Spend Terms and Conditions

Last updated: 9 October 2025

1. About these Spend Terms

1. The terms set out in the General Terms and Conditions (General Terms) apply to your use of the Spend Service. These Spend Terms and Conditions (Spend Terms) are a supplement to, and must be read together with, the General Terms, which sets out the general terms relating to use of our Services. The meaning of capitalised words used in the Spend Terms is set out in the Dictionary at the end, or are defined in the General Terms.

2. By accessing or using our Spend Service you agree that:

• the Spend Terms and the General Terms apply between you (the person using our Spend Service and any entity you’re authorised to represent that is approved by us) and Sharesies Financial Limited (Sharesies/us/we), a New Zealand-based entity, which provides the Spend Service and Investback to you; 

• additional terms may also apply to your use of the Spend Service (which we will communicate to you through the Services) and should be read together with the Spend Terms, for example any special terms that apply if you participate in a promotion, or use special features. 

2. The Spend Service

You are the beneficial owner

1. You are the beneficial owner of the money in your Account (provided you don’t owe any amounts to us—see sections 5(5) to 5(7) ‘Our rights if you owe us money’ below). The money in your Account will be held on bare trust for you as the ultimate beneficial owner by Sharesies Financial Limited (we / us) or by another related or approved third party at our discretion in a registered bank in accordance with these Spend Terms (we may also hold a buffer of our own money in the same place). To the extent permitted by Applicable Law, the provisions of the Trusts Act 2019 will not apply to this bare trust. 

2. We apply the money in your Account as directed by you in accordance with these Spend Terms (for example, for the purpose of settlement of your transactions), provided we can within our Spend Service’s existing capability, and that your instructions are consistent with our obligations under Applicable Law and these Spend Terms.

3. Your money may be pooled with the money of our other customers and ourselves and held in ‘pooled accounts’. 

4. Your money is individually identifiable to us in the records we maintain but isn’t individually identifiable in the bank account(s) because the legal title is held in the name of Sharesies Financial Limited. 

5. Money in your Account may earn interest from the bank where it is deposited. You accept that we keep any interest on the money we (or our related or approved third parties) hold for you in your Account.

6. The bank we use is independent of us, and we don’t accept responsibility for any default or delay in the distribution of money as a result of their failure.

7. We work with others—our Support Crew—to deliver our Spend Service to you, including Change Labs NZ Pty Ltd, a New Zealand-based entity. The debit Card for the Spend Service is issued by Change Labs NZ Pty Ltd pursuant to license by Mastercard.

3. Getting started with our Spend Service

Opening an Account 

1. To open an adult Account and use our Spend Service you’ll need to meet our eligibility criteria to have an Account with us, by being an existing NZ Sharesies customer or:

• be 16 or older and living in New Zealand;

• be a natural person (not a business, company, trust, or similar sort of organisation unless otherwise agreed in writing with us);

• have a New Zealand bank account;

• have a New Zealand residential address;

• provide the information we request;

• agree to and comply with the Spend Terms and Sharesies’ Community Code of Conduct; 

• provide accurate and current tax information (if you’re a foreign tax resident you’ll need to provide a relevant tax identification number (TIN)).

2. Please also note:

• we don’t have to open an Account for you or give reasons if we decide not to do so;

• we can in our sole discretion change or waive any criteria from time to time; 

• you must only use our Spend Service for transactions for your own personal use (not for any business use). If agreed in writing with us, you may be permitted to use our Spend Service for a trust, or business purpose (this may be subject to additional terms). 

You must give us certain information about you

3. You must provide us with the information we request and promise this information is true and complete. If you don’t give us this information, we may suspend your access to or use of our Spend Service and close your Account. You must tell us promptly if your information changes or update this in the Spend Service.

4. We may share your information with third parties that help us to offer and carry out the Spend Service. If a member of our Support Crew requires more information about you, your Account or any transaction, you must promptly provide that information, including the identity of any person with access to your Account.

