Terms of Service

Accepting these terms

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your use of the website at spheracredit.com and of the calculators, educational content, request forms and software made available through it (together, the "Services"), operated by 17581602 CANADA INC., carrying on business as Sphera Credit ("Sphera Credit", "we", "us", "our").

By using the Services you accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the Services. How we handle personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

Who we are

Sphera Credit is a technology company with two lines of business.

We sell advertising and marketing services to licensed mortgage brokers and to lenders. Those businesses pay us to reach people who have told us they are looking for financing, in the same way that any business pays to advertise. Our part is limited to putting the two sides in contact with each other.

We also license software to financial institutions. That software is used by the institution's own staff, under the institution's own control and its own regulatory obligations. Access to it is governed by a separate commercial agreement, described further below.

What Sphera Credit is not

This section states the limits of our role. It applies everywhere on this website and to everything we do.

• We are not a lender. We do not lend money, we do not offer or extend credit, and we are not a party to any loan or mortgage you may enter into
• We are not a mortgage brokerage and we are not a mortgage broker or agent. We do not deal or trade in mortgages, we do not solicit or negotiate mortgages, and we do not present or recommend mortgage products
• We are not a financial adviser, an investment adviser, an insurance agent or a credit counsellor, and we are not registered as any of those
• We hold no lending, mortgage brokerage, deposit-taking, insurance or securities licence or registration in any province or territory of Canada, and we carry on no activity for which one is required
• We do not assess, verify, score or evaluate your financial situation, your creditworthiness or your ability to repay, and we do not obtain your credit report from any credit reporting agency
• We do not make, take part in, influence or review any lending, credit, pricing or approval decision, and no decision about you is made by us or by any automated system of ours
• We are not supervised, licensed, endorsed or approved by the Autorite des marches financiers, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, the BC Financial Services Authority, the Real Estate Council of Alberta, or any other financial services regulator

Any assessment of your file, any advice about financing and any decision to offer you credit comes from the licensed broker or the lender you choose to deal with. It never comes from us.

How we are paid

The Services are free to you. You pay us nothing at any point, for anything, and you are never asked for payment details.

Brokers and lenders pay us in advance for access to our advertising network, in the same way a business pays for advertising anywhere else. What they pay is fixed before any introduction is made. It does not change with whether you obtain financing, how much you borrow, what rate you are offered, or whether any agreement is ever signed. We receive nothing from you and nothing that depends on the outcome of your file.

If you go on to arrange financing, the broker you deal with is normally paid by the lender you choose, as brokers usually are. That arrangement is between them and has nothing to do with us.

Requests you submit through this website

The forms on this website let you tell us what kind of financing you are looking for. Submitting one is not an application for credit, and it does not create any obligation for you.

We use what you submit for one purpose: to put you in contact with a licensed mortgage broker or a lender that advertises through our network and that operates in your province. Which one you are introduced to depends on your province and on the type of financing you asked about. It does not depend on any assessment of you, because we perform none.

• Submitting a form is not an approval, a pre-approval, an offer of credit, or any indication that financing will be available to you or on what terms
• Only a lender can approve financing, and only a lender can tell you what it will cost
• We do not promise that you will be contacted, that a suitable broker or lender exists for your situation, or that our network covers your province or your type of financing
• Any figure you enter, and any figure we show you, is an estimate you provided or an illustration. It is not a quote and it is not binding on anyone
• You agree that the information you give us is accurate and that it is yours to give

You can ask us to stop at any time, and to delete what you submitted, by writing to privacy@spheracredit.com.

The mortgage financing program

Where you reach us through a general contractor's quoting software and ask about financing for a construction or renovation project, we introduce you to a mortgage broker who is licensed or registered in your province and who advertises through our network. That program currently operates in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, and where it operates may change.

Mortgage brokers are licensed by the financial services regulator of their province, and each of those regulators publishes a register you can search. You can and should confirm a broker's status before you share financial information with them: the Autorite des marches financiers in Quebec, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, the BC Financial Services Authority, and the Real Estate Council of Alberta.

Those regulators oversee mortgage brokers. They do not license, endorse or supervise Sphera Credit. Being eligible for the program means only that we can introduce you to a broker. It is nothing more than that.

Brokers and lenders are independent of us

Every broker and every lender you may be introduced to is an independent business. None of them is our agent, our employee, our partner or our representative, and we are not theirs. They advertise with us and nothing more.

We do not control, direct, supervise or review what they do. We do not review the advice they give, the products they present, the rates or fees they quote, the decisions they make, or how they handle your information once it reaches them. We make no representation and give no warranty about any of it.

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not responsible or liable for the acts, omissions, advice, products, fees, conduct or regulatory standing of any broker or lender, or for any agreement you enter into with one. Any agreement you sign is between you and that business. Read it before you sign it, and take your own professional advice on it.

We do not give advice

Nothing on this website and nothing we say to you is financial, mortgage, lending, investment, insurance, tax or legal advice, and none of it is a recommendation to enter into any transaction. This applies to every part of the Services without exception, including the calculators, the educational content, the loan pages, the comparisons, the examples and any message we send you.

