Contents

Part D – Definitions

18. Definitions

18.1 For the purpose of this Code the following definitions will apply:

ACCC means Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

AFIA Board means the board of directors from time to time of AFIA.

ASIC means the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

AFCA means The Australian Financial Complaints Authority, an independent, external dispute resolution handling authority overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, that is able to review our handling of Complaints.

AFIA BNPL Providers Group means the AFIA BNPL Providers Group that has been established with the approval of the AFIA Board.

AFIA Constitution means the Constitution of AFIA as amended from time to time.

BNPL Industry means that section of the Australian financial services industry in which Code Compliant Members are participants to consumer customers under any BNPL Products or Services.

BNPL Product or Service means:

1. A shorter term product or service for the purchase of goods or services sold to consumers where the consumer repays the purchase in instalments. Consumers are informed by the BNPL Provider of the repayment amounts and payment schedule and will pay no interest charges for individual purchases if they pay within a specified period; or

2. The provision of a credit contract for the purchase of goods or services. Some contracts require a minimum periodic repayment; others involve a fixed repayment plan for each purchase. Multiple advances of credit may be available. No interest is charged, and any fees for providing the credit are limited to $200 in the first year and $125 in each subsequent year; and

  • There is a contract between the customer and the BNPL Provider, and a contract between the customer and the Merchant or Retail Partner; and
  • The customer buys and receives goods or services from a Merchant or Retail Partner; the BNPL Provider pays the Merchant or Retail Partner for the purchase (minus merchant fees), and the customer repays the Buy Now Pay Later Provider for their purchase.

For the avoidance of doubt, the following are not considered a BNPL Product or Service for the purposes of this Code even if they are marketed or described as a BNPL product or service:

  • Products or services offered to persons or strata corporations that are predominantly for a purpose that is not a consumer purpose. ‘Predominant’ (as defined in s5(4) of the National Credit Code) means: (a) the purpose for which ‘more than half’ of the credit is intended to be used and (b) if the credit is intended to be used to obtain goods or services—the purpose for which the goods or services are intended to be ‘most used’;
  • Personal loans, mortgages or consumer leases;
  • Short term borrowing where a pay day lender typically provides small cash loans to individuals that are repaid at their next pay date; or
  • Any earned wage or salary access arrangement, where a lender has an arrangement with an employer to give an employee access to an amount they have earned during a pay period in advance of the normal payment date.

BNPL Provider means a provider who offers BNPL Products or Services in Australia and is a member of the AFIA and is a signatory to this Code.

CCC means the Code Compliance Committee, which is an independent committee that has been established by AFIA to monitor and investigate compliance by Code Compliant Members with this Code.

Code Compliant Member means a member of AFIA that has been approved as a Code Compliant Member of the AFIA BNPL Providers Group and is a signatory to this Code.

Complaint means any expression of dissatisfaction made to us related to our products or services, or to our Complaints handling process, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.

Days means business days in the place where the act is to be done.

Financial Hardship means a situation which occurs when you are unable to meet your existing Transactional Amount obligations for a period of time. It may be caused by a number of factors, such as unforeseen events, a major change in your circumstances, such as illness or injury, or a change in employment.

Hardship Request has the meaning given to that term in clause 14.5.

Merchant and Retail Partners mean third parties where our BNPL Product or Service can be used (such as a retail store) or third parties who distribute our BNPL Products or Services and can also include vendors, such as sellers of goods and services.

Minimum Standards for Merchant and Retail Partners are set out in Part C of this document.

Suitability Assessment has the meaning given to that term in clause 12.

Term means a defined period of time.

Transaction Amount means either:

a. the dollar amount of a single or of cumulative transactions within a Term (excluding any upfront payment made by you); or

b. the dollar amount of a continuing credit contract (excluding any upfront payment made by you).

18.2 Any term which is defined elsewhere in this Code will have the meaning there defined.

18.3 Where any word or phrase is defined in this Code, any other grammatical form or variation of that word or phrase will have a corresponding meaning.