Your Personal Credit Account

The following Terms and Conditions relate only to new customers registering online. If you are an existing customer, please sign in to view the Terms & Conditions that relate to your own account.

How it works

Our most popular payment method is with a Personal Credit Account. Every 28 days we will send you a statement. The terms applying to the credit we provide are detailed below

Some key information shown on your statement:

• Minimum payment and due date
• Payments & refunds
• Orders & Returns
• Current Balance
• Credit limit & available spend
• Interest & Charges
• How to pay

Credit Agreement Terms This agreement provides an open-ended personal credit account on the terms set out below. It has no fixed duration and will continue until ended by you or us in accordance with these terms.

1. Credit Limit We will set your credit limit from time to time and give you notice of it in writing. You can reduce your credit limit or refuse an increase (in whole or in part) at any time by contacting us. You can draw credit by using your account to place orders through us or with us to buy goods and services up to your credit limit.

2. Interest

   The standard interest rate is 44.96% a year variable.

   If you buy goods and services using your account and pay for them in full before the due date shown on the first statement we send to you, after the transaction has been added to your account, we will not charge interest on those items. If you choose not to pay in full before the due date, we will charge interest from the date we added the goods to your account. We will then calculate interest each period on the opening balance of your statement. This means that when we calculate interest we ignore any payments we receive during that period. If you buy and return an item and both transactions appear on the same statement, we will not charge interest on that purchase.

   We may from time to time make available promotional interest rates. If we do, we will notify you of the applicable promotional rate and the period during which the promotional rate will apply. Your existing balance and/or purchases and transactions made during this period (the “Promotional Balance”) will be charged at the promotional rate of interest.

   We will tell you about any special terms and conditions which will apply to the promotional rate. We will apply the standard rates of interest to any Introductory Balance or Promotional Balance before the end of the introductory or promotional period if you do not make at least your minimum payment by the payment due date shown in your statement at any time during the introductory or promotional period. At the end of the introductory or promotional period, the Introductory Balance or Promotional Balance will be treated as a standard account balance and the standard rates of interest will apply to it.

   We compound the interest (which means we charge interest on interest) and add it to the balance on your statement due date.

   We may vary the interest rate (or other parts of this agreement) giving you at least 30 days’ written notice – see section 17.

   Example: Total amount payable £1033.42. 44.9%APR (Annual Percentage Rate) variable. We base this example and APR on an assumed credit limit of £850 and the following assumptions:

   1. You order £850 of goods and services from us immediately at the start of the agreement.
   2. You repay the whole amount (including interest) in 12 equal monthly instalments.
   3. The interest rate stays the same.
   4. The agreement remains valid for the whole 12-month period.
   5. Both of us meet all our obligations under the agreement.

   The APR and total amount payable allow you to compare this agreement with those of other providers at the time you sign it. It is provided based on assumptions required by law that we make at the time you enter the agreement. The way the agreement works in practice is set out in the rest of this agreement.

3. Minimum payment We will send you a statement every 28 days showing the minimum payment due and the payment due date. You must make at least the minimum payment by the due date unless no payment is due.

   Your minimum payment will be 4% of the total cash price of goods and services you order using your account or £5, whichever is the greater, plus any outstanding arrears. Whenever you buy more goods or services, return goods to us or cancel any services we re-calculate your minimum payment which will be 4% of the balance outstanding on your account. You must tell us immediately if anything on your statement is incorrect.

   If you have entered into a paydown plan and do not continue to use your account for new purchases, your minimum payment will be the fixed repayment amount plus any arrears if you subsequently miss payments. If you continue to use your account, your minimum payment will be your fixed repayment amount, and a percentage of up to 8% of the balance outstanding (excluding any amount in your paydown plan) on your account at your statement date, or £5, whichever is greater, plus any outstanding arrears. The percentage is calculated to ensure that your account does not fall back into persistent debt. See section 9 for further details about paydown plans.

   If you make a return, the repayment will be processed, and your statement updated. If you have already paid for your order, a refund will automatically be made back to you if it is for over £10.

   If your balance is less than £5, you must pay the balance. Your statement will show the exact amount of your minimum payment. Whenever we calculate your minimum payment or the interest to charge we always round up to the nearest penny.

4. Warning - missing payments Missing or making late or incomplete payments could have severe consequences and make getting credit more difficult and expensive. If you miss, make late or incomplete payments we will contact you to resolve this.

   If you fail to pay at least the minimum payment by the due date on your statement:

   • you will pay more overall;
   • you may incur an administration fee of £12 (see section 12);
   • we may withdraw any promotional or introductory rates and resume charging at the standard rate;
   • we may report your breach to credit reference agencies which could make getting credit more difficult in the future;
   • we may require that you pay the whole amount you owe;
   • we may end this agreement;
   • we may take legal action to recover what you owe us, which could result in any outstanding balance being secured against any property you own, which may be repossessed; and/or
   • we may instruct a third-party debt collection agency to contact you for payment or raise court action against you to recover the money (the costs of which we may choose to pass through to you).

