Terms

We built Conductor to bridge the gap between financial planning and doing.

Last updated: 4 April 2024

In here you’ll find:

  • Welcome to Conductor (this section)

  • How you can use Conductor

  • Your responsibilities

  • Closing your Account

  • Dispute resolution

  • General legal terms and conditions


Take the time to read our terms


By using our Service, you agree to these legal terms including our Privacy Policy and publicly available disclosures (‘Disclosures’) as a regulated mortgage advisor (all of these together being our ‘Terms’). In these Terms, the ‘Service’ covers all the things Conductor does and all ways you work with Conductor. You can view our Privacy Policy on our Website.

Our website also contains our Disclosures. If there is any inconsistency between these Terms and our Disclosures, then the Disclosures prevail.


If you don’t agree with the Terms you can’t use our Service.


In our Terms when we say ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’, or ‘Conductor’ we mean Conductor Advice Limited (NZBN 9429051883867), which provides the Service to you. When we say ‘you’ or ‘your’, we mean you—the person using the Service.


Eligibility to open an Account


You must be 18 years or older to hold an Account, and must be living in New Zealand. If you want to use Conductor to do something (like give you financial advice on getting a mortgage and help you buy a house), it needs to be in New Zealand (for now).


How you can use Conductor


Conductor helps you:

  • Think through decisions and run the numbers on how to make them work financially (like buying a house)

  • Do things in the real world to make your decisions happen, like buying your first home (by giving you financial advice on getting a mortgage and working with a lawyer).


Thinking through decisions and running the numbers


For example, when buying a house, we help you think through whether you can afford the full cost of owning a house, not just the loan repayments. The pages in the app aren’t exhaustive, and they can’t cover everyone’s specific circumstances. Your situation may be different. 


The Conductor app is a tool – it’s your choice if and how you use it. If you have any concerns, speak to your advisor (us for mortgage advice, or your lawyer).


To help you run the numbers, we:

  • Use the numbers you put in the app (like your income)

  • Use numbers you give us access to (like your bank transactions)

  • Give helpful estimates and default assumptions (‘Assumptions’) (like a ballpark estimate of insurance and council rates on a house, or a house price capital gain forecast). 

We review and update the Assumptions at least quarterly, in some cases more frequently. For e.g. life insurance, we use a publicly available quote generator website to generate a set of quotes for a representative subset of situations, and apply those. They will not be exactly accurate because that would be a quote, and we’d need lots more information about you which would slow everything down. If you are unsure about any of the Assumptions, please speak with your advisor.

Be aware that for Assumptions about things in the future, it’s difficult to predict how they will play out for you, especially over long time periods. Treat them accordingly.

Anywhere the Service is showing you how the numbers work out, you need to take them with a grain of salt. They’re an estimate—and estimates are only as good as the numbers that feed into them—and the systems that calculate the outputs. Examples for why the numbers could be inaccurate are:

  • Life works out differently than you planned (like having or not having a child, losing your job, or falling ill)

  • You haven’t put in some important numbers (like a career break you’re planning)

  • You choose to use the Assumptions we provide and they don’t turn out to be right (like your house’s insurance is higher than the estimate)

  • Our modelling engine simplifies how some things are calculated, so the final number you pay or receive may be different (like our estimates of tax you’ll pay in the future)

  • There was a mistake in the systems that pull in your bank transaction feeds (which we get from a third party)

  • We make a mistake somehow (though we have auditing and testing systems in place to reduce the risk of this).


We are only giving you mortgage advice.

How you live your life and the decisions you make are up to you. We are absolutely not recommending you do or not do anything (like buy a house). What we will do is advise you on obtaining a mortgage to suit your circumstances and needs.


We’ll also estimate what taxes you might need to pay as part of giving you mortgage advice, but that is absolutely not tax advice—it’s just a ballpark figure. To know exactly what tax you’d need to pay, we’d need to ask a lot more questions. Please speak with a tax advisor for tax advice.


Where we give you Assumptions, they’re a starting point. We aren’t saying they’re right or that they apply to your circumstances. 


We provide Assumptions throughout the app to help you quickly get to output numbers you can play around with—instead of getting bogged down in estimating things like insurance costs on a new house. 


They’re just numbers to get you started. If you use those numbers ‘as is’, then you take responsibility for them as if you added them yourself.  If this wasn’t the case, we couldn’t include so many helpful estimates in the Service.


We take reasonable care in delivering the Service including the pages in the app, but we aren’t liable to you if they’re wrong. 

To the maximum extent we’re able to under the law, we exclude any liability of any kind for issues related to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, or suitability of the Service’s content (including the pages, Assumptions and general running of the numbers) for any particular user or use. 


