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Privacy

Privacy policy

What we collect, why we collect it, and exactly who else sees it. The short version: almost everything we hold is something you typed into a chat, and we share it with lending partners only so they can put loan options in front of you.

Last updated 10 September 2026

1. Who we are

Merit Sparrow (“Merit Sparrow”, “we”, “us”) is an education advisory that helps students in India plan and fund a UK degree. We work out your detailed study cost, shortlist universities, search scholarships, compare education loan options through partners, and assist with visa filing.

This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with, and what you can do about it. It applies to this website, to conversations you have with us on WhatsApp, phone or email, and to the services above.

2. We are not a lender, and we do not award scholarships

This matters for your data, so it belongs near the top. Merit Sparrow does not provide, underwrite, sanction or disburse education loans, and does not award or grant scholarships. Loans are provided by banks and non-banking financial companies. Scholarships are awarded by universities, governments and private awarding bodies under their own rules.

What we do is advisory and introduction: we put your requirement in front of third-party partners — including our lending partner WeMakeScholars and, through them, a panel of banks and NBFCs — so that they can present options to you. Doing that requires sharing your details with them. Section 5 sets out exactly who receives what.

3. What we collect

Information you give us

Almost everything we hold is something you typed into a chat with us. Depending on what you ask for, that can include:

  • Contact details — your name, WhatsApp number, phone number and email address.
  • Study plans — the course, university or city, and intake you are aiming for.
  • Academic details — qualifications, marks or grades, test scores such as IELTS or TOEFL, and backlogs, where these affect eligibility.
  • Financial details relevant to a loan — your budget, co-applicant details, income, employment, and whether collateral is available. Share these only when a loan application actually requires them.
  • Documents you choose to send us, such as mark sheets, offer letters, identity or income proof.
  • The content of your messages with us.

Information collected automatically

  • Usage data — pages viewed, time on page, referring page, approximate location derived from IP address, device type and browser.
  • Advertising identifiers — if you reached us from a Meta or Google advertisement, identifiers that let us see that the click led to an enquiry.
  • Cookies and similar technologies — see section 7.

We do not ask you for card numbers, bank passwords, OTPs or UPI PINs, and you should never send them to us. No one from Merit Sparrow will ask you for an OTP.

4. Why we use it

  • To prepare your detailed UK cost report and answer your questions.
  • To shortlist universities and search scholarships for students who have signed up with us.
  • To obtain and compare education loan options for you from lending partners.
  • To assist with document preparation and visa filing where you have engaged us for it.
  • To contact you about your enquiry, on WhatsApp, phone or email.
  • To measure and improve our advertising, and to understand which pages lead to enquiries.
  • To keep records, meet legal obligations and resolve disputes.

We rely on your consent for marketing communications and for sharing your details with lending partners, and on the necessity of performing the service you asked for, for the rest. You can withdraw consent at any time — see section 9.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it in these situations, and no others:

Lending partners

To get you loan options, we pass your enquiry — and the academic and financial details a lender needs — to WeMakeScholars and to the banks and NBFCs on their panel. Those organisations become responsible for the data they hold about you and process it under their own privacy policies. If you would rather we did not do this, tell us and we will not; you can still use everything else we do.

Universities, their representatives, and scholarship bodies

Where you ask us to help with an application, we share the details that application requires with the institution or awarding body concerned.

Service providers

  • WhatsApp / Meta — every conversation you have with us runs on WhatsApp, so your messages and number are processed by Meta under its own terms.
  • Analytics and advertising — Google and Meta, for the measurement described in section 7.
  • Hosting, email and storage providers that operate our website and systems.

Legal

Where we are required to by law, a court, or a regulator, or to establish or defend a legal claim.

6. Where your data goes

Some of the providers above, including Meta and Google, process data on servers outside India. Where that happens, we rely on the transfer mechanisms those providers put in place and on Indian law permitting such transfers.

7. Advertising, analytics and cookies

We advertise on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google. To know whether those advertisements work, this site uses cookies and similar technologies, which may include the Meta Pixel and Google Analytics or Google Ads tags. These tell us that a click became an enquiry; they are not used to build a profile of you for sale.

You can control this:

8. How long we keep it

We keep enquiry data for as long as we are helping you and for a reasonable period afterwards, in case you come back to us. Where we have a legal or tax reason to keep records for longer, we do. When data is no longer needed for either, we delete it. You can ask us to delete it sooner — see below.

9. Your rights

Under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you can ask us to:

  • tell you what personal data we hold about you and who we have shared it with;
  • correct or complete anything inaccurate;
  • erase data we no longer need;
  • stop processing based on consent, by withdrawing it; and
  • nominate someone to exercise these rights if you die or become incapacitated.

Email info@meritsparrow.com and we will respond. If you are not satisfied, you can escalate to our grievance officer at info@meritsparrow.com (marked Grievance), and after that to the Data Protection Board of India.

To stop hearing from us, reply STOP on WhatsApp or email us. We will still answer anything you have already asked us.

10. Security

We use access controls and reputable providers, and we limit who inside Merit Sparrow can see your documents. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of anything you send over WhatsApp or email, but we will tell you and the relevant authority if a breach affects you.

11. Children

Our services are for people aged 18 and over. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must contact us on your behalf and give consent. We do not knowingly collect data from a child without that consent, and we will delete it if we find we have.

12. Changes

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top of this page. Material changes will be flagged to you in the chat.

13. Contact

Email info@meritsparrow.com, call +91 81216 65557, or message us on WhatsApp.