EdAid’s mission is to make education affordable. We partner with various educational institutions, i.e., schools or universities, (each an “Education Provider”) to create deferred tuition programs.
EdAid enables students to defer the cost of tuition over an extended period, so they can begin their studies without paying their full tuition upfront. EdAid works with education providers to administer several types of deferred tuition plans, and, for some plans, payments are deferred until after a student graduates or starts earning. All our plans will be referred to in these terms as “Deferred Tuition”.
EdAid does not lend money to students. It is, however, important to note that students should only ever defer what they can afford to pay in the future. Students should consider their financial situation when considering deferring tuition payment via EdAid.
EdAid administers a student’s deferred tuition payments on behalf of the student’s Education Provideruntil their deferred tuition balance is fully paid.
Based on terms of Deferred Tuition plans chosen by each Education Provider, EdAid may administer (i) installment based payment plans that are paid via a set number of installments, (ii) income-based payment plans whereby monthly payments are based on the student’s earnings, and (iii) other deferred payment plans as determined by the Education Providers. Only certain payment plans are available for each education program, depending on the terms set by the Education Provider.
Below you will find EdAid’s terms of use, which govern the operation and use of the EdAid platform. It’s important that you read them fully and agree to them before using EdAid.
If you have any questions or any element of the process is not clear, please reach out to the customer support team at [email protected].
6. Privacy Policy & Data Protection
7. Customer Content and Use of the Platform
9. Using Information on the Platform
12. Complaints Handling Process
13. EdAid’s Legal and Regulatory Status
These binding terms of use, (“Terms”) govern the operation and use of the EdAid platform (the “EdAid Platform”). In these Terms "we", "us" and "our" refer to EdAid, and "you" and "your" refer to the individual or entity accessing our services, including and without limitation both the Education Provider and the student, as the context requires..
Please read these Terms carefully before accessing or using our website (“Site”). By accessing and using this Site, you accept and agree to be bound by these terms. These Terms apply to all users of the platform, including without limitation, users who are students or Education Providers. If you do not agree to abide by these Terms, please do not use this service. The other agreements, documents, and policies which govern your use of the EdAid Platform include our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, and any other agreement outlining the terms of your Deferred Tuition (a “Deferred Tuition Agreement”).
These Terms regulate the relationship between EdAid and you with respect to the use of the EdAid Platform. The relationship between Education Providers and students for use of the EdAid Platform is also regulated by these Terms, however, the deferred payment plan itself is governed by the Deferred Tuition Agreement, and EdAid’s provision of services to the Education Provider is subject to the services agreement between EdAid and the Education Provider (the “MSA”). If there is a conflict between the provisions of these Terms and the provisions of the Deferred Tuition Agreement or the MSA, the provisions of the Deferred Tuition Agreement or the MSA, respectively, shall take priority.
You can review the most current version of these Terms at any time at this page. It is your responsibility to check our website periodically for changes. We reserve the right to change these Terms at any time, at our sole discretion, and we will post the revised Terms on this Site. By continuing to use the Site after we post any such changes, you accept the modifications to the Terms.
To use our Site, you must be 18 years of age or older, and to use the EdAid Platform, you must also be enrolled in or accepted to an eligible education program with one of our Education Provider partners. To defer tuition through the Edaid Platform, you must meet the underwriting requirements set for your Deferred Tuition Program. Not all products and services are available to all users, and your eligibility for a Deferred Tuition Program is subject to review and final determination by EdAid and the relevant Education Provider.
To defer tuition through the EdAid Platform you must register and log on to your EdAid account:
When you enter your EdAid account, we will check your identity by asking for your credentials, including a username and password. As long as the correct credentials are entered, we will assume that you are the person giving instructions and making transactions and you will be liable for them. You must therefore keep your credentials secret and make sure that they are not stored on your computer or other device in a way that enables others to impersonate you.
You must tell EdAid immediately if you think someone else knows your credentials, or about any unauthorized use of your credentials or account or any other breach of security. Until you tell us:
Where applicable to their Deferred Tuition Program, EdAid requires students (prospective and current) to connect their main bank account(s) or another account agreed by EdAid to one of our open banking providers (currently, TrueLayer and Plaid). The primary purpose of this connection is to perform upfront identity and affordability checks and ongoing income verification. Connection to EdAid’s open banking-nominated provider is compulsory where required in your Deferred Tuition Agreement.
EdAid facilitates your monthly payments on behalf of your Education Provider in accordance with the terms of your Deferred Tuition Agreement.
EdAid’s system is set up to receive automated monthly payments via bank transfer (Direct Debit or ACH). The student will set up a direct debit via the EdAid Platform using an EdAid-nominated payments partner (including Dwolla, Stripe, and GoCardless). Any payment will be credited to the Education Provider’s EdAid account when received.
