terms of engagement

By completing this complaint pack, you are agreeing to Elmwood Law’s car finance claim terms and conditions as outlined below, in our Letter of Authority, Client Care Letter and our Damages Based Agreement (DBA).If you have previously instructed another firm to act on your behalf, please check your obligations with them before committing to our Terms of Engagement.

We will only pursue a claim where we believe that there is sufficient merit. We aim to make the process as smooth as possible for you and to obtain the maximum amount of compensation you may be due, plus any interest that may be applicable. We will ask your Lender to investigate all car finance agreements that you may have purchased. Should any case(s) be upheld, the charges will be payable as per our percentage fee structure, outlined in the Client Care Letter.

The service provided by Elmwood Law includes:

We will complete an initial assessment of your case and any potential claim.
We will complete pre-administrative work and request pertinent data from your provider/lender.
Once we receive the relevant information from your lender we will review the finance agreement and associated terms and conditions.
Where we believe there is a genuine cause for a valid claim/complaint, we will represent your claim for redress from a provider/lender.
We will calculate an estimated amount of loss based on information within the credit agreement.
We will negotiate on your behalf to obtain an offer of redress for you if you were mis-sold.
Where appropriate and deemed unavoidable we will pursue the case through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
If the case is rejected by both the lender and FOS, and we believe there is legal grounds to proceed with litigation, we can act on your behalf to progress your case down the court litigation route. Please note this will be subject to a separate agreement.
We make no representation or guarantee that a redress payment is assured.

Costs

Elmwood Law will act on a ‘NO WIN NO FEE’ basis. If your claim is not successful you do not pay us a penny.

If you choose to reject an offer that we believe is fair, or you attempt to rescind authority after an offer had been made, our fees will remain payable in full under the No Win, No Fee payment structure.

In successful cases we are entitled to receive a percentage of redress which is inclusive of VAT, of any financial redress recovered in relation to any accounts with your lenders, even if received after the initial settlement no matter if the redress was in part or whole by the way of refund, loan/arrears reduction and/or cash or awarded in relation to a regulator imposed Consumer Redress Scheme.

In some instances, your Lender may decide to reinvestigate your complaint. If this results in your claim being upheld, you will still be liable for our fees. Our fees on a successful claim are subject to regulatory change but we will never charge you base fees that are higher than the percentage outlined to you at the time of you signing up for our services. Regarding VAT, this is currently 20% of any financial benefit, however, VAT is subject to government change from time to time. We charge VAT at the prevailing rate at the time that we charge you for serviced rendered.

Income Tax

Where Statutory Interest is awarded; please be advised that this payment is subject to income tax which many lenders deduct at source. Elmwood Law’s fees are due on the total amount of redress prior to HMRC’s deduction. You may be able to claim income tax back from HMRC, depending on your circumstances.

What is a successful case?

A claim is deemed successful if you are awarded a return of any of the money that you have paid related to your car finance agreement and any corresponding interest and or compensation payments or any amount awarded under the introduction of any consumer redress scheme by a market regulator in relation to the regulated finance agreement(s) to which this contract relates.

This is awarded in a lump sum payment or an amendment of your existing loan term. The payment method will depend on your circumstances.
Please note that should your account be in arrears then there is a possibility that any award will paid against those arrears.

Ongoing Agreements

If your case is successful and you are still paying your car finance agreement, your settlement may come in two parts.

You may be refunded the commission you’ve paid to-date, along with interest that you have incurred and, in many cases, a further interest of 3%.
In addition, any future payments that you pay during the remainder of your car finance agreement may be adjusted moving forward and your
monthly payments will be reduced accordingly.

Offset Refunds

In the event that you still have an outstanding balance on your motor finance agreement (or on any other finance agreements with the same Lender)
and your Lender asks you to consent to any damages due being set off against any outstanding balance, you must not agree to this form of settlement
without our explicit consent and have agreed to pay our fees in full.

How Are Fees Paid?

You are responsible for the payment of our fees. These fees should be paid from the amount that you are awarded. If you owe us fees on any complaint that we have pursued on your behalf, we reserve the right to offset any redress you receive against your debt to us, regardless of
whether redress relates to another complaint we have pursued for you.

Failure to Pay Fees

If we recover your money and you don’t pay our fees, we have the authority to validate your application details with a Credit Reference Agency.
We also reserve the right to perform a trace search on you if you fail to comply with the terms set out in your agreement to assist in recovering
our fees or so that we can contact you at any new address.

Example of Cost – For example, if the offer of redress is £1000, then the agreed fee is 36% inclusive of VAT.
The fee payable to us in successful cases would be £360 inclusive of VAT. Upon receipt of the redress, the fee should be paid without hesitation.

