1. About These Terms
1.1 These SoukPay Credits Terms (the “Credits Terms”) govern the SoukPay Credits programme operated by SoukPay Rewards Tech Ltd, a company incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“SoukPay”, “we”, “our”, “us”).
1.2 The Credits Terms apply to every customer who has registered a SoukPay Customer account (each a “Customer”, “you”, “your”). By registering for a Customer account and accepting the SoukPay Customer Terms & Conditions, you accept these Credits Terms.
1.3 The Credits Terms form part of the contract between you and SoukPay in relation to your use of SoukPay Credits and should be read together with the SoukPay Customer Terms & Conditions and the SoukPay Privacy Policy.
1.4 SoukPay may amend these Credits Terms from time to time in accordance with clause 13. The version in force is the version published in the SoukPay Customer App and on the SoukPay website at the time of your Transaction.
2. Definitions
2.1 In these Credits Terms:
- (a) “Available Credits” means SoukPay Credits that have been released from the pending state and that you may apply at the point of sale on a Transaction.
- (b) “Chargeback” means a payment dispute raised by you with your card issuing bank, resolved in accordance with the applicable card scheme rules.
- (c) “Credits Balance” means the sum of your Pending Credits and Available Credits at any given time.
- (d) “Customer App” means the SoukPay mobile application through which you access the SoukPay Platform.
- (e) “Inactivity Period” means a continuous period of twelve (12) calendar months during which you have not completed an Authenticated Login.
- (f) “Authenticated Login” means an active login to the Customer App using your credentials or biometric authentication. Cached sessions that resume without re-authentication do not constitute an Authenticated Login.
- (g) “Merchant” means a physical merchant that has entered into a Merchant Participation Agreement with SoukPay to participate in the SoukPay Platform.
- (h) “Pending Credits” means SoukPay Credits that have been earned but not yet released, and that cannot yet be applied at the point of sale on a Transaction.
- (i) “Pending Period” means the period from the date of a Transaction until the end of the seventh (7th) night, counting the date of the Transaction as the first day (that is, until the start of the eighth (8th) day), being the period in which the Merchant may initiate a refund of that Transaction through the Platform, during which Credits earned on that Transaction remain in the pending state.
- (j) “Platform” means the SoukPay Customer App and the wider SoukPay technology platform through which Customers pay Merchants and earn and redeem SoukPay Credits.
- (k) “SoukPay Credits” or “Credits” means the closed-loop promotional reward described in clause 3.
- (l) “Stripe” means Stripe Payments Europe, Limited and its group companies, being SoukPay’s payment service provider.
- (m) “Transaction” means a card payment initiated by you through the Customer App at a Merchant’s outlet.
3. What SoukPay Credits Are
3.1 SoukPay Credits are a closed-loop promotional reward. They are earned by you on successful Transactions at Merchants and are redeemable only at Merchants participating in the SoukPay Platform.
3.2 SoukPay Credits are not cash, are not electronic money, are not a stored value instrument, and are not a payment instrument. You do not deposit money with SoukPay to acquire Credits. Credits have no cash value and no monetary claim against SoukPay.
3.3 For the purposes of redemption at the point of sale, one (1) SoukPay Credit is equivalent to one (1) UAE Dirham (AED 1) of reduction in the amount you pay by card on a Transaction. This value equivalence applies only at the point of redemption and does not entitle you to any cash payment, conversion, or refund.
3.4 SoukPay Credits are non-transferable and are bound to the Customer account that earned them. Credits cannot be shared, gifted, sold, assigned, or transferred to any other person or account.
3.5 SoukPay Credits are funded from SoukPay’s own commission revenue and are provisioned by SoukPay against that revenue. No Customer funds are held on account by SoukPay in respect of Credits.
4. How You Earn SoukPay Credits
4.1 You earn SoukPay Credits automatically on every successful Transaction you complete at a Merchant. No opt-in, promo code, or manual claim is required.
4.2 The number of Credits earned on a Transaction is calculated on the ex-VAT value of the Transaction, multiplied by the customer reward rate applicable to the Merchant’s participation tier at the time of the Transaction. The customer reward rate is published in the Customer App against each Merchant.
4.3 Credits are earned on the full ex-VAT Transaction value regardless of whether you apply Available Credits at the point of sale to reduce the amount you pay by card. Applying Available Credits does not reduce the Credits you earn on the Transaction.
