TERMS AND CONDITION FOR SMARTPHONE LOAN AND USING USSD PLATFORM – TUGENDE LIMITED

  1. AGREEMENT
  1. By selecting the “Accept”, “Agree” or “Confirm” option at the end of the USSD loan activation process, you also agree that you have received a smart phone from Tugende Sales that has been financed by Tugende Limited as a Smartphone loan
  2. You also agree to be bound by the terms and conditions herein stipulated for the credit facility herein termed as a Smartphone Loan.
  3. These Terms and Conditions may at any time be unilaterally amended by the Company subject to a 30 days’ notice to you.  
  4. DEFINITIONS
  1. In these Terms and Conditions, the following words and expressions (save where the context requires otherwise) bear the following meanings:
  2. “Appropriate Loan Amount” means the agreed cost for the smartphone of choice. 
  3. “Credit Reference Bureau” means an entity duly licensed under the laws of Uganda to disseminate credit information.
  4. “Company” means the Lender /Tugende Limited of Plot 57, Ntinda II Rd, Naguru, P.O Box 3304, Kampala, Uganda
  5. “Borrower” means the person whose details are provided in an approved application for a credit facility submitted to the Company through the Platform.
  6. “Borrower Care Centre” means the Company branch office under which the Borrower is primarily managed.
  7. “Equipment” means a device used by the Borrower to access the Platform.
  8. “OTP” one-time pin code sent to the Borrower for authentication
  9. “Platform” means the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data operating system designed by the Company for accessing the Smartphone Loan.
  10. “Request” means an instruction from the Borrower to the Company through the Platform 
  11. “Registered mobile user” means a person whose personal details have been submitted to the telecom provider and effectively registered. 
  12. “Services” shall include any form of micro financing services or products that the Company is licensed to provide. 
  13. “SMS” means a text message. 
  14. “Smartphone Loan” means a short-term loan to be disbursed to you by the Company upon approval of your application for credit facility.
  15. “We,” “our,” and “us,” means the Company. 
  16. “You” or “your” means the Borrower and includes the personal representatives of the Borrower.

Words importing the singular meaning where the context so admits include the plural meaning and vice versa.

Headings in these Terms and Conditions are for convenience purposes only and they do not affect the interpretation of this Agreement.

  1. ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

You are expected to read and obtain independent legal or financial advice about the terms and conditions herein before accepting any of the same or using the smart phone disbursed to you. . If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, please select the “Decline” option.

  1. You will be deemed to have read, understood and accepted these Terms and Conditions if you: –
    1. Select the “Accept”, “Agree” or “Confirm” option at the end of the USSD loan activation process
    2. Receive a smartphone from Tugende, continue to use or operate it.
  1. ACCOUNT OPENING
  1. In order to access the Smartphone Loan, the Company will initiate an account opening process that will be managed by the Company for purposes of maintaining your information relating to your credit facility and appropriate personal data. 
  2. Your access to the account shall be limited to payment information, effecting payments, and such other access that may from time to time be granted by the Company.
  3. The Company may open accounts for the persons who meet the following requirements:
    1. Are of sound mind.
    2. Above the age of eighteen (18) and not above the age of sixty (60) years
    3. Are registered mobile users with a valid national identification document and  areUgandan. 
    4. For artificial persons, are validly existing under the laws of Uganda.
  4. The Company reserves the right to establish the authenticity and status of your registration / document submitted.
  1. PERSONAL INFORMATION 
    1. By selecting the “Accept”, “Agree” or “Confirm” option, you agree and authorize the Company to request and obtain for your personal information held by your telecom operator, the National Identification and Registration Authority, Immigrations Department and any other entity in possession of such information the Company deems relevant to fulfil its carrying out due diligence on you.
    2. The Company shall collect, store and use the Borrower personal information in accordance with the provisions of the data protections laws applicable in Uganda.
    3. You further acknowledge and authorize the Company to verify such personal information received from relevant authorities.
    4. The Company reserves the right to request for further information from you pertaining to your Account or application for a Smartphone Loan at any time and failure to provide such information within the time required by the Company may result in the Company declining to accept your application for a Smartphone Loan or closing your Account.
  2. ACCEPTANCE AND COMMUNICATION
    1. Access to the USSD Channel for activation of the smartphone loan is only availed to you after confirmation of eligibility for the smartphone loan
    2. Creation of an Account for you does not automatically entitle you to the credit facility or create any contractual relationship between you and the Company beyond these terms and conditions.
    3. The Company reserves the right to decline / revoke your application for the Smartphone Loan at any stage at its sole discretion and without assigning any reason thereto.
    4. All communication in relation to the smartphone loan shall be made via SMS or any other mode that the Company may from time to time determine.
    5. All your communications to the Company in relation to the Account or Smartphone Loan shall be addressed to your respective Tugende location via the Toll Free Line: 0800300848.
  3. SMARTPHONE LOAN
    1. The Application shall be appraised according to the applicable loan appraisal processes of the Company and the Company reserves the right at its sole discretion and without assigning any reason to approve or decline the application for a loan based on the appraisal.
    2. You authorize and consent to the Company’s verification of your credit worthiness from the Credit Reference Bureau.
    3. The Smartphone Loan shall be subject to  a monthly interest rate of 2.8% on flat amortization.
    4.  This rate may be subject to review, and any such review will be subject to a 30 days’ written notice sent to you through the communication channels stipulated in the contract.
    5. Loan repayment shall commence within a period of seven (7) days from the date of disbursement of the smartphone loan through the Company’s official payment channels. 
    6. All payments shall be made only through the official channels authorised by the Company and none other. Under no circumstances will cash be used as a payment mode for the smartphone  loan.
    7. The smartphone is considered stolen if it remains untraceable for 45 days with no communication or repayment from the Borrower. The Lender will then report a police case against the Borrower.
  4. DEFAULT IN REPAYMENT 
    1. The Borrower shall be in default of payment, if he/she does not remit payment for the week by the agreed Payment Day of the week in issue. 
    2. The Company shall be at liberty to block the Borrower’s user access to the Smartphone acquired. Grant of access to the phone following a blockage that resulted from default in payment may be at a fee.
    3. A penalty of UGX 10,000 shall accrue for each delayed payment. 
  5. TEMPERING / HACKING THE SECURITY SOFTWARE OF THE SMART PHONE 

