My Credit Score SA ™ provides consumers with free access to their credit report and credit score. These Terms and Conditions, including our Privacy Policy (together the “Terms”) provide a description of the services which we offer through our website and set out our obligations to you as a service provider.

The Terms also place various obligations on you as a user so that we can provide and protect our website, our services and our brand. In addition, they provide important information on how we use cookies and collect and use your personal information, including your credit report and credit score. As our services are provided at no financial cost to our users, the Terms also describe how we limit our liability to you with respect to our services and your use of our website.

Please take the time to read and understand the Terms before you make use of our services and website. If you do not want to be legally bound by these Terms in their entirety you must not accept these Terms, in which case you cannot use our website or our services.

For the avoidance of doubt, please note that the Terms do not affect your statutory (legal) rights, including any rights that you may have under applicable consumer laws that cannot be changed by agreement between you and us.

Introduction

These Terms set out our agreement with you about the use of our services and our website and are legally binding. We recommend that you print or email yourself a copy of these Terms for your future reference. Details of our services are set out in the Services section below.

Save as set out in these Terms, your use of our website and the content and Services which may be accessed through our website is at your own risk. Whilst we take reasonable steps to ensure that the content of our website is accurate, current and complete, you acknowledge and agree, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, that our website and the content and services available through it are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. In particular, you acknowledge and understand that neither we nor any of our service providers have any control over the content of the information provided by credit bureau.

We do not accept liability for the accuracy or completeness of any website content or content provided as part of our services. We do not accept liability for any errors or omissions or for the content becoming out of date. Certain features of our website will rely on data provided by you in order to generate output.

We recommend that you confirm the accuracy and completeness of any content before relying on it. References in these Terms and on our website to “we”, “our” or “us” are references to My Credit Score SA ™ and/or (where the context permits) our third party service providers together with their subcontractors. References to “you” and “your” mean each natural or juristic person who uses our website or the associated services.

Information about us

My Credit Score SA ™ is not authorised or registered as a credit bureau in terms of the National Credit Act, 2005 (“NCA”) and regulated by the National Credit Regulator (“NCR”). But a user and linked to a registered credit bureau Vericred. Our website is wholly operated by My Credit Score SA ™, which is a company owned by FinCap Investments.

Changes to these terms

We may change these Terms at any time. We will notify you of any such changes by sending you an email alert, by posting a notice on our website or through the Services, or in any other manner we deem appropriate.

You acknowledge and understand that your continued use of our website or our services will confirm your acceptance of the revised terms. We may update our website and associated services from time to time, and may change the content at any time.

Please note that any of the content on our website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it. Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we have made, as they are binding on you.

My Credit Score SA ™ Services

We are dedicated to helping our users gain more control over their financial wellbeing by obtaining their credit report and credit score from registered credit bureau and providing free access to them. We also use this information to provide our users with matched offers of third party credit products which are tailored to their profile and could help them save money.

On your acceptance of these Terms and our acceptance of your registration application, you engage us as a service provider to provide you with the following services: (a) obtain on a monthly basis on your behalf, as your authorised agent and representative, copies of your credit report and credit score from a designated credit bureau registered as such with the NCR in terms of the NCA.

Please note that all costs for the retrieval and presentation of the credit report and credit score are paid by us; (b) hold on our systems and make this credit information available to you through our website. After you register with us, we will take you through an ID validation process to securely identify you as an individual with a credit report. Once your identity has been validated, we will then provide you with a copy of your credit report and credit score.

Provided you remain an active user of our services, we will obtain from a credit bureau registered as such with the NCR in terms of the NCA an updated copy of your credit report and credit score on a monthly basis and alert you via email that a new report is available.

If there has been a significant change or addition to information in your credit score or credit report, we may notify you of that change by sending you an email alert; (c) undertake analysis and profiling of your and, where applicable, your financial associates’ (meaning any person with whom you have a joint financial account or mortgage, have made a joint credit application or have a joint court judgment) credit information (and any other information provided by you or on your behalf) and/or to make tools available to you to do so yourself, to assist you in being better informed about, understand and manage your credit position, and in order to identify and inform you of credit products (including personal loans and credit cards) that are likely to be suited to your credit circumstances; and (d) using your credit information and any other data you provide or make available to us for the purposes set out in these Terms, including our Privacy Policy, which expressly forms part of these Terms.

