Terms & Conditions

These terms are an agreement between you and SmeXpress (“SmeXpress”, “we”, “us”) for your use of smexpress.app. By creating an account, you accept them on your own behalf and on behalf of the business you represent.

If you’re approved for a loan, you’ll also sign a loan agreement with the partner lender. That agreement governs the loan itself. If it says something different from these terms about your loan, the loan agreement applies.

SmeXpress is an online platform that helps businesses in Ghana get working capital. Through SmeXpress you can:

• set up a business profile and have it reviewed;
• compare loan products and apply online;
• track your application, and receive updates and repayment reminders.

Each loan product is provided by a licensed partner financial institution (the “partner lender”), which makes the final lending decision with our credit team, disburses the funds and is your lender. Unless your loan agreement says otherwise, SmeXpress is not the lender.

To use SmeXpress you must:

• be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract;
• own or be authorised to act for a business that is registered and operating in Ghana, as a sole proprietorship, partnership or company;
• hold a valid Ghana Card, passport or driver’s licence; and
• not be barred from borrowing by law or by a court.

We currently lend to businesses in the sectors listed in the app, and we may change which sectors we support.

• Give your real name and an email address you use, and verify it from the link we send you.
• Keep your password secret. You’re responsible for what happens in your account, so tell us straight away if you think someone else has used it.
• Each account is for one person. Don’t share it, and don’t open accounts for other people without their authority.

Before you can apply, you’ll complete a business profile with your personal details, identity documents, business information and six months of bank or mobile money statements. Our team reviews it, usually within 24 hours, though some reviews take longer.

We may approve your profile, ask you for more information, or decline it. We can also send an approved profile back for review if your details change or something needs another look. Please keep your profile up to date.

• Under our current policy you can apply for between GHS 10,000 and GHS 300,000, within the limits of the loan product you choose.
• Before you submit, you’ll see the product’s interest rate, an estimated monthly repayment and the total repayable.
• Applying doesn’t guarantee a loan. We and the partner lender assess every application and may approve it, decline it, or offer different terms. We’ll tell you the outcome by email and in the app.
• Many applications get a decision within 24 hours. That’s our aim, not a promise.

An approved loan is paid out once you’ve provided all of the following:

• Cash collateral of 20% of the approved amount. It’s held and then returned or applied as your loan agreement sets out.
• Post-dated cheques covering your repayments, as requested.
• A guarantor. You confirm that your guarantor has agreed to support your loan and to share their details with us. They may be legally responsible for your loan if you don’t repay.
• A signed loan agreement with the partner lender.

Once everything is in place, funds usually reach your business account within 24 to 48 hours.

• You repay in monthly instalments. The first falls due one month after the funds are disbursed, then on the same day each month — or the last day of the month, if a month is shorter.
• Your repayment schedule, with each due date and amount, is on your dashboard.
• We’ll email you 3 days before each repayment is due and again on the day. These reminders are a courtesy: you must pay on time even if a reminder doesn’t reach you.
• If you miss a repayment, the partner lender may take the steps set out in your loan agreement. These can include charges, presenting your post-dated cheques, using your collateral, calling on your guarantor and reporting to credit reference bureaus.
• If you’re having trouble paying, contact us as early as you can. We’ll work with you and the partner lender to find a way forward.

Interest is charged at the yearly rate shown for your loan product. There are no hidden fees: any fee that applies is shown before you submit your application or in your loan agreement. The repayment schedule you see before applying is an estimate, and your loan agreement sets out the final figures.

Everything you give us — about you, your business, your finances and your guarantor — must be true, complete and your own. If it isn’t, we and the partner lender may decline your application, cancel an approval, ask for the loan to be repaid early under your loan agreement, close your account, and report suspected fraud to the authorities.

You must not:

• use SmeXpress for anything unlawful, including fraud or money laundering;
• access another person’s account or information;
• upload documents that are forged, altered or not yours to share;
• interfere with the platform’s security or performance, or try to get around its limits; or
• copy or scrape the platform with automated tools.

We’ll send you emails and in-app notifications about your account, profile, applications and repayments. You agree to receive these electronically. Under the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772), they count as written notice. Please keep your email address current and check it regularly.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and share your personal information, including with the partner lender for your loan.

The SmeXpress name, logo, design and software belong to SmeXpress or our licensors. You may use the platform to manage your business’s loans, but you may not copy, modify or reuse any part of it for another purpose without our written permission. You keep ownership of the documents you upload. You allow us to use them only to provide the service, as described in our Privacy Policy.

We work to keep SmeXpress available and accurate, but we can’t promise it will always be uninterrupted or error-free. We may update, change or pause features — for example, for maintenance. Planned changes won’t affect a loan you already have.

• We’re responsible for providing the platform with reasonable skill and care.
• We’re not responsible for lending decisions, which are made with the partner lender, or for what a partner lender does under its loan agreement with you.
• As far as the law allows, we’re not liable for indirect losses, such as lost profits or business opportunities, caused by using or being unable to use SmeXpress.
• Nothing in these terms limits any liability that the law doesn’t allow us to limit.

You’re responsible for losses we suffer because you broke these terms or gave us false information. If someone else makes a claim against us because of this, you must cover our losses from that claim.

You can ask us to close your account at any time. If you have a loan, your loan agreement continues until it’s fully repaid. We may suspend or close your account if you break these terms, if we suspect fraud or misuse, or if the law requires us to. Where we can, we’ll tell you why first.

If something has gone wrong, tell us at info@smexpress.app or on 055 858 5858. We’ll confirm we’ve received your complaint, look into it and reply as quickly as we can. If your complaint is about your loan, we’ll work with the partner lender to resolve it. You can also use the partner lender’s own complaints process.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ghana. If a dispute arises, we’ll first try to resolve it with you informally. If we can’t, it will be decided by the courts of Ghana.

We may update these terms from time to time. We’ll post the new version here with a new date, and email you about important changes at least 14 days before they take effect. If you keep using SmeXpress after that, the new terms apply. Changes never alter a loan agreement you’ve already signed.

• If any part of these terms can’t be enforced, the rest still applies.
• If we don’t enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• You can’t transfer your rights under these terms to anyone else. We may transfer ours to a company that takes over our business, and your rights won’t be reduced.
• These terms, our Privacy Policy and any loan agreement you sign are the whole agreement between you and us about using SmeXpress.