Terms & Conditions

Guardian Credit Terms and Conditions

1. Acceptance of Terms and Conditions

a.Guardian Credit Services 2019 Limited (“GuardianCredit”) provides debt recovery services. The term GuardianCredit may be used throughout these Terms and Conditions to describe either the company or the Services.

b.These Terms and Conditions are the terms on which GuardianCredit offers you access to, and use of, the Services, Website, technologies, and Platforms. By registering as a User and using any of the Platforms you accept these Terms and Conditions and confirm that you understand them. If you do not accept these Terms and Conditions, you must refrain from accessing or using any of the Platforms.

c.On your becoming a User on a Platform, a legally binding Agreement is formed between you and GuardianCredit based on these Terms and Conditions, and that Agreement governs your use of any of the GuardianCredit Platforms. This Agreement incorporates all Terms and Conditions and policies deemed to form part of the Agreement and your relationship with GuardianCredit.

d.Any reference to the singular also means a reference to the plural, and vice versa.

2. Amendment of Terms and Conditions

a.We may amend these Terms and Conditions from time to time. Unless otherwise stated, amendments will be effective immediately upon posting of the amended Terms and Conditions on the Website. You are responsible for ensuring you are familiar with the latest Terms and Conditions. Your continued use of the any of the GuardianCredit Platforms represents your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions as amended. 

3. Additional Terms and Conditions and Policies

a.You agree that the Privacy Policy, available on the Website, forms part of these Terms and Conditions.

4. These Terms and Conditions were last updated 18th July 2023. 

5. Terminology

a.In these Terms and Conditions, the following expressions have the meanings as set out below: 

• "Admin” is a type of User Level;

• “Account” means an account held on any GuardianCredit Platform;

• "Basic” is a type of User Level;

• “Debt” means debt for which you provide information to any GuardianCredit Platform; 

• “Debtor” or “Debtors” means a party or parties whom owes a Debt to a User.

• "Owner” is a type of User Level;

- “Platform” means any method in which you can communicate with GuardianCredit including, but not limited to, the Website;

• “Services” means any one or more of the Services offered by GuardianCredit or GuardianCredit’s wholly or majority owned subsidiaries, from time to time, including, but not limited to, debt recovery; 

• “User” means a registered Account holder of any GuardianCredit Platform; 

• “User Levels” means the level of access that a certain User type may have to the Account, as better defined in clause 12;

• “we”, “us” and “our” are a reference to GuardianCredit; 

• “Website” means any GuardianCredit website through which the Services are offered. In addition it includes any other method of accessing the Platforms over the Internet, even if accessed through another method that does not utilise the WorldWideWeb; 

-  “Working Day” means any day in Auckland New Zealand that is not a Saturday, Sunday, Public Holiday, or falls on or between 25 December and 5 January; and

• “you” and “your” are a reference to you.

6. Disclaimer

a.You expressly understand and agree that: 

- your use of the Services is at your sole risk. The Website and Services are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by law and without limiting this clause, GuardianCredit disclaims and excludes all implied conditions or warranties, including, but not limited to, any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement; 

- GuardianCredit does not warrant that:

• the Services provided will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error free, or

• that any information provided on the Website is error-free or reliable; 

- no advice or information that is obtained by you from GuardianCredit or anyone else shall create any warranty by GuardianCredit that is not expressly stated in the Terms and Conditions;

- while GuardianCredit has systems in place to reduce the risk of credit card fraud, GuardianCredit is not responsible for protecting Debtors from credit card fraud.

7. The Services

a.GuardianCredit provides a debt collection service to Users, assisting them with the collection of any amount outstanding and follows the Commerce Commissions guidelines for collecting debts. Commerce Commission Guidlines view here.

b.GuardianCredit does not take ownership of the Debt, or make any claim to the Debt itself, with the exception of any Fee payable by the User which GuardianCredit may apply against any part of the Debt recovered.

c.GuardianCredit will act as your agent, acting with you authority to recover the Debt.

d.If requested, GuardianCredit may be able to assist  you in contesting a disputed Debt. This  may be facilitated  through working with your own legal counsel or working as the point of contact with legal counsel which GuardianCredit can arrange on your behalf. You agree that you will pay all reasonable costs that GuardianCredit may incur in doing so though, if permitted by the terms of credit you have with the Debtor, you may able to recover such costs from the Debtor.