Certain parts of our services are supplied to us by our third party service providers such as credit bureaux. To undertake ID validation and to provide our services we need to share information collected from you with our service providers, as further detailed in our Privacy Policy.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT WHEN WE ACCESS AND RETRIEVE INFORMATION FROM CREDIT BUREAUX WE ARE DOING SO AS YOUR AGENT AND REPRESENTATIVE. YOU AGREE THAT CREDIT BUREAUX SHALL BE ENTITLED TO RELY ON THE FOREGOING AUTHORISATION AND AGENCY GRANTED BY YOU.

You will only receive monthly updates to your credit score and credit report while you remain an active user of our services. You acknowledge and agree that you will cease to be an active user if you do not log in to your account for more than 364 days.

We will be entitled to stop providing you with monthly updates and close and delete your account if you do not log in to your account in any 364 day period. Before we end provision of our Services and our website and close and delete your account we will send you an email to alert you of our intention to do so.

To resume the service, simply log in to your account within one month of receipt of the email alert.We will use third party service providers to identify and provide you with information of credit products that we consider are relevant to your credit rating.

We aim to present only the economically advantageous products that you have a strong likelihood of being accepted for based on the merits of the product and your profile. Any credit product recommended or suggested to you will be supplied by a credit provider that is registered as such with the NCR in terms of the NCA.

We do not charge you for the use of our website or our services. However, we may receive a commission if you purchase a product from a provider or issuer of credit whose information we have provided to you through advertising on our website or otherwise. Where possible and applicable we will provide a description of the basis of the commission that we earn with each product offer on our website.

Any information provided to you as part of our services is only as accurate, complete and up to date as the information supplied to us by the credit bureau or other third party we use to obtain this information. You understand and acknowledge that we do not check the information we receive from third parties for accuracy or completeness.

We do not assume responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery or failure to store any user information, communications or personalisation settings. If you have a query or dispute in respect of the services, please contact us directly using the details provided in the section Contact Us below.

If the query or dispute relates to any information we have obtained from a credit bureau or third party service provider, you acknowledge and understand that we may refer the query or dispute to them if we deem appropriate and you authorise us to do so.

By using our services, your records and, where applicable, those of your financial associates will be searched. Searches are carried out as follows: (a) as part of verifying your identity, we will carry out an authentication search against your credit information.

This search will be carried out once at the time you register for our services; (b) whilst you remain an active user of our services, we will carry out searches against your credit information on a monthly basis (i.e. a maximum total of 12 searches in any 12 month period) in order to provide you with your credit score and credit report; and (c) we may share your information with third party service providers, such as credit bureau, financial services providers and other advertisers, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and your account’s privacy settings.

Certain third party product and services providers may provide us with their own services to assess your suitability for particular products. If you would prefer not to share your information with such third party service providers, you can opt out of this at any time under your account preferences, by turning off “Change whether or not we can use quotation searches” in the “ My Account” section.

If you do opt out of this, we will not be able to show you products that are specifically targeted to you and will only be able to show you generic advertisements which may be less suited to your financial circumstances.

The credit bureau will keep a record of each search and place a “footprint” on your credit file. The types of footprints our searches leave do not affect your credit rating. They will not be seen by banks and issuers or providers of credit when you apply for their products and are removed from your credit file after a year. They are often referred to on your credit report as Quotation searches for example as ‘personal loan quotation’ or ‘credit card quotation’.

If you choose to apply for a credit product from a product provider by visiting their site either independently or via our website they may undertake a credit check that may leave a “footprint” on your credit report. They will also provide you with the terms & conditions for that product which you understand and acknowledge are not related to our terms & conditions.

You understand and acknowledge that your application for a credit product displayed by us is entirely between you and the relevant credit provider and that your eligibility for that product will at all times be subject to the relevant provider’s terms and conditions and to all requirements imposed in terms of the NCA (including but not limited to the carrying out by the relevant credit provider of an appropriate affordability assessment).

You acknowledge and understand that, in terms of the NCA, My Credit Score SA ™ must issue a report on you to any person who requires such a report for a prescribed purpose or for a purpose contemplated under the NCA.

These purposes are:

(a) an investigation into fraud, corruption or theft, provided that the South African Police Service or any other statutory enforcement agency conducts such an investigation;

(b) fraud detection or fraud prevention services;

(d) an assessment of the debtors book of a business for the purposes of (i) the sale of the business or debtors book of that business or (ii) any other transaction that is dependent upon determining the value of the business or of the debtors book of the business;

(e) setting a limit in respect of the supply of goods, services or utilities;

(f) assessing an application for insurance;

(g) verifying educational qualifications and employment;

(h) obtaining consumer information to distribute unclaimed funds, including pension funds and insurance claims;

(i) tracing a consumer by a credit provider in respect of a credit agreement entered into between the consumer and the credit provider;

(j) developing a credit scoring system by a credit provider or credit bureau; and

(k) for a credit application by a credit provider.

