Terms and Conditions and Online Privacy Policy

Introduction: This website (www.merchantcapital.co.za) (the “website”) provides information about us and our services. It also allows you to request services from us.

Content: The content provided on the website is for information purposes only and should not be considered an offer or advice.

Licence: We grant you a limited licence to use this website.

Online Applications: By completing an online application form, you are inviting us to engage with you in order to ascertain whether or not you qualify for our services. However, please note that you will need to meet our minimum qualifying criteria and enter into our standard services agreement before we will provide any services to you.

Specific Conditions for All Applications:

• We have no obligation to complete an agreement with you, and you have no right to demand a financial product because you completed an application.
  If Your application is unsuccessful, we will advise you and you will have no claim against us whatsoever.
  You acknowledge that you appreciate and understand the risks, costs, rights, obligations, implications and nature of the financial product.
  We may cede, transfer or otherwise dispose of your rights under this application and the terms and conditions and all documents incorporated therein to any third party.
  You understand that a processing fee may be payable by you to us should you choose to pay by way of debit order or effect deductions via a third party processor.
  You warrant that the statements, particulars given and questions answered in the application are truthful, honest, complete and accurate in all respects and any person interested in the agreement or any part thereof, now or in the future, may rely upon the truth and accuracy of the information provided by you. If there are any other material facts that you believe and/or know could influence our assessment of and decision regarding an application, you must advise us as part of your application.
  We collect and use the personal information that you give to us in the application for the purpose of assessing your eligibility for the product in any manner required. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US IN THIS APPLICATION AND THE VERIFYING MAY, SUBJECT TO ANY LAW TO THE CONTRARY, BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE THAT IS NECESSARY AND / OR INCIDENT AL TO THE ASSESSMENT OF THE APPLICATION. Such use includes the transfer of any information you have provided to us to other companies who facilitate the provision of the financial product as well as companies (such as credit bureaus) who verify and confirm your and you directors creditworthiness;
• You consent that Merchant Capital may contact, request and obtain any credit information from a registered credit bureau to verify my identity, perform an assessment of my behaviour, profile, payment patterns, indebtedness, whereabouts, and creditworthiness or another related purposes in any format (including in pdf, xml or raw data string) available from any registered credit bureau and to continuously access my information for as long as I may have a relationship with Merchant Capital;
• make any reasonable enquiries to verify and research any details provided by me to Merchant Capital;
• to access the information in any format, including online, batch and raw xml string and I consent that the enquiry should not be displayed on my credit profile if the enquiry was not performed for credit application purposes.

Intellectual Property: All materials, texts, drawings, graphics, logos, icons and any data made available on the website (“materials”) are owned by Merchant Capital and are therefore protected by both South African and international intellectual property laws. Accordingly, any unauthorised copying, reproduction, retransmission, distribution, dissemination, sale, publication, broadcast or other circulation or exploitation of the materials or any component thereof will constitute an infringement of such copyright and other intellectual property rights.

Financial Disclaimer: The website does provide nor constitute financial advice and should not be taken as such.

Restrictions: You may not use the website for commercial purposes without our prior written consent. You may not yourself or through a third party use the website for harmful, unlawful or illegal purposes. You may not copy or frame this website or any part thereof. You may not do anything that would compromise the security or integrity of the website.

Own risk: You use this website at your own risk and we make no warranties about it.

Indemnity: You indemnify and hold us harmless against any liability related to your use of the website. Our total liability to you for any and all claims related to the website and your use thereof is R 100. We will never be responsible for any indirect, special or consequential damages.

Changes: Any changes we may make to our terms and conditions in the future will be posted on the website.

Disclosures required in terms of section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002:

Full name: Merchant Capital (Proprietary) Limited
Physical address and address for receipt of service: Baobab House, 32 Impala Rd, Chislehurston, Johannesburg
Telephone no.: 011 217 2880
Website address: www.merchantcapital.co.za
Email address: info@merchantcapital.co.za
Registration number: 2012/217256/07
Country of incorporation: South Africa
Chief Executive Officer: Dov Girnun
Company Secretary:  Grant Thornton

Online Privacy Policy

Introduction: By enquiring about our products and services or completing the online application form you will be required to provide us with certain personal information. This privacy policy (the “privacy policy”) sets out the information disclosed to us and how we will use it.

Personal information: We gather the following information about you: (i) Information you give us when you apply for finance, including your full names, identity number, telephone number, email address, business name, business type, average monthly card sales and how long your business has been in operation (ii) messages that are sent to and from you; (iii) information obtained via Cookies; (iv) use of third party payment services; (v) your usage of the website and our services; (vi) your location information; and (vii) other information related to your business. Please note that should further information be required we will notify you via email.

Purpose: We use the information you provide us in order ascertain whether you qualify for our services.

How we use the information you provide:

We use the information you provide to:

• process your application for finance, including conducting criminal, commercial, credit and personal background checks
• provide you with finance and related support (if your application is approved), including sharing your personal information with financial institutions and our affiliates
• monitor your credit card sales and related business activities
• provide administrative services and for customer service related purposes
• send marketing and promotional content to you
• improve, customise and optimise our services and the website
• enable us to conduct internal research and statistical analysis
• administer any customer loyalty benefits from time to time
• improve our understanding of the marketplace and how you use our services

Storage: We store your personal information securely on servers located in South Africa, Ireland and the United States of America. Your information will be stored for a minimum period of five years or as long as we are legally required to, whichever is longer. Further, should you application not be successful or you fail to repay any loan amount we provide to you, you hereby consent to us storing such information for as long as we deem appropriate in order to use it against any future applications for finance that you may apply for.

Consent: You hereby consent to our use and storage of your personal information for the purpose indicated above.

Security: we strive to ensure the security of personal information you provide to us by taking reasonable measures to prevent the destruction, unlawful access and loss of personal information. Any compromise of data integrity or confidentiality will be reported to you by email.

Disclosure: 
We may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances -

• As provided for in these Terms;
• Where we have your explicit permission;
• As required in relation to court orders, subpoenas, or legal process, or enforceable governmental requests, or to establish or defend against legal claims, or exercise our legal rights;
• Where we believe it is necessary to access, use, preserve or disclose such information to detect, investigate, prevent, or address illegal activities, fraud, security or technical issues, or potential threats to the safety of any person, or violations of the Terms or any agreement entered into with you, to protect our rights, property, or safety of our services as well as our other customers.
• We may provide information to our related companies or other trusted businesses or persons who work on our behalf including our professional advisors, such as our lawyers or auditors. Where information is disclosed to our related companies or affiliates, those companies will use the information in compliance with our Privacy Policy.
• We will take reasonable steps to ensure that its contracts with third parties include requirements for those third parties to comply with the requirements of the applicable South African privacy legislation.
• We may also disclose aggregate, anonymous log file and usage information in reports to interested third parties to assist those parties in understanding the usage patterns and performance results of certain advertisements, content, services, promotions, or features, or to provide you a better user experience.

Your rights: Subject to certain limitations, you have the right to access, rectify, and erase your information, as well as the right to restrict and object to certain processing of your information. This includes the right to object to our processing of your information for direct marketing. You may exercise these rights by sending us an email at info@merchantcapital.co.za.

Changes: 

Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on the website.

Contact: 011 217 2880 or e: info@merchantcapital.co.za