Terms of Use

3. Use of the Website

3.1 This Website includes materials which are provided by us on the Website or are on CARE's other websites reached via links on the Website.

3.2 These Terms supersede all other agreements previously applicable to the use of the Website. These Terms may be modified and posted on the Website at CARE's sole discretion from time to time.

3.3 By accessing the Website (whether or not you become a Lender, participate in the Programme or otherwise register to use any CARE service), you agree to be legally bound by these Terms (including the Privacy Policy).

3.4 If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms, you may not use the Website or participate in the Programme.

3.5 By accepting these Terms, you warrant that:

3.6 You may not:

3.7 If you breach these Terms, your permission to use the Website terminates immediately. We retain the right to deny access to the Website to any person at our absolute discretion.

3.8 We reserve the right to make changes or corrections to, or alter, suspend or discontinue any aspect of, the Website or the content or services available through it, including your access to it. Unless explicitly stated to the contrary, any new features, including new content, shall be subject to these Terms.

3.9 We will not be liable if for any reason the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.

3.10 If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.

4. Confidentiality and Rights of Ownership

4.1 CARE owns and retains all trademarks, copyright and other proprietary rights in the Programme, the Website (including the name, logo and other trade marks) and all materials, messages, images or information posted thereon ("Content").

4.2 You may not copy, modify, distribute, publish, transmit, display, sell or otherwise use any of the Content without prior written permission from CARE.

4.3 You agree that, by posting any images or information on the Website, you hereby grant CARE an irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence (with the right to sublicence) to use such images or information, whether on the Website or otherwise in, or in connection with any of CARE's advertisements, campaigns or any other material posted, created or used by CARE from time to time.

4.4 By posting the images or information you:

5. Participation in the Programme

5.1 By participating in the Programme you hereby agree that we in no way represent, warrant or otherwise guarantee that any contribution you make to an Original Loan in relation to the Programme will be repaid and you understand that all Original Loans made via the Website bear the risk of non-repayment.  Such non-repayment may result from a Payment Default by an Entrepreneur or an MFI.  Repayments under the Entrepreneur Loans and Original Loans are structured such that the risk of foreign exchange losses is borne by the Lenders.  You agree that any foreign exchange losses will be debited from your Lender Balance or Original Loan repayment, as applicable, and will not be paid by CARE. All foreign exchange gains will become property of CARE and you waive any claim to such foreign exchange gains. You also agree that you will not receive any return (whether by way of interest or a share of any profits made) on any Original Loan or Entrepreneur Loan.

Loan Disbursement

5.2 All contributions to Original Loans are non-refundable.  Nevertheless, if the total contributions received in respect of a proposed Original Loan are insufficient to fund the proposed amount of that Original Loan, or if CARE (in its absolute discretion) determines that a proposed Original Loan should not be made, your contributions will be returned to your Lender Account.  Once an Original Loan has been made, a Lender will not receive repayments in respect of it unless and until the Entrepreneur makes repayments to the relevant MFI under the corresponding Entrepreneur Loan, and subsequently the MFI makes repayments to CARE under the Original Loan.

5.2A You will pay your contributions to CARE in sterling, and they will be converted into US Dollars by CARE for the purposes of funding the relevant Original Loan, which will be made in US Dollars.  You will be deemed to have contributed the US Dollar amount resulting from this conversion towards the Original Loan.  This US Dollar amount will be used to determine the proportion of each repayment of the Original Loan to which you are entitled.  This will apply irrespective of the sterling value of your contribution on the date when the Original Loan is made to the relevant MFI, and irrespective of the value in sterling of the contributions made by any other Lender who contributes to the Original Loan.

5.3 You acknowledge that contributions that you make towards an Original Loan, and any repayments that are received by CARE in respect of an Original Loan, will be pooled with contributions made by other Lenders and repayments received in respect of other Original Loans, and these amounts will be held together in a general CARE Lender Fund Account which is not dedicated to you.  CARE Lender Fund Accounts are held in the name of CARE.  You have no rights in respect of any CARE Lender Fund Accounts or any amounts held in them.  Your rights are limited to your contractual right to receive payments from CARE as set out in these Terms.

5.4 If any interest is earned on Original Loan funds while they are held in a CARE Lender Fund Account prior to being disbursed to an MFI (or after repayments have been received from an MFI), such interest will be deemed as CARE income and available to CARE to be used for any purposes.