In relation to the purposes set out in subparagraphs (c), (e), (f) and (g) above, you expressly agree and consent under these Terms to a report being provided by My Credit Score SA ™ for these purposes.

You acknowledge and understand that My Credit Score SA ™ will release or report your information only to you or to another person: (a) as permitted or required under the NCA or other legislation to which My Credit Score SA ™ may be subject; (b) as directed by you; or (c) as directed by an order of a court or by the National Consumer Tribunal.

Registering to use our website and our services

Before you can use our services you must register through our website. During this process you have the opportunity to access, review and receive a copy of these Terms, including our Privacy Policy, and by registering for an account you confirm your acceptance of them.

Presenting a credit report and credit score is subject to you passing appropriate identity authentication for security purposes. Not all users will successfully pass the identity authentication process. If you fail the process, you agree that we do not have to notify you of the reasons why you failed.

When you register for our services by accepting these Terms, we may request personal details to verify your identity. We will use these details for the purposes of verifying your identity (and to prevent, detect and prosecute fraud and crime and comply with legal or regulatory requirements).

Accessing our website and our services

Our website and our services are made available free of charge. These Terms govern your access to and use of our website and the information available on it, including information you provide and that we collect on your behalf and facilities and services offered through our website.

You must be at least 18 years of age and a resident in South Africa to use our website and any services provided through it. You warrant to us (ie promise in a way that you can be held legally bound by that promise) that you have the required legal and contractual capacity to enter into and be bound by contractual terms.

You may access and use our website and our services only for your personal use on your own behalf and not on behalf of anyone else. You must not engage another person, company, partnership or other entity to access our website or our services on your behalf. You must not order, or attempt to order, credit information about anyone else through our website.

When using our website or our services you must comply with the provisions of our Acceptable Use Policy below. You understand and acknowledge that your right to access our website or use our services will terminate automatically if you breach any of the provisions of our Acceptable Use Policy.

You understand and acknowledge that our website is intended for use by South African residents only.

IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCESS OUR WEBSITE FROM A LOCATION OUTSIDE OF SOUTH AFRICA, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL LAWS RELATING TO SUCH ACCESS, INCLUDING VIEWING OR USING THE CONTENT OF OUR WEBSITE, IF AND TO THE EXTENT LOCAL LAWS ARE APPLICABLE.

We do not guarantee that our website, or any content on it or provided as part of our services, will always be available, uninterrupted or error free. Access to our website and our services is permitted on a temporary basis.

We reserve the right to suspend, withdraw or restrict access to our website or our services, or any part of it or them, at any time for any purpose we deem reasonable, without notice. This includes where we believe that you have materially breached these Terms, or if we consider there is or is likely to be a breach of security.

Whilst we try to keep any disruption to our website and services to a minimum, our website and services may become unavailable from time to time in order for us to carry out planned and unplanned maintenance and security updates.

In the case of planned maintenance, we will use our reasonable best efforts, where possible, to provide you with some notice of our intention to suspend the website or the services before we do so.

We will not be obliged to restore any of your data which may be deleted in the course of suspending, withdrawing or restricting your access to our website or our services. You understand and acknowledge that it is your responsibility to print out and/or save any materials or data which you may require in the future.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our website including providing and maintaining any equipment used to access our website. You are solely responsible for any telecommunications costs that you incur whilst using our website.

Security

Your right to access our website and our services is personal to you. You must not allow any other person to have access to your account or our services using your username or password. You must keep confidential any username, password or other information you choose, or are provided with, as part of our security procedures.

You must not disclose them to any other person nor keep them in any form or format that would allow them to be accessed by or on behalf of another person. You are responsible for all use of our website and our services when access is obtained through the use of your username and password, whether or not authorised.

For your security, we recommend that you close all open browsers relating to our website on completion of your visit. Should you have any reason to believe that any of your personal or account information has been compromised or exposed to any other person, either by your own actions or the actions of others, you must immediately notify us and reset your password.

Acceptable use policy

You may only use our website and our services for lawful purposes. You must comply with the acceptable use policy set out in this section (the “Acceptable Use Policy”). You must not engage, authorise or permit any other person to directly access your account in order to obtain information provided or made available to you as part of our services (whether as agent or representative on behalf of, or as a service provider to, you or otherwise).

