Terms of Service

Updated 11/29/2022

Groundfloor Finance Inc., a Georgia Corporation (“the Company,” “we,” or “us”) operates a web-based peer-to-peer lending platform, “the Service”). By accessing or using the Groundfloor web site at groundfloor.us, including any subdomain thereof (the “Site”), you (the “User”) signify that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by these terms of use (“Terms of Use”), regardless of whether you are a registered member of the Service. In addition to these Terms of Use, you may enter into other agreements with us or others that will govern your use of the Service or related services offered by us or others. If there is any contradiction between these Terms of Use and another agreement you enter into applicable to specific aspects of the Service, the other agreement shall take precedence in relation to the specific aspects of the Service to which it applies. As used herein, “Users” means anyone who accesses and/or uses the Site.

Changes to these Terms
We may make changes to these Terms of Service and Use from time to time. If we do this, we will post the changed Terms of Use on the Site and will indicate at the top of this page the date the Terms of Use were last revised. You understand and agree that your continued use of the Service or the Site after we have made any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Use.
Dwolla Agreement Incorporated
Groundfloor uses Dwolla, Inc. (“Dwolla”) as its third party service provider for payment and funds transfer services. By buying securities on Groundfloor you agree to be bound by Dwolla’s Terms of Service and Dwolla’s Privacy Policy. You hereby consent and authorize Groundfloor and Dwolla to share any information and payments instructions you provide.
Mobile Authorization
You authorize your wireless carrier to use or disclose information about your account and your wireless device, if available, to Groundfloor or its service provider for the duration of your business relationship, solely to help them identify you or your wireless device and to prevent fraud. See our Privacy Policy for how we treat your data.
Securities Law Related Matters
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these Terms of Use, in no event shall anything in these Terms of Use be deemed to be a waiver, and we will not assert there has been a waiver, that would not be permissible under Section 14 of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 29(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or any other applicable provision of federal and state securities laws.
Eligibility
This Site is intended solely for Users who are eighteen (18) years of age or older, and any registration by, use of or access to the Site by anyone under 18 is unauthorized, unlicensed and in violation of these Terms of Use. By using the Service or the Site, you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older and that you agree to and to abide by all of the terms and conditions of these Terms of Use. If you violate any of these Terms of Use, or otherwise violate an agreement between you and us, the Company may terminate your membership, delete your profile and any content or information that you have posted on the Site and/or prohibit you from using or accessing the Service or the Site (or any portion, aspect or feature of the Service or the Site), at any time in its sole discretion, with or without notice, including without limitation if it believes that you are under 18.
Registration Data; Account Security
In consideration of your use of the Site, you agree to (a) provide accurate, current and complete information about you as may be prompted by any registration forms on the Site (“Registration Data”); (b) maintain the security of your password and identification; (c) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data, and any other information you provide to the Company, to keep it accurate, current and complete; and (d) be fully responsible for all use of your account and for any actions that take place using your account.
Proprietary Rights in Site Content; Limited License
All content on the Site, including but not limited to designs, text, graphics, pictures, video, information, software, music, sound and other files, and their selection and arrangement (the “Site Content”), are the proprietary property of the Company with all rights reserved. No Site Content may be modified, copied, distributed, framed, reproduced, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted, transmitted, or sold in any form or by any means, in whole or in part, without the Company’s prior written permission, except as provided in the following sentence and except that the foregoing does not apply to your own User Content (as defined below) that you legally post on the Site. Provided that you are eligible for use of the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Site Content solely for your personal use, provided that you keep all copyright or other proprietary notices intact. Except for your own User Content (as defined below), you may not republish Site Content on any Internet, Intranet or Extranet site or incorporate the information in any other database or compilation, and any other use of the Site Content is strictly prohibited. Such license is subject to these Terms of Use and does not include use of any data mining, robots or similar data gathering or extraction methods. Any use of the Site or the Site Content other than as specifically authorized herein, without the prior written permission of the Company, is strictly prohibited and will terminate the license granted herein. Such unauthorized use may also violate applicable laws including without limitation copyright and trademark laws and applicable communications regulations and statutes. Unless explicitly stated herein, nothing in these Terms of Use shall be construed as conferring any license to intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication or otherwise. This license is revocable by us at any time without notice and with or without cause.
Trademarks
Groundfloor and other Company graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts and service names are registered trademarks, trademarks or trade dress of the Company in the U.S. and/or other countries. The Company’s trademarks and trade dress may not be used, including as part of trademarks and/or as part of domain names, in connection with any product or service in any manner that is likely to cause confusion and may not be copied, imitated, or used, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the Company.
User Representations
You represent, warrant and agree that no materials of any kind submitted through your account or otherwise posted or shared by you through the Service will violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights; or contain libelous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material. You further agree not to harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information of Users from the Service or the Site by electronic or other means for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications. Additionally, you agree not to use automated scripts to collect information from the Service or the Site or for any other purpose. You further agree that you may not use the Service or the Site in any unlawful manner or in any other manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the Site. In addition, you agree not to use the Service or the Site to:
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
  • register for more than one User account, register for a User account on behalf of an individual other than yourself, or register for a User account on behalf of any group or entity;
  • impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity;
  • upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation;
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make publicly available on the Site any private information of any third party, including, without limitation, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers;
  • solicit personal information from anyone under 18 or solicit passwords or personally identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes;
  • upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
  • intimidate or harass another user;
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available content that would constitute, encourage or provide instructions for a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party, or that would otherwise create liability or violate any local, state, national or international law;
  • use or attempt to use another’s account, service or system without authorization from the Company, or create a false identity on the Service or the Site.
  • upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available content that, in the sole judgment of the Company, is objectionable or which restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Site, or which may expose the Company or its Users to any harm or liability of any type.
User Content Posted on the Site
You are solely responsible for the photos, profiles, messages, notes, text, information, music, video, contact information for you or others, advertisements or other content that you upload, publish, provide or display (hereinafter, “post”) on or through the Service or the Site, or transmit to or share with other Users (collectively the “User Content”). It is against the Terms of Use to contact members directly or to attempt to enter into any lending transactions with members outside of the Service. You understand and agree that the Company may, but is not obligated to, review and delete or remove (without notice) any User Content in its sole discretion, including without limitation, User Content that in the sole judgment of the Company violates these Terms of Use, might be offensive or illegal, or might violate the rights of, harm, or threaten the safety of, Users or others.

