Terms of Business
PLEASE READ THESE – THEY ARE IMPORTANT AND ARE THE BASIS OF OUR AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE YOU SERVICES
Introduction
We want our relationship with you to be mutually beneficial and so we aim to be transparent in all our dealings with you. These terms of business explain our obligations to you and yours to us. They will be at the heart of our relationship and our contract with you, so please take time to read them carefully. The following definitions appear in the terms.
"Client Account" means the account where any monies held on behalf of our clients are kept and which is not used for the purpose of our own business.
"Initial Fee" means your first two monthly payments (less immediate nominal payments to your creditors of 10%), which are paid by you to us as an initial fee for our services, and which is not used to pay your creditors. However, as a concession to you, if you reach the end of your debt management programme (meaning that all debts are paid in full), we will make your last two monthly payments to your creditors on your behalf.
"Monthly Fee" means the monthly fee payable for our services. This is an amount equal to 17.5% of your ongoing monthly payment, subject to a minimum of £30.
"Monthly Payment" means the total amount, which is paid every month by you to us throughout the payment programme. Apart from your first two monthly payments (less immediate nominal payments to your creditors) which is the initial fee, this is made up of the monthly repayment to be made to your creditors, our monthly fee and any other payments as instructed or agreed with you.
"Monthly Repayment" means the part of the monthly payment to be paid by us on your behalf to your creditors.
1. Appointment and term
1.1 You appoint us and we agree to act on your behalf, as debt counsellors and debt adjusters in providing these services.
1.2 This agreement will start when you confirm your acceptance of these Terms of Business either by telephone or by returning the completed client authority form to us.
1.3 This agreement will continue, unless ended by you as set out in sections 1.4 and 7 or by us as set out in section 8. You have a right to cancel this agreement at any time during the first 7 days of the term by writing to Debt Deliverance at Freepost RRSA-RULX-TLZT Debt Deliverance, Haywards Heath, RH17 7RE.
1.4 You may cancel this agreement at anytime within 7 days from the date you make your first payment - this is known as the "cooling off" period. If you have paid the "Initial Fee" by debit/credit card over the telephone, then please ensure you contact us within 7 days of making that payment; otherwise no refund of the "Initial Fee" can be given. Please note that a fee of £25.00 will be deducted from any refund given of the "Initial Fee", to reflect our administration and banking costs incurred.
2. What we will do
2.1 Based upon information provided by you to us, we will review your income, outgoings and living expenses and prepare and issue to your creditors a payment programme in respect of those types of debt which do not fall within the exclusions set out in clause 5.2 below. This will indicate a monthly payment, which we believe you can afford.
2.2 Once the agreement starts we will notify your creditors of our involvement and will attempt to agree with them revised payment terms on your behalf. We will in particular attempt to persuade your creditors to accept reduced monthly repayments from you, not to charge interest and to either suspend or withdraw any recovery, or similar proceedings, which they may already have taken against you or may have threatened to bring against you. We will endeavour to provide as much assistance to you as we can based on our expertise.
2.3 Following receipt of the Initial Fee in cleared funds we will prepare and issue a payment programme, normally within 28 days. The payment plan will be subject to possible change depending on the accuracy of the information you originally provided to us and our discussions with your creditors.
2.4 If your circumstances change, we shall attempt to re-negotiate with your creditors and arrange with you a revised payment programme. We will in any event periodically review your situation, normally every twelve months or earlier if your creditors insist, and we will prepare and issue a revised payment programme if appropriate.
2.5 We shall provide to you regular statements listing your creditors, the status of any negotiations with them, the repayments made to them that month and the fees which we have charged you.
2.6 We shall keep you informed of all material communications between your creditors and us, and we shall deal with all communications from your creditors to us (or to you and provided by you to us) appropriately and promptly.
3. What you will pay
3.1 You will pay us the Initial Fee, the monthly fee and the monthly repayments and any other fees agreed in writing between you and us for additional services.
4. How we handle your money
4.1 All payments that we receive from you in cleared funds will be paid directly into our Client Account. The only payments which we will make from the Client Account are:
(a) payment of the monthly repayments to your creditors in accordance with the payment programme
(b) payment of our fees
(c) any other payments as instructed or agreed with you
4.2 We will aim to distribute the monthly repayments amongst your creditors in accordance with the payment programme normally within 7-10 working days of receipt of the monthly payment from you in cleared funds. This may vary dependant upon the need to send payments to your creditors at a particular time each month.
5. What we will not do
5.1 We cannot lend you money or offer you any credit facilities, although we will arrange for this if it is appropriate and you request us to do so, through our relationships with third party lenders.
5.2 We will not usually provide the services in relation to secured credit (such as hire purchase arrangements, secured loans and mortgages), rent (including rent arrears), utility bill payments (including arrears), council tax payments (including arrears) and other similar debts. These are usually known as "priority debts".
5.3 We are not solicitors and cannot give you any legal advice.
5.4 We will not arrange for anybody to attend any court hearing on your behalf unless we expressly agree with you to do so, and if so we will charge an additional fee for such service as agreed with you in advance of the court hearing.