You must not, and you must not allow another person to, use our website (including any content or materials on it) or our services:

(a) in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;

(b) in any way that is fraudulent, or has any fraudulent purpose or effect (including by misrepresenting your identity or account information);

(c) to access or interfere with another person’s records, impersonate another person or create or use a false identity or email address;

(d) for your own or another person’s commercial purposes;

(e) to harm or attempt to harm minors in any way;

(f) to transmit any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (“spam”);

(g) to obtain or attempt to obtain unauthorised access to or interfere with, damage or disrupt any part of our website, any computer systems, equipment, software or networks on or through which our website is stored or operated;

(h) to modify, adapt, decipher, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any of the software comprised in or in any way making up a part of our website or services provided by our website;

(i) to scrape, reproduce, duplicate, copy, modify, distribute, publish, resell or transmit any element comprised in our website, including any software comprised in it, the content or the services provided through it;

(j) to use any technology or processes of any kind to access, acquire, copy, monitor, navigate or search our website or any portion of it (including the use of data mining, robots or similar data gathering and extraction tools); or

(k) in any way that is not authorised by us or that is detrimental to us or our third party service providers.

You must not, and you must not allow another person to:

(a) knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that is corrupt or contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware or perform any act that would cause our website to become unavailable for use by others (including via any form of denial-of-service attack);

(b) access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt any part of our website, any software, the server or other equipment or network used in the provision of our website (including where owned or used by any third party).

(c) you undertake to fully co-operate with us where any law enforcement authorities, regulators or court order requests or directs us to disclose the identity or locate anyone posting any material or using our website or our services in breach of this Acceptable Use Policy.

Interactive Services

We may from time to time provide interactive services on our website, including, for example, for you to review and comment on the services and products that we or product providers or issuers of credit provide. Where we do provide any interactive service, we will provide clear information to you about the kind of service offered, if it is moderated and what form of moderation is used (including whether it is human or technical).

We are under no obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive service we provide on our website, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a user in contravention of our content standards, whether the service is moderated or not. Where we do moderate an interactive service, we will normally provide you with a means of contacting the moderator, should a concern or difficulty arise.

Content Standards

These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our website and to any interactive services associated with it. You must comply with the following standards. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.

Contributions must:

(a) be accurate (where they state facts);

(b) be genuinely held (where they state opinions); and

Contributions must not:

(a) contain any material which is defamatory of any person;

(b) contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory;

(d) promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;

(e) infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person; (f) be likely to deceive any person;

(g) be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence;

(h) be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;

(i) be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person;

(j) be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person;

(k) give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case; or

(l) advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act including copyright infringement or computer misuse.

Consequences of breach of the Acceptable Use Policy

You understand and accept that we may monitor and log user activity, and any material contributed by users, for security purposes and in order to identify any actual or potential misuse of our website or our services.

You further understand and accept that failure to comply with our Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a material breach of these Terms.

If we have reason to believe that you have, or you are likely to, use (or allow another person to use) our website or our services in breach of our Acceptable Use Policy, we may take such action as we reasonably deem appropriate including: immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our website or services; immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any material contributed by you to our website; legal proceedings against you; and/or disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities or regulators, where applicable, as we reasonably consider is appropriate.

Intellectual property rights

All intellectual property rights in our website, in the material published on it and in its component systems are owned by, licensed or sub-licensed to us. All content on our website is subject to copyright with all rights reserved.

Images, trade marks and brands are also protected by intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced or appropriated in any manner without permission of their respective owners. You must not remove any acknowledgement that we or any of our contributors is the author of any website content or any content we provide to you as part of the services.

You may download or print content or individual sections or pages of our website for your personal use and information only, provided that any such copy has attached to it the relevant proprietary notices and/or disclaimers.

Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through our website is done at your own discretion and risk and you are solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material.

You must not modify, adapt, copy, download or post material from our website nor store any part of our website in any other website or include it in any public or private electronic retrieval system. You must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text or explanation.

If you print off, copy, download or post to social media any part of our website in breach of these Terms you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

License

You license us to use any information, data, materials or other content (collectively “ Content”) you provide to us through our website or that we obtain on your behalf as part of the services we provide (such as your credit information) and you agree that we can use, modify, display, distribute and create new material using the Content so that we may provide our services to you and for any other purposes set out in these Terms, including our Privacy Policy.

By submitting Content you confirm and agree that the owner of that Content has expressly agreed that, without any particular time limit, and without the payment of any fees, we may use the Content for the purposes set out in these Terms.