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will not expire.

You may review personal information (including credit data) posted by other Users on the Site, but you are not authorized to disclose or otherwise use such information for any purpose other than assessing the creditworthiness of other Users.
Copyright Complaints

If you believe that any material on the Site infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may e-mail notification of such infringement to our e-mail address.

To meet the notice requirements under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the notification must be a written or electronic communication that includes the following:
  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
  5. A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Repeat Infringer Policy
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, the Company has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances and at the Company’s sole discretion, the memberships of members who are deemed to be repeat infringers. The Company may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Site and/or terminate the memberships of any Users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.
Links to Other Web Sites and Content
The Site contains (or you may be sent through the Site or the Services) links to other web sites (“Third Party Sites”), as well as articles, photographs, text, graphics, pictures, designs, music, sound, video, information, software and other content belonging to or originating from third parties (the “Third Party Content”). Such Third Party Sites and Third Party Content are not investigated, monitored or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by us, and we are not responsible for any Third Party Sites accessed through the Site or any Third Party Content posted on the Site, including without limitation the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability or policies of or contained in the Third Party Sites or the Third Party Content. Inclusion of or linking to any Third Party Site or any Third Party Content does not imply approval or endorsement thereof by us. If you decide to leave the Site and access the Third Party Sites, you do so at your own risk and you should be aware that our terms and policies no longer govern. You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any site to which you navigate from the Site.
Consent to Electronic Transactions and Disclosures
Because Groundfloor operates only on the Internet, it is necessary for you to consent to transact business with us online and electronically. As part of doing business with us, we also need you to consent to our giving you certain disclosures electronically, either via our Site or to the email address you provide to us. By agreeing to the Terms of Use, you agree to receive electronically all documents, communications, notices, contracts, and agreements, including any IRS Form 1099, arising from or relating to any loans you may request or receive, your registration as a borrower or lender on our Site, any loans you may fund, your use of this Service, the servicing of your loan, if funded as either a borrower or lender member of Groundfloor (each, a “Disclosure”), from us, whether we are acting in the capacity as trustee or otherwise. An IRS Form 1099 refers to any Form 1099 or other Form, Schedule or information statement, including corrections of such documents, required to be provided pursuant to U.S. Internal Revenue Service rules and regulations and that may be provided electronically (each, an “IRS Form 1099”). The decision to do business with electronically is yours. This document informs you of your rights concerning Disclosures.