e.You agree and acknowledge that if GuardianCredit is included as a respondent in any action initiated over a Debt, you agree that you will use your best endeavours to have GuardianCredit removed from that contestation.

f.You agree that you will not request GuardianCredit to process a credit default for any debt that may be reasonably disputed.

g.If a credit default is being registered for a debt at your request, and GuardianCredit become aware that it is disputed, you agree that GuardianCredit may, at its sole discretion, refuse to register the credit default until such time that GuardianCredit agrees, at its sole discretion, that there is no reasonable dispute on that debt.

h.If a credit default has been registered for a debt, and GuardianCredit become aware that it is disputed, you agree that GuardianCredit may, at its sole discretion, remove the credit default until such time that GuardianCredit agrees, at its sole discretion, that there is no reasonable dispute on that debt.

8. Limitation of Liability

a.You agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, any and all liability and responsibility of GuardianCredit to you or any other person under or in connection with these Terms and Conditions, or in connection with the Services, the Website, the Applications, or your use of or inability to use, the Services or the Website and the Applications, is excluded regardless of whether such liability arises in contract, tort (including negligence), equity, breach of statutory duty or otherwise. GuardianCredit’s liability and responsibility is excluded in respect of any and all loss or damage, whether direct or indirect, including, without limitation, loss of profits, loss of data, loss of business or anticipated savings, general and special damages, and consequential and incidental loss. 

9. Indemnity

a.You agree to release, indemnify and keep GuardianCredit (and our GuardianCredit employees) indemnified from and against all actions, claims, costs (including legal costs and expenses), losses, proceedings, damages, liabilities, or demands suffered or incurred by us arising out of or in connection with your failure to comply with these Terms and Conditions, your failure to provide all of the information that is necessary for us to provide the Services, your providing us with information that is incorrect, your providing us with documentation which is not completely genuine, or your failure to comply with legislation. 

b.You acknowledge that, as your agents, we are solely responsible on the information you provide us in relation to any Debt. You agree and acknowledge to indemnify GuardianCredit (and our GuardianCredit employees) against any and all actions, claims, costs (including legal costs and expenses), losses, proceedings, damages, liabilities, or demands suffered or incurred by us arising, either partially or wholly, our of information you provided to us that was not complete, or wholly true. This includes, but is not limited to, any credit default we process, whether partially or completely, which you did not notify us was in dispute, whether you were aware it was disputed or not.

c.You acknowledge that we are providing you with a service based on the information you provide. You agree and acknowledge to indemnify GuardianCredit (and our GuardianCredit employees) against any and all actions, claims, costs (including legal costs and expenses), losses, proceedings, damages, liabilities, or demands suffered or incurred by us initiated against us, or which seeks to include us in already initiated action, due to your use of our services.

10. Breach

a.Without limiting any other rights and remedies available to GuardianCredit, GuardianCredit may limit your activities on the Website and Applications, issue a warning to you, suspend or terminate your Account, and/or refuse to provide our Services to you if you breach these Terms and Conditions or if GuardianCredit considers it appropriate.

b.You agree that GuardianCredit’s decision on any such decision made under clause 10a is final and is at the sole discretion of GuardianCredit. GuardianCredit are not required to provide you with any reason as to why such action was taken. 

11. Becoming a User

a.Becoming a User is free.

b.If you are a natural person, you may only register as a User if you are resident in New Zealand or Australia and can form a legally binding contract that is enforceable against you. You must be at least 18 years old. By registering as a User, you warrant that you can form a legally binding contract. 

c.If you are another form of entity, such as a business or a trust, the person creating the account must be legally permitted to enter into the relationship with GuardianCredit that these Terms and Conditions created. Personal information for contact people will be required.

d.For the sake of clarity, creating an account does not guarantee that we will provide Services to you..

e.We may, at our sole discretion, apply further conditions on some Users who are based outside of New Zealand.

12. Accounts

a.More than one User may access each Account.

b.The creator of an Account will be the Owner of the Account. The Owner has full rights to the Account, and may grant other Users access to the Account.

c.An Account may only have one Owner.

d.A User with a Basic User Level may view a file, load debts, update debtor details, and make comments about the Debtor and Debt.

e.A User with an Admin User Level has the same abilities as a User with Basic User Level, and can also ask for a settlement amount, and accept a payment plan.

f.A User with an Owner User Level has the same abilities as a User with Admin User Level, and can also allocate User Levels to other Users.

g.The Owner may remove a User Level at any point. Any changes made by the User before their User Level was removed will remain in place once their User Level is removed.

