Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA Terms and Conditions
These Terms and Conditions apply to the holding in an Innovative Finance ISA of bonds available through the Qardus Limited website. The provisions of the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions apply to the services provided by Qardus Limited in respect of bonds held within a Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA in addition to these Terms and Conditions. In the event of conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions, the provisions of these Innovative Finance ISA Terms and Conditions will prevail.
In these Terms and Conditions, references to the ISA Regulations means the Individual Savings Account Regulations 1998 (as amended or replaced from time to time) and other capitalised terms that are not defined herein shall bear the meaning given to them in the ISA Regulations, where applicable.
1. Your Innovative Finance ISA account
1.1 Share In Ltd (“ShareIn”) will be the manager of your Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA. ShareIn will not facilitate the holding of investments within your Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA pursuant to these Terms and Conditions other than bonds acquired through the Qardus Limited website.
1.2 ShareIn may delegate functions under this agreement to another person, including Qardus Limited, where this is permitted by law. References to “we”, “us” and “our” in these Terms and Conditions are to ShareIn or its delegates.
1.3 To open a Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA account, we must be in receipt of a completed ISA application, together with your payment (including a transfer of cash from an existing ISA) for any whole pound (£) amount the minimum stated in the Offer Document and (other than for transfers from existing ISAs) the maximum annual subscription allowance for an Innovative Finance ISA.
1.4 You may subscribe to an ISA in any tax year (i.e. period starting on 6 April of one year and ending 5 April of the following year) for which you are either resident and ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom; or, although non-resident in the United Kingdom, perform duties of a Crown employee which are treated as being performed in the United Kingdom, or are the spouse or civil partner of such a person.
1.5 When you open an Innovative Finance ISA account, we will ask you to make a declaration to allow you to subscribe for an Innovative Finance for each subsequent tax year.
1.6 In accordance with the Individual Savings Account Regulations 1998 (ISA Regulations), you are not eligible to apply if you have already subscribed the maximum available allowance to a Cash and/or Stocks and Shares ISA and/or Innovative Finance ISA in the same tax year as you are applying for this ISA. These restrictions do not apply where you have already subscribed the maximum allowance to a cash and/or stocks and shares ISA and/or Innovative Finance ISA and this is transferred to this Innovative Finance ISA.
1.7 ISA investments will be, and must remain in, your beneficial ownership and must not be used as security for a loan.
1.8 Any documents evidencing your title to the Innovative Finance ISA investments will be held by us or as we may direct.
1.9 We will satisfy ourselves that any person to whom we delegate any of our functions or responsibilities under the terms agreed with the investor is competent to carry out those functions and responsibilities.
1.10 We will notify you if, by reason of any failure to satisfy the provisions of the ISA Regulations, an ISA has, or will, become void. If the failure cannot be corrected or if you fail to take any action requested by us in writing within a reasonable period of time, we may close your account by written notice.
1.11 We are obliged to confirm the true identity of all applicants and reserve the right to decline an application to open an account from you or any deposit.
2. Payments and withdrawals
2.1 Subscriptions can be made into your Innovative Finance ISA account via bank transfer or, where we offer this service, a transfer made in accordance with condition 7.
2.2 If money is subscribed into your Innovative Finance ISA account which exceeds the amount prescribed in the ISA Regulations, then the excess subscription will be transferred to a Qardus Limited general investment account.
2.3 You may make withdrawals from your Innovative Finance ISA account; however, you cannot withdraw money which is invested in a bond (although you may seek to sell the bond in accordance with the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions).
2.4 We will pay any cash sums out of your Innovative Finance ISA account within such a reasonable period as you may stipulate. This period will not exceed 30 days of the date on which you notify us of the withdrawal request.
2.5 Your Innovative Finance ISA will be flexible. This flexibility means money which is withdrawn can be replaced (in whole or in part) within the same tax year and this will not affect your ISA subscription limit for that year. You will not be able to replace bonds if you cease to hold them in the Innovative Finance ISA account.