Electronic Communications. Any Disclosures will be provided to you electronically through groundfloor.us either on our Site or via electronic mail to the verified email address you provided. GROUNDFLOOR will only provide electronic copies of all Disclosures, statements, forms, and other materials. A request for a paper copy of any Disclosure will not be considered a withdrawal of your consent to receive Disclosures electronically. Any IRS 1099 Forms provided electronically will remain accessible through at least October 15 of the year in which such IRS Form 1099 is made available; after that time the IRS Form 1099 may no longer be accessible electronically. We may discontinue electronic provision of Disclosures at any time in our sole discretion.

Scope of Consent. Your consent to receive Disclosures and transact business electronically, and our agreement to do so, applies to any transactions to which such Disclosures relate, whether between you and GROUNDFLOOR. Your consent will remain in effect for so long as you are a User and, if you are no longer a User, will continue until such a time as all Disclosures relevant to transactions that occurred while you were a User have been made.

Consenting to Do Business Electronically. Before you decide to do business electronically with GROUNDFLOOR, you should consider whether you have the required hardware and software capabilities described below.

Hardware and Software Requirements. In order to access and retain Disclosures electronically, you must satisfy the following computer hardware and software requirements: access to the Internet; an email account and related software capable of receiving email through the Internet; a web browser which is SSL-compliant and supports secure sessions, such as Internet Explorer 5.0 or above and Netscape Navigator 6.0 or above, or the equivalent software; and hardware capable of running this software.

TCPA Consent: I expressly consent to receiving calls and messages, including auto-dialed and pre-recorded message calls, and SMS messages (including text messages) from us, our affiliates, marketing partners, agents and others calling at their request or on their behalf, at any telephone numbers that you have provided or may provide in the future (including any cellular telephone numbers). Your cellular or mobile telephone provider will charge you according to the type of plan you carry.

Additional Mobile Technology Requirements. If you are accessing our site and the Disclosures electronically via a mobile device (such as a smart phone, tablet, and the like), in addition to the above requirements you must make sure that you have software on your mobile device that allows you to print and save the Disclosures presented to you during the application process. These applications can be found for most mobile devices in the device’s respective “app store”. If you do not have these capabilities on your mobile device, please access our site through a device that provides these capabilities.

Withdrawing Consent. You may withdraw your consent to receive Disclosures electronically by contacting us at the address below. However, once you have withdrawn your consent you will not be able to post loan requests on our Site. If you have a pending loan request on our Site we will terminate it and remove it from our system. If you have already received a loan, all previously agreed to terms and conditions will remain in effect, and we will send Disclosures to your verified home address provided during registration. If you are a lender member on the Site and you withdraw your consent to receive Disclosures electronically, you may continue to contribute funds to requests on the Site. If you have already purchased one or more loans, all previously agreed to terms and conditions will remain in effect, and we will send Disclosures to your verified home address provided during registration.

If you withdraw your consent to receive IRS Forms 1099 electronically, we will confirm your withdrawal and its effective date in writing by email.

How to Contact Us regarding Electronic Disclosures. You can contact us via email.