4.4 Credits are earned only on successful Transactions. Credits are not earned on Transactions that fail authorisation, are declined, or are voided before capture.
5. Pending Period and Release
5.1 Credits earned on a Transaction enter the Pending state immediately on successful capture. Pending Credits are visible in your Customer App as an upcoming balance, together with the release date of each Pending Credit line item.
5.2 Pending Credits cannot be applied at the point of sale on any Transaction. They exist as an upcoming entitlement, not a spendable balance.
5.3 At the expiry of the Pending Period — that is, at the start of the eighth (8th) day, counting the Transaction date as the first day — if the Transaction has not been refunded by the Merchant, the Pending Credits associated with that Transaction are automatically released and move from your Pending Credits balance to your Available Credits balance.
5.4 Release of Pending Credits requires no action by you. The transition from Pending to Available is automatic and visible in your Customer App the next time you open the app.
5.5 The Pending Period is aligned with the Merchant’s refund window under the Merchant Participation Agreement. This alignment ensures that any refund initiated by a Merchant is applied to Pending Credits only and does not affect your Available Credits balance.
6. How You Redeem SoukPay Credits
6.1 You may apply Available Credits at the point of sale on any Transaction at a Merchant, at your discretion. You may apply some, all, or none of your Available Credits on a Transaction.
6.2 Applied Credits reduce the amount you pay by card on the Transaction at a ratio of one (1) Credit to one (1) AED. The Merchant receives the full Transaction value regardless of the Credits you apply.
6.3 Applied Credits are debited from your Available Credits balance at the point of sale. Once applied, Credits are not recoverable to you except as expressly provided in clause 8 (Refunds and Reversals).
6.4 You may not apply Pending Credits. You may not apply Credits at any location or channel other than a Merchant outlet through the Customer App. You may not combine Credit redemption with any redemption from any other loyalty programme in a manner not supported by the Platform.
7. Balance and Currency
7.1 Your Credits Balance is displayed in the Customer App as two figures: your Pending Credits and your Available Credits. Both are displayed in SoukPay Credit units, with one (1) Credit equivalent to one (1) AED for redemption purposes.
7.2 Your Credits Balance cannot go below zero. If a reversal under clause 8 would exceed your Available Credits balance at the time of the reversal, the reversal is limited to the balance available. No debt to SoukPay is created.
8. Refunds and Reversals
8.1 Merchant-initiated refunds. Where a Merchant refunds a Transaction within the seven (7) night refund window, the Pending Credits earned on that Transaction are cancelled from your Pending Credits balance. Because refunds and pending release are aligned to the same seven (7) night period, a refund always occurs while the associated Credits are still in the Pending state. Your Available Credits balance is not affected.
8.2 Chargebacks. If you raise a Chargeback with your card issuing bank and the Chargeback is determined against the Merchant, the Credits associated with the disputed Transaction are reversed as follows: (a) if the Credits are still Pending, they are cancelled from your Pending Credits balance; (b) if the Credits have already been released to your Available Credits balance and have not been consumed, they are debited from your Available Credits balance up to the reversal amount; (c) if the Credits have already been consumed on subsequent Transactions, they are not recovered from you.
8.3 SoukPay does not recover Credits from you where those Credits have been redeemed on subsequent Transactions prior to the reversal event, save in the case of fraud or programme abuse under clause 10.
8.4 Where a Merchant provides a refund directly to you outside the SoukPay Platform after expiry of the applicable Platform Refund Window, that refund does not automatically result in any cancellation, reversal, or adjustment of SoukPay Credits previously earned in connection with the relevant Transaction. SoukPay may adjust the relevant Credits only where SoukPay receives reliable confirmation of the off-Platform refund and has a contractual basis under these Credits Terms to make such an adjustment, taking into account the status of the relevant Credits at the time of the adjustment.
9. Errors and Corrections
9.1 SoukPay may correct any Credits Balance that has been credited or debited in error as a result of a technical, administrative, calculation, or processing error. Where reasonably practicable, SoukPay will notify you of any material correction. A correction of an erroneous Credits entry does not create a debt owed by you to SoukPay unless the error resulted from fraud or deliberate abuse on your part.
10. Fraud and Programme Abuse
10.1 SoukPay operates the Credits programme in good faith and expects Customers to do the same. The design of the programme includes structural safeguards — the seven (7) night Pending Period, the alignment with the Merchant refund window, closed-loop redemption, and non-transferability — that prevent most common forms of Credit abuse.
