Monese Credit Builder Terms and Conditions

Important information you need to know

How your agreement works

These terms and conditions govern how our Credit Builder service will work together with your Credit Builder loan from Monese Credit Limited (the “Lender”). These terms and conditions are extra to our main terms and conditions for your Monese GBP account. This means that our main terms and conditions also apply to the Credit Builder service (and the Credit Builder sub-account that’s part of it) and the definitions from those terms also apply here. The Credit Builder service forms part of your Monese GBP account.

Any reference to ‘us’, ‘we’ and ‘our’ means: (i) Monese; or (ii) where dealing with your Monese card, any e-money issued to you or any payment services provided to you, will mean PrePay Technologies Ltd (“PPS UK”) and/or Monese acting as agent of PPS UK. Where this isn’t the case, we’ll make it clear.

These terms and conditions form part of your agreement with us. If there’s any conflict between these terms and conditions and our main terms and conditions, these terms and conditions will take priority.

Setting up your Credit Builder service

To use the Credit Builder service, you must:

• be aged between 18 and 75 years old;
• be a UK resident; and
• have a Monese GBP account with us, or have been accepted for a Monese GBP account.

When setting up your Credit Builder service, you must give us accurate information about you. You’ll also need to tell us about any changes to your personal details as soon as possible so that our records stay up-to-date. We may confidentially check the information you give us, or ask for information on you ourselves or through third parties from secure databases.

By accepting these terms and conditions, you consent to us or a third party on our behalf carrying out these checks to find any other information we might need to set up your Credit Builder service. You also consent to us sharing your data with relevant third parties, including the Lender. Our Privacy Notice below explains more about how we use your personal data for these and other purposes. When we have the information we need, we can decide to either accept or reject your application for the Credit Builder service.

If we find out that the information we hold about you isn’t right, we may suspend your Credit Builder service and/or Monese GBP account until we can confirm the correct information. This is to protect us both.

Introduction to the Lender

Introduction

This section applies to us introducing you to the Lender, for the purposes of you taking out the Credit Builder loan provided by the Lender. It’s worth noting that this introduction isn’t provided or managed by PPS. Under this part of the service, you may be given access to the credit broking service provided by us for the Credit Builder loan through your Monese app. You’ll be able to view and apply for the Credit Builder loan using this.

By providing the introduction, Monese is acting as an appointed representative of Resolution Compliance Limited. Resolution Compliance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with firm reference number 574048.

Monese Finance Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with the registered company number 12117096 and its registered address at Eagle House, 163 City Road, London EC1V 1NR. Monese Finance Ltd is entered on the Financial Services Register under reference number 913549.

Credit broking service

We provide this introduction to you free of charge. The Lender won’t charge any interest or fees on your Credit Builder loan and the fees that Monese will charge for the Credit Builder service are set out in paragraph 3.6 below.

By using the introduction, we’re able to give you access to the Lender’s Credit Builder loan product through your Monese app. Depending on the Lender’s own checks and assessments, you may be granted a loan.

You acknowledge that we act as an introducer to the Lender, and that we won’t directly give you credit or influence the Lender’s decision on whether to give you credit. The Lender is responsible for conducting any assessments on your eligibility for its credit product before making any decisions or offers to you.

By offering this introduction through your Monese app, we’re not advising, recommending or otherwise endorsing any financial product. We also can’t guarantee that the Lender will offer you credit.

We hold any draw down amounts and process payments for repayment of the loan (as described below) but expect for that, we have no responsibility for administering or operating any loan you agree with the Lender, you should contact us through the Monese app or email us at support@monese.com if you have any issues or questions about your Credit Builder loan.

Using the credit broking service

You can access the introduction through your Monese app by choosing the ‘Credit Builder’ option. We’ll explain how to get started, and we’ll ask you for some information about yourself and the amount of loan you’re interested in applying for so that we can check your eligibility. Once we have all the information needed for the eligibility check, we’ll share your information and the requested loan details with the Lender’s platform to make your application for credit.