13. Agreement as to General Use of GuardianCredit Service

a.You agree that you will only load Debts into the GuardianCredit Platform which are overdue, undisputed, and for which you have written evidence to support the existence of the Debt.

b.You agree that you will upload this written evidence to the “Documents” section for that Debt on the GuardianCredit. This may include, but may not be limited to, any terms of trade/credit application form signed or confirmed by the Debtor.

c.You agree to immediately update your details with the GuardianCredit Platform if you change your name, trading style, proprietorship, bank account details, or any contact details. Company name changes must be done directly with us by emailing us at collections@guardiancredit.co.nz

d.You agree to maintain accurate records for all Debts loaded into the GuardianCredit Platform, including, but not limited to, any amounts repaid in relation to those Debts.

e.You agree that GuardianCredit may arrange payment terms with the Debtor on your behalf.

14. Accuracy and Provision of Information

a.You warrant that you have provided complete, accurate, and current information when registering as a User. You must maintain and update your information held by GuardianCredit to ensure it is kept current at all times. GuardianCredit may call or mail you to verify these details. You must not register as a User under multiple identities or personas (whether false or not) unless doing so is with the express written permission of GuardianCredit and for the purposes of using GuardianCredit for separate businesses.

b.Using this facility allows for access to our services without the requirement to provide evidence establishing a Debt is owed. By using this facility you acknowledge the Debt exists, that you hold documentation that shows its existence, and that You can and will provide this on demand. You agree that We may request such evidence to any party that we establish may require a copy of this evidence for the purpose of showing the existence of the Debt. You agree to indemnify Us against any loss or damage that We may experience, including any legal costs, due to your using this facility without the required established Debt being owed. Please note that the ability to create a matter without documentation establishing the Debt will not be available to all users and, unless we agree otherwise, will only be available to users to have created ten valid matters within our facility. We reserve the right to change the number of matters required to use this function, and to prevent any user from utilising it.

c.We may, at our sole discretion, apply further conditions, or require additional information, from some Users who are based outside of New Zealand.

d.We reserve the right to refuse to provide any Service from a User who refuses to provide information which we reasonably believe is required.

e.The Owner of an Account is responsible for the accuracy of any information provided on that account by any User they provide with access to that Account.

15. Securing Your Login Information

a.You are responsible for keeping your login information, including your email address and password, secret and secure. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree: 

• if the User is a natural person, not to permit any other person to use your User name or Account;

• if the User is not a natural person, not to permit any other person to use the User name or Account unless they represent the User; and 

• not to disclose, or provide to any other person, your password, email address, date of birth or any other information in connection with your Account that may allow them to gain access to your Account.

16. Emails, Newsletters, Messages and Notifications

a.GuardianCredit may send you emails, SMS messages and push notifications relating to your Account, transactions and other activities on the Website and Applications.

b.Such notifications are necessary for GuardianCredit to provide the Services. While GuardianCredit will comply with the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007, any messages that must be sent to facilitate a transaction of which you are a party will be sent, even if you have unsubscribed from communications, as these are not considered as a commercial electronic message as per s6(b)(ii) and s6(b)(iv) of the Act. 

c.GuardianCredit may also send regular electronic newsletters to Users promoting GuardianCredit Services. Newsletters will contain clear and obvious instructions for how you can unsubscribe from the mailing list.

17. Termination of Account

a.GuardianCredit reserves the right to decline to register or to terminate your Account without entering into further discussions with you. Without limiting the foregoing, GuardianCredit may terminate your Account, and stop providing Services to you, if:

 - you breach any of our Terms and Conditions or policies;

 - you use, or attempt to use, any Account you are not permitted to use;

 - we believe, at our sole discretion, you have acted in any way inappropriately towards any GuardianCredit employee;

 - we believe, at our sole discretion, that your use of our Services impact GuardianCredit’s goodwill in any way; or

 - we, at our sole discretion, deem your behaviour to be unacceptable.

b.Users who have registered under multiple aliases may have some or all of their aliases disabled at the sole discretion of GuardianCredit.

