Terms of service - last updated 2nd May 2023
Introduction
1. Our relationship with you
Welcome to Clearpay! Our full name is Clearpay Finance Limited, and our company number is 05198026. We have a registered office at 101 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6XH.
These terms and conditions apply to you when:
• you ask us to finance your purchase of goods or services offered by our retailers (this is an “Order”); and
• we provide you with a credit plan which sets out the rules of us providing you finance under each Order (this is a “Clearpay Plan”).
We may reject an Order or cancel an Order and a Clearpay Plan before the goods or services are supplied to you by our retailer if we have good reasons. See clause 8 for examples of good reasons.
Clearpay is available for UK residents (excluding Channel Islands) aged 18+. See clause 3 for full eligibility criteria.
It’s important to note that other terms may also apply when using our services. These include:
•
Website Terms: These terms set out how to use our website, App and interact with any social media.
•
Privacy Policy: This is an important document that sets out how we will store and use your personal information.
• Product Terms: Other terms may apply when you use other services offered by us, for example, when you use Pulse Rewards.
Together these documents form a legal agreement between you and us and we will collectively call them the “agreement” throughout this document.
Important to know!
Please use Clearpay responsibly. Using us to pay for goods or services in instalments is a form of interest free unregulated credit. It’s important that you pay us on time otherwise you may incur late payment fees. We may charge a £6 late fee for each late instalment and for Orders over £24, we may charge a further £6 if the instalment is still unpaid 7 days later. For Orders over £24, late fees are capped at the lower of £24 or 25% of the purchase price of the Order. Missed payments may affect your ability to use us in the future and we may pass unpaid debt to our debt collection agency. You can read more about this at clauses 17 and 18 below.
If you want more information on our services or can’t find what you are looking for in the agreement, you might find it useful to read our
FAQ. However, please note that these are for information purposes only and do not form part of our agreement with you.
If there is something you don’t understand in the agreement, please get in touch. If there is something you don’t agree with, unfortunately we won’t be able to provide you with a Clearpay Plan.
Changing these terms and conditions
You can find out more information about how we change these terms and conditions in clause 29 below. We may update our terms from time to time so please check-in regularly.
We are a ‘buy now pay later’ company that allows you to buy goods or services offered by our retailers online or in stores including overseas retailers in countries approved by us. Our list of retailers is on our website.
We provide services to you mainly through our website and app although we do provide our services in other ways. For example, (i) when you make purchases in retailers’ stores, you use our virtual Clearpay Card added to a digital wallet such as Apple Pay or Google Pay; or, (ii) when you make In-app purchases at our retailers, you use our virtual single-use Clearpay Card, the details of which will be populated at checkout. You can find out more information below on how our Clearpay Card works.
By entering a Clearpay Plan, you instruct us to pay the retailer in exchange for you repaying to us the agreed amounts in instalments, on the dates set out in your payment schedule in each Clearpay Plan. The amounts will include the cost of the goods or services, shipping costs and any taxes or amounts charged by a retailer. We will send you a copy of each Clearpay Plan by email.
For any purchases you make in-store using the Clearpay Card, you might want to add a tip for the retailer. See clause 10 for information on how this works with a Clearpay Plan.
Each Clearpay Plan is a separate short-term fixed sum loan agreement where we lend you a fixed amount of credit to allow you to pay for your purchase over 4 instalments due every 2 weeks under the payment schedule for each Order. Clearpay Plans are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
3. How do I open an account /eligibility criteria?
To place Orders and enter Clearpay Plans, you must register with us for an account.
To register for an account and be eligible to use our services, you must be a UK resident (excluding Channel Islands), aged 18 or over, have a UK payment method (e.g., debit or credit card or any other card accepted by us), a UK billing address and a valid email address and UK mobile number. We’ll ask you for information about you to check your identity and to meet our legal and regulatory requirements. We’ll only register your account when we have approved the information. To find out how we use your personal information, please see our privacy policy.
You can create an account by visiting our website or we can create an account for you when you place your first Order. When your account is set up, you’ll choose a payment method for the instalment payments (e.g., credit or debit or other payment card or method accepted by us such as Apple Pay).
