ClearStart Money Management

Terms of Business

The Agreement

The agreement is made between you (“the Customer” or “you”) and Clearstart UK Ltd trading as ClearStart Money Management (“CSMM” or “we” or “us”) registered address 1 Wood Street London EC2V 7WS trading address PO Box 555 Chorley PR6 6HF. The service and all information provided by CSMM are for clients who reside in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland only.

The agreement will start upon receipt by us of your written acceptance of these Terms of Business and your first monthly payment.

Regulation

Clearstart UK is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading to carry on the business of consumer credit, consumer hire, Credit brokering, debt adjusting, debt counselling, debt collecting and a credit reference agency.

Our Commitment to you

• We act on your behalf in your best interests as your agent.
• We agree to assess your financial situation and prepare a statement, from information provided by you, of your indebtedness.
• We will take into account an allowance for essential living costs and also advise where savings could be made where appropriate. We will advise you on which debts should be regarded as “priority debts” and how to deal with these.
• We will calculate and agree with you a payment which you will make monthly in repayment of your debts ("the agreed payment"). Our objective is to ensure that the agreed payment is both affordable and sustainable.
• We will make the last two payments to your money management plan to creditors on your behalf without charge to you, subject as follows:

1. the total value of the “last two payments “ means twice the value of the agreed payment assessed at the beginning of your money management plan; and
2. the time for payment of “the last two payments” is when the outstanding indebtedness to the creditors contained within your money management plan equals twice the value of the agreed payment assessed at the beginning of your money management plan.

• We will produce and present a proposal of how you may repay and reach a compromise with your remaining creditors and enter into negotiations with them on your behalf. This is your “Money management plan”.

• We will review our advice and payment proposals if you let us know that your financial situation has changed in any significant way.

• We will keep your payments in a separate, non interest bearing client account and, to the extent we are able to do so, make distributions to your creditors within 5 working days of receipt of your cleared funds, unless instructed otherwise by your creditors. We will keep you informed, by way of a 12 monthly statement, of how your money is being distributed.

• We will keep all of your information confidential except where disclosure is required by law or where disclosure is authorised by you. We will also return any original documents when these are no longer required by us, although electronic or paper copies will be taken and retained by us.

• We will perform this service with due care, skill and attention and within a reasonable time.

• We reserve the right to decline an application if we feel it necessary or appropriate to do so.

Your Commitment to us

• You agree to appoint us as your agents to act on your behalf when dealing with your creditors.

• You agree to us disclosing the information you supply to us to your creditors for the purpose of us performing our commitments to you (above)

• You agree to make the agreed payments to us every month for distribution to your creditors.

• You agree to our fees, as set out under “Our Fees”, and for these to be deducted from your payments.

• You agree to complete the Income and Expenditure form accurately and undertake that all figures documented are true and accurately reflect your current circumstances.

• You agree to keep us informed about your financial situation and will tell us if anything significant changes.

• You will provide or return all requested items within a reasonable time.

• You agree to provide us with all information and instructions to assist us to carry out our obligations under “Our commitment to you”.

• You agree to provide us with originals or copies of any essential correspondence relating to your creditors that we may request.

• You agree that we may destroy any correspondence that we consider to be non-essential to your case.

• You agree to keep us informed of any other contact between you and your creditors and any agreements that you make with them.

• If you “the Customer ” comprise more than one person you agree to be jointly and severally liable to perform your Commitments.

Our Fees

This agreement is for a ‘Free-to-User’ debt management plan. There will be a monthly administration fee equal to 10% of your agreed monthly payments and the administration fee will be paid by us and/or your creditors.

• When a creditor agrees to fund our services, we will send your creditor their share of your monthly payment less a 10% charge. This deduction represents the individual creditor’s share of the total monthly administration fee. In other words, we will send your creditor 90% of their share of your monthly payment. Your creditor will then credit your account with the amount equal to their share of your monthly payment before the 10% deduction (ie. your creditor will credit you with 100% of their share of your payment). Your creditors are not obliged to agree to fund our services and can change their mind at any time.

• When a creditor does not agree to fund our services, either from outset or any other time, we will send your creditor their share of your monthly payment without any deduction of fees.

• There are no other charges and no minimum charges.

Your rights to cancel

You have the right to cancel our agreement by writing to us at the trading address detailed above under the sub-heading “The Agreement”:

• if your payment to us is required to change significantly as a result of a change in your circumstances at any other time

• If you cancel our agreement, we will refund all monies received from you that have not been distributed to your creditors at the time your notice of cancellation is received. No charges will apply and we will inform the creditors of your decision.

Our rights to cancel

We reserve the right to cancel an arrangement without prior notice if, in our judgement, you:

• Fail to make payments to us on time as agreed

• Fail to provide information or documentation requested by us

• Provide false information or deliberately try to deceive us or your creditors

Data Protection

We may use the personal information you provide or which we collect via our website and application packs for the purposes of:

(i) providing you with services which you have requested and notifying you about important changes or developments to these services;

(ii) updating our records about you

(iii) responding to your inquiries and complaints or to process your requests in relation to your information;

(iv) administering offers, competitions and other promotions;

(v) evaluating the effectiveness of our marketing and for research, training and statistical analysis with the aim of improving our services.

We may also contact you about products and services available from Fairpoint Group companies which we believe may interest you or benefit you financially. We may do this by post or by phone unless you have told us not to; and by email, text or other electronic means if you have told us that we can or as otherwise allowed by law. You may tell us at any time if you change your mind.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you may be entitled to see certain personal information we hold about you and may ask us to make changes to ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date. If you wish to access information which we hold about you or if you would like to contact us about a related data protection matter please write to us at ClearStart Money Management PO Box Adlington Lancashire PR7 4EX. We are entitled to charge a small administrative fee to meet our costs in providing you with the information which we hold about you (currently £10).

Complaints

We are committed to providing a quality, professional service with your best interests in mind. In the unlikely event that you feel the need to complain, this should be addressed to ‘The Compliance Officer’ at the address given under section ‘The Agreement’. Your letter will be acknowledged within 5 working days and, following a full investigation, a final response will be issued within 8 weeks. Should this not resolve your complain to your satisfaction, you have the right to refer your complaint to The Financial Ombudsman. Please note that complaints will not be accepted unless received within 6 months of the alleged cause of dissatisfaction.

Important notes

• It is agreed between you and us that CSMM is not responsible and shall not be liable for any actions taken or decisions reached by you the client either during or after the continuance of this agreement.

• In addition to your payments to creditors, it is important that you keep up your payments to your priority creditors such as mortgage payments, rent or utility bills.

• If your creditors wish to do so, they could continue to apply interest and other charges and continue with, or commence, recovery proceedings. In this event, it is likely for the amount owing to your creditor to increase.

• Entering into a debt management plan will adversely affect your credit rating, particularly in the short term, and it could prove difficult to obtain any form of credit in the medium to long term.

• You have read and understand the advantages and disadvantages of a debt management plan as detailed on our website. A hard copy of this information can be issued to you at your request.