General Terms and Conditions

Fee Release

These Terms and Conditions apply to Fee Release and all of its subsidiary companies (herein after called 'the Company') of 18th & 19th Floors, 100 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG and you.

Below is a summary of some key terms of these Terms of Use. This summary is for your reference only and does not form part of any lender's Terms of Use.

Use of the Company Platform(s) is subject to all of the Terms set out below – if you do not agree to the terms, please stop using the Platform(s) immediately.

Key Points:

The Platform(s) are for use by customers who are located in the UK only.
The Platform(s) may only be used by over-18s.
When you buy a Product through our Platform(s), we receive a fee and/or commission from the lender.
It is your sole responsibility to ensure that the information you provide when using any of the Platform(s) is accurate and complete. If it is not, a Product or service that you obtain via our Platform(s) may not be valid or accurate, and you may be subject to additional premiums or charges.
For Fees from £500 to £25,000, then your finance must be ahead of, or as soon as, the services start. Our Lenders do not fund or settle fees after the work has been completed.
For Fees from £500 to £25,000, finance is offered by our lenders for a Fixed Sum and fixed repayment term, i.e. £10,000 (fixed sum) over 48 months (fixed repayment term)
It is also your sole responsibility to ensure that the product matches your requirements.
If you buy a Product through our Platform(s), you will also be subject to the lender's terms of use and privacy policy (which will be different from ours), and you should read those carefully.
We may amend these terms and conditions at any time and without notice by changing this page, so you should check these Terms of Use each time you use the Platform(s).
We undertake both Anti Money Laundering checks as well as Know Your Customer checks in order to confirm your identity, and in compliance with FCA Regulations, before we introduce you to our lending panel.

1. Introduction

Who are we?

The Platform(s) are owned and operated by Fee Release Limited ("Fee Release") and its subsidiary companies.

Definitions

In these Terms of Use:

"Product" means any third-party product or service that is accessed via any of our Platform(s);
"Platform" means any mobile applications or other similar devices, channels or applications operated by or on behalf of Fee Release or one its subsidiary companies (referred to collectively as the "Platform(s)"); and
"you" and "your" means any person who accesses and uses the Platform(s).

How to use these Terms of Use

These Terms of Use apply to all our Products and are especially important as they limit our liability to you and set out your responsibilities.

Your acceptance of these Terms of Use

Access to and use of the Platform(s) are subject to these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. By accessing and using the Platform(s) you agree to be bound by and to act in accordance with these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use or our Privacy Policy, you should stop using and/or accessing the Platform(s) immediately. If you breach any term of these Terms of Use, your right to access and use the Platform(s) will cease immediately.

Changes to these Terms of Use

We reserve the right to amend these Terms of Use from time to time by amending this page. The amended Terms of Use will be effective from the date they are posted on the Platform(s).

How to contact us

If you have any questions about these Terms of Use, or would like to contact us for any other reason, you can contact us using the details in Section 5 below.
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our Platform(s) or our service, and would like to make a complaint, see Section 5 on Complaints below.
Contact with our Team may be monitored and/or recorded. This will help us to train our staff and improve our service to you. A recording will only be used under proper and careful supervision. Our customer service email, team@lawyerclientconnect.com, is 7 days a week

2. Our Platforms

Our service

We provide an independent online service which enables you to obtain loans to purchase and pay for Legal services at the point of sale. We receive commission from lenders when you use our service to purchase finance via Fee Release or one of its subsidiary companies.