5.5 CARE is merely an intermediary in the loan-making process. MFIs are solely responsible for screening each Entrepreneur, accessing the feasibility of loan applications and posting requests for loans on the Website.

5.6 Separate to any contributions to Original Loans made via the Website, you may choose to make a donation. You agree that any donation made by you is done freely and is not related to any contributions to Original Loans made on the Website.

Loan Repayment

5.7 If, for any reason, CARE or an MFI is unable to collect Original Loan or Entrepreneur Loan repayments, your contribution to the Original Loan may not be repaid.  This may be due to:

5.8 Repayments may be made available to you in periodic instalments or at the end of the term of the Original Loan, depending on the terms of the applicable Original Loan and as determined at CARE’s sole discretion.

5.9 Any amounts received by CARE from an MFI under the Original Loan (following repayment by an Entrepreneur under their Entrepreneur Loan) will be made available to the Lenders relating to that Entrepreneur Loan on a pro rata basis.

5.10 CARE will not be obligated to make available to you any amount repaid on a contribution you have made to an Original Loan, except to the extent of any amount that has been received by CARE from an MFI with respect to such Original Loan.

5.11 No interest or other fees or amounts will be due or payable to you or any other Lender in connection with any contribution to an Original Loan you make under the Programme. CARE may, however, at its sole discretion, charge fees to the MFIs (which may be referred to as "interest") in respect of monies advanced to them to cover its own costs, and such fees will be owned by CARE (without any duty to pay them to you) and may be used for any purposes. Interest may also be charged by the MFIs when they provide the Entrepreneur Loan to an Entrepreneur and any such interest shall be retained by the MFIs.  For the avoidance of doubt, no interest will be charged on any sharia-compliant Entrepreneur Loans.

5.12 Any repaid amounts made available to a Lender may be re-lent or withdrawn via Paypal by the Lender. Sums which are not re-lent or withdrawn will be dealt with as described under the heading "Gifts" which follows.

Gifts

5.13 The participation in the Programme is entirely separate from the making of gifts.

5.14 Once the Original Loans have been repaid, the Lender may make an absolute gift at any time thereafter to CARE of the amount it would otherwise be entitled to receive from CARE or, as mentioned previously, the sum may be re-lent or withdrawn. If sums are left in a CARE Lender Fund Account these amounts will automatically be treated as having been donated, after the Programme Completion Date to CARE, if a Lender:

all within the preceding 12 months.

We will make at least three attempts to contact the Lender using the contact email address supplied before these amounts are automatically donated to CARE by the Lender following the Programme Completion Date.

Restructuring of Loans

5.15 The Original Loans and Entrepreneur Loans (and the terms on which they are repaid by the MFI or the Entrepreneur, as applicable) may be restructured from time to time in response to specific adverse events affecting the MFIs and/or Entrepreneurs, such as prolonged drought or flooding, in order to increase the likelihood that the Original Loan is repaid. You hereby consent (without any notice thereof) to any restructuring of the terms of the Original Loans and/or the Entrepreneur Loans at CARE’s sole discretion, including, but not limited to, repayment terms and the length of the Original Loans/Entrepreneur Loans. A Lender will be informed of such restructuring via their Lender Account and an email sent to them. The Lender will always bear any losses derived from a Payment Default, whether due to the Entrepreneur or an MFI.

CARE's Authority to Exercise Rights on Your Behalf

5.16 You agree irrevocably that CARE will have full authority to exercise on your behalf any rights you have under or in respect of an Original Loan.  You agree not to seek to revoke CARE's authority, or to exercise any rights under or in respect of an Original Loan other than by making a request to CARE, and you agree that CARE shall have absolute discretion in deciding whether to follow any such request.  You agree that these restrictions are reasonable in light of CARE's role as agent for multiple Lenders and the specialist nature of the lending involved in the Programme.

Force Majeure

5.17 An Event of Force Majeure may result in the partial or complete loss of all Original and Entrepreneur Loans to a particular MFI or Entrepreneur. The Lender will always bear any such losses.

Loan Records

5.18 CARE handles all personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please refer to the Privacy Policy.

Repayment of Original Loans

5.19 The amount returned to CARE and made available to a Lender upon the repayment of an Original Loan may potentially be less than the principal amount of the contribution to the Original Loan made by a Lender. Should the Entrepreneur Loan and Original Loan be repaid in full by both the Entrepreneur and the MFI, the Lender may still suffer losses due to foreign exchange rates, as noted in paragraphs 5.20 and 5.21 below.