We are not registered or licensed to give advice of any of those kinds, and we do not do so. Before you borrow, speak to a licensed mortgage broker, a qualified financial planner, an accountant or a lawyer, as your situation requires.

Calculators and educational content

The calculators produce arithmetic based on the numbers you type in and on assumptions we have chosen. The learning pages, insights and loan pages are general information written for a general audience.

• They produce estimates and illustrations, never guaranteed outcomes, quotes or offers
• They take no account of your circumstances, your tax position, your credit file or your objectives
• The rates, fees and terms shown are assumed for the purpose of the calculation, and are not offered by anyone
• Your actual rate and terms depend on the lender, your credit, your income, the security, the term and market conditions at the time, and may be very different
• They must never be the sole basis for a financial decision

We take care with this content and we correct errors when we find them. We do not warrant that it is accurate, complete or current, and general information can go out of date without notice.

Services for financial institutions

Our software for banks, credit unions, alternative lenders and other financial institutions is licensed under a separate written commercial agreement between us and that institution. These Terms do not govern it.

Where a financial institution uses our software, the institution decides how to use it, remains responsible for its own credit decisions and for its own regulatory compliance, and is the party responsible for the personal information it processes. We supply software. We do not make credit decisions for any institution and we do not act on any institution's behalf toward its customers.

Institutional clients should refer to their own agreement for terms on licensing, data processing, service levels, liability and support.

Accounts

Some parts of the Services require an account. If you have one, you are responsible for:

• Giving accurate and complete registration information and keeping it current
• Keeping your credentials confidential and not sharing them
• Everything done through your account
• Telling us promptly at support@spheracredit.com if you suspect unauthorised use

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these Terms, or that has been inactive for a long period.

Acceptable use

When using the Services, you agree not to:

• Use them for any unlawful purpose, or in breach of any applicable law
• Submit information that is false, or that belongs to someone else without their authority
• Try to gain unauthorised access to our systems, our networks or anyone else's account
• Interfere with or disrupt the Services, or attempt to defeat any security measure
• Reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any part of the Services
• Scrape, crawl or extract data from the Services by automated means beyond what we permit
• Misrepresent who you are or who you are affiliated with
• Present our content, calculators or outputs as advice, as an approval, or as the basis for a lending decision

Intellectual property

The Services, and the content, software, models, designs, text, graphics and trademarks in them, belong to 17581602 CANADA INC. or are licensed to it. You may read, use and print the calculators and educational content for your own personal, non-commercial purposes.

You may not copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, sell, lease, publish or create derivative works from any part of the Services without our written permission.

No warranties

The Services are provided as they are and as they are available. To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no warranty of any kind about them, whether express, implied or statutory, including any implied warranty of merchantability, of fitness for a particular purpose, of quality, or of non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Services will be available, uninterrupted, timely, secure or free of error, that any defect will be corrected, or that any result obtained through them will be accurate or reliable.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Sphera Credit and its directors, officers, employees, contractors and agents are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profit, revenue, data, goodwill or opportunity, arising out of or connected with the Services, however caused, even if we were told such damages were possible.

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total aggregate liability for all claims connected with the Services is limited to one hundred Canadian dollars (CAD $100), or, if you have paid us anything in the twelve months before the claim, the amount you paid.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law. That includes liability for bodily or moral injury, liability arising from gross negligence or intentional fault, and any right you have under consumer protection legislation.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify Sphera Credit and its directors, officers, employees and agents against any claim, liability, damage, loss or expense, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your use of the Services, your breach of these Terms, your submission of information that was inaccurate or was not yours to give, or your breach of anyone else's rights.

This does not apply where the law does not permit it, and it does not apply to a consumer to the extent consumer protection legislation says otherwise.

Ending your use

You may stop using the Services at any time. We may suspend or withdraw the Services, or any part of them, at any time and without notice, including if you breach these Terms.

The sections on intellectual property, no warranties, limitation of liability, indemnity and governing law continue to apply after your use ends.

Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply in it, without regard to conflict of law rules. Subject to the paragraph below, the courts of Ontario have jurisdiction over any dispute.

If you are a consumer, nothing in these Terms takes away the benefit of any provision of the law of the province where you live that you cannot give up by contract, and nothing in them prevents you from bringing proceedings before the courts of that province. If you live in Quebec, this includes the Consumer Protection Act and article 3149 of the Civil Code of Quebec, and you may bring proceedings before the courts of Quebec.

Before starting proceedings, please write to support@spheracredit.com. Most problems are quicker to resolve that way.

Changes to these terms

We may change these Terms. When we do, we post the new version here and change the date at the top. Your continued use of the Services after that means you accept the change. If you do not accept it, stop using the Services.

How to reach us

17581602 CANADA INC., carrying on business as Sphera Credit

Head office: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

General enquiries: support@spheracredit.com

Privacy: privacy@spheracredit.com

Telephone: (289) 672-3047