c.When limiting your activities on the Website and Applications, GuardianCredit may consider offsite conduct such as prior criminal convictions, insolvency, or any other conduct that puts our community, goodwill or systems at risk. In the event of termination, you also agree that you will not open or attempt to open any new GuardianCredit Accounts without our prior consent.

d.Any User may at any time close their GuardianCredit Account. If you close your Account, or if it is terminated by GuardianCredit, your ability to use the GuardianCredit Website and Applications will end. If you decide to terminate your GuardianCredit account, you are to ensure that before you close your Account:

 - you have retrieved all information you require from your account; and

 - you have resolved any and all outstanding Debts, or have notified the Debtors that we are no longer acting as your agent;

18. Code of Conduct

a.You shall ensure that all activities conducted on GuardianCredit are legal and in accordance with the laws, bylaws and regulations that govern such activities including any laws, regulations or licencing requirements that apply to the sale of goods and the protection of rights, property, intellectual property and safety. You also agree to comply with the GuardianCredit Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

b.You must not damage, interfere with, or harm the Website, Applications or Services, any network, or underlying system connected to such, or attempt to do so. 

c.You may not use a robot, spider, scraper or other unauthorised automated means to access the Website, Applications or information featured on it for any purpose. 

d.You are responsible for any actions taken through your Account. GuardianCredit Accounts are not transferable and therefore cannot be sold, leased, lent or traded. 

e.You shall not deceive, mislead or attempt to deceive or mislead GuardianCredit.

19. Fees

a.Setup fee

i.GuardianCredit charges a setup fee for each Debt loaded (“Setup Fee”). This is to be paid to GuardianCredit within seven days of the Debt being loaded onto the GuardianCredit Platform. If it is not paid within that period, the Debt will be removed from the GuardianCredit Platform and no action will be taken by GuardianCredit on the Debt.

ii.The Setup Fee will be refunded to you when the Debtor makes the final payment of all outstanding monies owed to GuardianCredit.

b.Commission Fee

i.You agree that GuardianCredit may take a percentage of any funds recovered from the Debtor towards the Debt as commission (“Commission Fee”).

c.Administration Fee

i.An administration fee is payable on the first occurrence of the Debtor making a payment, whether to GuardianCredit or to you, towards the Debt.

d.The Setup Fee, Commission Fee and Administration Fee (“the Fees”) will be added to the Debt due. If permitted under your terms of trade, the Debtor may be liable to pay the Fees. If you do not have terms of trade, or your terms of trade do not permit you to pass on such fees to the Debtor, you agree that you will be responsible for paying the Fees to GuardianCredit.

e.The current Fees can be found listed on the Website. The Fees applicable to a particular Debt will be the Fees listed on the Website when the Debt was loaded into the GuardianCredit Platform, or as otherwise set by mutual agreement.

f.The Fees are excluding GST unless otherwise stated. GST is payable on the Fees.

g.Other Services are available, with their prices listed on the Website and on the Platform, or as provided to you when you request that Service to be provided.

h.GuardianCredit may, at our discretion, offer a discount on the normal fees listed for specific clients. In this case, the specific Terms and Conditions related to the agreement between GuardianCredit and the User may apply in addition to the Terms and Conditions stated herein or as otherwise stated in the agreement between GuardianCredit and the User.

i.GuardianCredit reserves the right to change the fees charged for any of our Services at any time. The fees that are payable are the fees that were payable when the Debt was provided to GuardianCredit.

j.You agree and acknowledge that you will immediately notify GuardianCredit if any portion of a Debt is paid directly to you once the Debt has been loaded into the GuardianCredit Platform. You agree that any payment received for any Debt once the Debt is loaded into the GuardianCredit Platform, whether received through our system or through other means, is the result of the GuardiandCredit Services and therefore the Fees will be due for payment.

k.In the event that we introduce a new Service, the fees for that Service are effective at the launch of the Service, unless otherwise stated.

l.For the sake of clarity, the Commission Fee and an Administration Fee will be payable on any recover gained through the Disputes Tribunal or any Court.

m.Any payments made to clients who are outside of New Zealand will be less any applicable transfer fee.

n.The Setup Fee, if paid, will be refunded if you cancel the Services for the Debt within 24 hours of the Debt being added to the GuardianCredit Platform. After this 24 hour period has elapsed, there will be no refunds for cancellation. No other fees are refunded on cancellation. The account will not be removed after 24 hours of being loaded in GuardianCredit Platform. 

