Debt Shield Program Agreement

Please read the agreement document below before registering.

This Agreement contains the complete terms and conditions that apply to your participation in the Debt Shield Affiliate Program (the "Program"). As used in this Agreement, "we," "our," and "us" refer to Debt Shield, and "you" and "your" refer to the applicant. "Site" means World Wide Web site.

Terms of the Agreement: This Agreement shall become effective upon Debt Shield's acceptance of your Affiliate application and will end when terminated by either party. Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause, by giving the other party written notice of termination. Referral fees on leads will be paid only during the active term of the Agreement. Referred leads must be generated by the person filling out the Debt Shield online form. Debt Shield contacts all leads and if the phone number does not work, the lead will not be considered a qualified lead. Debt Shield will not pay fees or commissions for leads generated as a result of incentive programs. An incentive program is any manner of reward (money, points, gift certificates, etc.), regardless of dollar value, being provided to the person filling out the form for the purpose of enticing them to fill out the form. Debt Shield will issue commission checks each month for the prior month. Debt Shield has the sole and final approval in determining whether a lead qualifies for commission under the Debt Shield affiliate program.

What Constitutes a Qualified Lead: A lead comes to the Debt Shield landing page seeking debt relief, completes the data fields and submits that data. Required data fields are:

First Name
Last Name
Email Address
State
Telephone Number

Total Unsecured Debt equal or greater than $10,000.00

A qualified lead must have $10,000 or greater in unsecured debt and have a serious financial hardship.
We do NOT accept leads from the following states:
1. Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
2. Any leads provided from the foregoing states will NOT be considered a qualified lead regardless of the data provided and no compensation will be paid.

Enrollment in the Program: To begin the enrollment process, you will submit a complete Program application via our site. We will evaluate your application in good faith and will notify you of its acceptance or rejection. We may reject your application if we determine (in our sole discretion) that your site is unsuitable for the Program for any reason. Unsuitable sites include (but are not limited to) those that: Contain content that is unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable; promote sexually explicit materials; promote violence; promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or age; promote illegal activities; Violate or infringe upon intellectual property rights. If we reject your application, you are welcome to reapply to the Program at any time. If we accept your application, we reserve the right to terminate this Agreement if we ever determine (in our sole discretion) that your site is unsuitable for the Program for any reason.

Commission Rates for Qualified Leads:
Per Lead: $13.50/lead + $50/close
Per Close: $8.50/lead + $150/close

A closed lead is defined as a lead where the customer enrolls in our program and makes their first payment.

Remaining in the Program

Evaluation Period: Once you are accepted into our program, we will accept a maximum of 25 leads a day from you. If more than 25 leads on a given day are submitted, Debt Shield will only compensate for the first 25 submissions. You will be eligible for review after we have received 100 leads. At this point, our affiliate team will evaluate your performance based on close rate. Your leads must close at 5% to remain in the Program.

Close rate is calculated as closes/(closes + dead leads). A dead lead is a lead that our debt consultant has deemed unable to close due to certain circumstances such as: Could not Contact, Not Interested, Insufficient Hardship, Bogus Names and Phone numbers, Debt Under Limit, Duplicate Lead, etc. This by no means is all the reasons a debt consultant may mark a lead as dead. For your benefit, Debt Shield will not count the leads that are still being worked by our debt consultants against you. These leads still have a chance at closing.

Payment: We will pay all commissions that accrue on a monthly basis, within thirty days after each month end. If the commissions that accrue in any month total less than $50, we will hold the commissions and pay them to you thirty days after the end of the first month in which aggregate accrued but unpaid commissions total $50 or more.

Modifications: Debt Shield at any time and at its sole discretion may modify any of the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement by posting a change notice or a new agreement on our web site. Modifications may include, for example, changes in the scope of available referral fees, fee schedules, payment procedures and Program rules. IF ANY MODIFICATION IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO YOU THEN YOUR ONLY RECOURSE WILL BE TO TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT. SHOULD YOU CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM AFTER THE TIME OF MODIFICATION AND POSTING OF THE NEW AGREEMENT ON OUR SITE IT WILL CONSTITUTE CONSTRUCTIVE AND BINDING ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHANGE ON YOUR PART.