5.20 The MFIs may either:

5.21 An Entrepreneur Loan may be made:

5.22 You acknowledge that the conversions from one currency to another may result in foreign exchange losses which shall be debited from your Lender Balance or Original Loan repayment, as applicable, and will not be paid by CARE.  All foreign exchange gains will become property of CARE and you waive any claim to such foreign exchange gains.

5.23 Where Entrepreneur Loans are denominated in local currencies, the Original Loans and Entrepreneur Loans are structured in such a way as to protect Entrepreneurs and MFIs foreign exchange rate fluctuations between local currency and US Dollars when they make repayments under the Entrepreneur Loans and the Original Loans respectively.  In these cases, although the Original Loan is made in US Dollars, the repayment obligation and outstanding balance from time to time are denominated in the local currency.  Repayments are made in the local currency, and although they are converted into US Dollars when they are received by CARE, the outstanding balance is reduced by the local currency amount of the repayment.  This means that when  the outstanding local currency balance has been repaid by the MFI, the Original Loan is deemed repaid, regardless of the effect of exchange rate fluctuations which may have meant that the total amount received by CARE has a greater or lower value in US Dollars than the original US Dollar amount transferred by CARE to the relevant MFI in respect of the Original Loan. 

5.23A For example, suppose that a MFI requests 1000 local currency units in respect of an Entrepreneur Loan, and an Original Loan is made to a MFI of 100 US Dollars. The amount that the MFI owes to the Lenders under the Original Loan is 1000 local currency units, not 100 US Dollars.  If the MFI repays 1000 local currency units, the Original Loan of 100 US Dollars will be deemed repaid even if, due to exchange rate fluctuations, it turns out that the 1000 local currency units is worth less than 100 US Dollars when it is repaid by the MFI.. 

5.23B You acknowledge that the arrangements described above may result in you not receiving the full amount of your original contribution to an Original Loan, even if the Entrepreneur Loan is fully repaid in the local currency.  You also acknowledge that the effect of these arrangements may be that CARE receives an amount in local currency which has a value in US Dollars exceeding the amount originally transferred to the MFI in respect of the Original Loan.  The resulting surplus will be retained by CARE as the property of CARE, and you waive any claim to such surplus.

5.24 Any amounts received by CARE from an MFI under the Original Loan (following repayment by an Entrepreneur under their Entrepreneur Loan) will be made available to the Lenders relating to that Entrepreneur Loan on a pro rata basis according to the contribution deemed to be made to the Original Loan under paragraph 5.2A, but subject to a maximum, in US Dollars, equal to the original deemed contribution of each Lender.  Any amounts allotted to you as repayments in respect of your contribution to an Original Loan are rounded down to the nearest penny in pounds sterling.  You acknowledge that this may result in your contribution to an Original Loan not being fully repaid.  You also acknowledge that any gains resulting from such rounding will be retained by CARE, and you waive any claim to such gains.

7. Liability

7.1 You alone are responsible for the decisions you make with respect to the Programme including, the contribution to any Original Loan or posting of any images or information.

7.2 Exclusion of Liability

7.3 Subject to paragraph 7.5 and without prejudice to paragraph 7.2, to the extent that any part of paragraph 7.2 is found for any reason by any court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, invalid or illegal, CARE's total aggregate liability to you under or in connection with these Terms shall be limited to the amount of any contribution to any Original Loan to which liability applies.

7.4 You agree that the limitations and exclusions set out in these Terms are reasonable having regard to all the relevant circumstances, and the levels of risk and reward associated with CARE's obligations under these Terms.

7.5 Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or limit CARE's liability for:

and this paragraph 7 shall be construed accordingly.

or at such other address and contact details as CARE may from time to time specify on the Website, and shall be deemed to have been duly given or made as follows:

provided that if, in accordance with the above provision, any such communication would otherwise be deemed to be given or made after 5.00 p.m. such communication shall be deemed to be given or made at 9.00 a.m. on the next business day.

13. Entire Agreement

You agree that:

PROVIDED THAT the provisions of this paragraph 13 shall not exclude any liability which you may have in respect of any statements made fraudulently by you prior to you agreeing to these Terms or any rights CARE may have in respect of fraudulent concealment by you.