For us to assume these risks, we’d need to charge a lot for the service, and we’d rather provide a service that’s accessible to lots of people.


In the unlikely event that you notice an issue, please let us know and we’ll get straight onto it.


We also publish Market Information and other general information and helpful content within the app and on our website. 


For example, we explain how banks typically decide how much they will lend you for a home loan. We may also provide Market Information via notifications like updates on interest rate changes or inflation.


We provide that content, including Market Information, in good faith and create it from information we believe accurate at the time we publish it. We don’t provide any guarantees on the accuracy, timeliness, completeness or suitability of that content for any particular user or use. There may be inaccuracies or errors, for example it may become out of date, and to the maximum extent, we aren’t liable to you for it. We can change or stop providing all or part of that content without giving you notice. Again, if this wasn’t the case, we couldn’t provide all this helpful information.


Doing things in the real world to help you make your decisions happen


Once you’ve made decisions (covered above), Conductor then helps you make real changes to your life. Most importantly, we give you mortgage advice and help you get a home loan. We also help you interact with other service providers like lawyers. We refer to them throughout as ‘Service Providers’. We help you:

  • Get quotes from Service Providers and sign agreements with them

  • Communicate back and forth with Service Providers. This includes you sharing information with Service Providers that they use to deliver their services, or pass on to others

  • Track the status of actions both you and your Service Providers need to do and get notifications from Service Providers for things you need to do.

We help you interact with Service Providers but we aren’t taking responsibility for what Service Providers do.


We’re a platform that helps you interact with Service Providers. We aren’t your lawyers (for example), and we don’t accept any liability for what they do or don’t do for you. 


We will take reasonable care in helping you do things in the real world, but we aren’t liable to you when things don’t go right.

We won’t be liable to you or your Service Provider for failing to pass information on, for any inaccuracies or errors in passing information on, or for any delays. If something is urgent, you haven’t received a timely reply, or something looks wrong, then contact your Service Provider directly.


If this wasn’t the case, we’d have to charge a lot for the Service.


If you aren’t happy with the work done by a Service Provider, please let us know.


Occasionally, the Service won’t be available


We work hard to provide the best Service we can, but we don’t promise it will be perfect all the time.


We may suspend the operation of our Service in part or in full if we consider it necessary. We may, for example, need to suspend the Service for technical reasons, regulatory reasons, in emergencies, when we decide it is sensible for our or your protection, to ensure the continued availability of other services, or because third-party systems are unavailable.


Occasionally, we may need to suspend the Service to maintain or upgrade our systems. From time to time, we may ask you to install updates and upgrades.


Your responsibilities


You also have responsibilities to us when using the Service:
Think about your specific situation and only use the Service if you feel it’s right for you. 

Remember, other than giving you mortgage advice, none of the information we provide can be taken as investment, financial, or tax advice. If you have any concerns or you’re ever unsure, speak with an advisor (like a financial advisor). If you aren’t sure who to speak with, ask us and we can help point you in the right direction.


Think about the Assumptions within the Service, and actively choose to either use them as your own, or to change them. 
Don’t just assume that because they’re in there, they’re right for you.


Think carefully about choosing the Service Providers you engage and do your research - it’s up to you who you engage.


Provide true, accurate, current and complete information when you interact with us and Service Providers via Conductor.


We and your Service Providers are helping you do serious things in the real world. You must provide them with information that is true, accurate, current, and complete (like when you’re submitting information to get a home loan). This includes all kinds of User Content that you provide about anyone, and includes all answers to questions and statements of personal circumstances and goals.


Where you provide User Content about someone else, you agree that you’ve asked for and received their consent to provide the User Content.

We will not independently verify the accuracy of any User Content you enter, and won’t be liable for any issue with it.


Take responsibility for connecting your account with someone else’s.


You can connect your account with someone else’s, for example to submit a joint home loan application. You can enter information or take actions within the app on others’ behalf, or another person may enter information or take actions within the app on your behalf.


If you choose to connect your account with someone else, you are giving that person the ability to do serious things on your behalf, like submitting a mortgage application. You are also consenting for all the information you’ve entered in the Service to be shared with the other person.

We can deal with either of you as a representative for both of you, and you are both jointly and severally liable for anything you or the other person does within the Service.


Only use Conductor for the legitimate purposes for which it’s designed.


We provide this Service for personal and non-business use only.


It’s important we protect our Intellectual Property, including our brand, name, software, associated technology, the Service, and any variations made to it, and all related materials. You accept that:

  • We own (or license) the Intellectual Property in our brand, name, software, associated technology, the Service, and all related materials

  • Except as set out in these Terms, you have no right, title, or interest in the Intellectual Property or in any improvements or variations that may be made to it

  • You don’t have any rights to use our Intellectual Property except as part of your legitimate, good faith, personal use of the Service.

