Debt Management – Terms and Conditions

Definition of Terms

“You” means the person named in the Debt Management Plan.

“Us” and “We” means Unity, a trading name of Unity Corporation LLP.

“Agreement” means the agreement between “You” and “Us” made under these Terms and Conditions.

“Agreed Monthly Payment” means the amount You pay to Us either weekly or monthly throughout and as part of your Debt Management Programme. This payment is made up of payment to your creditors, our monthly fee and in the first three months of the plan, our initial fees.

“Declaration of Authority to Act” is the form We have asked You to sign that gives Us authority to act on your behalf in all dealings with your creditors.

“Cleared Funds” means any payment of any kind whether cash, cheque or electronic transfer made payable to Us which We have received from You. In the event of payment being by electronic transfer it means those that have not been returned within four working days. If payment is by cheque it means those that have not been returned unpaid within seven working days.

“Customer Account” is the account where all monies held on behalf of clients are kept. Monies kept in this account are not used for the general purpose of our business. All cleared funds received from you will be banked in a customer account.  The only payments which will be made from this account will be our fees and distributions to your creditors, generally within 5 days of receipt of the cleared funds.  If we are unable to distribute within 5 days we will take the appropriate action to put you back in the position you would have been in if the payment had been made with in this time scale and will make good any interest and charges which you have suffered as a result of this delay.

“Creditors” means anybody or any company that you owe money to that is included in your Debt Management Plan.

“Draft Financial Statement” means the statement we prepare and issue to you at the outset of our agreement that includes the initial information you have given us that may not include everything we need to know to complete your Financial Statement.

“Fees” includes the Initial Fee and the Monthly Fee payable by You to Us.

“Financial Statement” means the statement We prepare and issue to You and your creditors based on all the information, personal and financial, that You have given Us and is used to support your offer of payment to your creditors.

“Initial Fee” means the fee for setting up your Debt Management Plan. Your Initial Fee is calculated at 33% of your monthly payment and is deducted for the first six months of your Debt Management Plan. This money is not paid to your creditors. Our initial fees will be deducted from your monthly contribution before a distribution is made to your creditors.

“Monthly Fee” means the fee payable each month for our services. This Administration fee will be deducted from your monthly contribution before a distribution is made to your creditors. This is calculated at 15% of your monthly payment where a minimum fee of £25.00 will be charged. Your Monthly Fee will start from your first month from entering into your Debt Management Plan.

“Debt Management Plan” means the programme of regular payments You make to Us on a regular basis, normally weekly or monthly. These payments being used to repay your creditors through Us, to pay for our services and to be prepared by Us based on information provided by You and subject to regular review.

“Services” means the full range of services we agree to provide for you under the terms of this agreement.

“Terms of Business” means the terms of business as outlined here.

Business Conditions

Appointment and term

1.1   You appoint Us and We agree to act on your behalf as debt counsellors and debt adjusters and to provide the Services.

1.2   This agreement will start when You confirm your acceptance of these terms of business by signing and returning a copy to us or by returning the completed Declaration of Authority to Act Form.

1.3   This agreement will continue for the Term unless ended earlier by You or by Us as set out in these Business Conditions.

1.4  You have a right to cancel our agreement at any time during the first 14 days of the Term. The first 14 days includes weekends and public holidays.  You can do this by writing to us or by telephone saying that you wish to cancel. We will refund any Fees already paid to us that are Cleared Funds.

1.5   After the Initial Fee has been paid and formal offers have been made to your creditors, You will be notified of any changes to the term and fees to your Debt Management Plan. If these differ significantly from the estimate supplied previously, you have the right to end this Agreement and request a full refund of the Initial Fee.

What we will do

2.1   Based on information given by You to Us, We will review your income and expenditure and prepare and issue to You a Draft Financial Statement that will include a payment proposal to only those unsecured debts that we have advised You we can act upon. It will not include any payment proposal to secured credit such as hire purchase arrangements, secured loans and mortgages, rent, utility bill payments, council tax payments and other similar debts.

2.2   We will indicate in our introduction letter to you, an affordable monthly payment, confirmation of the Fees payable by You to Us for the Services provided under this Agreement and an estimate of how long it will take You to repay your creditors.

2.3   Once the Agreement starts We will contact your creditors and let them know of our involvement and will attempt to agree with them reduced payment terms on your behalf. We will also ask them not to charge interest* and to either suspend or withdraw from any recovery or similar proceedings which they may have taken or threatened to take against you.

2.4   Following receipt of your first full monthly payment, in Cleared Funds, We will prepare and issue a Financial Statement within 28 days. This may differ from the Draft Financial Statement depending on whether You have had a change of circumstances and also depend on our discussions with your Creditors.

2.5   We will periodically review your situation at least every twelve months or whenever your Creditors insist. We will issue a revised Financial Statement if appropriate. If your circumstances change and You are unable to meet the payments set out in your Debt Management Plan we will attempt to re-negotiate with your Creditors.

2.6   We will provide You with a regular statement detailing your payment to Us, your creditors and the monthly payments made to them.

2.7   We will deal with all communications from your Creditors, whether from them to Us or from You to Us appropriately and promptly. We will keep You informed of all material communications between Us and your Creditors.

What you will pay

3.1   You will pay Us the Initial Fee, the Monthly Fee and the Monthly Repayments to your creditors and any other fees agreed between You and Us for additional services.