Legal Clients – Permitted use

Our Client Platforms is for personal, non-commercial use only, and may only be accessed and used by a private individual to seek a Product directly for that individual. Your Lawyers via Fee Release or its subsidiary companies will have access to a separate management platform.
Fee Release & its subsidiary companies will process your application with the aim of getting your credit or loan approved within 24hrs of you making the application.
Fee Release & its subsidiary companies is not the direct lender. We facilitate and arrange finance & loan solutions for Legal Clients, Law Firms, Barristers & Chambers and use FCA-registered brokers & UK Lenders
Clients' Initial credit checks and scoring via lawyerclientconnect.com & our Lending Partners allow us to align and approve your application to our designated lending partner(s).
Almost all types of legal clients & limited companies are able to use Fee Release & lawyerclientconnect.com, but we cannot currently accept applications from residents outside of the UK.
When using Fee Release & its subsidiary companies to finance legal services & work, you are agreeing to pay that amount, and our repayment terms mean that we will expect full reimbursement of the finance supplied to cover the cost of said legal service and work. So if there's any dispute regarding the legal fees quoted, then don't use Fee Release or Lawyer Client Connect. Go back to the Lawyer to discuss before applying.
Once finance has been provided the loan is managed by our lending partners, who have full responsibility for repayments and issues
Fee Disputes: If you don't agree or dispute the fees quoted, or presented to you, for said legal services & work, by the Lawyer/Law Firm/Barrister, then do not use Fee Release or Lawyer Client Connect for Finance to settle it. And/or if you dispute your fees once services have commenced, inform your Lawyer of the dispute and return to Fee Release t/a Lawyer Client Connect once you've reached an agreement.
Clients: Full & Further terms & conditions are supplied directly by the lenders and providers of finance, and these will be discussed with you, either verbally, in writing, or via email, prior to you taking out finance.
You are not permitted to use the Platform:
1. in any unlawful, fraudulent or commercial manner.
2. to create, check, confirm, update, modify or amend another person's records
3. to tamper with, modify, reverse engineer or amend any part of this Platform(s);
4. in a way that interferes with, disrupts or imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large burden on our communications and technical systems; or
5. with any automated software, process, program, robot, web crawler, spider, data mining, trawling or other "screen scraping" software, process, program or system.
The Platform(s) are intended for use only by customers who are located in the UK. We make no warranty or representation that any Product and/or any service we provide is available or otherwise appropriate for use outside of the UK. If you choose to use the Platform(s) from locations outside the UK, you do so at your sole risk and you are responsible for compliance with all applicable local laws.

The Platform(s) are intended for the use of over-18s only.
You may operate a link to the Platform(s) provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, as determined by us. You must not operate a link to the Platform(s) in such a way as to suggest or imply any form of association, approval or endorsement by us. We reserve the right to require you to remove any link to the Platform(s) immediately and at any time and we may withdraw any linking permission at any time

3. Your Responsibilities

You agree that you will be liable to us for any damage, loss, claim, demand, liability or expense (including reasonable legal fees) that we may suffer or incur arising out of or in connection with your conduct on the Platform(s) and/or your breach of these Terms of Use.

Your personal information and User Content

Our service allows you to search for and compare various types of loans from different lenders. You will need to answer a number of questions on the Platform(s) in order to obtain a quote for any Product. These questions are designed to ensure that we and all relevant Lenders have all the information necessary to provide you with appropriate and timely information relating to the products in which you are interested. The availability of a loan product is determined by the answers you provide to these questions. It is therefore very important that you provide information truthfully, completely and accurately and that you disclose all relevant facts.
If you are in any doubt as to whether any information is relevant or required to be disclosed or that something may be incorrect you should disclose it to your proposed lender before you apply for a Product.
Before you obtain any Product from a lender, you must check all of the information, content, material or data the lender holds about you to ensure it is correct, complete, accurate and not misleading and that you have disclosed all relevant facts. It is your responsibility to identify and correct any mistakes or errors in the information, content, material or data before you obtain any Product.
You must get permission from any other person whose information you intend to provide on the Platform(s) before you provide it. In submitting any other person's details, you are confirming to us that you have their permission to do so and that they understand how their details will be used.
You must take all reasonable precautions (including using appropriate virus checking software) to ensure that any information, content, material or data you provide is free from viruses and anything else that may have a harmful effect on any part of the Platform(s) or the Platform(s) of third parties or any other technology.
If you create any usernames and passwords when using the Platform(s), they must be kept confidential by you and must not be shared with anyone. If you do disclose to anyone your username, password and/or other identification information, you are solely responsible for all activities undertaken on the Platform(s) using your username, password and/or other identification information.

Suitability of Products

The Products available on our Platform(s) are not provided by us but by third-party lenders over whom we do not have control.
You should always check the suitability, adequacy and appropriateness of the Product that is of interest to you. It is your responsibility to satisfy yourself that you wish to obtain any Product before applying for it. If you are in any doubt as to the suitability, adequacy or appropriateness of any Product referred to on the Platform(s), we suggest that you seek independent professional advice before you obtain it.
The Platform(s) provide access to a limited range of products and services but there may be other products or services available on the market which are not shown on the Platform(s) and which may be more appropriate or suitable for you than those shown on the Platform(s).

