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These terms are a legal agreement between you and Bluechain Payments Limited. They cover your Bluechain account and apply to every service you use. Each service also has its own service terms, which sit alongside these. Please read them carefully.
This summary does not replace the terms below.
1.1 Who we are. Bluechain Payments Limited is a company registered in England and Wales (company number 10646000). Our registered office is Building 4, Foundation Park, Maidenhead, SL6 3UD. In these terms, "Bluechain", "we", "us" and "our" mean Bluechain Payments Limited, and "you" means the person or business using our services.
1.2 Our regulatory status. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We are a distributor of Modulr FS Limited ("Modulr", company number 09897919), an electronic money institution authorised and regulated by the FCA (Firm Reference Number 900573). Section 2 explains the role of each firm we work with.
1.3 What makes up your agreement with us. Your agreement with us is made up of:
(a) these terms;
(b) the service terms for each service you use. Today these are our Bluechain Pay Terms and, if you switch on rewards, our Bluechain Rewards Terms. When we add a new service, it will have its own service terms, which you accept when you first use that service;
(c) our Privacy Policy;
(d) our Restricted Payments page; and
(e) if you use Bluechain to receive payments, any signed agreement between you and us about receiving payments.
1.4 Your agreements with our partners. Some parts of our services are provided by regulated firms under their own terms. Those terms are a separate agreement between you and that firm:
(a) if you pay by bank, Tink's UK End-User Terms of Service, which you accept in Tink's payment flow; and
(b) if you pay several bills at once, Modulr's Introduced Client Terms of Business, which you accept when your Bluechain Balance is set up.
1.5 Using our partners' services. We link to Tink's and Modulr's terms from our Legal page at www.bluechain.com/legal. To pay by bank you must accept Tink's terms. To make a Bulk Payment you must also accept Modulr's terms. Card payments need neither. If you do not accept them, or the firm stops providing its service, that payment method will not be available to you.
1.6 If documents conflict. A signed agreement between you and us wins over these terms and any service terms. Service terms win over these terms for that service. Our Disputes & Refunds guide explains in plain English what to do if something goes wrong. If it differs from these terms or the service terms, these terms and the service terms apply.
1.7 Accepting these terms. You accept these terms when you tick or click to agree to them on the Platform, or when you use our services, whichever happens first.
1.8 Words with capital letters have the meanings given in section 14, or in the service terms.
2.1 You deal with us for everything. We run the Platform, check your identity and your suppliers, provide support and handle your complaints, passing them to another firm only where section 11.2 says so. The firms we work with are:
| Firm | What it does | Your relationship with it |
|---|---|---|
| Bluechain Payments Limited | Runs the Platform. Receives your card payments and pays your supplier from our own account. Checks your identity and your suppliers' bank details. | Your agreement is with us, under these terms and the service terms. |
| Card payment processors | Process card payments made to us. We use more than one and may change them. | None. They work for us, not for you. |
| Tink Financial Services Limited (FCA Firm Reference Number 988456) | Provides the payment initiation service for bank payments: it sends your payment instruction to your bank. It never holds your money. | Direct, under Tink's terms. |
| Modulr FS Limited (FCA Firm Reference Number 900573) | Holds our own account, which we use to pay your supplier after a card payment. Also provides your Bluechain Balance, an e-money account in your name used for paying several bills at once. | For card payments, none: the account is ours. For your Bluechain Balance, direct, under Modulr's terms. |
2.2 Your instructions to our partners. You authorise us to give Tink and Modulr instructions on your behalf, in line with what you approve on the Platform, and to share information about you and your payments with them so they can provide their services. This includes instructing Modulr to send each payment in a Bulk Payment from your Bluechain Balance. They may rely on our instructions without checking with you. When we set up your Bluechain Balance and carry out checks on you, we act as Modulr's distributor.
2.3 Changing the firms we work with. We may change the firms we work with. Changing a card payment processor does not affect you or these terms. If a change means you would need an agreement with a different firm, we will tell you under section 10.
2.4 What we are not. We are not a bank and we do not hold money on your behalf. Our job is to pay your supplier correctly. We are not responsible for the goods or services you buy, so any problem with them needs to be resolved with your supplier. We do not check whether tax applies to your payments, and we do not guarantee who any supplier is. We are not your agent or partner.
3.1 To use our services you must be:
(a) an individual living in the United Kingdom who is at least 18 years old;
(b) a company or unincorporated association registered or established in the United Kingdom;
(c) a government body; or
(d) a partnership of any of these.
3.2 Everything you tell us, when you sign up and afterwards, must be complete, accurate and up to date. If you give us personal information about another person, you must be entitled to share it with us and must have told that person how we will use it.
3.3 Checks we carry out. We and Modulr carry out checks to meet UK anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions law. We do this under our own financial crime policies and on behalf of Modulr. We may check your identity and your business, screen you against sanctions lists, monitor your payments, and ask you for information or documents at any time, including about the source of funds or a particular payment. You must provide what we reasonably ask for promptly.
