Payment waiver conditions

For the first 12 months of your agreement you are entitled to a payment waiver in respect of accidental death, accident, sickness and involuntary unemployment subject to the following conditions:

1.1          We will waive any regular repayments due under the agreement while you are unable to work entirely due to accident or sickness or are involuntarily unemployed for any period in excess of 1 month, (up to a maximum of 7 monthly repayments for any one instance of accident, sickness or involuntary unemployment), provided that you meet the requirements set out in section 1.2 below.  If you die due to an accident, we will waive 7 monthly payments. Payment waiver can be activated only during the first 12 months of the agreement.

1.2   To avail of payment waiver you must meet the following conditions:

a)      Immediately prior to you becoming involuntarily unemployed or being unable to work due to accident or sickness, you must be aged 18 or over, living in the UK and working at least 16 hours per week for at least the previous 6 months (if you have been furloughed under the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, you are deemed to have been working your contracted hours during that period); and

In the case of accident or sickness:

b)      You must be wholly unable to work due to the accident or sickness for at least 30 consecutive days and be under regular consultation with or receiving continuing treatment from a doctor who is a medical practitioner (other than you or a member of your family) registered with the General Medical Council;

c)      You must have a doctor’s certificate confirming you are unable to work.  You must also provide confirmation from your employer of your absence from work; or

In the case of involuntary unemployment:

d)      You must be wholly unemployed for at least 30 consecutive days and be available for, capable of and actively looking for work.

e)      You must be registered as available for work with the Department for Work and Pensions and receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance as defined by the relevant legislation or regulations.

f)        Your unemployment must be involuntary. This means that you are unemployed because:

(i)    your employer has stopped or is going to stop the business which employed you either completely or at the place where you worked; or

(ii)   your employer’s need for employees to do work of a particular kind has ended or reduced (or is expected to do so) either generally or at the place where you worked; or

(iii) you were self-employed and the business or partnership in which you worked has stopped trading permanently and is being, or has been, wound up or dissolved.

 

“self-employed” means:

•       you are carrying on a business in the UK either alone or as a partner in a partnership; or

•       you can control the affairs of a company you work for because either you or a relative or a member of your household individually or jointly hold the majority of the voting rights in that company; or

•       you can otherwise ensure that the company you work for conducts its affairs according to your wishes.

 

1.3          You will not qualify for a payment waiver if

In the case of accident or sickness:

a)  Your accident or sickness relates to elective or cosmetic surgery or results from a deliberate or self-inflicted injury or from drinking alcohol or taking drugs; or

b)  You do not intend to return to work following recovery from your accident or sickness, for example if you have retired or resigned from your job.

Or in the case of involuntary unemployment:

(a)    you knew at the time of making the agreement that you were going to be made unemployed or had reason to believe that it was likely; or 

(b)    Your unemployment results from your fixed term contract reaching its expected expiry date; or

(c)     Your unemployment results from your conduct (including fraud, illegal activity, dishonesty or anything that led to or might have led to a disciplinary procedure), your resignation, any unemployment of a voluntary nature, or where you have taken early retirement.
 

Or in the case of accidental death:

a)     Is not as a result of a sudden, unexpected, unusual, specific event which occurs at an identifiable time and place. This does not cover any form of death caused or as a result of natural causes.

1.4          Subsequent instances of accident, sickness or involuntary unemployment within 6 months of the end of an earlier instance will be regarded as a single instance. This means that the requirement to be unable to work or be involuntarily unemployed for a minimum of 30 days continuously will take into account the earlier period of accident, sickness or involuntary unemployment. However the maximum payment waiver will also take into account the number of payments previously waived in respect of the earlier period of being out of work due to accident, sickness or involuntary unemployment.

1.5          In the case of joint borrowers, the person who usually makes the repayments will be entitled to apply to us for a payment waiver.  For accidental death, on the death of one joint borrower we will waive 7 monthly repayments.

1.6          If you are out of work due to accident or sickness or you have become unemployed and you wish to activate your payment waiver, you can email us at operations.uk@leasys.com or call us on 03445 614611   / options 1  and 2. We will ask for evidence to support your request, which will include details of your employment or accident or sickness and such other information as we reasonably believe is necessary. You must pay any costs involved in the provision of the evidence. We will require ongoing evidence of your eligibility for payment waiver if you continue to be out of work due to unemployment, accident or sickness. In the event of accidental death, your next of kin should advise us using the contact details above. 

1.7          You will be required to continue making payments under this agreement until we confirm to you that a payment waiver applies. We have the right to assume that you qualify for a payment waiver in advance of receiving evidence. However, if you do not provide evidence within 60 days of our request for it, that you are unable to work entirely due to an accident or sickness or that you are unemployed or if, on further investigation, we identify that you are not unable to work due to an accident or sickness or that you are not unemployed we will advise you in writing that you do not qualify for a payment waiver and section 1.9 will apply.

1.8          If we confirm that you qualify for a payment waiver we will waive any regular repayments due under the agreement as follows:

a)       We will waive the repayments due under the loan agreement from the first payment due after you tell us that you have become unable to work due to an accident or sickness or your become unemployed.

b)       We will refund any repayments that you have made from the date you first qualified for payment waiver. 

c)       The payment waiver will continue for as long as you continue to be unable to work or continue to be unemployed, up to a maximum of 7 months.

d)       If the agreement is settled early whilst the payment waiver applies, we will not waive any sum which becomes due as a result of the early settlement.  For the avoidance of doubt, we will never waive the balloon payment or refund you if you have already paid it.

1.9          Benefits under payment waiver will end if:

a)       We have waived 7 monthly repayments;  

b)      you are no longer unable to work due to an accident or sickness or you are no longer unemployed;  

c)       you do not provide, when we ask, reasonable evidence that you are or continue to be unable to work entirely due to an accident or sickness or that you are or continue to be unemployed;

d)      the agreement ends or the total debt is paid in full; or

e)       you die.

1.10        If you do not tell the truth or mislead us about being unable to work due to an accident or sickness or about being unemployed, you must make all payments plus any additional sums of interest that were due under the agreement.

1.11        You agree that we may share any personal data provided by you with any administrators appointed by us or with any insurer and their agents, sub-contractors or administrators, providing cover to us in respect of our obligations under the agreement.