What you will do

4.1   You must provide Us with full and accurate details on the Draft Financial Statement of your income, expenditure, creditors, assets along with sufficient proof of ID. You must also tell Us of any outstanding judgements against You or of any impending court proceedings. Wherever possible You must send supporting documentary evidence of these proceedings.

4.2   You must make the agreed Monthly Payments to Us in accordance with the Debt Management Plan.

4.3   You must allow Us to negotiate with your creditors on your behalf.

4.4   You must send Us originals or copies of all correspondence You receive from your Creditors. We may decide to scan and store your correspondence as electronic images and destroy your original paperwork. If you want original paperwork to be returned to You, You must request this prior to posting it to us.

4.5   During the Term, You must not make any direct payments to your Creditors unless You have given Us advance notice that You intend to do this and We have agreed that payment can be made.

4.6   If your circumstances change to the extent that You can no longer maintain your agreed level of monthly payment or if You have had an improvement in your circumstances so that You are able to increase your monthly payments you must tell us immediately.

4.7   We strongly recommend that You incur no further debts during the Term whether on credit or otherwise, other than those relating to everyday living expenses.

Failure to comply with these terms, once accepted, may cause serious implications with your creditors. This may involve, but not be subjected to; closure of your Debt Management Plan by Us, previously frozen interest and charges being added back onto your debts, or further action being taken by your creditors (this could include debt collectors being instructed, Bailiff Action, Attachment of Earnings Order, Charging Order – if you are a homeowner, or even a Bankruptcy petition being made against you).

How You can end the Agreement

5.1   You have the right to cancel this agreement under section 1.4.

5.2   You may also end this agreement at any time by giving Us two weeks 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. If two weeks prior notice is not given and/or cancellation is made after the initial 14 day period We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee to a maximum of the last 3 months management fees drawn, to cover the cost incurred by us in performing the services up to the date of the cancellation.

How We may end the Agreement

We may end this Agreement at any time by giving You two weeks prior written notice if any of the following happens:

6.1   You fail to make two successive Monthly Payments; or

6.2  You are otherwise in serious breach of this Agreement or have persistently committed a series of minor breaches even if one individual breach would not necessarily be regarded as a serious breach on its own; or

6.3 You become bankrupt, file a bankruptcy petition, make an arrangement with your creditors generally or make an application to a court of competent jurisdiction for protection from your Creditors generally.

6.4 You fail to respond to reasonable requests for information or documents in a timely manner and this prevents Us from providing the services.

If cancellation is made after the initial 14 day period, We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee to a maximum of the last 3 months management fees drawn, to cover the cost incurred by us in performing the services up to the date of the cancellation.

Effect of ending this Agreement

When this Agreement ends:

7.1 Our duties and obligations under this Agreement will come to an end.

7.2 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 Debt Management Plan.

7.3 We are entitled to retain or charge any Fees properly incurred up to the date of termination.

7.4 Should we hold any outstanding correspondence 30 days after the termination of your Agreement we shall forward this paperwork to you.

7.5 Any money we are holding on your behalf in our client account will be refunded to you after deducting any Fees owed to Us.

Personal Information

8.1   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 or to such of your Creditors as is necessary in order for Us to negotiate repayments with such Creditors, including Creditors who may process your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

8.2   If you have opted to receive information from Us by text messaging or email, You are responsible for the security of your mobile telephone or personal computer and must take all reasonable precautions to prevent anyone else from accessing your information, including using all security features available on your mobile telephone or personal computer and for informing us immediately if they become lost, your number or email address changes or if you suspect someone may have access to the information we send You.

Data Protection

We process personal data about you for the purposes of providing the services set out in the Engagement Letter. This will include updating and enhancing client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance. We may also transfer information that we may hold, including personal data, to other members of our group of companies; to our financiers and other business partners; to associates or persons acting on our behalf, all of whom may use such information for any of the purposes set out herein. We or our group companies and business partners may contact you by mail, telephone, fax, email or other electronic messaging service with offers or information that may be of interest to you.  For quality control and training purposes we may monitor or record your communications with us.

We may need to keep your information for a reasonable period and to discuss it with your creditors and others. If you provide us with details about another person, you confirm that they have consented to the processing of their personal data and that you have told them of our identity and the purposes for which their personal data will be processed.

By providing us with your personal data you consent to the processing of such data in the above manner.  If at any time you wish us or our group companies or business partners to stop contacting you for marketing purposes please write to us to let us know.

*Interest and Charges

We will always ask your creditors to freeze interest and charges on your accounts with them. This is because the payments you will make through your Debt Management Plan may be less than the interest originally due on those accounts. This in turn may lead to an extension in time to the original repayment period.

Additionally, where creditors agree only to a reduction in interest or state that they wish interest to continue to be charged, repaying your debts over a longer period will lead to an increase in the total amount you will pay. We will advise you of any creditors who do agree to freeze interest and charges (including times when it is only reduced).

Please be assured that in any event our aim is for you to be able to maintain any arrangement we make on your behalf at an affordable rate that will help you reduce your outstanding balance.

In some instances your creditors may issue collection actions including default notices. When this happens these actions may incur costs that will be added to your debt. Where there are existing actions being taken at the time you instruct us we will make every attempt to get these actions either suspended or withdrawn although we cannot guarantee that this will happen. It is very important that you let us know immediately if you are issued with any collection action.

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