Our services are for your personal non-business use, and you are limited to opening one account (if we’ve closed your account, you’ll be prevented from creating a new one).
4. Keeping your account safe and secure
When your account is created, you will be asked to set up a username and secure password. You can then access your account through our website or app. You need to keep your security details, account, and our Clearpay Card safe and secure. This means you shouldn’t share your security details with anyone, and you should be careful when writing your security details down so that other people cannot see or access your security details. You should also log out of your account on your electronic device when you have finished using your account.
We are not responsible for any unauthorised use or access of your account unless we have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent such unauthorised use or access. You must contact us immediately if you notice any unauthorised access or use of your account.
5. How to use your account?
There are certain things you must do and not do when having an account with us. For example:
• act responsibly when using us to buy goods or services;
• pay your instalment payments on time;
• provide to us your identity documents when reasonably requested by us;
• keep your contact details accurate and up to date;
• help us to investigate any illegal or unapproved activity on your account;
• don’t provide us with any false, inaccurate or misleading information;
• don’t use your account for illegal purposes (such as fraud) or activities that are not approved by us;
• don’t allow other people to use your account, the Clearpay Card in your digital wallet or access your security details;
• don’t open or use more than one Clearpay account; and
• don’t do anything to harm our systems or prevent us from providing our services.
6. What happens if something goes wrong with my account or the services?
We’ll try our best to make sure that our services and your account are available and accessible at a reasonable speed, however we can’t promise that this will always be the case, or our services will always be free from problems. If there are problems with our services or your account, we’ll work to solve any problems as soon as possible. We’re not responsible for your losses if our services or your account are unavailable or inaccessible.
7. How do I close my account?
Please contact us if you want to close your account. We’ll help you but before we close your account, you’ll need to pay us all amounts you owe us under a Clearpay Plan (including late fees) immediately. We’ll also need to make sure that all complaints or refunds owed to you have been sorted.
8. When can you suspend or close my account?
We may suspend or close your account if we have good reasons.
Good reasons include:
• to protect our systems, technology and services from harm;
• to prevent illegal activity such as fraud;
• to reduce the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing;
• to protect us from legal or regulatory risks or non-payment risk by you;
• if you break our agreement in a serious or persistent way including by not making payment on the instalment due dates or giving us false or inaccurate information;
• if we think any Order or your behaviour is suspicious;
• if you use our services for purposes or activities that are not approved by us;
• if you do not pass our identity or pre-authorisation checks; or
• if we have to under any law, regulation, court order or instructions from a regulatory authority.
• if you fail to make repayment on time.
We’ll use our best efforts to provide written notice to you before closing your account except where notifying you would be unlawful or reduce our security measures. Where we close your account, you’ll need to pay us all amounts you owe us under a Clearpay Plan (including late fees) immediately.
9. What happens after my account is closed?
Where your account has been closed for any reason, yours and our obligations under these terms and conditions will continue until all Orders and Clearpay Plans entered before account closure are completed and all complaints and refunds are sorted. Closing your account will also end any other agreements you have with us.
Orders, Payments and Billing
10. How do I place an order?
Online purchases
You need to choose the goods or services you want to buy from a retailer online and follow the retailer’s instructions to arrange for your Order to be placed with us.
Store purchases
You can place Orders using the Clearpay Card from retailers who offer Clearpay in stores. The Clearpay Card is a virtual card, added to a digital wallet, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay that Clearpay permits you to use when shopping in stores with our retailers.
To use the Clearpay Card, you need to first download our app and add the Clearpay Card to a digital wallet by following the instructions in our app. When you are ready to purchase goods or services in a store, open our app to the ‘Card’ tab and follow the instructions in the app to make purchases from retailers up to an estimated available to spend amount shown in the app. This is the estimated amount you can spend with your account. This amount is not guaranteed and may be different if you shop with certain retailers who set their own limits on how much you can purchase using Clearpay.