3.4 You confirm that you are not subject to UK financial sanctions and that you will not use our services in breach of them. We may delay, refuse or stop a payment, or restrict or close your account, where we reasonably need to in order to meet our legal obligations, and we will not be liable to you for doing so. The law may stop us from telling you why.
4.1 We will give you a way to log in to the Platform, such as a username and password, a code, or your device's passcode or biometrics (your "Login"). You must keep your Login and any logged-in device secure. Tell us straight away if you think someone else knows or has used your Login.
4.2 Only you and people you have authorised, such as your employees, may use your account. You are responsible for deciding who can submit and approve payments for you and for any limits on their authority.
4.3 We may treat every instruction given using your Login as authorised by you, even if someone else used it without your permission. We are not liable for payments made using your Login. This does not affect your rights against your bank, your card issuer, Tink or Modulr for payments you did not authorise, which are explained in section 7 of the Bluechain Pay Terms.
5.1 You must pay our Fees. We show you any Fee before you approve a payment or start using a paid service. The service terms explain how Fees are collected for that service.
5.2 Our Fees are currently exempt from VAT. If VAT becomes payable, we will tell you before it applies.
5.3 We do not charge you for asking for a refund, raising a dispute or telling us about a payment you did not authorise. If we can charge for tracing and trying to recover a payment sent to the wrong account because of details you gave, we will tell you the cost before we start.
5.4 Your bank or card issuer may charge you its own fees, which are between you and them. If a payment involves converting currency, we will show you the exchange rate and any charge before you approve.
5.5 If you owe us money under our agreement, for example after a chargeback or a payment made to you by mistake, it is a debt you must pay on demand. We may also take it from any money we owe you.
6.1 You must:
(a) follow the law and any reasonable instructions or procedures we give you on the Platform;
(b) not use Bluechain for fraud or any other crime, or let anyone else do so in your name;
(c) not upload anything unlawful, offensive, misleading or harmful, including viruses, or anything that infringes someone else's rights;
(d) not use Bluechain for anything other than making and receiving genuine payments; and
(e) give us any information or documents we reasonably ask for about your use of Bluechain or any payment.
6.2 Payments you cannot make. You must not make:
(a) payments that are not genuine payments for goods or services supplied to or by you;
(b) card payments to yourself or to related people or businesses, meaning family members, businesses they own or control, or businesses under the same ultimate ownership or control as you; or
(c) payments for anything listed as prohibited on our Restricted Payments page at www.bluechain.com/legal/restricted-payments, or by a method that page does not allow.
6.3 The Restricted Payments page shows what is prohibited for all payments, what can only be paid by bank payment, and what needs our approval. We may update it to reflect card scheme rules, the requirements of our card payment processors and Modulr, and our own risk policy. Updates take effect when we publish them and do not affect payments already made. Anything not listed is allowed, but we may still decline a payment we reasonably consider high risk.
7.1 We may offer optional rewards programmes run by our partners. Each partner's programme has its own terms, which you accept when you join it. We may add, change or withdraw programmes and partners at any time without changing these terms.
7.2 If you switch on rewards, our Bluechain Rewards Terms apply. They explain how rewards are earned, any Rewards Fee, and what happens if a payment comes back to you.
8.1 We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Beyond what our agreement says, and as far as the law allows, we do not give any other promises about our services.
8.2 As far as the law allows:
(a) we do not promise that the Platform will always be available or suitable for your needs;
(b) we are not responsible for a bank or card issuer refusing a payment, or for how quickly your bank, Modulr or your supplier's bank processes a payment, although we will meet the timing promises in the service terms;
(c) we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for any loss of profit, goodwill, data or interest, or interest charged to you;
(d) we are not liable for anything caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as power or system failures, fire, flood, industrial action, war, government action or the failure of a third party. We will try to fix any problem as soon as we can; and
(e) we are responsible for our services and Tink and Modulr are responsible for theirs. We are not responsible for the services they provide under their own terms, except where our agreement says otherwise.
8.3 Our maximum liability. Except for our promise to put right payments we get wrong in section 7.1 of the Bluechain Pay Terms, our total liability to you in any calendar year, however it arises, is limited to the lower of the Fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event that led to the claim, and £5,000.
8.4 What we do not limit. Nothing in our agreement limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit. Nor does it limit your rights under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 against your bank, card issuer, Tink or Modulr, your rights under the fraud reimbursement requirement, or, if you are a consumer, your rights under consumer law.
8.5 Your responsibility to us. As far as the law allows, you must cover any loss, claim or cost (including legal costs) we suffer because you broke our agreement or the law when using Bluechain. This includes money we have to repay because a payment you made was prohibited, or because a payment to us was reversed after we had paid your supplier.
9.1 You can close your account at any time by giving us 7 days' notice. We can close your account by giving you 30 days' notice. We do not charge you for closing your account.
9.2 Either of us can end the agreement straight away if the other has broken it and not put things right within 7 days of being asked to, or if the other becomes insolvent.