Debit Card 

5. The Spend Service is a debit Card that has a linked Account. Your Account can be accessed in the Sharesies app. You can order a physical Card to use for purchases in person and online. You’ll be able to see the card details of your Card in-app and can use these details to make purchases online. You can also choose to order a ‘virtual only’ Card for using online. In future releases we intend to offer more ways to pay using Spend, including Apple Pay and Google Pay. You can use your Card anywhere Mastercard debit card transactions are accepted to:

• make transactions in NZ or overseas;

• withdraw cash from ATMs, both in NZ and overseas.

Topping up your Account

6. To make a transaction with your Card, you need enough money in your Account, including to cover any applicable fee(s). 

7. You can top up your Account using the following methods (or other methods that may be approved from time to time):

By using your ‘virtual account’ number: 

• As part of your Account, you’ll be issued your own unique virtual account number that will be linked to your Account. You can use this virtual account number to transfer funds directly into your Account from another NZ bank account, using internet banking, mobile banking apps, or other external payment platforms. We may require you to top up from a NZ bank account that’s in your own name. These transfers are subject to standard bank processing times. 

• Please check the details carefully when you make your top up. We don’t currently offer the confirmation of payee service, but intend to in the future.

• Please note: this is not a bank account. Your virtual account can currently only be used to top up your Account. You cannot directly pay out of this virtual account, or set up automatic payments or direct debits against the virtual account.

From your Sharesies Wallet: 

• You can also top up your Account by transferring money from your Sharesies Wallet (any funds must be fully settled before you can transfer money). Transfers from your Sharesies Wallet to your Account are generally processed instantly.

Withdrawing from your Account

8. You cannot withdraw money from your Account currently, or directly pay out of your virtual account, except by withdrawing cash from an ATM using your Card, or transferring money into your Sharesies Wallet.

9. Due to third party banking restrictions, we may impose a limit on the amount of money that can be withdrawn at one time from ATMs. 

10. When transferring money into your Account you must do this only with the intention of making transactions through our Spend Service (or withdrawing money you have used for that purpose).

Changing currencies

11. Usually goods or services bought using your Card are in the local currency where the good or service is located or otherwise offered. Generally, if you use your Card to make any transactions, buy goods or services, or withdraw cash from ATMs in an overseas country or from an overseas website, you’ll need to exchange your NZD for the foreign currency using our foreign exchange services (often called FX) prior to the transaction. Sharesies will automatically do this FX exchange on your behalf as part of the foreign transaction. 

12. If the foreign currency in the transaction is refunded, when we return the money to you we'll convert it back to NZD. This means that the amount of NZD you receive back into your Account may be more or less than the amount exchanged as part of the foreign transaction. We’re not responsible for any loss in such a case.

13. We transact with third parties so we can provide the foreign exchange service to you through our Spend Service. 

14. Things to know about our FX services:

• If you’re transacting in a foreign currency (either by purchasing from an overseas merchant or shop, or withdrawing from an overseas ATM), the cost you are charged for the foreign currency transaction (or the amount of the foreign currency that you receive), will also include an amount to cover the foreign currency exchange rate we are charged by our foreign exchange provider;

• We're waiving most fees related to the use of the Account for the moment, including the currency exchange fees. In the future, we intend to charge a currency exchange fee for overseas purchases (FX Fee) when you exchange your local currency for foreign currency. The FX Fee is calculated on the amount to exchange, and charged on top of the amount that is exchanged. For example, if your purchase is $10, the amount we will exchange for you is $10 and then you are charged our FX Fee on top of the $10. Please see the Spend section of the Pricing page on the Website for information on this FX Fee and other fees that may apply;

• Each time you exchange currency in our Spend Service you do so at the exchange rate offered at that time, and are exposed to the risk of exchange rates being unfavourable for your circumstances; 

• We may cancel an FX exchange at our discretion (for example, if we discover errors or something unexpected happens with the third parties we use to provide FX).

What if you enter the wrong account details? 

15. When you top up your Account using your virtual account number, make sure the details of your virtual account are correct. If you enter an incorrect virtual account number when you try to top up, you may send the money to the wrong account—we’re not responsible for any errors you may make. Incorrect or misdirected payments may result in delays or an inability to recover funds. For example, if you make a payment to another Spend Account in error, we may not be able to stop or reverse this payment, and you may only be able to recover the funds with the consent of the account holder who received it, or by taking court action. In such a case, we may (but are not required to) try to assist you to recover your funds, which may not be successful. If we cannot get the money back, we’re not responsible for your loss and are not required to reimburse you.