You will print a copy of this Agreement for your records and You agree and acknowledge that you can access, receive and retain all Disclosures electronically sent via email or posted on the Site.
User Disputes
You are solely responsible for your interactions with other Users. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other Users.
Privacy
Please review the Site’s Privacy Policy. By using the Site or the Service, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.
Disclaimers
The Company does not guarantee the accuracy of any User Content or Third Party Content. Although we provide rules for User conduct and postings, we do not control and are not responsible for what Users post on the Site and are not responsible for any offensive, inappropriate, obscene, unlawful or otherwise objectionable content you may encounter on the Site or in connection with any User Content or Third Party Content. The Company is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any User of the Site or Service. The Company cannot guarantee and does not promise any specific results from use of the Site and/or the Service to obtain a loan.

The Site and the Service may be temporarily unavailable from time to time for maintenance or other reasons. The Company assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, User communications. The Company is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of email or players on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or on the Site or combination thereof, including injury or damage to Users or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading materials in connection with the Web and/or in connection with the Service. Under no circumstances will the Company be responsible for any loss or damage, including any loss or damage to any User Content or personal injury or death, resulting from anyone’s use of the Site or the Service, any User Content or Third Party Content posted on or through the Site or the Service or transmitted to Users, or any interactions between Users of the Site, whether online or offline.

The Company reserves the right to change any and all content contained in the Site and any Services offered through the Site at any time without notice. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Company.
Limitation on Liability
EXCEPT IN JURISDICTIONS WHERE SUCH PROVISIONS ARE RESTRICTED AND EXCEPT AS PROVIDED ABOVE IN THE PARAGRAPH TITLED, “LENDER MEMBERS: SECURITIES MATTERS”, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY OR ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST DATA ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR THE SERVICE OR ANY OF THE SITE CONTENT OR OTHER MATERIALS ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITE, EVEN IF THE COMPANY IS AWARE OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN EXCEPT AS PROVIDED ABOVE IN THE PARAGRAPH TITLED, “LENDER MEMBERS: SECURITIES MATTERS”, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW THE COMPANY’S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO THE COMPANY FOR THE SERVICE DURING THE TERM OF MEMBERSHIP. IN NO CASE, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED ABOVE IN THE PARAGRAPH TITLED, “LENDER MEMBERS: SECURITIES MATTERS”, WILL THE COMPANY’S LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED $1000. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IF NO FEES ARE PAID TO THE COMPANY FOR THE SERVICE, YOU SHALL BE LIMITED TO INJUNCTIVE RELIEF ONLY, UNLESS OTHERWISE PERMITTED BY LAW, AND SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO DAMAGES OF ANY KIND FROM THE COMPANY, REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION.

IN ADDITION TO THE SPECIFIC SECURITIES LAWS PROVISIONS DESCRIBED ABOVE IN THE PARAGRAPH TITLED, “LENDER MEMBERS: SECURITIES MATTERS”, CERTAIN FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES OR LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.
Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction
By visiting or using the Site and/or the Service, you agree that the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to any principles of conflict of laws that would require or permit the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction, will govern these Terms of Use. If you obtain a loan, the terms of the loan will be governed by federal laws and the laws of the state where your loan provider is located.
Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold the Company, its subsidiaries and affiliates, and each of their directors, officers, agents, contractors, partners and employees, harmless from and against any loss, liability, claim, demand, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, arising out of or in connection with your User Content, any Third Party Content you post or share on or through the Site, your use of the Service or the Site, your conduct in connection with the Service or the Site or with other Users of the Service or the Site, or any violation of these Terms of Use or of any law or the rights of any third party. The previous sentence shall not apply to any extent to Users while acting as a lender member or while registering as a lender member in connection with their (i) posting of User Content or (ii) use of the Site or Service.
Submissions
You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback or other information about the Site or the Service (“Submissions”), provided by you to the Company are non-confidential and shall become the sole property of the Company. The Company shall own exclusive rights, including all intellectual property rights, and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Submissions for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.
Other
The failure of the Company to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision in that or any other instance. If any provision of these Terms of Use is held invalid, the remainder of these Terms of Use shall continue in full force and effect. If any provision of these Terms of Use shall be deemed unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms of Use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

GROUNDFLOOR Finance Inc.

[email protected]