Anti-Spam Policy: Debt Shield, Inc. has a zero tolerance policy towards spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail). You must comply with all aspect of the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the "Act"). If you spam, your referrals and commissions will be wiped from our system and you will be dropped from our program. If sending emails, you are strictly prohibited from using the Debt Shield name, trademarks, logos, or anything that would bring association with Debt Shield in your email marketing campaigns without prior approval.

Fraud: You are explicitly prohibited from using any people, means, devices or measures to commit fraud, violate any applicable law, interfere with other affiliates or falsify information in association with referrals through the Links or the generation of Commissions. Such acts include, but are in no way limited to using automated and manual means to raise the number of clicks through the Links or completion of any required information, using spyware, using stealware, cookie-stuffing and other deceiving acts or click-fraud. Debt Shield shall in its sole discretion make the determination of what actions or inactions constitute fraudulent activity.

If you commit fraud or falsify information, this agreement will be terminated immediately and all referrals and commissions will be removed from our system. In addition, you will be liable to Debt Shield for any and all damages that Debt Shield suffers as a result of such actions. You will also be responsible for returning to Debt Shield all commissions received for fraudulent/falsified orders, and we will not hesitate to pursue all legal causes of action against you to the fullest extent possible under the law. You agree to pay all legal fees Debt Shield may incur if successful against you in court.

Limitation of Liability: We will not be liable for indirect, special or consequential damages, or any loss of revenue, profits or data, arising in connection with this Agreement or the Program, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Further, our aggregate liability arising with respect to this Agreement and the Program will not exceed the total referral fees paid or payable to you under to this Agreement.

Limited License: We grant you a nonexclusive, revocable right to use the Debt Shield logo, trademarks and promotional materials that we may provide you solely for the purpose of identifying your site as a Program participant and to assist in generating leads through the Program. You may not modify the Debt Shield logo or any other graphic images or text that we may provide you in any way. You agree to follow our instructions respecting the use of our trademarks and those instructions may change from time to time. We may revoke your license at any time by giving you written notice.

Independent Investigation: YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO ALL ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS. YOU ARE NOT RELYING ON ANY REPRESENTATION, GUARANTEE OR STATEMENT FROM DEBT SHIELD OTHER THAN THOSE LISTED IN THIS AGREEMENT.

Relationship of Parties: You and we are independent contractors, and nothing in this Agreement will create any partnership, joint venture, agency, franchise, sales representative, or employment relationship between the parties. You will have no authority to make or accept any offers or representations on our behalf. You will not make any statement, whether on your site or otherwise, that reasonably would contradict anything in this Section.

Responsibility for Your Site: You will have sole responsibility for the development, operation and maintenance of your site and for all materials that appear on your site. For example, you will be solely responsible for: The technical operation of your site and all related equipment. The accuracy and appropriateness of materials posted on your site. Ensuring that materials posted on your site do not violate or infringe upon the right of any third party. Ensuring that materials posted on your site are not obscene, defamatory, libelous or otherwise illegal. We disclaim all liability for all matters relating to the development, operation, maintenance and contents of your site.

Disclaimers: WE MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE PROGRAM. IN ADDITION, WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION THAT THE OPERATION OF OUR SITE OR OUR COMMERCE SERVER WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, AND WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANY INTERRUPTIONS OR ERRORS.

Indemnification: You will indemnify, defend and hold us harmless against any and all claims, lawsuits, damages, and expense (including, without limitation, attorneys' fees) that we may or that anyone may assert as a result of anything occurring on your site or arising from the development, operation or maintenance of your site.

Miscellaneous: This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Maryland, without reference to rules governing choice of laws. Any action relating to this Agreement must be brought in the federal or state courts located in Howard County, Maryland and you irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of such courts. You may not assign this Agreement, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. Subject to that restriction, this Agreement will be binding on, insure to the benefit of and be enforceable against the parties and their respective successors and assigns. Our failure to enforce your strict performance of any provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of our right to subsequently enforce such provision or any other provision of this Agreement.