16. If you enter an incorrect virtual account number when you try to top up your Account that matches a valid, but unassigned number, we might not be able to identify which Account the money should go to. If we cannot identify the Account money should go to, we may hold that money while we wait to hear from you. If we do not hear from you and cannot find where the money should go after some time, we may return the money to the source it came from. 

17. If your Account has closed, and your money arrives after this time, we make reasonable efforts to pay this money to you. We treat any unclaimed money in accordance with Applicable Laws. 

18. We don’t currently offer the confirmation of payee service, but intend to in the future, which may help if you enter details incorrectly.

Errors 

19. If you receive money in your Account that does not belong to you (for example due to a mistake), you agree we can remove that money without notice. If you use or withdraw the money before we can do so, you will owe us the value of that money. 

Limits 

20. We may limit the amount you can transfer in or out of your Account, or withdraw or pay from your Account (we will let you know any applicable limits in advance).

Our Spend Service is currently in an early access phase

21. Our Spend Service does some pretty amazing things, however it doesn’t do everything. For example, our Spend Service doesn’t currently let you transfer or hold foreign currency in your Account.

22. As Spend is in an early access state, some of our processes may take a little longer than usual as we get things humming nicely. If you stumble across a bug or have any ideas, suggestions or complaints—let us know!  

What happens if Sharesies becomes insolvent or defaults on its obligations

23. You are the beneficial owner of the money in your Account: we hold this on bare trust. If we were to go broke, the money in your Account cannot legally be used to pay Sharesies’ debts and would not otherwise be payable to our general creditors. 

24. Other than as you agree in these Spend Terms or the General Terms (for example to pay fees), we aren’t allowed to use any money in your Account for ourselves. 

25. If we become insolvent or materially default on our obligations, then we (or others) may cancel your transactions that haven’t settled and we may suspend the use of the Spend Service. 

4. Transactions

Transaction history 

1. We provide a paperless service and make information about your Account, including a history of the transactions you make with your Card, available to you exclusively in-app through our Spend Service (we are not required to send you paper statements or hard copies).

Suspicious activity

2. We have measures in place to identify and prevent financial crime, and we monitor transactions for the purposes of compliance with Applicable Law related to money laundering or financial crime. We may ask you for further information about you, the use of your Card, Account, or any transaction or activity, and may restrict transactions while we wait for this information.

3. To help protect your Account, in-app you can customise your security controls by choosing to restrict the use of your Card for ATM withdrawals, online payments, or contactless transactions. 

4. In addition to your responsibilities in section 4 ‘Your Responsibilities’ in the General Terms, you must take all reasonable steps to keep your Card and Account secure and to prevent fraudulent use, including not sharing the account details or PIN of your Card with anyone and checking your Account regularly. If you have acted fraudulently or negligently, and that has contributed to your loss, it may affect your responsibility for such loss. For example, if you share your Card account details or PIN with someone, you will be solely responsible for any transactions made, even if these are made without your knowledge. We’re not responsible for any loss arising from any such unauthorised transaction(s).

5. It is your responsibility to promptly check that the details of the transactions in your Spend Account are correct. 

6. If you don’t recognise a transaction or think there may be errors, or something suspicious or unusual with a payment, you must freeze your Card in-app and let us know straight away. Please also freeze your Card in-app and let us know immediately if you know, or suspect that:

• the virtual card details or PIN (or both) of your debit Card are known to someone else;

• there has been unauthorised access to or use of your Account;

• if you feel you could be at risk or vulnerable to fraud, or you believe you have been a victim of a fraud or scam; 

• you want to dispute a transaction.

7. Your liability for the unauthorised use of your Card may be limited by Mastercard. As a Mastercard cardholder, under the Mastercard​​ rules you will not be held responsible for a transaction that was not authorised by you if:

• you used reasonable care in protecting your Card from loss or theft; and

• upon becoming aware of such loss or theft, you promptly reported such loss or theft to us.