10.2 SoukPay may cancel Pending Credits, debit Available Credits, suspend your account, and terminate your access to the Platform where SoukPay has a reasonable belief that Credits have been earned, applied, or redeemed as a result of any of the following: (a) fraudulent or dishonest activity, whether by you, by a Merchant, or by any other party; (b) the operation of multiple Customer accounts by the same individual to accumulate Credits beyond a level that would apply to a single account; (c) the deliberate submission of Transactions that are subsequently reversed with the intent to retain Credits; (d) any conduct that circumvents the design of the Credits programme or exploits an error or defect in the Platform; or (e) any other conduct that in SoukPay’s reasonable opinion constitutes abuse of the programme.
10.3 Where SoukPay takes action under clause 10.2, SoukPay shall notify you of the action taken and the reason. You may contest the action by contacting SoukPay in accordance with the Customer Terms & Conditions.
11. Expiry
11.1 Your Credits Balance is subject to expiry on account inactivity. Expiry is triggered by the Inactivity Period — a continuous period of twelve (12) calendar months during which you have not completed an Authenticated Login to the Customer App.
11.2 On expiry of the Inactivity Period, all Credits held in your Customer account, whether Pending or Available, are cancelled and removed from the Credits ledger. Expired Credits cannot be restored except in SoukPay’s discretion in the case of demonstrated error.
11.3 SoukPay shall use reasonable efforts to send you an email reminder to the email address associated with your Customer account no less than thirty (30) days before scheduled expiry, giving you the opportunity to log in and reset the inactivity counter. Delivery of the reminder is not a condition of expiry, and expiry shall take effect regardless of whether the reminder is successfully delivered or read.
11.4 Any Authenticated Login to the Customer App resets the Inactivity Period, whether or not you complete a Transaction during that session.
12. No Cash Value
12.1 SoukPay Credits have no cash value. You are not entitled to any payment, refund, or conversion of Credits into cash or into any other currency or instrument.
12.2 On closure of your Customer account, whether by you or by SoukPay, all Credits held in your account, whether Pending or Available, are forfeited and are not payable in any form.
12.3 SoukPay Credits are not subject to any deposit protection scheme. Because SoukPay does not hold Customer funds and Credits do not represent a monetary claim against SoukPay, no deposit protection framework applies.
13. Programme Modifications
13.1 SoukPay reserves the right to modify these Credits Terms and to modify the operation of the SoukPay Credits programme at any time.
13.2 SoukPay shall notify Customers of any modification that is materially unfavourable to Customers no less than thirty (30) days before the modification takes effect. Materially unfavourable modifications include, without limitation, a reduction in the customer reward rate applied at any Merchant tier, an extension of the Pending Period, a shortening of the Inactivity Period, or a narrowing of the scope of Merchants at which Credits may be redeemed.
13.3 Modifications that are favourable to Customers, or that are operationally neutral (including without limitation the addition of new Merchants to the Platform, changes to the Customer App user interface, and clarifications that do not change the substance of these Credits Terms), may take effect on the date SoukPay publishes the modification.
13.4 Continued use of the Customer App and the SoukPay Platform after a modification takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the modified terms. If you do not accept a materially unfavourable modification, you may cease using the Platform and close your Customer account, in which case clause 12.2 applies to any Credits held at the time of closure.
14. Regulatory Position
14.1 SoukPay operates the Credits programme as a closed-loop promotional reward scheme. The programme is not, and is not intended to be, a stored value facility, an electronic money issuance scheme, or a payment service. SoukPay does not hold Customer funds in connection with the programme.
14.2 SoukPay is licensed under a DIFC Innovation Tech Licence. The Credits programme is operated under that licence and in reliance on the promotional and loyalty scheme exemptions available under the applicable UAE regulatory framework.
15. General
15.1 These Credits Terms are governed by the laws of the Dubai International Financial Centre.
15.2 Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Credits Terms shall be resolved by the courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre, which shall have exclusive jurisdiction.
15.3 If any provision of these Credits Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
15.4 SoukPay’s failure to enforce any right under these Credits Terms does not constitute a waiver of that right.
15.5 These Credits Terms and the documents they refer to constitute the entire agreement between you and SoukPay in respect of the SoukPay Credits programme and supersede any prior understanding or representation.