The following paragraph pertains to US students who set up payments via Dwolla, one of EdAid’s service providers:
In order to use the payment functionality of our application through Dwolla, you must open a "Dwolla Platform" account provided by Dwolla, Inc. and you must accept the Dwolla Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Any funds held in the Dwolla account are held by Dwolla's financial institution partners as set out in the Dwolla Terms of Service. You authorize us to share your identity and account data with Dwolla for the purposes of opening and supporting your Dwolla account, and you are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of that data. You understand that you will access and manage your Dwolla account through our application, and Dwolla account notifications will be sent by EdAid, not Dwolla. EdAid will provide customer support for your Dwolla account activity, and can be reached at [email protected].
You may only close your EdAid account once your Deferred Tuition balance is fully paid in accordance with your Deferred Tuition Agreement. Once your Deferred Tuition is paid in full, you may terminate your EdAid registration by sending us an email to [email protected], and you will no longer be able to access the Platform. However, we and any collections agency utilized will continue to maintain records to the extent that we are required by law to do so.
We may terminate your EdAid registration if you have lied to us, seriously or repeatedly breach these Terms, die, become bankrupt or make a voluntary arrangement with anyone you owe money to. We may either terminate or suspend your EdAid registration immediately and without notice if we are aware or reasonably suspect that you are engaged in, or may be the victim of, any fraudulent activity. We will then notify you of any such termination or suspension as soon as is reasonably practicable, to the extent we are permitted to do so by applicable law.
If we terminate your EdAid registration or account, it will not affect your obligation to repay the amount you have borrowed under a Deferred Tuition Agreement.
Following notice of termination of your EdAid registration, we will provide you with limited access to the EdAid Platform and your EdAid account for a period of 7 days to download any of your customer content or information relating to your Deferred Tuition Agreement. Upon the expiration of that 7 day period, your access to your EdAid account and the EdAid Platform will be terminated and we will have no obligation to store or provide you with access to any information in your EdAid account or relating to your activity on the EdAid Platform.
EdAid is committed to protecting the privacy of the users of our site and platform in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.
You represent, warrant and undertake that none of the content that you provide (“Customer Content”) will violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including intellectual property rights; or contain libellous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material. In addition, you undertake not to use the EdAid Platform (which includes the EdAid web site(s), blog or discussion board(s)):
You are solely responsible for your Customer Content. You may not post, transmit, or share Customer Content on the EdAid Platform that you did not create or that you do not have permission to display, publish or post. You understand and agree that we may, but are not obligated to, review the EdAid Platform and may delete or remove (without notice) any information or content provided by EdAid or Customer Content in our sole discretion, for any reason or no reason, including, without limitation, Customer Content that, in our own absolute discretion, violates any provision(s) of these Terms. You are solely responsible at your sole cost and expense for creating backup copies and replacing any Customer Content.
When you post your Customer Content, you authorise and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the publication, display and storage of the Customer Content on the EdAid Platform. By posting Customer Content to any part of the EdAid Platform, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to us an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such Customer Content for any purpose on or in connection with the EdAid Platform, EdAid web site(s), blog or discussion board(s) or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such Customer Content, and to grant and authorise sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your Customer Content from the EdAid Platform at any time. If you choose to remove your Customer Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that we may retain archived copies of your Customer Content.
You agree to indemnify and hold each other user, us, our subsidiaries and affiliates, and each of EdAid's directors, officers, agents, contractors, partners and employees, harmless from and against any loss, liability, claim, demand, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, arising out of or in connection with any of your Customer Content, your use of the EdAid Platform, your conduct in connection with the EdAid Platform or with other users of the EdAid Platform, or any violation of these Terms or of any law or the rights of any third party.
You are solely responsible for your interactions with other EdAid users. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other users.
EdAid Information and all the intellectual property rights in the EdAid Information is either owned by us or our licensors (for example, credit reference agencies). Any use of EdAid Information other than in accordance with these Terms entitles us to cancel your EdAid account. You may:
The EdAid Information may include personal credit scores, output from educational tools (including cost calculators designed to allow you to consider "what if" scenarios using pricing and other information). None of this or any other aspect of the EdAid Information will provide more than indicative results, depending on the information you have supplied, and cannot be relied upon as a guarantee of any particular result.
We will use reasonable skill and care in the supply of the EdAid Information to you. Due to the number of third party sources from which the EdAid Information is obtained and the nature of distribution of information via the Internet, we cannot guarantee, warrant or represent that:
The EdAid Platform contains links to other Internet sites and telephone numbers for services provided by others. The availability of such third party sites, services or material does not constitute any form of recommendation, advice, endorsement or publication of any such third party sites, services or material and we are not responsible for their availability or information.