The Borrower agrees to remit the entire outstanding balance, in all instances where it is established that the Borrower tampered with the security software of the Smart phone prior to settlement of the entire smartphone loan amount, including the interest charged. 

  1. FEES

The Borrower shall be liable for the following:

  1. Transactional charges billed by the telecom operator in respect of any mobile money transaction;
  2. Taxes payable in relation to any mobile money remittances being made to the Company;
  3. Search fees or other costs incurred by the Company in carrying out due diligence on the Borrower or collecting KYC information in relation to the Borrower.
  4. a fixed impounding fee or actual impounding costs, whichever is higher for costs incurred during impounding of the smartphone due to non-payment or contract violations, 10.2 Additional costs, such as transport, facilitation, communication, legal fees, or recovery facilitation, may be applied. Additional costs, such as transport, facilitation, communication, legal fees, or recovery facilitation, may be applied.
  5. ACCOUNT STATEMENTS

The Borrower may, on request be provided with a status of his / her loan indicating debits and outstanding balances, amounts paid and  penalties accrued.

IRREVOCABLE AUTHORITY OF THE TUGENDE (U) LIMITED

  1. It is hereby understood that by selecting the “Accept”, “Agree” or “Confirm” option, you irrevocably authorize the Company to act on all requests triggered by such option on your smartphone loan account. You shall therefore be liable in respect thereof, notwithstanding that any such requests are not authorized by you or are not in accordance with any existing mandates given by you.
  2. In the event of any conflict between any terms of any request received by the Company from you and these Terms and Conditions, these Terms and Conditions shall prevail.
  1. Borrower’S RESPONSIBILITIES
    1. The Borrower shall at his or her cost;
      1. Maintain in safe and efficient operating order the smartphone disbursed to them under this agreement
      2. Be responsible for ensuring the proper performance of your smartphone and the Company shall neither be responsible for any errors or failures caused by any malfunction of your smartphone, and nor any virus or related problems that may be associated with its use.
    2. The Borrower shall follow all instructions, procedures and terms contained herein and any document provided by the Company concerning the use of the smartphone.
    3. You agree and acknowledge that you shall be solely responsible for the safe custody and proper use of your smartphone.
    4. You shall take all reasonable precautions to detect any unauthorized use of the smartphone. To that end, you shall ensure that all communications from the Company are examined and checked by you or on your behalf as soon as practicable after receipt by you in such a way that any unauthorized use of and access to the System will be detected.
    5. You shall immediately inform the Company through the Borrower Care Centre within a period of 24 hours in the event that;
      1. You have reason to believe that unauthorized use of the smartphone has or may have occurred or could occur and a transaction may have been fraudulently input or compromised.
    6. You shall at all times follow the security procedures notified to you by the Company from time to time or such other procedures as may be applicable to the Services from time to time. You acknowledge that any failure on your part to follow the recommended security procedures may result in a breach of your “Smartphone Loan” Account’s confidentiality. In particular, you shall ensure that the Platform is not used or requests are not issued or the relevant functions are not performed by anyone other than a person authorized to do so.
    7. You shall not at any time operate or use the Platform in any manner that may be prejudicial to the Company.
  2. EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY
    1. The Company shall not be responsible for any loss suffered by you should the smartphone be interfered with or be unavailable by reason of:
      1. the failure of any of your Equipment, or 
      2. any other circumstances whatsoever not within the Company’s control including, without limitation, force majeure or error, interruption, delay or non- availability of the System, terrorist or any enemy action equipment failure, loss of power, adverse weather or atmospheric conditions, and failure of any public or private telecommunications system.
    2. The Company will not be liable for any losses or damage suffered by you as a result of or in connection with: –
      1. your failure to give proper or complete instructions for payments or transfers relating to your loan;
      2. any fraudulent or illegal use of the smartphone;
      3. Under no circumstances shall the Company be liable to you for any loss of profit or anticipated cost savings or for any indirect or consequential loss.
  3. INDEMNITY