We might decline your transaction

8. We may in our discretion decline, or delay, all or part of any transaction and may not give you reasons for doing so. For example, we may refuse to make a transaction, or delay a transaction, if:

• there is not enough money in your Account to make the transaction and cover any applicable fee(s);

• we believe it is likely to breach (or has breached) these Spend Terms, Applicable Law or any other relevant laws and regulations in any other country, or any applicable limits;

• we reasonably suspect it is illegal or fraudulent activity or is being used to support illegal or fraudulent activity;

• we believe legal, regulatory, or compliance requirements prevent us from making the transaction or if we need additional information (including any information we’ve asked for under sections 3(3) or 3(4) above), or have to carry out further checks; 

• it is unclear or incomplete; 

• a third party prevents us from making the transaction (for example, if Mastercard does not permit certain transactions), or a regulator, or member of our Support Crew, requests that we do;

• you owe us money and we’re taking the steps to recover set out in sections 5(5) to 5(7) ‘Our rights if you owe us money’ below;

• we’ve suspended your Account or access to the Spend Service in accordance with these Spend Terms and the General Terms.

9. We won't be responsible for any losses you may suffer as a result of us declining or delaying all or part of any transaction in accordance with the above section 4(8). For clarity, nothing in these Spend Terms requires us to decline, or delay, all or part of any transaction. 

Transaction holds

10. Some merchants (for example car rentals, hotels, or petrol stations) may ask us to authorise your transaction in advance when you use your Card to pay for goods or services and may estimate its final value. If the merchant does seek such an authorisation, a temporary hold may be placed on your Account. The money subject to the temporary hold will not be available for you to use until the transaction has cleared (when the final amount for the transaction is charged and the hold on any excess money is lifted). 

Transaction disputes

11. If you wish to dispute a transaction or charge, you must contact us straight away and, at the latest, within 30 days. If you do not notify us in writing of the dispute within 30 days, the transaction or charge will remain on your Account and we may be unable to reverse it.

12. Please note, we’re also unable to reverse transactions in certain situations, for example if you disagree with the merchant over the quality of the goods or services you have bought, or if you change your mind about your purchase of the goods or services.

13. Please contact us in-app if you want to dispute a transaction or charge. You can do so in the transaction history—select the transaction, and ‘get help’ with the transaction. We’ll ask you to provide and confirm relevant details. We may also require you to provide other information as part of the investigation of the dispute. 

14. Once we have received your notification, the matter will be carefully reviewed. Following review of the dispute, if it’s established that:

• there was a valid dispute with a transaction or charge, it will be corrected and we’ll let you know of any relevant adjustments that will be made to your Account; or

• the transaction or charge should remain, we’ll provide you with reasons and may charge you a disputes and chargebacks fee (Disputes Fee). Please see the Spend section of the Pricing page on the Website for information on this Disputes Fee and other fees that may apply. 

15. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review and wish to make a complaint, please let us know straight away in accordance with the process in section 10 ‘How to make a complaint’ in the General Terms. 

5. Fees

We make money from fees you pay

1. When you use our Spend Service, you agree to pay us the fees we set, and you’ll need to have enough money in your Account to do so. Please see the Spend section of the Pricing page on the Website for information on the fees that may apply (including the annual account fee, card replacement fee, ATM withdrawal fee, FX Fee, and Disputes Fee). 

2. If you received a discount on the annual account fee by having a monthly Sharesies pricing plan, and you then cancel that plan, you may be charged the difference between the full annual account fee and the discounted account fee that you paid.

3. If any other fees related to the use of the Account may become chargeable in the future, we'll give you notice before such fees apply. 

4. You may also be charged fees by third parties in relation to your transactions—for example ATM providers, banks, and other service providers involved in processing your transaction may charge you for using their services. You are ultimately legally responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and other charges related to your transactions.

Our rights if you owe us money

5. If you owe us money, for example if you fail to pay any amount due in respect of a transaction, or any applicable fees, costs, or taxes (including any cancellation fees, levies, or other costs that we may have incurred), we’ll let you know, sometimes by showing a negative balance in your Account or sending you a request to pay us. 

