Imperfect match: Australian renters in the dark over use of data by tech company Snug

How the score is calculated is mostly invisible to the renter. But one thing that makes it go up substantially is offering a higher rent.

Guardian Australia tested the process for two properties in Victoria. Applying to rent at the advertised price of $490 a week for a two-bedroom townhouse in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick resulted in a Snug Match Score of 74.

But offering an extra $10 a week pushed the score up to 77. Each additional $10 a week offered increased the score by two or three points. It reached a score of 88 when the offer hit $540 a week.

The results were similar for a one-bedroom apartment in Footscray, advertised at $310 a week. An initial Snug Match Score of 72 at the advertised rent increased to 85 when the offer reached $340.

Rental providers and agents who engage in rental bidding in Victoria face penalties of more than $11,000 for a person and more than $55,000 for a company.

She said the Match Score was potentially discriminatory.

In many states, agents and landlords are not allowed to ask renters about attributes such as race, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital status, children and religion.

Butterworth said the company took data security and privacy very seriously, and automatically deleted sensitive information and documents after 60 days to protect customers. Renters could receive notifications about property managers accessing their data, and were able to delete their profile data.

Snug may already have access to large amounts of personal information, even on people who have not applied for a property using the platform.

In 2017, Snug bought the administration rights to Fairy Floss Real Estate, a Facebook group with more than 316,000 members that has become synonymous with share housing in Melbourne.