Third-Party services

Products will be subject to the Lender's own terms and conditions (which will be different from ours). It is very important, before you apply for any Product, that you carefully read the accompanying terms and conditions, the Lender's terms and conditions and any other documentation that applies to the Product. You must familiarise yourself with all the details of the product, for example:
Any links to third-party platforms or sites or in our e-mails are provided for your interest and convenience only. These third-party platforms or sites are owned and operated by third parties over whom we do not have control. We do not endorse, recommend or accept responsibility for such third parties, their products or services, their platforms or sites or for any information, opinions or views given or advice provided by such third parties (whether on their platforms or sites or otherwise).

4. Our Responsibilities and Our Liability to You

The information on our Platform(s)

We aim to ensure that the material on the Platform(s) (excluding, if applicable, any User Content) is accurate. We also try to correct any errors or omissions as soon as we can after being notified of them. However, we are not able to guarantee that the material on the Platform(s) is accurate and free from errors or omissions at all times. We reserve the right to add, amend, delete, edit, remove or modify any information, content, material or data displayed on the Platform(s) at any time and without notice.
Nothing on the Platform(s) is financial, investment or other advice or a recommendation or endorsement by us in respect of any Product referred to on a Site. Information on the Platform(s) is provided for general information purposes only, should not be relied upon by you and is provided so that you can select the Product that you feel is most appropriate to meet your needs.
The information and descriptions of Products on the Platform(s) may not represent the complete descriptions of all the features and terms and conditions of those Products. You must ensure that you carefully read all the features and terms and conditions (including those contained on the lender's Site) of any Product before applying for it.
Some of our channels provide you with access to third party platforms (s) that host reviews about products and services. Sometimes you may also be able to access user reviews directly on the Platform(s). The views expressed in any such reviews do not represent our views or the views of our associated companies.

Availability of the Platform(s)

We aim to provide uninterrupted access to the Platform(s) but we give no warranty on this. We reserve the right to suspend, restrict or terminate your access to the Platform(s) at any time.

Exclusions of our liability

Nothing in these terms and conditions excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or for our fraud, or excludes or limits our duties or any liability under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended, ("FSMA") or any conduct of business rules developed pursuant to FSMA.
Subject to the paragraph immediately above, we do not accept any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage you may incur:
- if any information, content, material or data you provide on the Platform(s) is not correct, complete and accurate, or if it is misleading, or if you fail to disclose all relevant facts;
- in the event that any Product you apply for does not meet your requirements or is not suitable for you;
- in connection with the accuracy or content of any reviews of products or services displayed on our Platform(s) or on any other website that you may access via our Platform(s);
- for any acts, omissions, errors or defaults of any third party in connection with that product or service;
- which are indirect or not foreseeable by us when you accessed or used the Platform(s);
- arising from an inability to access the Platform(s), from any use of the Platform(s) or from reliance on the data transmitted using the Platform(s) where such losses or damages are caused by any event beyond our reasonable control including as a result of the nature of electronic transmission of data over the internet;
We do not give any warranty that the Platform(s) are free from viruses or anything else which may have a harmful effect on any technology.

5. Complaints

We aim to provide you with excellent service at all times. If you are unhappy with our service for any reason, please contact our Customer Services Team.

By post: Fee Release 18th & 19th Floors, 100 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG
By email: team@lawyerclientconnect.com

We endeavour to resolve your complaint within 3 working days and will send you a letter summarising how we have resolved your complaint within 5 business days of your complaint. If your complaint needs further investigation, we will send you an acknowledgement letter within 5 business days and give you the name of the person you should contact. We will have made a decision on your complaint within 8 weeks.

If, after making a complaint, you feel that the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction, or we have not resolved your complaint within 8 weeks, you may be able to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service:

The Financial Ombudsman Service at Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR; telephone: 0800 023 4567; email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk; www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk (if your complaint relates to financial services products);
The Information Commissioner's Office: Telephone: 0303 123 1113; website ico.org.uk/concerns (if your complaint relates to how we have handled your personal information).

If you are unhappy with any product or service you have obtained from a third party or have any complaint regarding any third party, you should address your complaint directly to that third party. If you require their contact details, please contact our Customer Services Team who will be happy to assist.

6. Legal Information

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed deleted from these Terms of Use and the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Use shall not be affected.
These Terms of Use, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us relating to your access to and use of the Platform(s) and supersede any prior agreements (including any previous terms of use of the Platform(s)).
No failure or delay by us in exercising any right under these Terms of Use will operate as a waiver of that right nor will any single or partial exercise by us of any right preclude any further exercise of any right.
These Terms of Use and your access to and use of the Platform(s) shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with English law.
Each of you and us submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in connection with these Terms of Use and your access to and use of the Platform(s) (including any claims or disputes).