9.3 We may suspend or restrict your account, or any part of our services, at any time. Where we can, we will tell you beforehand. Otherwise we will tell you as soon as we can afterwards, unless the law stops us. We may also change our services from time to time.
9.4 Closing your account does not cancel payments already in progress. Card payments we have received will be paid to your supplier, and bank payments and Bulk Payments you have approved cannot be cancelled. We may wait to complete the closure until all payments are settled and until the period for any chargeback, refund or recall has passed, or for as long as the law requires. When your account closes, your Bluechain Balance closes too, and Modulr's terms apply to any money left in it.
9.5 Anything in our agreement that by its nature should continue after it ends will continue, including your obligations about chargebacks, refunds and money you owe us, and the limits on our liability.
9.6 We keep records for as long as the law requires, including identity and transaction records for 5 years after our relationship ends. Our Privacy Policy explains how long we keep personal information and why.
10.1 We may change these terms, any service terms, or any other document that forms part of our agreement. We will publish the change on our website and, where practical, also tell you by email or on the Platform, saying when it takes effect.
10.2 Changes that benefit you or have little impact on you can take effect straight away. Changes that are significant and likely to be worse for you will take effect at least 30 days after we publish them, unless we need to make them sooner because of the law, security or fraud prevention, in which case we will give as much notice as we can.
10.3 If you keep using Bluechain after a change takes effect, you accept it. If you do not accept a change, you can close your account under section 9.1.
10.4 Changes to Modulr's or Tink's terms are made under their own terms.
11.1 If you are unhappy with any part of our service, tell us on the Platform, by email to info@bluechain.com, or by post to the address in section 1.1. We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 Business Days and give you a final response within 15 Business Days. If we need longer, we will tell you why and when you will hear from us, and we will always respond within 8 weeks.
11.2 Some complaints are about services provided by authorised firms rather than by us. Complaints about your Bluechain Balance or a payment from it are handled by Modulr. Complaints about starting a bank payment are handled by Tink, and complaints about how your bank made a payment are for your bank. If you send us one of these, we will pass it to the right firm within 1 Business Day and tell you. That firm's complaints process then applies, and if it does not resolve your complaint you may be able to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service at financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
11.3 Complaints about how we use your personal information can be made to the Information Commissioner's Office.
12.1 This section applies if you use Bluechain as an individual for purposes wholly or mainly outside your trade, business or profession. If you are a sole trader or partnership using Bluechain for your business, you are a business customer and this section does not apply.
12.2 Your right to cancel. You can cancel this agreement within 14 days of accepting it, without giving a reason, by emailing info@bluechain.com. By using Bluechain you ask us to start straight away. Once we have completed a payment at your request, you cannot cancel that payment.
12.3 Your legal rights. Nothing in our agreement affects your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or other consumer law. The limits on our liability, your responsibility to us in section 8.5, the chargeback restrictions in the Bluechain Pay Terms and our right to make changes apply to you only as far as consumer law allows.
12.4 If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can bring a claim in your local courts.
13.1 Notices. We may send you notices by email, by post or on the Platform, using the details you gave us. You can send notices to info@bluechain.com or by post to the address in section 1.1. An email is treated as received when sent, unless the sender is told within 24 hours that it was not delivered. Please keep your email address up to date.
13.2 Language. We will communicate with you in English. To use Bluechain you need an internet connection and an up-to-date browser and, for bank payments, online or mobile banking with a bank that supports open banking.
13.3 Your content. You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use the information and documents you provide, only to provide and improve our services, to meet our legal obligations, and to create anonymised and aggregated data. The licence ends when the agreement ends, except for content we must keep by law and anonymised and aggregated data.
13.4 Transfer. You cannot transfer your rights or obligations under our agreement. We can transfer ours, and will tell you if we do. We may use subcontractors.
13.5 Entire agreement. The documents listed in section 1.3 are the whole agreement between you and us about our services, and replace any earlier agreement about them.
13.6 Other rules. Nobody else has any right to enforce our agreement under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. If we do not enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later. If a court decides any part of our agreement is invalid, the rest still applies. "Including" means "including without limitation", and headings do not affect how our agreement is read.
13.7 Law. Our agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, subject to section 12.4.
"Bluechain Balance" means an e-money account in your name, provided by Modulr, which you use to pay for Bulk Payments. See section 2 and the Bluechain Pay Terms.
"Bulk Payment" means a single instruction to pay two or more bills, as described in the Bluechain Pay Terms.
"Business Day" means any day except a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England.
"Fees" means the fees you pay us, including the Service Fee, as shown on the Platform or before you approve a payment.
"Login" has the meaning in section 4.1.
"Modulr" means Modulr FS Limited. See section 1.2.
"Platform" means our website portal and any other way we let you access our services online.
"Service Fee" means the fee for our bill payment service, shown to you before you approve a payment.
"service terms" means the terms for a particular service, such as the Bluechain Pay Terms. See section 1.3.
"supplier" means the person or business you are paying, also called a "biller" on the Platform.
"Tink" means Tink Financial Services Limited. See section 2.1.