Awash Bank Service Terms

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE OPENING AND USE OF AWASH BANK MICRO CREDIT SERVICES

1. The Agreement

I. This Agreement sets out the complete Terms and Conditions (hereinafter called "These Terms and Conditions") which shall be applicable to Awash bank service.

II. These terms and conditions, as well as any related amendments or changes, will become effective once the credit customer has read and accepted them (by clicking on the option to accept).

2. Definitions

In these Terms and Conditions, the following words and expressions bear the following meanings:

  • "Awash Bank" means a regulated financial institution agreed to provide mobile financial services to telebirr customers in collaboration with Ethio telecom.
  • "Ethio telecom" means a licensed payment instrument issuer who is agreed to providing mobile financial services to its telebirr customers in collaboration with Awash Bank.
  • "National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE)" means a supervising authority, established in accordance with Proclamation No. 591/2008.
  • "telebirr" means trade name of Ethio telecom mobile money service used to access financial services such as to store, send, receive money, micro credit, micro insurance, pension, and micro saving services using their mobile phones.
  • "telebirr Account" means your mobile money store of value, which is the record kept by Ethio Telecom of the amount of E-Money you have in the telebirr System from time to time.
  • "15, 40 and 75 days credit Service" means financial service provided by Awash Bank and enables telebirr customers to access credit service through telebirr channels in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth below.
  • "Salary Credit service" means a credit service provided by the Awash Bank via Ethio telecom's telebirr platform to employees of private and public institutions whose monthly salaries are paid through telebirr service.
  • "Customer" means any individual who subscribes to mobile financial service.
  • "E-Money" means the electronic monetary value depicted in customers telebirr Account representing an equal amount of cash.
  • "You" or "your" means the individual customer and includes the personal representatives of the individual.
  • "We," "our," and "us," means Awash Bank and Ethio telecom.
  • "Transaction Fees" means the fee that includes the Facilitation Fee, access fee, Penalty and any other fees and charges payable for the use of Awash bank financial service.
  • "Facilitation fee" means the amount of fee paid by customers for the processing of Awash bank services to be collected via telebirr by Ethio telecom.
  • "Penalty fee" means the fee which the customers will be charged if they fail to honor their commitments on time.
  • "Due date" means the time marked as on time (active credit period).
  • "Bad debit" means any credit amount not collected as per the repayment schedule and overdue for one or more days.
  • "Words importing the singular meaning where the context so admits include the plural meaning and vice versa."
  • "The word 'individual' shall include both the masculine and the feminine gender."

3. Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions

  • Before applying to use Awash Bank micro credit service, you should carefully read and understand these Terms and Conditions that will govern the use and operation of Awash Bank micro credit Account.
  • If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, please click "Cancel" on the Menu.
  • You will be deemed to have read, understood, and accepted these Terms and Conditions:
    • Upon clicking on the "Agree" option on the Menu requesting you to confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to abide with these Terms and Conditions; and/or by using or continuing to use and operate Awash Bank micro credit Service.
  • You acknowledge and accept the Awash Bank micro credit service only electronically and you agree to do business with Ethio telecom and to operate the Awash Bank service only by electronic means via telebirr system.
  • The terms and conditions may be modified or changed at any time by Ethio telecom and Awash Bank and will be binding on the customer from the date they are published on the telebirr App, portal, or website.
  • From the time it is accepted electronically, these terms and conditions become a legally binding agreement between you and us. You are not allowed to transfer any of your rights or obligations under this agreement to anyone else.
  • The customer agrees to use the credit for legitimate purposes.

4. Activation for Awash Bank Service

  • To activate Awash Bank micro credit service with Ethio telecom and Awash Bank, you must be at least:
    • Able to read, understand, and accept these terms and conditions.
    • 18 years old and above.
    • Have an Ethio telecom active SIM card.
    • Active user of telebirr and Ethio telecom products such as Data/Voice/SMS.
    • Stay on the network for three months after registering for SIM card and telebirr service.
  • To activate the Awash Bank service, customers shall use USSD *127# or telebirr superapp.