3. Uninvested cash
3.1 Your Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA must be fully invested into qualifying bonds at all times. Cash may only be held temporarily for the purpose of purchasing those qualifying bonds.
3.2 All uninvested IFISA cash shall be held in a designated client account administered by ShareIn and that is segregated from any money belonging or due to either us or ShareIn.
4. Fees
4.1 No fees are currently payable by you in respect to your Qardus Limited IF ISA.
4.2 Qardus Limited reserve the right to introduce fees in the future where they believe it is reasonable to do so.
4.3 Qardus Limited will give you at least 30 days' written notice of the introduction of any fees affecting your IF ISA.
5. Cancellation and account closure
5.1 If you decide you no longer want an Innovative Finance ISA, you will have the right to cancel your account within 14 calendar days of the date your account is opened. You can do this by contacting us at contact@qardus.com. Please note that this will cancel your Innovative Finance ISA account, but your right to cancel any bonds held within it will be governed by the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions.
5.2 When your account is cancelled pursuant to condition 5.1, any money or bonds credited to your account will be transferred to a standard Qardus Limited general investment account. You can then proceed to use your standard non-ISA account in accordance with the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions.
5.3 If you have subscribed to your Innovative Finance ISA during a tax year and then close the account, you will be able to re-open the account with us during the same tax year.
5.4 We may close your account with immediate written notice to you if we are directed to close it by HM Revenue & Customs or if your membership is terminated pursuant to the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions.
5.5 If you or we close your Innovative Finance account, any money credited to your account will be transferred to a standard Qardus Limited general investment account. You can then proceed to use your standard general investment account in accordance with the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions.
5.6 The interest rate on bonds subscribed for within a Qardus Limited Ltd Innovative Finance ISA will not change by virtue of transferring them into a non-ISA account.
6. Death or bankruptcy
6.1 In the event of your death, ISA tax exemptions may be lost in circumstances set out in the ISA regulations.
6.2 When we receive notification of your death, we will manage your Innovative Finance ISA account as a continuing account of a deceased investor. If the account has not been closed prior to the earlier of the completion of the administration of your estate or the third anniversary of your death it will be transferred to a standard Qardus Limited general investment account.
6.3 We may require a grant of probate or letters of administration before releasing any monies in your account to your executors.
6.4 Your Innovative Finance ISA account will be valued for probate as at the date of death and dealt with as instructed by your executors.
6.5 We may support the setting up of an Innovative Finance ISA based on additional permitted subscriptions (within the meaning of the ISA Regulations) for your spouse.
6.6 In the event of your bankruptcy, ISA tax exemptions will no longer apply from the date on which a trustee is appointed to manage your estate.
6.7 When we receive notification of your bankruptcy, we will close your Innovative Finance ISA account, and any cash and bonds will be transferred to a standard Qardus Limited general investment account in the name of the trustee.
6.8 Whilst you are bankrupt, your trustee will have the authority to request that we sell your bonds and/or send monies in your account to them.
7. Transfers in
7.1 You may transfer money (but not investments) into your Innovative Finance ISA with us from an existing ISA in your name with another provider. An online Transfer Form will need to be completed. We can then arrange for the money to be transferred to us from your existing ISA provider in accordance with your instructions in the Transfer Form and the ISA Regulations.
7.2 The transfer process will begin on the date on the Transfer Form or the date you stipulate for us to begin the transfer process, whichever is later. We will then send your request for the transfer of money in your existing ISA to your existing ISA Provider together with confirmation that we will accept the ISA transfer, within 30 days of receiving your Transfer Form. We will not be responsible for any delay to the transfer where this is due to a matter than we cannot reasonably control.
7.3 Funds in your standard non-ISA account can be transferred into your Innovative Finance ISA account as long as they are not currently invested in a bond. Please contact us on [email contact details] if you wish to make such a transfer, specifying the amount you wish to transfer.