20. Payment

a.We pay out weekly on Debt owed to you that was loaded on our new and improved website. 

b.On payment of a Debt, the Debtor will receive from us a GST invoice for their records.

21. System Integrity

a.GuardianCredit will use its reasonable endeavours to ensure the availability of the Website, Applications and Services, subject to any downtime required for maintenance. However, GuardianCredit takes no responsibility for any system unavailability, or for any loss that is incurred as a result of the Website, Applications or Services being unavailable. Furthermore, GuardianCredit assumes no responsibility for the corruption of any data or information held by GuardianCredit. 

22. Arbitration

a.GuardianCredit and you agree that any should a legal disputes or claims between you and us related to or that arise from this Agreement, the use of the GuardianCredit Platforms or the GuardianCredit Services, or the interpretation, enforceability, revocability or validity of this Agreement or the arbitrability of this Agreement, the disputing party should notify the other party giving details of the dispute (“Dispute Notice”).

b.The Parties agree that they will act in good faith to resolve the dispute between them.

c.In the event that the Parties are unable to resolve the dispute between them, either Party may, no sooner than twenty Working Days of the Dispute Notice being given, either Party may notify the other that they seek to have the dispute resolved by mediation (“Mediation Notice”).

d.The Parties will then agree to a mediator. If the Parties cannot agree to a mediator within ten Working Days of the Mediation Notice, either Party many request that the President or other proper officer of the New Zealand Law Society nominate a Mediator, and it will be assumed that both Parties agree to that Mediator acting.

e.The proceedings of the mediation will be, where possible, informal, with the mediator permitted to communicate privately with the Parties individually if the mediator wishes. The Parties may be, but are not required to be, legally represented.

f.The mediation will be handled on a confidential and without prejudice basis. The Parties will use their best endeavours to comply with any requests of the mediator within ten Working Days of any request. They will also use their best endeavours to be available for mediation on no less than 20 Working Days notice of mediation occurring. While the mediator will attempt to find a time that is suitable to both Parties, the mediator is permitted to look unfavourably on a Party that it believes is not attempting to resolve the dispute in good faith by not making itself available.

g.Any such mediation will take place in Auckland, New Zealand, although parties may attend via audio or video communication. The cost of the mediator will be split equally between the Parties, unless the mediator believes that it would be unjust for one party to have to bear any such cost. A Party’s own costs will be their own.

h.If the dispute is not resolved within 45 Working Days of the Mediation Notice,   and the Parties do not agree to an extension of the mediation, either Party may commence Court proceedings and/or take any other actions that it sees fit.

i.Despite this clause, either party may seek injunctive relief from an appropriate Court if they believe that failure to obtain such relief could cause irreparable damage to the Party.

23. Force Majeure

a.GuardianCredit has no liability for any lack of performance, unavailability or failure of the Services, Website or Applications, or for any failure of GuardianCredit to comply with these Terms and Conditions where the same arises from any cause reasonably beyond the control of GuardianCredit. 

24. No Waiver of Rights

a.If we do not exercise or enforce any right available to us under these Terms and Conditions, it does not constitute a waiver of those rights or our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. 

25. Partial Invalidity

a.If any provision of these Terms and Conditions becomes or is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, and in any respect, that provision shall be severed from the remaining Terms and Conditions, which shall continue in full force and effect. 

26. Governing Law

a.Guardian Credit Services 2019 Limited is owned and operated in New Zealand.

b.These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of New Zealand. You submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New Zealand. 

27. Intellectual Property Rights

a.GuardianCredit (and its licensors or suppliers, as the case may be) owns all proprietary and intellectual property rights in the Website and Applications (including text, graphics, logos, icons, video and sound recordings) and the software and other material underlying and forming part of the Services, the Website and the Applications. 

b.You may not, without our prior written permission, in any form or by any means:

• Adapt, reproduce, copy, sell, distribute, print, display, perform, publish or create derivative works from any part of the Website or the Applications; or

• Commercialise, copy, or on-sell any information, or items obtained from any part of the Website or the Applications.

28. Entire Agreement

a.These Terms and Conditions supersede all previous conditions, understandings, commitments, agreements and representations whatsoever whether oral or written, and constitutes the entire agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter of these Terms and Conditions.