For any purchases you make in-store using the Clearpay Card, you might want to add a tip for the retailer. If you decide to add a tip to your in-store purchase, the total amount and the instalment amounts set out in the Clearpay Plan we initially send to you will be an estimate only based on the best information we have at the time of your purchase. The actual total amount and instalment amounts may be more or less depending on the final purchase amount that is confirmed to us by the retailer, including the amount of any tips you have made. We will email you a final payment schedule to supplement your Clearpay Plan after you complete your purchase, setting out your actual total amount and instalment amounts. If the amount of your tip causes you to go over the estimated amount available to spend, we will pause your ability to make any further Clearpay purchases until you are able to repay that excess amount.
The Clearpay Card can only be used by you. You may be asked to set up a PIN for your use of the Clearpay Card. You must keep your security details, PIN, and the Clearpay Card safe and secure from theft, fraud, and unauthorised use. If your phone or device on which the Clearpay Card is loaded is lost or stolen, please contact us immediately.
In-app purchases using a single-use Clearpay Card
You need to choose the goods or services you want to buy from a retailer in the Clearpay app, select “pay by debit or credit card” and click “Buy/Shop now. Pay later”. If you are approved by Clearpay, we will authorise you to use a single use card issued to Clearpay to pay for your purchase, the details of which will be populated by us into the retailer´s checkout process. You must click confirm to proceed with your purchase.
Please remember that the Clearpay Card is not your card. It is our card that is generated using our App and linked to the digital wallet on your phone or other electronic device. You are an authorised user of our card. Each time you place an Order in stores, you authorise payment with the Clearpay Card where we pay for the purchase to the retailer, and you repay us in 4 instalments which are set out in a Clearpay Plan.
11. When do you approve an Order?
We may perform pre-authorisation checks on your UK payment method before we agree to finance your purchase to make sure you can afford the Clearpay Plan. We may do this for all payment methods listed in your account.
A pre-authorisation check is where money in your bank account linked to your payment method is temporarily placed on ‘hold’ when you make an online purchase or use our Clearpay Card for store purchases. This amount will not exceed the total amount of your first instalment plus 1p owed to us under a Clearpay Plan. No money is taken from your account at this stage.
For online purchases and In-app purchases using a single-use Clearpay Card, we will notify your bank to cancel the pre-authorisation after the pre-authorisation is processed. For store purchases, we will instruct your bank to cancel the pre-authorisation if the purchase does not happen using our Clearpay Card. We cannot promise the time it will take your bank to cancel the pre-authorisation and release the amount. In most cases, banks will release the amount within a few hours of the pre-authorisation being cancelled by us. However, sometimes banks take up to 14 days to release money. We have no control or influence over your bank releasing any amounts under a cancelled pre-authorisation.
If we approve your Order, we will provide you with a Clearpay Plan by email confirming your Order and your payment schedule. The payment schedule will set out a repayment plan of 4 instalments and the relevant due dates of each instalment which you agree to pay in full. We will finance the purchase price set out in the Clearpay Plan by paying that amount to the retailer for you. Please note that we cannot promise that a retailer will complete the Order and provide the goods or services financed under a Clearpay Plan.
We may reject an Order or cancel an Order and a Clearpay Plan before the goods or services are supplied to you by our retailer if we have good reasons. Please see examples of good reasons above.
If we cancel an approved Order and Clearpay Plan, we will refund you all the amounts you have paid us to your payment method (or if that is not possible, any other UK card listed in your account) and cancel any future automatic payments related to that Clearpay Plan. If we also cancel a Clearpay Plan because a chargeback has been issued on the first instalment, that payment will not be refunded to you by us. Any return of money for that first instalment will be between you and your bank. In this situation, the retailer will not have to provide the goods or services unless required to by law.
A chargeback is where you challenge a transaction on your account and ask your bank to reverse the transaction charge.
12. Can I buy goods or services from retailers outside the UK? (Cross Border Trade)
You can use your account to buy goods or services from retailers overseas in certain countries that we have approved. Once you have chosen the goods or services you want to buy from an overseas retailer, we will convert the purchase price into UK sterling using an exchange rate chosen by us. We’ll confirm the final amount and instalments payable by you under a Clearpay Plan. The exchange rate used will change regularly to reflect the currency fluctuations in the foreign exchange market. We’ll not charge you any set up fees or foreign exchange commission to perform the exchange conversion to UK sterling.