8. Transfers out
8.1 If you wish to transfer your ISA to another ISA manager, the transfer must be made in cash and you cannot transfer your bonds. You cannot call for repayment by the issuer of your bonds within an Innovative Finance ISA to fund a transfer out; however, where a purchaser can be found, bonds within an Innovative Finance ISA can be sold pursuant to the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions.
8.2 You may transfer all or part of the money in your account in the current tax year, together with all or parts of any money (together with interest) in your account from previous tax years to another ISA Provider in accordance with the ISA Regulations and these Terms and Conditions. You will need to contact your other ISA provider in order to arrange a transfer and you can choose the date money is transferred subject to us being allowed up to 30 days to implement that transfer.
9. Bonds that you already own
9.1 If you are an existing Qardus Limited customer, you cannot transfer existing bonds from your Qardus Limited general investment account into your Innovative Finance ISA account.
9.2 You can sell bonds in your Qardus Limited general investment account and subsequently transfer non-invested money to your Innovative Finance ISA account in accordance with condition 2.1.
9.3 Bonds purchased from an existing bondholder in accordance with the Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions cannot be included within a Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA account unless the seller held the bonds in a Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA account.
9.4 Bonds held within a Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA may, subject to Qardus Limited Investor Terms and Conditions, be sold to an available purchaser and the proceeds of sale retained within the ISA pending re-investment.
10. Amendments to these Terms and Conditions
10.1 We may, at any time, change the Innovative Finance ISA Terms and Conditions by giving you written notice via email. Such amendment will take effect on the date specified in the written notice. For the avoidance of doubt, these changes may impact our fees and charges, or the level of service provided. Any amendment that adversely affects you will not apply to sums already invested, but will apply to re-investment of the proceeds.
10.2 We may amend these Innovative Finance ISA Terms and Conditions if we believe it necessary in order to respond proportionally to changes in law and regulations.
10.3 We may also amend the Innovative Finance ISA Terms and Conditions to reflect changes to our systems, administrative processes and procedures, market practice or client requirements and to reflect other legitimate cost increases (or reductions) associated with providing your Qardus Limited Innovative Finance ISA.
10.4 You will be given at least 30 days’ notice in respect of any changes to these Innovative Finance ISA Terms and Conditions that adversely affect you unless the specific circumstances require a shorter or longer period. Any amendments will comply with any applicable laws and regulations.
11. ISA Regulations
11.1 The management of your Innovative Finance ISA Account will be subject to the ISA Regulations and current HMRC practices. Any changes made by HMRC to the ISA Regulations or its practices that affect these terms will apply as soon as they come into effect.
11.2 We will inform you if your Innovative Finance ISA Account has or will lose its tax exemption through any failure to meet the ISA Regulations. If an investment which was previously allowed under the ISA Regulations ceases to be allowed, we will notify you and request your instruction to either sell the investment and reinvest the proceeds in the account, or transfer it out of the account.
12. General
12.1 These Terms and Conditions are governed by and to be construed in accordance with English law. In the event of any matter or dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms and Condition, you and we shall submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
12.2 If any of these Terms and Conditions is found to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder shall, so far as possible, continue in full force and effect.
12.3 No single or partial exercise, or failure or delay in exercising any right, power or remedy by us shall constitute a waiver by us of, or impair or preclude any further exercise of, that or any right, power or remedy arising under these Terms and Conditions or otherwise.
12.4 We and Qardus Limited may exercise any of our rights or discharge our obligations under these Terms and Conditions in our or Qardus Limited’s own capacity or through any company or other legal entity which has all relevant legal authorisations, licences or permissions to discharge those functions. Other than Qardus Limited, which shall be entitled to exercise rights under these Terms and Conditions, no other person shall have rights to enforce terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
13. Contacting us
If you have any questions about these Terms and Conditions, or wish to contact us for any other reason, you can contact us by email to contact@qardus.com email address or in writing at: 3.09a 1 Lyric Square, London, W6 0NB.