5. Eligibility Criteria to Get Awash Bank micro credit Service

  • A customer's borrowing capacity is determined by his or her 6-month telebirr transaction and telecom usage prior to the date of the Awash Bank micro credit service request. The telebirr transactions listed below are used to determine a customer's creditworthiness:
    • Purchase airtime
    • Packages purchase
    • Buy goods/service
    • Pay bills
    • Utility payment
    • Bulk disbursement
    • Receive Remittance
    • Ticket purchase
    • Fundraising payment
    • Cash in & Out
    • Send money
    • Credit repayment
    • Saving
    • Telecom usage like Voice, Data, and SMS, etc.
  • However, for Awash Salary Credit, receiving salary via telebirr will be enough.

6. Credit Amount and Fees

  • You can borrow any amount between the minimum and maximum amount permitted.
  • You will get the requested credit amount, and it will be credited to your main telebirr account (customer e-money account).
  • You should repay your previous credit first to get another credit.
  • You can pay your credit partially or fully.
  • After the due date, you will be charged a penalty fee of 0.11% per day upon repayment.
  • After the due date, the lender will take the outstanding credit amount from your e-money account automatically if you do not repay on time.
  • Credit repayment due date will be 15-days, 40-days, and 75-days from the date of taking the Credit, depending on the type of credit.
  • For 15-days with a credit limit of 5,000 ETB, 40-days with a credit limit of 12,000 ETB, 75-days with a credit limit of 16,000 ETB, and 6 months’ salary with a credit limit of 1,000,000 ETB.
  • If you repay your 15-days credit within the due date, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 1.25% on day one and a daily fee ranging from 0.50% to 1.00% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit. The repayment will be settled within 15 days.
  • If you repay your 40-days credit within the due date, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 4.50% on day one and a daily fee ranging from 0.50% to 1.00% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit. The repayment will be settled within 40 days.
  • If you repay your 75-days credit within the due date, you will be charged a facilitation fee of 6.50% on day one and a daily fee ranging from 0.5% to 1.00% for the rest of the repayment period depending on your credit limit. The repayment will be settled within 75 days.
  • The facilitation fee for 6 months’ Salary Credit is 22% with a 16-month repayment period (the repayment will be settled monthly).
  • The bonus/incentive will not be applicable for Awash Bank service repayment.
  • Awash Bank, in collaboration with Ethio telecom, offers this credit service. Awash Bank owns and controls the money used to provide credit services. In the event of a defaulted or overdue Credit, we have full legal authority to sue in a regular court. We are free to pursue alternatives to litigation.
  • The bank has the right to collect the Nonperforming Credit (NPL) from customers' bank accounts and is free to pursue alternatives to litigation.

7. Governing Law

The laws of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the directives of the National Bank of Ethiopia, as well as the relevant procedures of the Awash Bank and Ethio telecom shall govern these Terms and Conditions.

8. Queries

For any question related to services, process, terms & conditions of individual Awash Bank service, you can get through telebirr Customer Contact Centre (by dialing 127).

9. Termination

We shall be entitled to suspend or terminate this agreement wholly or partially due to your abuse, misuse, or fraud of any of the micro saving and Credit services with or without prior notice to you. Any termination of this contract in completely or in part may not affect any accrued rights and obligations of either party.

10. Complaints

Complaints may be made in person, in writing, by post, fax, email, or by telephone. Ethio telecom will take all measures within its means to resolve your complaints within a reasonable time. If you are dissatisfied with the response, you can escalate the matter to Awash Bank and National Bank of Ethiopia sequentially.

11. Dispute Resolution

Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Agreement that is not resolved as per Clause 11 above shall be referred to the Federal Court of Ethiopia having jurisdiction over the case.

12. Lien

We shall have a general lien over all your property/assets in its possession in the event that you owe any money to us including but not limited to cash, goods, securities or valuables deposited for safe custody as security, cheques presented, bills and any other movable or immovable property. Where you are indebted to us in circumstances giving us a right of set off, all property held under lien shall be deemed to be held as security for the debt.

13. Set-Off

We may, upon notice, combine/consolidate your telebirr Account with any of your other accounts held in us, whether current, Credit, savings, deposit, term deposit, joint or any other type and thereafter set off any amount held to your credit against any indebtedness you owe to us.

14. Disclaimer

Your PIN must be kept secret and not accessible to anyone other than you. The consequences of disclosing the PIN, unauthorized use of the telebirr account, cell phone, or SIM card, failing to report loss or theft, or not regularly changing your pin are solely your responsibility.