6. If your Account has a negative balance you must repay the amount owing to us immediately. If you top up or receive money into your Account, we’ll use some of this money (or all, as relevant) as payment against your negative balance.  

7. If you owe us money, we may take reasonable steps to recover the amount owing to us (and offset any money you owe us and have failed to pay against any money we may owe you from time to time), including:

• using the money in your Account to recover our costs;

• cancelling or suspending your access to our Spend Service and/or any of your transactions without any responsibility to you;

• taking legal action against you or using debt collection services, and charging you for the costs and expense we incur in recovering the debt.

Additional services

8. We may charge a fee for any additional services provided to you. Additional services may be subject to additional terms. 

6. Investback reward

1. When you use our Spend Service, you earn a set percentage back on the amount you spend on any eligible transaction using your Card—there’s no minimum amount you need to spend, and no caps or minimums on the amount you could earn. We can in our sole discretion change the Investback earn rate, or make other changes to the Investback reward, from time to time. Please see the Spend section of the help centre for information on Investback and the current Investback earn rate.

2. Most of the payments customers can make with their Card will be eligible to accrue Investback earnings. We reserve the right in our sole discretion to determine eligibility, as well as change or waive the eligibility criteria from time to time. The following transactions are not eligible to accrue earnings (this is a representative, rather than an exhaustive list): 

• top ups of your Account;

• withdrawals from your Account (for example, withdrawing cash from an ATM using your Card, or transferring money into your Sharesies Wallet);

• any gaming, gambling, or betting transactions (including lotteries, prize draws, casino gaming, off-track betting, syndicates, and wagers);

• purchase of cash-substitutes (like travellers’ or bank cheques), or use of money transfer or remittance services;

• any transaction that we reasonably believe is for a business use or purpose (and not for your own personal use);

• purchases of cryptocurrencies or other cryptoassets;

• any transaction that we reasonably believe is likely to breach (or has breached) these Spend Terms, Applicable Law, or any other relevant laws and regulations in any other country, or any applicable limits;

• any transaction you have received a refund for, for example as part of the disputes process described in sections 4(11) to (14) above;

• any other transaction that we do not believe meets our criteria for fair use of the Investback reward, as set out in section 6(7) below.

3. You will start earning Investback on eligible transactions as soon as you start using your Card. Earnings accrued from using the Card will be calculated based on the eligible transactions made during your earning period, which will be a week beginning from the day that you create your Account (Earning Period). At the end of your Earning Period:

• we will calculate and review the amount of eligible pending earnings (if any) that you may have accrued; and

• subject to section 6(4) below, within 2 business days (or such other period as we may in our sole discretion determine from time to time) from the end of your Earning Period the amount of eligible earnings you have accrued (if any) will be finalised and will automatically be invested into a nominated investment on the Sharesies app in accordance with section 6(5) below.

4. The Investback reward is not currently live on the Platform. When it is live on the Platform:

• any earnings you may have accrued before this date will be visible in the Platform and will at that time be automatically invested into the nominated Investment(s) available through the Invest Service in accordance with section 6(5) below; and

• earnings can be tracked over time in your Portfolio.

5. You acknowledge and agree that:

• as a condition of having an Account and using the Spend Service you agree to have the Investback reward and cannot opt out of accruing the earnings;

• you instruct us to provide your Investback earnings to Sharesies Limited, together with your instruction to Sharesies Limited to place an order to invest your Investback earnings into the nominated Investment(s), which may be:

  • the Investment(s) of your choice available through the Invest Service (if the ability to choose an Investment is available); or

  • a default nominated Investment, if the ability to nominate the Investment(s) of your choice is unavailable (or if you do not make a choice);

• this order to invest your Investback earnings is handled in accordance with, and is subject to, the separate Invest Terms and Conditions between you and Sharesies Limited—Sharesies Financial Limited plays no part in the order. You will not pay a brokerage transaction fee for this order, and if you’re on a Sharesies plan it will not count towards your plan’s coverage;

• this order to invest your Investback earnings cannot be edited or cancelled by you once it’s placed. If Sharesies Limited cancels the order (in accordance with the Invest Terms and Conditions) the earnings may be placed into your Sharesies Wallet;

• the selection of the nominated Investment(s) is not a recommendation or opinion by Sharesies Financial Limited or any other Sharesies entity as to whether or not the nominated Investment(s) is a good investment or suitable for any particular purpose or investor—Sharesies Financial Limited does not provide advice or recommendations. Once made, the value of your investment may go up or down;

• we may change the default nominated Investment in our sole discretion from time to time.