5.5 Whilst we are confident, based on our actual experience, that your creditors will agree revised payment terms in accordance with section 2, we are unable to 100% guarantee this. Interest and other charges may continue to be incurred until we are able to secure a repayment plan with your creditors. We cannot be held responsible for charges made for late payments where, for example, the creditor takes an unreasonably long time to clear the cheques that we send them on your behalf.
5.6 What you will do
6.1 You must provide us with full, accurate and truthful details of your net income, outgoings, creditors and dependents and you must also provide us with details of any outstanding judgments against you or any actual or threatened court proceedings. You must, where possible, send to us copies or originals of documents to confirm these details. You must make the agreed Monthly Payments to us in accordance with the Payment Programme.
6.2 You must allow us to negotiate on your behalf with your creditors.
6.3 You must send us originals or copies of all correspondence you receive from your creditors so that we can deal with them on your behalf.
6.4 During the term you must not make any payments directly to your creditors unless you have notified us in advance that you propose to do so and we have agreed that such payment can be made.
6.5 You must tell us if your circumstances change so that you are or may become unable to maintain the level of monthly payments or if there has been an improvement in your circumstances so that you are able to increase your level of monthly payments. We will require two weeks notice from you to make any amendments to your standing order arrangements for payment of the monthly payments to us.
6.6 During the term you must incur no further debts, whether on credit or otherwise, other than those relating to your normal living expenses.
7. How you may end this agreement
7.1 You have the right to cancel this agreement under section 1.4.
7.2 In addition to your right to cancel under sections 7.1, you may also end this agreement at any time by giving us 14 days prior written notice, which you may serve at any time whether or not you believe we may have been in breach of our obligations under this agreement. In the event of cancellation under this section we reserve the right to retain the Initial Fee.
8. How we may end this agreement
8.1 We may end this agreement at any time by giving you two weeks prior written notice if any of the following happens:
(a) you fail to make two successive monthly payments, repeatedly fail to make the agreed monthly payments, or otherwise require regular chasing to make payments
(b) you are otherwise in serious breach of this agreement or have committed a series of minor breaches (even if any one individual breach would not necessarily be regarded as a serious breach on its own) – this includes providing false information about your financial situation
(c) you become bankrupt, file a bankruptcy petition, make an arrangement or composition with your creditors generally, or make an application to a court for protection from your creditors generally
9. Effect of ending this agreement
When this agreement ends our duties and obligations under this agreement will come to an end. Your liability to your creditors will continue to the extent that any amounts you owe to your creditors remain outstanding over and above the repayments made to them under the payment programme. You may within 30 days of the end of this agreement request us to return all paperwork received from you or your creditors that has been retained by us.
10. Personal information
We agree to keep confidential all information received from or about you. We will not pass this information to anyone else without your permission, except in line with our data protection statement contained in section 11 or to such of your creditors as is necessary in order for us to negotiate repayments with such creditors.
11. Data protection statement
11.1 Please read this statement carefully as it explains what personal information we collect about you and how we use this information.
11.2 We collect personal information about you both directly from you when you apply for our services and from your creditors as authorised by your client authority form. We may also collect further information as a result of managing your payment programme.
11.3 We will use your personal information to provide our services to you, and in particular to:
(a) prepare and issue to you your payment programme;
(b) negotiate with your creditors on your behalf; and
(c) keep you informed about your payment programme and our services.
11.1 Subject to section 11.5 we may also use your personal information to contact you to provide you details of other products and services which we think may be of interest to you, including those offered by selected third parties. We may share personal information with these selected third parties and they may contact you directly to provide you with details of such products and services.
11.2 You may let us know if you do not want us to use or disclose your personal information as set out in section 11.1 above.
11.3 Other than as set out above we will only disclose your personal information to the extent required by law, court order or as requested by government or law enforcement authority, or to any company or other entity to whom we either transfer or subcontract any or all of our obligations to you under this agreement.
11.4 You may contact us by writing at any time to the Data Protection Manager at our address given above for further information, or if you want to request a copy of the personal information which we hold about you or to ask us to amend any inaccurate information held by us.
11.5 Please note that we may record and monitor your calls to us to help us to improve our service.
12. Other terms
12.1 All fees are exclusive of any applicable value added tax (VAT) or other sales tax. Please note that although the provision of our services is currently VAT exempt (as of June 2005), this position could change in the future. If it does change we will notify you and amend your payment programme accordingly.
12.2 We reserve the right to amend our fee structure from time to time without informing you in advance. We will not increase our fees by more than 20% in any one calendar year.
12.3 We may transfer our rights and obligations under this agreement by giving you written notice of such transfer.
12.4 This sets out the entire agreement and understanding between you and us and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings or arrangements (whether oral or written) relating to the provision of the services.
12.5 You acknowledge that you have entered into this agreement in reliance on the representations, warranties and promises specifically contained or incorporated in this agreement and, except as expressly set out in this agreement, we shall have no liability in respect of any other representation, warranty or promise made prior to the start of this agreement unless it was made fraudulently.
12.6 We shall not be deemed in breach of this agreement or otherwise liable to you if we are prevented or hindered from performing our obligations under this agreement by reason of any event beyond our reasonable control.
12.7 This agreement is governed by English law.
N.B. The Authority Form, which you have signed, which references these terms and conditions, forms the agreement between us.
