HouseBuddy Inc. (the "Company") operates CheckmateKorea (checkmatekorea.com, the "Service"). In accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act of Korea (PIPA), we publish this Privacy Policy to protect your personal information and handle related requests promptly.
We ask for your consent separately at each step where it is needed.
| Category | Purpose | Items | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sign-up (tenants) | Identifying members, providing the Service, notices | (Required) email, password, name, gender, date of birth, phone number (with country code), nationality, occupation, visa type, preferred language | Until you delete your account |
| Marketing messages (optional) | Event and benefit news | email, consent status | Until you withdraw consent or delete your account |
| Sign-up (real estate agents, property operators) | Identifying partners, managing listings, settlement, Providing copies of business registration and accommodation business notification or registration documents to the relevant tenants for proof of residence, with the partner member’s consent | (Required) name (incl. English name), business name, office address, brokerage or business registration number, phone, email, supporting documents, listing manager's name and phone / if you log in with Kakao: name, email, age range and nickname received from Kakao | Until account deletion. Settlement and tax records: 5 years (Framework Act on National Taxes, VAT Act). Copies of supporting documents are deleted when you leave. The listing manager's name and phone are deleted when you leave (after any ongoing transactions and settlement are completed); business name and registration number are anonymized 5 years after you leave |
| Provisional contract and payment | Concluding the contract, payment, drafting the lease, sharing with the partner member | (Required) name as on passport, email, phone (with country code), date of birth, gender, nationality, visa type, occupation, passport or ARC number, move-in date, contract period, preferred date for the final contract / Payment: card issuer, masked card number, payment records, billing key (encrypted), IP address for Korean card payments | (1) Passport or ARC number: deleted 30 days after the later of your move-in date or final contract date (immediately if the application is cancelled or no contract is concluded); if a lease is drafted on Checkmate, the number written in it is kept with the lease until 5 years after the lease ends |
| (2) Contract and payment records (name, email, phone, transaction details): 5 years (E-Commerce Act), stored separately after account deletion; after 5 years, name, email and phone are anonymized (amounts and dates are kept for statistics) (3) Other items (date of birth, gender, nationality, visa, occupation, etc.): deleted immediately when you delete your account (after any ongoing contract ends) | |||
| Housing support, contract accompaniment, membership | Recommending rooms, accompanying contracts, daily-life support | (Required) name, email, phone, application answers / (Optional) school, preferred area and budget, schedule | 1 year after the service ends. Transaction records such as name and email are anonymized after 5 years |
| Deposit and rent transfers | Processing transfers | landlord (account holder) name, bank, account number (entered by the partner member or you) | 5 years after the transfer (transaction records). Accounts saved for reuse are kept until the partner deletes them or leaves |
| Referrals and rewards | Paying rewards | Korea: bank, account number, account holder / Overseas: email, SNS post link | 5 years after payment (tax records) |
| Preventing misuse | Preventing repeated coupon or referral rewards through re-registration | Encrypted value of a deleted member's email (cannot be restored) | 1 year after account deletion |
| Customer inquiries (Channel Talk, email, forms) | Answering inquiries, handling disputes | name, email, phone, inquiry details | 3 years (consumer complaint and dispute records) |
| Reviews on the site | Publishing reviews (including translations) | review text, photos, display name | Until you ask us to delete it. If you delete your account, your display name is removed and the review stays anonymously |
| Surveys and events | Sending rewards, checking and following up on answers, improving the Service | email, (optional) phone, building address, answers | Up to 1 year |
| Automatically collected | Usage analysis, preventing misuse | IP address, cookies, access time, browser and device information, access logs | 3 months |
| Rent receipts for proof of residence | Verifying rent payments; issuing, viewing and downloading receipts for proof of residence; and sending request and processing notifications | Tenant name, reservation identifier, accommodation address, requested period and amount, verified payment period, amount and date, issuer’s business name, business registration number, address and contact details, and request, issuance and rejection records | Issued receipt PDFs are retained for 90 days from issuance and then deleted |
With the data subject’s consent, we share personal information as follows to arrange contracts and move-in, and to issue and provide documents for proof of residence.
| Recipient | Purpose | Items | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| The partner member who listed the room (real estate agency, landlord or property operator) | Provisional and final lease contract (including a lease drafted on Checkmate), move-in | passport or ARC number (after the provisional contract is accepted), name, gender, nationality, age, phone, email, move-in date, contract period | Until the lease term ends (or longer if the law requires the recipient to keep it) |
| Partner study-abroad agency (only if you applied through one) | Sharing application progress | name, service purchased, status, school, preferred area and budget | Until the service ends |
| The tenant who has been issued a rent receipt for a reservation with the relevant accommodation or goshiwon partner | Proof of the tenant’s residence and related supplementary procedures | Information necessary for proof of residence contained in the copies the partner has consented to share, including the representative’s name, business name, business address, business registration number and notification or registration number | Until the relevant proof-of-residence and supplementary procedures are completed |