ELL Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

By completing this complaint pack, you are agreeing to Elmwood Law Car Finance Claim terms and conditions as outlined below, in our Letter of Authority, Client Care letter and our Damaged 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 a full refund of premiums paid, plus any interest that may be applicable. We will ask the Lender to investigate all Car Finance 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. Calls may be recorded for training and security purposes.

The service provided by Elmwood Law Limited includes:

1. Initial assessment of your case and any potential claim
2. We will complete pre-administrative work and request a data subject access request from your provider/lender
3. Once we receive the relevant information from your lender we will review the finance agreement and associated terms and conditions
4. Where we believe there is a genuine cause for a valid claim/complaint, we will represent your claim for redress from a provider/lender.
5. We will calculate an estimated amount of loss based on information within the credit agreement, if we believe you have grounds to proceed with a complaint/claim.
6. Negotiating on your behalf to obtain an offer of redress for you if you were mis-sold.
7. Where appropriate and deemed unavoidable we will pursue the case through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
8. If the case is rejected by both the lender and Fos, and we believe there is legal grounds to proceed with litigation we can refer your case to a legal partner to pursue down the court litigation route.
9. We make no representation or guarantee that a redress payment is assured.

Elmwood Law Limited Costs

Elmwood Law Limited 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 are 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 of premiums, loan/arrears reduction and/or cash. 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 invoice you for serviced rendered.

Income Tax Where 8% 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.

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 invoice you for serviced rendered.

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, in respect of any unfair commission related to your car finance agreement. 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 be used to clear these arrears.

Ongoing Agreements If your case is successful and you are still paying your Car Finance, your settlement may come in 2 parts.

1 – 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 8% on this figure.

2 – In addition, any future premiums that you pay during the remainder of your Car Finance Agreement may be removed move forward and your monthly payments will be reduced accordingly.

Offset Refunds Lenders may offset refunds against outstanding arrears or outstanding balances. For example, if you have an outstanding balance of arrears which is overdue, the lender may use the refund or part of the refund to settle/put towards payment of outstanding balances. In this case, you will still be liable for our fee.

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 a new address to pay you outstanding redress if we have not been able to contact you via the details you previously provided.

Example of Cost – For example, if the offer is £1000, then the agreed fee is 24% inclusive of VAT. The fee payable to us in successful cases would be £240 inclusive of VAT. Upon receipt of the redress, the fee should be paid without hesitation.

Table of Cost by percentage

Table of Example Costs – Elmwood Law

1. Upon completion of your claims 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)
2. 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 in section b) of the cost.
3. You are contractually obliged to notify us of any payments made to you by your finance provider in relation to any accounts held.
4. In the event the Fee is not paid after 21 days of receiving your redress amount then we may instruct an external party to collect the payment. We reserve the right to charge an admin fee of £50 after 21 days and where an external party is used for debt collection, we may charge for the cost of this & interest where it is appropriate to do so.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

1. You fully understand that the Financial Ombudsman offers free support, and you can make a complaint yourself without the involvement of Elmwood Law Limited or seek independent advice and compare other firms
2. If you are unhappy at any stage throughout the process, please contact our customer service team at customercare@am1claimsmanagement.co.uk. Please refer to our website for our complaint procedure https://www.elmwoodlaw.co.uk/
3. You have a 14-day cooling-off period which only starts from the date you sign/e-sign the Letter of Authority in which you can cancel your contract without charge. Please email cancellations at customercare@elmwoodlaw.com or alternatively please write to us at Car Finance, Elmwood Law Limited, Church House, 1 Hanover Street, Liverpool, L1 3DN. If at any time during the 14-day cooling-off period, we receive an offer of compensation our normal fee’s will be payable.
4. If instruction is terminated for any reason whatsoever, after 14 days and prior to an offer being made, Elmwood Law Limited 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 rate for work under this agreement is £60 per hour inclusive of VAT.
5. Once a cancellation is requested outside the 14 days, we will send out an itemised bill detailing the work Elmwood Law Limited have completed on your behalf.
6. 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 and start dates) on any historical finance accounts you may have held.
7. We will verify your 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.
8. By signing this agreement, you give permission to Elmwood Law Limited to contact you in relation to other financial claim types that could benefit you via email, text, phone or whatsapp, not limited but could include, Plevin, Undisclosed Commission Claims, Emissions claims, Overdraft claims, Irresponsible lending claims and Mortgage Claims.
9. 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 eventuality’s Elmwood Law Limited’s fee will still be due.
10. You give us authority to investigate all accounts with your providers (lenders) 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.
11. For more information on Car Finance Claims/complaints, our company, the Financial Ombudsman service or the FCA please use our website.
12. You have the right to explore further advice and compare different claims companies.
13. 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.
14. By signing this agreement, you confirm you are not currently in a Debt Management Plan or arrears with the provider (lender) we are looking into on your behalf.
15. 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.
16. 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).

By signing this document, you confirm that you have read and agree to the Terms of Engagement outlined by AM1 Motors Limited. Additionally, you explicitly acknowledge that in the event of a successful claim, a fee will be due to AM1 Motors Limited as stipulated in this agreement. This authority extends to the submission of a Data Subject Access Request to your lender. In the event of a rejection of your complaint, AM1 Motors Limited will undertake to escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service on your behalf, where it is appropriate to do so. Moreover, AM1 Motors Limited retains the prerogative to refer your case to a partner law firm if it deems such action to be in your best interest for achieving a favourable resolution to your specific case unless you advise us not to do so

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 Mike Wilson Director and appointed complaints handler. Mr.Wilson will ensure complaints are handled effectively and in accordance with this procedure.

1. We will acknowledge your complaint within seven days:
2. We will conduct a full investigation and an independent review of your matter.
3. 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;
4. 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;
5. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome or the way your complaint has been handled, you may request that your file is independently reviewed by an external solicitor who will make such further investigations as are necessary;
6. 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;
7. You may take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the expire of the 8 week period of our definitive response in the meantime.

ADR

In the event that you wish to engage with alternative dispute resolution bodies instead of the Legal Ombudsman Services then 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.

Unless otherwise agreed, these Terms and Conditions of Engagement shall apply to any future instructive given by you to us. Ple ase sign and return the form within seven days.

Money Laundering Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, we have an obligation to verify the identity and place of residence of all clients before the start of a business relationship. All clients are required to provide one proof of photographic identity and one proof of residence. 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://pcpclaim-uk.co.uk/privacy-policy/

USING COMPANIES TO PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION OUTSIDE THE EEA: 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 centers 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.

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

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

By signing this document, you confirm that you have read and agree to the Terms of Engagement outlined by Elmwood Law Limited. Additionally, you explicitly acknowledge that in the event of a successful claim, a fee will be due to Elmwood Law Limited as stipulated in this agreement. Furthermore, you grant Elmwood Law Limited the authority to lodge a formal complaint to your lender on your behalf concerning any financial mis-selling complaint. This authority extends to the submission of a data subject access request to your lender. In the event of a rejection of your complaint, Elmwood Law Limited will undertake to escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman on your behalf. Moreover, Elmwood Law Limited retains the prerogative to refer your case to a partner law firm if it deems such action to be in your best interest for achieving a favorable resolution to your specific case.