Table of Cost by percentage

Fee Bands	Compensation Payout	Percentage rate the Success Fee is calculated on (including VAT)	Maximum Success Fee in band (including VAT)
1	£1 to £1,499	36%	£504
2	£1500 to £9,999	33.6%	£3,000
3	£10,000 to £24,999	30%	£6,000
4	£25,000 to £49,999	24%	£9,000
5	£50,000 or more	18%	£12,000

Table of Example Costs

Band	Lower Example Compensation Payout	Lower Example Success Fee	Higher Example Compensation Payout	Higher Example Success Fee
1	£100	£36	£1,499	£504
2	£1,600	£537.60	£9,999	£3,000
3	£12,000	£3,600	£24,999	£6,000
4	£30,350	£7,284	£49,999	£9,000
5	£55,000	£9,900	£100,000	£12,000

Upon completion of your claim(s), in in successful cases, we have the right to reduce the percentage (%) charged to you.
We will notify you if this applies to your claim(s)
We will continue to represent you to make sure the correct amount of redress is paid. If you receive any further payment from the lender, any additional payments are subject to the same terms as stated above under “Costs”.
You are contractually obliged to notify us of any payments made to you by your lender in relation to any accounts held.
In the event that any fees are not paid within 21 days of receiving your redress amount we reserve the right to charge a £50 +VAT administration fee which will be added to any outstanding balance as well as late payment interest which will be calculated at 8% per annum from the fee due date until the final payment is received. Should a third party be used to recover any unpaid fees we reserve the right to charge for any additional third-party costs.

Important Information

You fully understand that the Financial Ombudsman offers free support and you can make a complaint yourself without the involvement of Elmwood Law or seek independent advice.
If you are unhappy at any stage throughout the process, please contact our customer service team at
customercare@elmwoodlaw.com.
Please refer to our website for our complaints procedure
https://www.elmwoodlaw.com
You have a 14-day cooling off period which starts from the date you sign/e-sign the Letter of Authority during which you can cancel your contract without charge. Please email our customer service team at customercare@elmwoodlaw.com or alternatively please write to us at Cancellation Team, Elmwood Law Limited, 14-16 Stanley Street, Liverpool, L1 6AF. If at any time during the 14-day cooling off period we receive an offer of compensation our normal fees will be payable.
If instruction is terminated for any reason whatsoever, after 14 days and prior to an offer being made, Elmwood Law reserves the right to charge our Hourly Fees for work undertaken under this agreement. Such fees are calculated at six (6) minute intervals and rounded up to the nearest unit of 6-minute timeframes. For example, short or standard letters, emails and phone calls may require less than six-minutes of a fee earner’s time but will still be charged as one six-minute unit. Each six-minute unit is the equivalent of 10% of our hourly rate. Our hourly rates under the terms of this Agreement are £139 – £282 per hour (exclusive of VAT at 20%). As stipulated in clause 29 of your Agreement with us.
We must advise you that if you cancel your Claim(s) before you have been offered a redress by the Lender or achieving Success you may pay a greater amount than any awarded compensation.
Once a cancellation is requested outside the 14 days, we will send out an itemised bill detailing the work Elmwood Law has completed on your behalf.
By signing this agreement, you are authorising us to carry out a soft credit search on your behalf by using your personal data in order to acquire the required information (account numbers, credit start dates, previous names, previous addresses etc) on any historical finance accounts you may have held.
We will verify the identity you submit using a credit checking and/or anti-money laundering service. Details of which will be shared with our associates, subcontractors and legal partners.
By signing this agreement, you give permission to Elmwood Law to contact you in relation to other financial claim types that could benefit you via email, text, phone or WhatsApp, including but not limited to, Plevin, Undisclosed Commission Claims, Emissions Claims, Overdraft Claims, Irresponsible Lending Claims and Mortgage Claims.
You understand and accept that if your finance agreement is still live the lender will normally give you the option to reduce the amount you owe or hand the vehicle back and receive a refund, in both eventualities Elmwood Law fee will still be due.
You give us authority to investigate all accounts with your lender(s) and you give us permission to receive and pass on your information including your personal data in this matter. As well as agreeing to the payment of our fees on the total redress on these accounts.
For more information on Car Finance Claims/complaints, our company, the Financial Ombudsman service or the FCA please visit our website at https://elmwoodlaw.com;
You have the right to explore further advice and compare different claims companies.
By signing this agreement, you confirm that you have never been declared insolvent either by the way of an IVA, Bankruptcy, Debt Relief Order (DRO) or a Trust Deed.
By signing this agreement, you confirm you are not currently in a Debt Management Plan or in arrears with the lender(s) we are looking into on your behalf.
You give permission for us to share your information, including your personal data with our associates, sub-contractors and any replacement provider for claims management purposes.
You agree that our obligation under this agreement may be transferred to another provider of claims management services or a law firm regulated by the SRA by giving you suitable notice via electronic communication (Inc. Email and SMS) and the benefit of any or all of our rights under or relating to this agreement may be assigned to any of our affiliates, funders, investors or any other third party, without prior notice to you. This agreement may be varied by us by giving you reasonable notice via electronic communication (Inc. Email or SMS).
You agree to the terms of our Privacy Policy: https://elmwoodlaw.com/privacy-policy/

Customer Satisfaction

We continually strive to improve the level of service that we provide to our clients. As such, you may receive an invitation to participate in a customer satisfaction survey via Feefo, Survey Monkey, email or Facebook.