In consideration of the Company complying with your instructions or requests in relation to the smartphone loan, you undertake to indemnify the Company and hold it harmless against any loss, charge, damage, expense, fee or claim which the Company suffers or incurs or sustains thereby and you absolve the Company from all liability for loss or damage which you may sustain from the Company acting on your instructions or requests or in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

  1. VARIATION AND TERMINATION OF RELATIONSHIP
    1. Without prejudice to the Company, the Company may at its sole discretion suspend or close your “Smartphone Loan”;
      1. if you use the “Smartphone Loan” for unauthorized purposes or where the Company detects any abuse/misuse, breach of content, fraud or attempted fraud relating to your use of the Services;
      2. if the Company is required or requested to comply with an order or instruction of or a recommendation from the government, court, regulator or other competent authority;
      3. if Company reasonably suspects or believes that you are in breach of these Terms and Conditions (including non-payment of any Loan amount due from you where applicable);
      4. where such a suspension or variation is necessary as a consequence of technical problems or for reasons of safety;
      5. to facilitate update or upgrade the contents or functionality of the Services from time to time;
      6. where you remain inactive for any period of time determined by the Company in its reasonable discretion;
      7. If the Company decides to suspend or cease the provision of the Services for commercial reasons or for any other reason as it may determine in its absolute discretion.
  2. RECOVERY
    1. The Company reserves the right to employ all means at its disposal to recover the total outstanding balances in case of default including but not limited to legal means, credit reference bureaus. 
    2. All fines are due on the next scheduled payment date.
  3. MISCELLANEOUS
    1. These Terms and Conditions (as may be amended from time to time) form a legally binding agreement binding on you and your personal successors.
    2. This Agreement and any rights or liabilities accruing thereunder may not be assigned by you to any other person.
    3. The Company may vary or amend at any time and without notice to you these Terms and Conditions and the Transaction Fees. Any such variations or amendments may be published on the Company website and/or to the telephone contact provided to us by you. Any such variations and amendments shall take effect thirty days after publication
    4. No failure or delay by either yourself or the Company in exercising any right or remedy hereunder shall operate as a waiver thereof, nor shall any single or partial exercise of any right or remedy prevent any further or other exercise thereof or the exercise of any other right or remedy.
    5. The rights and remedies herein not exclusive of any rights or remedies provided by law.
    6. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions shall be found by any duly appointed arbitrator, court or administrative body of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision shall not affect the other provisions herein.
  4. NOTICES
    1. The Company may send information concerning the Smartphone Loan via SMS to the Mobile Phone number associated with your loan subscription. 
    2. All notices and communications to the Company should be made to your respective Borrower Care Service Centre or Toll Free line via 0800300848.
    3. You acknowledge that you have no claim against the Company for damages resulting from losses, delays, misunderstandings, mutilations, duplications or any other irregularities due to transmission of any of the communication referred to herein.
  5. DISPUTE RESOLUTION, JURISDICTION AND ARBITRATION

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Uganda.

You may contact the Borrower Care Center to report any disputes, claims or Smartphone Loan discrepancies.

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms and conditions that are not resolved by the Company shall be referred to arbitration by a single arbitrator to be appointed by agreement between the parties or in default of such agreement within 15 days of the notification of a dispute, upon the application of either party, to any appointing authority.

Such arbitration shall be conducted in the English language in Kampala in the Republic of Uganda under the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, Cap 5.

To the extent permissible by Law, the determination of the Arbitrator shall be final, conclusive and binding upon the parties hereto.