Any credit you’re issued by the Lender will be governed by the relevant contract in place between you and the Lender.

Our responsibilities to you in respect of the introduction

As well as the Exclusions and Limitations in the main terms and conditions, we don’t accept any responsibility or liability (whether in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty or otherwise) for any loss or damage you may experience:

• if any credit you apply for doesn’t meet your requirements or isn’t suitable for you;
• if any of the information you give us or the Lender is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate;
• for any acts or omissions of any third party in connection with any credit application;
• if you use the introduction in any way that’s fraudulent or in a way that breaks your agreement.

We reserve the right to suspend, restrict or terminate your access to the introduction through your Monese app at any time.

Credit Builder Sub-Account

What is a Credit Builder sub-account?

When you use the Credit Builder service and are accepted as a borrower by the Lender, we’ll open a Credit Builder sub-account within your Monese GBP account.

The Credit Builder sub-account is a ringfenced portion of your e-money within your Monese GBP account. It’s still e-money like the rest of the balance in your Monese GBP account, and we still keep that e-money safe in the same way as we do other e-money balances. However, it has different restrictions on how you can use it while you still have an outstanding loan from the Lender.

Adding money to your Credit Builder sub-account

Money can only be added to your Credit Builder sub-account through a drawdown from your related Credit Builder loan from the Lender. When this loan is drawn down, the Lender will transfer the credit amount to us, and we’ll use this to top up the balance in your Credit Builder sub-account.

This means that the loan proceeds will be used to acquire e-money with us in your Monese GBP account, and we’ll immediately place it in the Credit Builder sub-account. This will operate in the same way as though you made a bank transfer to us directly.

This is the only way to add money to your Credit Builder sub-account. You can’t add money in any other way or move existing e-money from another balance you hold with us to your Credit Builder sub-account balance.

Why we might not add money to your Credit Builder sub-account

We might not add money to your Credit Builder sub-account if:

• your Monese GBP account has reached the Monese GBP Account Maximum Balance or Monese GBP Account Limits;
• your Monese GBP account is inactive or blocked;
• the Lender hasn’t given correct/valid details for your Monese GBP account;
• we suspect fraudulent activity on your Monese GBP account; or
• to do so is prohibited by Applicable Laws.

If any of the situations above apply, we may return the money to the Lender without notifying you.

Using your credit builder sub-account balance to make payments and transfers

Subject to the below, the balance held in the Credit Builder sub-account can’t be used to make payments whilst your related Credit Builder loan from the Lender is still outstanding. This mean that this balance won’t be included in your spending balance for your Monese GBP account.

Once your related Credit Builder loan from the Lender is repaid in full, we’ll automatically transfer the balance in your Credit Builder sub-account to the spending balance of your Monese GBP account, and you will be able to use it in an identical manner to any other e-money you hold with us. We’ll do this as soon as the Lender confirms that you’ve repaid your loan in full.

If your related Credit Builder loan from the Lender needs to be repaid early (for example if the loan agreement has been terminated and the outstanding balance becomes due), we’ll enable payments to be made from the Credit Builder sub-account to the Lender. Once the Lender tells us that your outstanding balance is fully repaid, we’ll transfer any remaining balance from your Credit Builder sub-account to your Monese GBP account. By entering into these terms, you consent to us making these payments on your behalf, which we’ll treat as you having authorised them.

These payments will be made in accordance with our main terms and conditions, and you’ll receive all of the rights associated with us making these payments correctly and in line with our execution timeframes.

You retain your right to redeem the e-money in your Credit Builder sub-account at any time, but be aware that requesting this may trigger a termination of your loan agreement and mean you’ll need to pay any outstanding balance straight away, before we can return the redemption proceeds to you. For more details about this, make sure to review your credit agreement with the Lender.

