Packages & payment
Half on signature, half at the midpoint. Quoted in pounds; payable in euros, pounds or dollars.
Almost everyone arrives here after a conversation. If we have not spoken yet, start with an enquiry — I do not take on work without one, and a deposit paid before we have talked will simply be refunded.
Programmes
Charged in pounds. Cards issued anywhere are accepted — your bank converts at its own rate, and Stripe shows the amount before you confirm.
A Quantitative finance careers
B MBA admissions
C Oxbridge & US STEM admissions
Card processing costs roughly £225 on a £9,000 deposit. On the larger engagements I would rather that stayed with the work than went to a payment processor, so email israel.bergenstein@gmail.com and an invoice with SEPA or SWIFT details follows the same day. Same fee, same terms, same timeline.
How payment works
- Deposit — 50% on signature secures the engagement and the calendar slots. The balance is invoiced at the midpoint.
- Card — Visa, Mastercard and American Express through Stripe. Secure checkout; card details never touch this site.
- Bank transfer — preferred for the larger engagements. SEPA within Europe, SWIFT elsewhere. No card fee, and for a £24,000 engagement that difference is not trivial.
- Currency — quoted in pounds, charged in euros, pounds or dollars at your preference.
- Instalments — family retainers are billed monthly. For the larger one-off programmes I will split into three where it helps; ask on the call.
- VAT — charged only where the law requires it. Most non-EU clients are outside scope. Your invoice states the treatment.
- Receipts — a compliant invoice is issued automatically for every payment.
Refunds
If the fit is wrong within the first two sessions, I refund the balance in full and help you find someone better suited. After that point the deposit is non-refundable, because the calendar has been held and the diagnostic work done — but unused sessions at the end of an engagement are refunded pro rata.
I do not offer outcome-contingent fees. Admissions committees and trading desks make their own decisions, and a fee structure that pretends otherwise is a fee structure designed to be argued about later.