. Enterprise accounts receive a dedicated WhatsApp group with key team members during onboarding for escalation and integration support. Resolution depends on the incident and any upstream service involved.

Where VerifyNow acts as an operator, affected customers are notified immediately when there are reasonable grounds to believe their personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person. This operator notice applies from that point, including before confirmation, and takes precedence over any longer notification period stated elsewhere. Support triage targets do not postpone that notification. Where VerifyNow acts as the responsible party, notification follows section 22 of POPIA.

14-17. Indemnification, Severability, Termination & Entire Agreement

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Verify Now, Urban Luxury Brands (Pty) Ltd trading as VerifyNow, and our subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, officers, directors, employees, agents, and service providers from any claim, demand, liability, damage, loss, cost, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your use or misuse of the Service; (c) your violation of any applicable law or regulation; (d) any claim that your use of verification data infringed the rights of a third party; or (e) any reliance you place on verification results or third-party data obtained through the Service.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is determined to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, such determination shall not affect the validity of any other remaining provisions.

Termination

We may terminate these Terms of Service at any time. You may terminate by ceasing to use our services. Obligations incurred prior to termination survive.

Entire Agreement

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements.

18. Governing Law

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of South Africa where we are registered.

Lawful Basis, Prescribed Purpose and Data Processing

Every request requires a documented lawful basis, prescribed reason, or other valid processing authority. VerifyNow reports are provided by default for identity fraud prevention or fraud detection. When biometric photos are used for another purpose and consent is the required authority, the customer must give a clear notice and record voluntary, specific, and informed consent before submission.

Full reports from ordinary single checks are not stored by default after delivery. Batch workflows temporarily retain row inputs and results for processing, history, and secure download. We store audit metadata, consent records, and transaction records according to their applicable retention periods.

Ongoing AML keeps encrypted screening responses for up to 48 hours for safe retries. Enrolment and audit records follow the applicable retention schedule. Processing and storage locations are listed in the sub-processor register.

Driver's Licence Verification

The customer confirms authority and gives the required privacy notice before scanning. Biometric options also require consent or another POPIA authorisation. The barcode report covers information encoded on the card. Its expiry label compares the encoded expiry date with the report date. Biometric reports keep each photo comparison and Passive Liveness result separate. A customer-supplied upload carries the capture history available from that channel. Licence and selfie images are used to process the request and are not stored by default after delivery.

Dashboard and API access provides a hosted service licence. Source code, customer-controlled runtime packages and on-premise deployment require a separate written agreement. White-label access, branding, custom domains, usage limits and approved sublicensing rights are governed by the applicable order form.

Vehicle Licence Disc Scanner

Before uploading or photographing a vehicle licence disc, the customer confirms authority to process the vehicle information for a lawful purpose. The report states whether its fields came from the PDF417 barcode or a lower-confidence visual read of the supplied disc. Number plate reports add the selected vehicle lookup and field comparison.

No Credit or Loan Decisioning

VerifyNow does not provide consumer credit reports, does not maintain consumer credit profiles, and does not make loan, affordability, or credit-granting decisions.

POPIA-aligned controls

Our Service includes controls designed to support obligations under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA):

Lawful Processing: Personal information is processed only with a valid lawful basis, and consent is obtained where required
Data Minimization: We collect only the minimum personal information necessary
Storage Limitation: Each record type follows its stated operational or legal retention period
Security Safeguards: Industry-standard encryption and access controls
Data Subject Rights: Consumers can access, correct, or request deletion of their data
Cross-Border Transfers: Appropriate safeguards for international data transfers

User Accounts

You must provide accurate, complete, and current information when creating an account
You are responsible for safeguarding your password and all activities under your account
You must notify us immediately of any security breach or unauthorized account use
You may not use as a username the name of another person or entity without authorization
User accounts expire after six months of non-usage and will be disabled

Contact Information

Questions about the Terms of Service should be sent to us:

Company: Urban Luxury Brands (Pty) Ltd trading as VerifyNow

Registration number: 2007/013732/07

Address: First Floor, Block B, Eagle Canyon Office Park, Cnr Dolfyn & Christiaan De Wet Str, Randparkridge, Randpark

Email: hello@verifynow.co.za

Website: verifynow.co.za

Terms Updates

We reserve the right to update, change, or replace any part of these Terms of Service by posting updates to our website. Your continued use of the Service following any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.

Version: 2.3
Last Updated: August 8, 2026