Terms of Use

1Who these terms are between

These terms are between UnityLedger, a company registered in Nigeria, and you. You are either a registered cooperative society that has agreed to use UnityLedger, or an individual member of such a society using the member app.

By using UnityLedger you accept these terms. If you are accepting them for a society, you confirm that the society has authorised you to do so.

2What UnityLedger is, and what it is not

UnityLedger is software. It gives a cooperative society account numbers for its members, posts contributions and repayments as they arrive, administers loan schedules, and lets the society pay money out.

We want to be exact about this, so plainly:

• We do not take deposits and we do not hold client funds.
• We do not lend. Loans are made by your society to its own members, under the rules of that society.
• We hold no licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The regulated activity is carried out by Anchor and its partner bank.
• We give no investment, tax or legal advice, and we promise no return on anything you contribute.

3Who may use it

Members do not sign themselves up. Your society adds you, and your account numbers are issued once your identity has been verified.

4Accounts and account numbers

Each society holds one bank account. Within it, each member is issued account numbers for paying in, normally one for contributions and one for loan repayments. Money paid to one of those numbers is attributed to that member and posted for that purpose.

• The account holder is the society, not the member and not UnityLedger.
• A member pay in number is for receiving money only. It is not a wallet, and money cannot be withdrawn from it directly.
• We do not offer transfers between members.
• Your balance in UnityLedger is the record of what your society owes you under its own rules. Paying it out is the decision of the society.

5Moving money

Outbound payments are made over the Nigerian instant payment system from the account of the society to a verified bank account.

• A payment is instructed by the society, not by us. We carry out the instruction.
• Before a payment is sent, two different approvers from the society must approve it. We check this on our servers at the moment of sending.
• We verify the name on the destination account before a payment is proposed, and we will block it if the name does not match.
• Once an instant transfer has been sent it cannot be recalled by us. Recovering money sent to the wrong account depends on the receiving bank, and we cannot promise it.
• Payments can be delayed or refused by a bank, by the payment system, or by our banking partner, for reasons outside our control.

6Fees

We charge one fee: 1% of each inbound payment, capped at NGN 300. There is no setup fee, no licence fee, no charge per user and no monthly service charge.

Each society decides at onboarding whether it absorbs the fee or passes it to the paying member. The fee is taken at the point of collection and appears on the transaction record.

If we change our fees we will give the society at least 30 days notice before the change takes effect.

7Loans

Loans on UnityLedger are made by a cooperative society to its own members, out of the money of that society, on the terms that society sets. We record the loan and administer its repayment.

• We are not the lender, we do not fund loans, and we carry no credit risk.
• We set no interest rate. The society does, under its bye-laws.
• A dispute about whether a loan should have been granted, or on what terms, is between the member and the society.

8Your responsibilities

• Give us accurate information, and tell us when it changes.
• Keep your sign in details to yourself. Anything done with your credentials is treated as done by you.
• Check the account details before approving a payment. We verify the account name, but the amount and the recipient are your decision.
• Do not use UnityLedger for anything unlawful, including money laundering, fraud, or moving money for someone who is not a member of your society.
• Societies: keep your registration current, and keep the list of your officers and signatories up to date.

9Electronic communications and signatures

UnityLedger runs as software, so almost everything between us happens electronically. By using it you agree to the following.

• We may give you notices, statements, agreements and disclosures electronically, in the app, on this website or by email, rather than on paper.
• Where you accept terms, approve a payment or authorise an instruction by tapping or clicking to confirm it, that action is your signature. It has the same effect as signing on paper.
• Records we keep of those actions, including who acted and when, are evidence of the instruction.
• You confirm that you can receive and read electronic documents. If you would rather have a paper copy of something, ask us and we will provide it.
• You may withdraw this consent by writing to us, but you will no longer be able to use UnityLedger, because the service cannot be delivered on paper.

This section is given effect by the Evidence Act 2011, which recognises electronic records and electronic signatures in Nigeria.

10Availability

We aim to keep UnityLedger available at all times, but we do not guarantee it. Access can be interrupted by maintenance, by a fault, or by an outage at a bank, at our banking partner, or in the national payment system.

Where we plan maintenance that will take the service down, we will give notice in advance where we reasonably can.

11Suspending or closing an account

We may suspend access, or refuse a payment, where:

• we are required to by law, by a regulator, or by our banking partner
• we reasonably suspect fraud, money laundering or unauthorised access
• a society no longer meets the eligibility requirements in section 3
• the terms of this agreement are being breached

A society may stop using UnityLedger at any time. We will export its records and hand them over, and the bank account remains the account of the society and its own relationship with the bank. Closing an account does not cancel a loan or a repayment obligation.

12What we are responsible for

We are responsible for running the software with reasonable skill and care, and for carrying out the instructions you give it.

We are not responsible for:

• a decision of your cooperative society, including who is admitted, who gets a loan and what is paid out
• money sent to the wrong account because the details you gave were wrong
• failures, delays or losses caused by a bank, our banking partner, a payment provider or the national payment system
• loss of profit or other indirect loss

Nothing in these terms excludes liability that Nigerian law does not allow to be excluded, including liability for fraud.

13Our software

UnityLedger, its name, its software and everything in it belong to us. You may use it to run your society. You may not copy it, resell it, take it apart, or build a competing product from it. Your own data remains yours, and we claim no ownership of it.

14Complaints and disputes

If something goes wrong, write to hello@getunityledger.com. We will acknowledge your complaint and tell you who is handling it and what happens next.

A dispute between a member and their society is for the society to resolve under its own bye-laws, and we will supply the records needed to settle it. A dispute with us that cannot be resolved between us will be settled in Nigeria.

15Governing law and changes

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the courts of Lagos State have jurisdiction over any dispute.

We may change these terms. Where a change materially affects you we will give at least 30 days notice in the app or by email, and the date at the top of this page will be updated. Continuing to use UnityLedger after a change takes effect means you accept it.