6. We will monitor transactions and behaviour of customers using the Spend Service to determine fair use of the Investback reward, and whether, in our sole discretion:

• transactions meet the eligibility criteria to earn Investback;

• a customer is making a genuine transaction, in accordance with these Spend Terms; 

• a customer may be trying to abuse the Investback reward, or ‘game’ the system, to accrue earnings.

7. If we reasonably suspect wrongdoing or misuse of the Investback reward, we can in our sole discretion deduct any earnings from your Account, and/or suspend or close your Account.

8. If you've raised a dispute regarding a transaction, if any pending earnings for the transaction have not yet been finalised in accordance with section 6(3) above, you agree that we may not include those earnings in the calculation and eligibility review process until the dispute has concluded.

9. If you receive a refund in respect of a transaction (for example as part of the disputes process described in sections 4(11) to (14) above), you agree that we may in our sole discretion:

• cancel the pending earnings for the transaction if the earnings have not yet been finalised in accordance with section 6(3) above; or

• deduct the value of the accrued earnings for the transaction from your Account, if the earnings have been finalised and invested into a nominated Investment(s) in accordance with section 6(5) above (you will owe us the value of the accrued earnings).

7. Your Responsibilities

1. In addition to your responsibilities in section 4 ‘Your Responsibilities’ in the General Terms, you acknowledge and agree that:

• you’re fully responsible for your transactions and use of the Spend Service, and any obligations related to your transactions or use of the Spend Service;

• we have no responsibility for any goods or services you purchase using your Card;

• you will comply with any restrictions related to your Account or our Spend Service that we notify you of from time to time; 

• you won’t breach or cause us to breach any Applicable Law by doing something you shouldn’t do or by not doing something you should do; and

• we may need to take certain actions on your behalf, in accordance with your instructions.

2. You are responsible for all activity on, and use of, your Card and Account—we will deem any use, activity, actions, or instructions related to your Account to have been authorised by you, unless you promptly tell us otherwise. Each time you log in to your Account, you confirm to us you're the beneficial owner of your Account, or you're the sole trustee on behalf of the beneficial owner, and that no one else has any rights of any kind over the money in your Account.

8. Goodbye: Closing accounts

We can close or suspend your Account immediately in some circumstances

1. Sections 12(3) and 12(4) ‘Goodbye: Closing Accounts’ in the General Terms applies to closure or suspension of your Card or your Account (or both).

2. In addition, without affecting our other rights or remedies, we can freeze or suspend your Card or your Account (or both), or close your Account with immediate effect, if:

• the activity on, or use of, your Card or Account appears suspicious, fraudulent, or illegal; 

• we reasonably believe you are using your Account to buy products or services, or to receive funds, at a frequency that is incompatible with personal use. In such cases, you will pay us any costs and expenses associated with closing or suspending your Account, and we don't accept responsibility for loss of any kind that you suffer. We may also suspend or close any future Cards or Accounts that you create.

What happens when your Account is closed?

3. Whether you close your Account or we close your Account, in addition to section 12 ‘Goodbye: Closing Accounts’ in the General Terms, the following terms apply:

• we may cancel any pending transactions (in our discretion);

• you agree to pay us any money you owe us, including after your Account is closed;

• you will need to transfer any remaining money in your Account into your Sharesies Wallet. If you do not do so, we may transfer any such remaining money into your Sharesies Wallet (less fees and any other amounts you owe us); 

• you authorise us to do these things and to instruct our Support Crew as needed to do these things on your behalf.

9. Dictionary

1. Whenever the words “for example”, “includes”, or “including” are used in these Spend Terms, they are deemed to be followed by the words “without limitation”.

2. Some capitalised words in these Spend Terms have a special meaning. Each capitalised term used but not defined in the Spend Terms will have the meaning set out in the General Terms, save as amended below.