5. Withdrawing from the agreement You have the right to withdraw from this agreement without giving a reason. Your right to do this starts on the day after the day the agreement is made (or the date we confirm your credit limit, if later) and continues for 14 days (the ‘withdrawal period’). To withdraw, you must notify us that you intend to do so within the withdrawal period. You can do this by telephoning us on 0345 071 9018, by email at credit.withdraw@jdwilliams.co.uk or by posting notice of your withdrawal to: Financial Services, J D Williams & Company Ltd, 40 Lever Street, Manchester, M1 1BB. If you withdraw, you must repay any credit you used to buy goods and services from us without delay and no later than 30 days after giving us notice of withdrawal.

6. Terminating the agreement
   1. You can terminate this agreement at any time, free of charge, by giving us one month's written notice.
   2. We may terminate this agreement at any time by giving you at least two months' written notice.
   3. We may also, acting reasonably, terminate this agreement without giving you two months' written notice if:
      • we establish that any information we relied upon in allowing you to open a personal credit account with us was untrue; or
      • you seriously or repeatedly breach this agreement, including failing to make the minimum payment by the payment due date shown on your statement.
   4. Before we can end the agreement, we may need to send you a legal notice, which will tell you the reason that we are ending it. If you can put things right, we will tell you that and give you a reasonable opportunity to fix the problem before we terminate the agreement.
   5. Upon any termination of this agreement the outstanding balance will become due and payable.
7. Suspending your credit
   1. We may terminate, restrict or suspend your right to drawdown credit under this agreement if:
   • we are told or reasonably suspect that you have used your account for illegal or fraudulent purposes or in an unauthorised manner;
   • we believe there is a significant increase in the risk of you not being able to afford to repay us;
   • you are in persistent debt and you do not enter a paydown plan or
   • we are required to do so because of any legal or regulatory requirements or we reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent fraud or unauthorised access.
   2. If we are going to terminate, restrict or suspend your ability to drawdown credit in this way, we will try to give you notice before doing so. If it is not practicable for us to give you advance notice of the termination, restriction or suspension, we will tell you immediately afterwards. We will not give you notice if the law prevents us from doing so.

8. Difficulty paying If you have difficulty making payments, or are in persistent debt and are unable to enter a paydown plan you should contact us as soon as possible to discuss whether an alternative payment arrangement could be put in place to help you manage your repayments.

9. Paydown plan When the amount you have paid in interest, fees and charges is greater than the amount you have paid off for your purchases over a long period of time, you will be considered to be in persistent debt. We will write to tell you when this occurs. If you remain in persistent debt we will offer you a paydown plan, under which you will be required to make fixed repayment amounts that are calculated to clear the amount then owing on your account, plus interest, over a fixed period of up to four years. If you continue to use your account, your minimum payment will be adjusted to ensure that it covers both the fixed amount due on your paydown plan and up to 8% of the balance outstanding on your account, excluding any amount in your paydown plan. The amount of your minimum payment will be set out in your statement.

10. How we use your payments We apply the payments we receive in the following order:

    1. Payment of the fixed amount due on any paydown plan.
    2. Payment of all administration fees shown on the latest and any previous statement (except any already included in a paydown plan).
    3. Payment of all interest charged on the purchase price of any goods and services and any other credit charges shown on the latest and any previous statement (except any already included in a paydown plan).
    4. If applicable, payment of all payment protection insurance premiums shown on the latest and any previous statement (except any already included in a paydown plan).
    5. Payment of the purchase price of all goods and services shown on the latest and any previous statement (except any already included a paydown plan).

11. Debiting your card; continuous payment authority If you arrange for payments to be made by setting up a continuous payment authority, this Term applies. You authorise us to take payments due (which may include administration fees) from you by debiting the card you provided at the time, which will allow us to draw the agreed payments directly from your bank account. This will work up to the date of any other payment arrangement you and we agree or until you cancel the arrangement (which you can do by contacting us). The amounts we will take in this way will be the minimum payment due from you, or the amounts we agree with you at the time if you are making reduced or alternative payments to pay off any arrears. We will let you know if we cannot take any agreed payment in this way. If your card issuer refuses payment, we will not request any further payments until we have spoken to you. We will never insist that you set up a continuous payment authority as a condition of us accepting lower or rescheduled repayments. We offer you a continuous payment authority as a payment choice. We will cancel the authority on your request.

12. Failure to make payments If you fail to make the minimum payment by the due date on your statement, we will notify you and may attempt to contact you to resolve this. We may also charge you an administration fee of £12. You will continue to be charged interest on your outstanding balance at the contractual rate as explained in the interest section. You will be charged simple interest on any administration fees on your following statement.

13. Fees and charges If you make your payment via a Payzone or Post Office outlet using the barcode on your statement, you will incur a charge for this but we'll only charge you what it costs to process this payment. If you pay via Payzone you will be charged 33p per payment. If you pay via Post Office you will be charged 45p per payment. These charges will appear on your next statement. We may change these charges, and/or our administration fee as described in section 15.