  • You won’t reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the Service or any part of it

  • You agree that you won’t use a robot, spider, scraper, or other unauthorised automated means to access the Service or information on it for any purpose. You also agree that you won’t manually scrape, harvest, or otherwise extract material from our Service without our signed written permission

  • If you provide feedback on the Service, you assign ownership to that feedback to us (including any Intellectual Property) without charge.

Take responsibility for the use of your Account


We will always assume we’re dealing with you. You may not use an Account on behalf of another person or permit another person to use your Account (but you can connect your Account with someone else’s Account—as set out above).


You are responsible for any activity that occurs on your Account. We are entitled to assume and rely on any instruction we receive through your Account as being a valid instruction from you. We are not required to verify your instructions.


When we receive an instruction from your Account, our record of that instruction is conclusive evidence of the contents of your instruction.


Take responsibility for the security of your Account Information


You must take reasonable steps to keep your Account secure and to prevent any fraudulent use of it. This includes for example:

  • Using strong passwords changed regularly (e.g. email)

  • Ensuring that no one sees you enter your security details when you sign in

  • Keeping the information we hold about you up to date

  • Keeping your electronic devices secure.


You must protect your Account details and report any information loss, suspected theft, or misuse of your Account to us straight away. We can introduce new security procedures.


We may suspend or close access to your Account if we suspect any of the following:

  • Your Account security has been compromised

  • That there has been (or is likely to be) any unauthorised, fraudulent, or unlawful use of your Account

  • We’re required to do so by Law or any regulatory or enforcement authority.

Where we reasonably can, we will notify you before we suspend or close your Account and give you our reasons for doing so. We don’t accept any responsibility for any loss or damage of any kind that you may suffer where we suspend or close access to your Account under this clause, or where you do not meet your obligations under our Terms.


If you don’t adhere to these Terms, including the responsibilities above, we can stop providing the Services and close your Account, and you indemnify us for any losses we suffer from you breaking these Terms.


General limitations and exclusions on liability


In addition to the wording throughout these Terms, to the maximum extent the law permits, you accept that:

  • We take reasonable care in providing the Service but to the maximum extent permitted by law, we provide our Service on an ‘as is’ basis, without any warranty of any kind. That means you use our Service at your own risk. It also means that we exclude all implied warranties, to the extent that we legally can.

  • We take reasonable steps to operate systems, processes, and policies to protect your data, but we don’t guarantee that our Service will be 100% secure.

  • We’re only responsible to you for your direct loss to the extent that loss is shown to directly result from our fraud, or our wilful default on our obligations to you under our Terms

  • We’re otherwise not responsible to you or anyone else for anything in any way related to the Service, whether for breach of contract, tort, misrepresentation, or other cause

  • We’re not responsible for anything that is outside of our reasonable control or the reasonable control of our directors, officers, employees, agents, or Third-Party Providers

If we are responsible to you, we’re not responsible for any indirect, special, or consequential loss or damage; failure to avoid loss; any loss of profits, opportunity, or anticipated savings (whether direct or indirect in each of these cases); or incidental loss.


If we are responsible to you, our total responsibility, whether for breach of contract, tort, misrepresentation, or other cause, is capped for any event or series of related events to an amount equal to the total of any Fees that you have personally paid to us in the last 12 months.


The above exclusion, limitation, and cap on responsibility applies to us, our directors, officers, employees, agents, and third-party providers for our acts and omissions and their acts and omissions.


You may have additional rights under consumer and financial markets laws


If you’re a ‘consumer’ under the Fair Trading Act 1986 or Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, nothing in our Terms will limit any rights or remedies that you may have under those Acts to the extent those rights cannot be limited by Law. Nothing in our Terms also limits the rights and remedies contained within the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.


Closing your account

You can ask to close your Account, at any time, by giving us notice


We can close your Account when we have good reason.


Without affecting any other right or remedy available to us, and except where our specific Terms say otherwise, we can close your Account with immediate effect, at any time, by giving you written notice, if:

  • You don’t pay any amount due and remain in default for more than 7 days after being notified in writing to make payment

  • You breach any of our Terms that can’t be remedied, or if such a breach can be remedied, you do not remedy that breach within 7 days of being notified in writing to do so

  • You’re declared bankrupt or become subject to any liquidation or similar process, or are otherwise unable to pay your debts as they fall due

  • We have reasonable grounds for believing you have committed or are about to commit a crime

  • We’re required to close your Account or the Service by any competent regulatory authority or as a matter of law or on request of a third party provider

  • We have reasonable grounds to believe you have breached our Terms.