You consent to us letting the Lender know if you ask to redeem all or part of your e-money held in the Credit Builder sub-account.

Making repayments of your Credit Builder loan

Under your Credit Builder loan terms, you need to make sure that repayments can be made through a Continuous Payment Authority from your Monese GBP account, for the benefit of the Lender.

When the Lender uses the Continuous Payment Authority you’ve given them, we’ll arrange for payments to be made in accordance with that authority from your Monese GBP account spending balance (which doesn’t include the balance in your Credit Builder sub-account). We’ll carry out these payments in accordance with our main terms and conditions.

Whilst the rights associated with this Continuous Payment Authority are available to you (including cancelling this Authority by contacting us through the Monese app or emailing support@monese.com), it’s worth noting that the Lender doesn’t accept any other form of payment method being used regularly and it’s a condition of your loan that this Authority remains in place. If you do cancel the Continuous Payment Authority before repaying your loan, we may need to end your Credit Builder loan agreement.

For similar reasons, we recommend that you always maintain a sufficient spending balance in your Monese GBP account to make the repayments as soon as they’re due, to avoid missing a repayment. If the spending balance in your Monese GBP account doesn’t cover any loan repayment, we won’t automatically use the balance in your Credit Builder sub-account to make this payment. This may lead to the termination of your loan and the below will apply.

Where your outstanding loan balance is due in full (for example if your loan agreement has been terminated), we’ll use the balance in your Credit Builder sub-account to repay the loan. If there is an insufficient balance in your Credit Builder sub-account to pay off the loan balance in full, the Continuous Payment Authority you’ve granted the Lender may be used to take payment from your spending balance of your Monese GBP account to cover this. By entering into these terms, you consent to us making these payments on your behalf and which we’ll treat as you having authorised them.

Fees you need to pay

We’ll charge you a monthly subscription fee of £2.50 to access the Credit Builder service.

Closing your Credit Builder sub-account

How to close your Credit Builder sub-account

You may close your Credit Builder sub-account and terminate the Credit Builder service at any time by following the steps in your Monese app.

Be aware that if you do this, it may lead to your Credit Builder loan from the Lender being terminated and mean that you’ll need to pay the outstanding balance straight away. Where this happens, we’ll arrange to use your Credit Builder sub-account balance to repay the outstanding balance, as detailed above in paragraph 3.5. You agree that we may tell the Lender of any request to close your Credit Builder sub-account.

Once the outstanding loan balance has been settled, we’ll transfer any remaining balance from your Credit Builder sub-account to your spending balance in your Monese GBP account, and you can use this as normal. This is except if you have any fees left to pay us connected to the Credit Builder service, in which case we’ll deduct the remaining fees from the remaining balance in your Credit Builder sub-account before transferring it to your Monese GBP account. If there are any fees that still remain outstanding, these will be deducted from your spending balance.

We’ll treat any request to close your Monese GBP account as a request to also close your Credit Builder sub-account, and will deal with this in accordance with the above and our main terms and conditions.

How to redeem the e-money in your Credit Builder sub-account

You may redeem all or part of the e-money in your Credit Builder sub-account at any time by following the steps in your Monese app. This will be in accordance with our main terms and conditions.

Making this request may lead to your Credit Builder loan from the Lender being terminated and the outstanding balance becoming payable straight away. Where this happens, we’ll arrange to use the balance of your Credit Builder sub-account to repay the outstanding balance, as detailed above in paragraph 3.5. You agree that we may tell the Lender of any request to redeem e-money in your Credit Builder sub-account.

Once the outstanding loan balance has been settled, we’ll transfer any remaining balance from your Credit Builder sub-account to you. This is except if you have any fees left to pay us connected to the Credit Builder service, in which case we’ll deduct the remaining fees from the redemption balance in your Credit Builder sub-account before sending it to you. If there are any fees that still remain outstanding, these will be deducted from your spending balance in your Monese GBP account.

