Marketing Rules
Before you start promoting Clearpay, it’s important that you understand the rules that must be followed to avoid breaching financial promotions and advertising standards rules.
The consequences of not following these rules are serious and include public censure, fines and imprisonment.
The right way
There are two sets of rules that apply to you as a merchant whenever you mention Clearpay:
- Financial Promotions Rules
- Advertising Standards
To help you comply with these rules, we’ve created assets containing disclaimers and rules for their use.
You must only use the assets supplied by Clearpay in the Marketing Resource Centre when promoting Clearpay, and always follow the rules for their use.
Advertising Standards
The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) publishes rules and guidance applicable to all advertising, you must comply with all rules relevant to your marketing. The ASA has published specific guidance for advertising Buy Now Pay Later that you can read here. You are responsible for complying with these rules and guidance, and failure to follow these rules could lead to an investigation and sanctions by the ASA.
Important ASA rules include:
- Advertising must be fair, clear and not misleading.
- Advertising must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society.
- Advertising of BNPL must make clear that BNPL is a form of credit.
- Advertising of BNPL must be set out in a way that allows it to be understood easily by the audience being addressed.
- Advertising should not take advantage of consumers' inexperience or credulity.
- Advertising must state the nature of the contract being offered, any limitation, expense, penalty or charge and the terms of withdrawal.
To help you, the assets and tiles in the Marketing Resource Centre have been designed to comply with ASA rules.
Financial Promotions
A financial promotion is any communication that invites or induces a consumer to engage in certain types of controlled activities – including taking out a short-term loan with Clearpay. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates advertising for most financial services including BNPL products, and requires that all financial promotions must be fair, clear and not misleading, whilst balancing the benefits and risks of Clearpay’s service equally.
Most mentions of Clearpay will be a ‘financial promotion’ requiring approval by an FCA approved person. This requirement applies to merchants offering Clearpay regardless of whether they are regulated by the FCA. It does not matter that Clearpay is providing the loan – by offering it as a payment method, you are making a financial promotion.
Failing to comply and get the appropriate approval is a criminal offence in the UK under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and may attract a fine and/or imprisonment for company directors or other unauthorised persons.
If you use our approved assets and follow our usage rules you can consider your communication to have FCA approved person approval. If you modify the assets or fail to follow the rules, they will lose their approved status.
The FCA approved person for Clearpay's marketing communications is Product Partnerships Limited (PPL). FCA reference number 626349. PPL have approved the approved assets for use by merchants offering Clearpay as a payment option.
Encourage responsible spending
It’s important that customers use Clearpay in a responsible way by considering their purchases and ensuring they can afford their repayments. This way, they avoid late fees and stay on top of their finances!
With this in mind, you should ensure that any marketing or ads that mention Clearpay DO NOT encourage consumers to:
- Trivialise their purchase decision;
- Spend in a careless or compulsive manner;
- Make large or expensive purchases beyond a consumers normal spending habits;
- Spend to improve their mood;
- Use Clearpay as a solution to their financial problems; or
- Use Clearpay to make a purchase because they don’t have the funds to make the purchase upfront (this includes referencing Clearpay to bridge the gap between paydays).
When considering your ad in light of these principles, be aware that it applies to your whole ad, not just the part that mentions Clearpay. This is to avoid inferring things that could breach advertising rules.
Influencers
You may not use influencers to promote Clearpay without written approval from Clearpay.
Other rules
DO comply with Advertising Standards in your ads. It is your responsibility to understand and apply the laws governing the advertising of BNPL products.
DO NOT target under 18s, those with debt problems, or any other vulnerable group in any ad mentioning Clearpay.
DO NOT mention the speed or ease of using Clearpay.
DO NOT mention any of the following in any ad that mentions Clearpay:
- Gambling
- Criminal activity
- Overtly sexual material
- Payday lending
- Overspending
- Unmanageable debt
- Illegal drugs