Our Complaints Procedure

It is important to us that we provide services of the highest quality to all of our clients. We aim to ensure that any complaints that clients may have are identified and dealt with in accordance with this procedure.

Making a complaint

You can register your complaint with the person dealing with your matter, or our appointed complaints manager. They will ensure complaints are handled effectively and in accordance with this procedure.

We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days;
We will conduct a full investigation and an independent review of your matter;
We aim to respond in full within 28 days, however, if your complaint is of a more complex nature, we will require more time. We will inform you of when you will receive a full response;
We will reply to, usually in writing, to tell you our views on your complaint and how we propose to resolve it, hopefully to your satisfaction;
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome or the way your complaint has been handled, you may request that your complaint is independently reviewed by an external solicitor who will make such further investigations as are necessary;
The external solicitor will inform you of the conclusions and any alternative proposals to resolve your complaint, usually within 28 days of this being referred to them. Under no circumstances will the above investigation take longer than 8 weeks;
You may take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the expiration of the 8-week period of our definitive response in the meantime;

Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation which is ultimately responsible to Parliament. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints about the legal profession. You must make any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within a certain period of time of the act or omission in the work which gave cause to the complaint arising. We refer you to the website of the Legal Ombudsman, as below, for details of that time limit.

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

There are also two additional relevant time limits; the Legal Ombudsman will accept complaints up to six years from the date of act/omission, or three years from when you should have known about the complaint.

However, this new limit will be introduced gradually, as at present, the problem must have happened on or after 6 October 2010, or if the problem happened earlier that that, you must not have been aware of it before 6 October 2010.

The Legal Ombudsman may:

Investigate the quality of professional services supplied by a solicitor to a client
Investigate allegations that a solicitor has breached rules of professional conduct
Express a view on whether a solicitor’s charges are fair and responsible
Ensure that a solicitor has handled a complaint correctly

The Legal Ombudsman will not:

Determine whether a solicitor has been negligent
Give legal advice or tell a solicitor how to handle a case
Review the outcome of a court case
Review a decision of the Legal Aid Agency (the body that regulates the provision of legal aid)

Before it will consider a complaint, the Legal Ombudsman generally requires that the firm’s internal Complaints Procedure has been exhausted.
If it is necessary to involve the Legal Ombudsman it may take up to six months from the end of the firm’s procedure. If the Legal Ombudsman is
satisfied that the firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further.

The Legal Ombudsman’s address and further details are:

Legal Ombudsman PO BOX 6806 Wolverhampton
Phone 03005550333
www.legalombudsman.org.uk
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

ADR

You may wish to engage with alternative dispute resolution bodies instead of the Legal Ombudsman Services. In this scenario Elmwood Law will consider alternative competent bodies to be; Ombudsman Services, ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation. We will agree to use such a scheme if your complaint is not resolved by the Legal Ombudsman.

Referral Details

Your case may have been referred to us from a third party where a financial agreement is in place for case referrals. There are no provisions in the referrer agreement between Elmwood Law and the third party which would compromise, infringe, or impair any of our duties to you.

Money Laundering

Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, all clients are required to pass an electronic identity verification process before any funds are released. To facilitate this all clients must provide a copy of photo ID. Copies of these will be held for a period of five years after the completion of your matter.

Data Protection

All of your data is controlled & processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation & will be used to help us process your case. You give Elmwood Law full authority to disclose and receive information including special categories of personal data regarding any and all products from all relevant third parties (lenders/underwriters/processors/referrers/Official Receiver/Insolvency Practitioner). Discussions may include any financial issues that may arise as a result of our instruction on this matter, including any arrears, outstanding balances, full and final settlements and any other financial obligations. Your files are kept for up to 7 years & will be returned to you upon request. Our Privacy policy can be located at https://elmwoodlaw.com/privacy-policy/

Using Companies to Process Your Information Outside the EEA

All countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the UK, have similar standards of legal protection for your personal information. We may run your accounts and provide other services from centres outside the EEA that do not have a similar standard of data protection laws to the UK. If so, we will ensure that any of your information held is to be protected to at least UK standards.

References in this agreement to “we”, “us”, “our” or Elmwood Law means our successors, transferees and assignees.