None of the information the EdAid Platform, and in particular, neither the Customer Content nor the EdAid Information, can be relied upon by you or any third party as a guarantee of any particular result, nor does any such information constitute any form of advice, recommendation or endorsement by us, and it is not intended to be relied upon by you as the basis for making (or refraining from making) any specific decision.
You download the information on the EdAid Platform, and in particular the Customer Content and the EdAid Information, at your own discretion and will be exclusively responsible for any damage to your computer or any lost information that results from you downloading any such information.
We are not responsible or liable in any manner for any Customer Content or any information posted on the EdAid Platform by third parties. Although we provide rules for user conduct and postings, we do not control and are not responsible for what users post, display, upload, publish transmit or share on the EdAid Platform and are not responsible for any information that breaches, or is of a kind that might breach, any provision of these Terms. We are not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of the EdAid Platform.
THE EDAID PLATFORM, THE EDAID INFORMATION AND ALL OTHER INFORMATION ON THE EDAID PLATFORM, EDAID WEB SITE(S), AND ANY EDAID BLOG ARE PROVIDED "AS-IS" AND WE DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE AND DO NOT PROMISE ANY SPECIFIC RESULTS FROM USE OF THE EDAID PLATFORM OR ANY INFORMATION ON IT. WE DO NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR MATERIALS ON THE EDAID PLATFORM ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT THE EDAID PLATFORM OR ITS SERVERS, OR ANY SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. THEREFORE, YOU SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION IN THE USE AND DOWNLOADING OF ANY SUCH SOFTWARE, INFORMATION OR MATERIALS AND USE INDUSTRY-RECOGNISED SOFTWARE TO DETECT AND DISINFECT VIRUSES. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOU DOWNLOAD OR OTHERWISE OBTAIN CUSTOMER CONTENT, EDAID INFORMATION AND ALL OTHER INFORMATION, MATERIAL OR SOFTWARE (INCLUDING ANY MOBILE CLIENT) FROM OR THROUGH THE EDAID PLATFORM, EDAID WEB SITE(S), BLOG AND DISCUSSION BOARD(S) AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR USE THEREOF AND ANY DAMAGES TO YOUR DEVICE OR COMPUTER SYSTEM, LOSS OF INFORMATION OR OTHER HARM OF ANY KIND THAT MAY RESULT.
We reserve the right to change any and all information, software and other items used or contained in the EdAid Platform or offered through the EdAid Platform at any time without notice.
You may not include a link to the EdAid Platform in any other site, computer or network without our prior written consent and licence.
Except as otherwise expressly stated in these principles, we shall only be liable for foreseeable loss or damage arising directly out of our own breach of these Terms, negligence or wilful misconduct.
We shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with:
We shall not be liable for any indirect, special or consequential loss or damage, including loss or damage arising out of or in connection with lost information, lost profits, damage to goodwill or business interruption, any delay or failure to perform its own obligations under these principles due to circumstances beyond our own reasonable control.
Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or limit the liability of either you or us for death or personal injury caused by our own negligent acts or any fraudulent acts or omissions as any other liability imposed by applicable law which cannot be excluded as a matter of law.
As a firm we are committed to treating our customers fairly and we will seek to respond to all complaints received promptly and fairly. If you want to make a complaint about the Deferred Tuition Agreement or EdAid, you can can contact the EdAid team with brief details of your complaint and your account reference by email [email protected], by mail to the address provided below, or through the live chat function on the platform. EdAid will acknowledge your complaint within five business days. EdAid will then investigate and send you an initial response. This should take no longer than five business days.
Within four weeks after receiving a complaint, we will send you either a final response or a response which explains why we are not in a position to resolve the complaint and/or indicates when we will make further contact. Complaints that cannot be settled within eight weeks of the date of complaint may ultimately be referred to the appropriate regulatory body in your jurisdiction (for example, the Financial Ombudsman Service in the United Kingdom and the Consumer Finance Protection Board in the United States).
In the UK, if you feel that your complaint or grievance has not been dealt with satisfactorily, you have the right to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. If you have not received a final response letter from us within eight weeks of raising your complaint, or the final response letter has been received but is not satisfactory to you, you will need to bring your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman within six months. You can contact the Financial Ombudsman at The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR or by calling them on 0800 023 4 567. If you do refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, this will not affect your right to take legal action.
EdAid Ltd is a company incorporated in England & Wales under company registration number 07880016, having its registered office at 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ, United Kingdom (“EdAid UK”).