13. Can I buy gift cards on your website or app?
Where we approve an Order, and you enter a Clearpay Plan for the purchase of gift cards from third parties on our website or app, additional terms and conditions will apply. These will be notified to you at the time of your purchase. Please read all third-party terms and conditions before you place your Order for a gift card. Yours and our obligations and rights under this agreement in respect of Orders and Clearpay Plans with retailers will apply in the same way to your purchases of gift cards from third parties on our website or app.
14. How do I pay you under a Clearpay Plan?
When your account is being set up, you can choose a payment method. You can also change your payment method or add other payment methods at any time through your account.
Each time you make an approved Order, we will issue you with a Clearpay Plan where you agree to a payment schedule which sets out the amount you have borrowed from us and your repayments to us in instalments on specific dates. You must make all payments on time under the payment schedule. The first instalment is due when your Order is approved. We may allow payment schedule dates under a Clearpay Plan to be extended subject to certain conditions as set out in your account portal or as agreed with our customer services team. Where we agree to this, we will update the relevant Clearpay Plan in your account.
By entering a Clearpay Plan, you authorise us to automatically deduct payments from your payment method for the instalments set out in a payment schedule for each Clearpay Plan on the due dates under a CPA. You can cancel a CPA at any time by contacting your bank but if you do cancel a CPA, you will still owe us the instalment payments under a Clearpay Plan and you will need to make the payments by a different method.
A CPA means a continuous payment authority. It is a one-time or regular automatic payment where you give us permission to take money from your debit or credit card account to pay the instalments owed on the scheduled dates under a Clearpay Plan.
You need to make sure that you have enough money in your bank account to make the automatic payments under the payment schedule in the Clearpay Plan. You are responsible for any fees, interest or other charges imposed by your bank in line with the terms and conditions of the agreement between you and your bank, except if they were imposed due to our error.
If an automatic payment fails, for example, because your debit or credit card has expired, we may take payment from another payment method listed on your account. We may make multiple attempts on each payment method listed on your account at any time. We may also offset any money you owe us from any money we owe you (e.g., refunds) or take any other legal action. If our attempts to take payment fail, late fees may apply unless you make the payment by the instalment due dates.
15. Can I repay a Clearpay Plan early?
You have the right to repay a Clearpay Plan early in part or full at any time through your account on our website or app.
16. Do you charge interest?
Clearpay Plans are interest free. However, your bank may charge interest or other charges in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement between you and your bank.
17. Do you charge late fees?
We only charge late fees if you do not pay on time. The late fees charged are:
• Orders less than £24: We may charge one late fee of £6 if you do not pay an instalment under a Clearpay Plan by the due date.
• Orders equal to or more than £24: We may charge a late fee of £6 if you do not pay an instalment under a Clearpay Plan by the due date and a second late fee of £6 if the instalment is still unpaid 7 days after the due date. The total late fees that may be applied to an Order are capped at 25% of the purchase price of the Order (before any refunds are applied) or £24, whichever is less.
All late fees are payable by you at once. Late fees will not be applied until the date after the day that payment is due. You authorise us to deduct payment from your payment method for any late fees when they are due.
We may delay or decide not to charge late fees. If we do not enforce our rights against you for late fees, this will not stop us enforcing those rights at a later date. If you think late fees have been charged in error, please let us know. If you’re finding it difficult to pay a Clearpay Plan, please see clause 19 below.
18. How we manage late payments
We’ll contact you as soon as we can to let you know that you have missed a payment and propose options for how payment can be made. We will work with you to agree a repayment plan for the Orders and any late fees.
If we are unable to collect any amounts you owe us, we may use a debt collection agency to recover amounts owing under Clearpay Plans.
19. What if I cannot pay a Clearpay Plan on time or I am struggling financially?
If you are not able to pay us on time, please contact us as soon as possible so we can help you. Please click here for more information on financial difficulties.