14. Allowing you not to make the minimum payment After giving you written notice, we may from time to time (if you wish) suspend, defer or reduce the minimum payment that would otherwise be due for the period we specify. This revised amount, if any, will then be the amount due under your agreement. If we do this, we will also let you know whether interest will continue to be charged under this agreement.

15. Our right to vary the agreement As our agreement with you could last a long time, sometimes we may want or need to make changes to it. These may include (but are not limited to):

    1. introducing new charges or changing existing charges;
    2. changing the interest rate that is applicable to your account; or
    3. changing the terms of your agreement, including how we calculate your minimum payment.

    We can make these changes for one or more of the following reasons:

    1. Due to changes in the costs we incur in running our business or those we incur in providing our existing or new services to you. Examples of these costs might include administrative costs, employment costs, building costs and technology costs. It will also cover where the costs of a service or benefit provided by us or by a third-party change.
    2. Due to changes in the costs we incur in obtaining the funds we use to provide the service. This might happen in response to external changes, such as movements in benchmark interest rates, such as the Bank of England base rate.
    3. Due to changes in the risk make-up of customers or the overall mix of fees and charges applied, or both.
    4. To respond to changes in the law, regulations or codes of practice which apply to us or because of a decision by a court, ombudsman or regulator.
    5. As a result of (i) changes in technology; (ii) changes to the way we want to provide services to you or operate your account; or (iii) to reflect changes in the way the consumer credit industry delivers services.
    6. To introduce new facilities or options to your account.

    As we can't anticipate everything that may happen over the time you hold your account with us, we may also need to make changes for other justifiable reasons that impact the way we run our business and your account. If we do, we will tell you the reason.

    If we make a change, we will tell you about it in writing at least 30 days in advance unless it is to your advantage (in this case we may make the change immediately and tell you within 30 days of making it).

    If you're not happy with a change and you decide you don't want to keep the account, you can close or switch the account without charge. If you choose to close the account, the outstanding balance will become due and payable.

    If we do not hear from you before the change comes into effect, we'll take that to mean you've accepted the change.

16. Extra or early repayment A minimum payment is required every 28 days until the balance is cleared. You must pay us the minimum payment by the payment due date shown on each statement and the repayment of the remaining balance is flexible. You have a right to repay the amount you owe us in full or partially at any time. This means that you can make additional payments (as well as the minimum payment) at any time and as often as you like. If you wish to settle this agreement early in full, you should contact us for the exact amount due and the specific date you intend to settle.

17. Communication We may communicate with you by telephone, postal or electronic mail to the address details you have provided in this agreement or which you otherwise provide. If you change any of the address details that you have provided you must let us have the updated address as soon as practicable.

    You agree, unless you contact us and tell us otherwise, that we may send documents (including the agreement, statements, notices and copy documents which are required by law), to you electronically by:

    • sending them as a free text email, or as a PDF attached to an email, to the last email address you gave us; or
    • if you have registered to access and manage your account online, sending them to the secure area of your online account as a PDF, we will notify you by email or SMS when a document has been sent to you to view online. We will treat a document given to you electronically as having been received by you on the day on which the document is either sent by e-mail or to your online account, unless we know you have not received it.

18. Legal matters If any part of the agreement is found to be legally invalid or unenforceable, this will not affect the rest of it, which will remain in full force and effect.

    No person shall have any right to enforce any provision of this Agreement under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

    We may transfer all or any of our rights and duties under this agreement at any time to any person that holds the necessary authorisation. This will not affect your rights under this agreement, including your legal rights. If this happens then any references to "we" or "us" will be references to that transferee.

    If, after you enter into this agreement, we identify that you already have an account with us, we may reallocate an order or the balance outstanding under this agreement, to the account you already have with us. If we do this, we may terminate this agreement by giving you the necessary notice we are required by law to give to you.

19. Governing law The law of England and Wales governs this agreement, which is subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh Courts. The contractual terms and conditions of any other information about this agreement must be given in English. All communications about this agreement must be in English.

20. Complaints If you have a complaint, you should contact us in the first instance, and we will make every effort to resolve matters to your satisfaction. You can do this by contacting Customer Services. The most up to date contact number can be found online or on your statements. If we cannot resolve your complaint to your satisfaction using our own internal complaints procedures, you may be able to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independent investigation. Their contact details are 0800 023 4567, complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk and The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR. Their website address is www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

    You can also refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service using the Online Dispute Resolution platform. The platform has been established by the European Commission to provide an online tool for consumers to resolve disputes about goods and services purchased online. The platform can be found at www.ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

21. Our authorisation We are supervised under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 by the Financial Conduct Authority of 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN. (Authorisation No: 311618). J D Williams & Company Limited, registered office: Griffin House, 40 Lever Street, Manchester, M60 6ES. Registered in England No.178367. J D Williams & Company Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

YOU MAY PRINT OUT AND KEEP A PERMANENT COPY OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR YOUR REFERENCE BY CLICKING HERE