Support, vulnerabilities and reasonable adjustments
Here at Chip, we acknowledge the importance of assisting customers who may require additional support or adjustments. If you are going through a difficult time or are facing specific challenges related to your physical or mental well-being, money or a life event, we are available to provide you with additional or alternative support suited to your individual needs. Our team is devoted to helping you get through those times when you need us the most.
What do we mean when we say ‘Vulnerable/Vulnerability’
‘Vulnerability’ can manifest in various ways and is not limited to any specific demographic. People can move in and out of ‘vulnerable’ situations or they can be affected on a long-term/permanent basis. It can be due to a disability, illness, limited technical knowledge, limited financial knowledge, mental health conditions, age-related factors, or sudden life events like bereavement or job loss. Recognising these factors empowers the team at Chip to tailor their services and support to cater to individual needs, which in turn enables all of our customers to get the most out of our service.
We know that a lot of customers will not identify with the word vulnerable, and that is okay. These terms are used across the financial industry, but at Chip, we see our users as unique human beings who all have unique needs.
What can Chip do to better support you?
Managing a Chip account, speaking to customer support or getting to grips with the app can be more challenging for someone with additional needs than it would be for somebody without.
Given that each customer is unique, any additional support or adjustments would be discussed with and tailored for the individual, but here are some examples of how this would work in practice:
- A customer with dyslexia may benefit from shorter messages/emails and not being directed to articles with paragraphs of text. They may also benefit from keywords and phrases being highlighted in bold.
- A customer with mobility issues in their hands may benefit from yes/no questions where possible, limiting how much they need to type when they contact us.
- A customer who takes medication that impacts their memory may benefit from text alerts for important account updates (as well as sending an email.)
- A customer with limited or no mental capacity may have a Power of Attorney set up on their account, so somebody trusted can manage their money for them.
- A customer dealing with mental health, physical health or financial issues may be signposted to an organisation that can help with their situation.
How to tell us you need extra support?
To inform us of a situation, life event or health issue that affects your ability to use Chip, please reach out to us either via the in-app chat (this can be found on the Profile tab), via email at [email protected] or by filling out the form linked below.
Additional Support Request Form (https://www.getchip.uk/legal/additional-support-submission).
So we can better understand your individual needs, we will then ask you some questions about your situation and how this affects your ability to:
- Manage your account/finances.
- Use the app
- Get in touch with customer support
- Understand the product/service we offer
You are welcome to tell us exactly what it is that you would benefit from or we can give you some suggestions. It's completely up to you.
Please bear in mind that responses to submission forms can take up to 5 working days.
Personal Data
We can then, with your explicit permission, log this information on your account, so you only need to tell us about your situation and your needs once. We can share any wording used with you so you are kept fully informed of any data we log on your profile, and if at any time you would like us to remove this data - all you need to do is ask.
We always want to be transparent - so we have detailed which departments in Chip would have access to your personal data, and what they would use this for.
How the teams at Chip use your personal data:
Customer Success - The CS team would use your data to ensure we are best supporting your needs when getting in touch with us.
Operations - The ops team would have visibility of this data as they work closely with the CS team to perform certain actions on users' accounts.
Marketing - The marketing team would have access to limited data to ensure that suitable products are being targeted.
Insights (the data team) - The insights team would have access to limited data, and this would be used to better understand our user base.
Product - The product team would have limited access to data, and this would be used to approve and review product offerings to ensure they meet the needs of our user base.
Compliance - Our compliance team would use this data for risk assessments/reviews which again ensures that our products and services meet the needs of our users.