If we close your Account because of any of the reasons in the first four bullet points above, you will pay us any costs and expenses associated with closing your Account.

We will not be liable to you for any loss you suffer as a result of us closing your Account.

In addition to the rights above, we may also close your Account or the Service for any other reason by giving you at least 30 days’ written notice.


What happens when your Account is closed


Whether you close your Account or we close your Account, we will send you by email a copy of all documents we hold that are connected with your Account.


How we communicate with you

You agree that we may make information about your Account and use of the Service available to you exclusively through the Service and we are not required to send you paper or other electronic statements.


General information on our Terms


How you can contact us


You can contact us by emailing hello@withconductor.com.


How to make a complaint


We don’t want anything to go wrong but if it does please let us know straight away.


We can make changes to our Terms


We can change our Terms, from time to time, by giving you notice. 


If we make a change to our Terms that is likely to have a material negative impact on you, we will generally give you at least 14 days’ notice. However, we may give less notice in special circumstances for example, if we’re required to make a change for regulatory or legal reasons.


As part of our ‘paperless service’, we can give you notice by direct communication (such as email, text message, or a message when you sign in to access the Service), or by showing a general message via the Service.


We don’t need to give notice of changes that benefit you, don’t materially reduce the benefit of the relevant Service to you, or are incidental changes (such as clarity, drafting, and typographical amendments) which may take effect immediately and will be available on our website.


By continuing to access or use the Service after the effective date of any change, you have accepted the change. If you don’t want to accept any proposed change, you should notify us immediately, stop using the Service, and close your Account.


We can assign, delegate, and use third parties


We can appoint any person (whether connected to us or not) to advise on or perform any of our functions or responsibilities under our Terms. We will satisfy ourselves that anyone we delegate any of our functions or responsibilities to is competent to carry out those functions and responsibilities.
We may transfer any of our rights and obligations under these Terms in whole or in part to anyone. 


You can’t assign your rights to your Account or use of the Service to anyone else without our prior written consent.


More about our Terms


There might be different or extra terms and conditions that apply for certain customers, accounts, or services that are provided to you at the time, and you agree to be bound by those as well. If specific terms and conditions apply and they are inconsistent with these terms and conditions, then the specific terms and conditions will apply.


If any of our Terms are inconsistent with any law, then the law will apply. Other terms may also be implied by law.


If it turns out that part of these Terms can’t be enforced, then that part will be removed or edited as little as possible, and the rest of the Terms will continue to apply.


If we don’t insist that you perform your obligations under our Terms, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to. Similarly, if we don’t enforce our rights under our Terms, or we delay in doing so, it doesn’t mean we’ve given up those rights.


Our rights under this Agreement survive even when your Account is closed, or you’ve stopped using the Service.


Our Terms are governed by New Zealand Law, and the Courts of New Zealand have exclusive jurisdiction if there’s a dispute.

The Service isn’t intended for use by any person in any place where using it would be contrary to laws, or would require us to register in that place. Anyone who uses the Service from other places does so on their own initiative, and is responsible for complying with the laws of the place where they are.


How to read our Terms


Headings are provided only to make these Terms easier to read and understand. These headings won’t affect interpretation.


Where we’ve provided examples in these Terms to help explain what we mean, those may not be all possible examples.


Some words in our Terms have a special meaning. When we say:

  • ‘Account’ we mean your account with us

  • ‘Fees’ we mean all costs, charges and fees you are directly responsible or paying for services performed by us (not including any cost or fee that is paid to a Service Provider)

  • ‘Intellectual Property’ we mean any and all vested, contingent, and future intellectual property rights, including but not limited to copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks, design rights (whether registered or not), moral rights, know-how, trade secrets, inventions, set-up, and any applications for the protection or registration of these rights anywhere in the world

  • ‘Service’ we mean all the things Conductor does and all ways you work with Conductor

  • ‘Service Provider’ we mean third party service providers (including law firms) with which you engage and work with Conductor’s assistance

  • ‘Market Information’ we mean any information we make available to you through the Service (including from a third-party provider

  • ‘User Content’ we mean your information that you provide Conductor, including answers to any questions, and statements about your personal circumstances and goals, any information you provide Conductor with access to, and any information that you provide about or on behalf of others.

Why choose Conductor?

  • Access to our all-in-one digital platform for maximum speed, clarity and ease

  • Better mortgage interest rates (where we can get them) to save you money in the long term

  • Expert advice on life planning more holistically - considering your wider goals

  • End-to-end support throughout the journey - 24/7