Any request to redeem all of your e-money in your Monese GBP account will also be treated as a request to redeem your e-money held in your Credit Builder sub-account, and we’ll deal with this in accordance with the above.

CREDIT PRIVACY NOTICE

Summary and key points

This Privacy Notice describes the ways Monese Credit Limited (“the Lender” or “we”), which is a Monese company, and the Credit Reference Agencies use your personal information to: i) provide the credit products you’ve requested; ii) comply with their legal obligations; iii) and satisfy their legitimate interests (see below). This Privacy Notice is extra to the main personal account customer privacy notice (the Main Notice), which is where you’ll find more information about your rights under data protection law, and how Monese and Monese Finance Limited may use your personal information.

The Lender and Monese Ltd are what is known as data controllers. This means they’re responsible for deciding how your personal information is used. For our credit products, they do this jointly.

Sharing your information with Credit Reference Agencies and fraud prevention agencies

To provide you with credit products on your Monese app, we’ll perform credit and identity checks on you with one or more Credit Reference Agencies (“CRAs”) and fraud prevention agencies. We may also make searches at CRAs during your relationship with us, to manage your account.

To do this, we share your personal information with CRAs and fraud prevention agencies and in turn, they’ll give us information about you. This will include information from your credit application and about your financial situation and financial history. CRAs will supply to us both public (including the electoral register) and shared credit, financial situation and financial history information and fraud prevention information. For example, this could be any money you’ve borrowed (including any borrowing outside the Lender) and if you’ve borrowed money and not repaid it in full and on time. We’ll use and share this information to:

• Make credit and affordability assessments to decide whether to accept your application and set credit limits (this may involve automated methods);
• Prevent criminal activity, fraud and money laundering. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services or finance (this may involve automated methods);
• Check the accuracy of the information you’ve provided;
• Manage your account(s);
• Trace and recover debts; and
• Make sure any offers provided to you are appropriate to your financial situation.

We’ll also tell the CRAs about your settled accounts. If you borrow and don’t repay in full and on time, CRAs will record the outstanding debt. More information about the information the CRAs hold, how they use and share personal information, and your rights with the CRAs are explained in the CRA information notice (CRAIN) available at: https://www.equifax.co.uk/crain; https://www.experian.co.uk/crain/index.html and https://www.transunion.co.uk/crain.

How else we use your personal information

As mentioned above, we may use automated methods to make decisions about offering you credit, but only if it’s necessary for us to enter into a contract, or if authorised by law (for example preventing fraud). You can contact us to ask for a person to review an automated decision.

To provide a borderless banking service, we partner with and use service providers that are based outside the European Economic Area. We only partner with organisations that meet the EU Commission’s data privacy requirements and where a contractual agreement is in place to protect our customers’ personal information in accordance with the data privacy requirements.

Where it’s necessary for our legitimate interests, we’ll use your personal information to:

• Undertake analysis on our customers to better understand how to improve our products and services. This may involve us processing your data or working with third parties (in which case we’ll never directly identify you or any other customers) to help better profile our customers and improve how we market our products. We’ll make sure that appropriate safeguards are put in place with such third parties so that your data is kept secure.
• Create anonymised sets of data that we can use to improve the models we use to assess credit risks (for example changing who we lend to by looking at statistics).

How long we keep your personal information

Records we share with Credit Reference Agencies will stay on your file for six years after your file is closed, whether you’ve settled the debt or failed to pay it off.

Questions

To find out more about information Credit Reference Agencies hold about you, contact them directly (they may charge you a fee). For more information about how the Lender or Monese Ltd uses your personal information, if it’s not covered in the Main Notice, contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@monese.com.

To access personal information we hold about you, to delete your information, or for any of your other privacy rights, contact privacy@monese.com.

You can also contact the UK Information Commissioner if you feel we haven’t addressed your complaint about a privacy matter.