Terms of Business (Web Copy For Information Only)
Parties
Impakt Claims is a trading style of The Claims Experts Ltd a Company registered in England & Wales which has a Registered Office at Pioneer House, Pioneer Business Park, North Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 1AD (Us, We, Our)
The Claims Experts Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioners Office for Data Protection purposes with registration number ZA477153. This agreement is formed between The Claims Experts Ltd and, you Our Customer.
The Claims Experts Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority – FRN 836692
Purpose
When signed, this Terms of Business form a contractual agreement between the parties detailed in Section 1 whereby:
1.1 The Claims Experts Ltd will represent You in making a claim against the lender(s) who have previously provided You with Finance that You believe may have been granted irresponsibly.
1.2 You will remunerate The Claims Experts Ltd for providing this service, on a No Win No Fee basis as detailed in clause 7 of this agreement.
Pre Contractual Information
2.1 Before signing this Terms of Business You should read Our ‘Pre Contractual Information’ document. This provides useful information including the process that will be followed, the obligations on You, and other information that will help You determine whether this agreement is suitable for Your needs. A copy of this information can be viewed by visiting impaktclaims.co.uk at any time, or if You prefer You can request that this document is emailed to You.
Making Your Claim
3.1 You instruct and authorise Us to make a claim on Your behalf, You agree to Us contacting the 3rd parties that We need to in order to make and manage that claim. You agree to Us sharing with them the information You have provided to Us and also collecting and processing the information We receive from them.
3.2 During the process we will always attempt to contact You when a lender has made an offer to ensure it is fair and appropriate. We will however need to make decisions on the best way to proceed and You give Your authority for Us to use Our skill and judgement to make such decisions on Your behalf including reaching a full and final settlement where we judge that to be the most appropriate conclusion. Clients may challenge decisions where required via either i) revisiting decisions with the lender or ii) escalation to FOS.
Additional loans
4.1 By providing us with a signed Letter of Authority, authorising us to make claims for the mis-selling of Finance to you by the lenders that you nominate, we shall proceed to investigate loan products that you held with these lenders solely and whether mis-selling was evident.
Your Obligations
5.1 During the claim You will be asked to provide Us information about You, Your circumstances and Your loans/credit. You must ensure that this information is accurate and honest. Knowingly providing fraudulent or incorrect information at any time may jeopardise Your claim and will put You in breach of this agreement.
5.2 You will, at the start of the claim, be asked to provide Us with documents relevant to the claim. This includes as a minimum a signed letter of authority and any of the following which you hold or can acquire, historical bank statements, credit reports, lender emails to you and lender loan statements. This will enable us to make subject access requests to lenders on your behalf. You are not liable for any costs which may be incurred specifically relating to obtaining these documents.
5.3 You will provide Us with any of this information which We reasonably request from You in order to pursue the claim. As a minimum, the details of the lenders from who you have taken Finance (including their name, the finance amount, the date you took out the credit and the purpose for taking it out)
5.4 We may ask you to complete a Financial Ombudsman Service consumer questionnaire form so that your case can be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service, you will sign and return this form on receipt. You are required to complete this form within a reasonable timeframe, suggested 7 days.
5.5 You will read any documentation that We, or the lender, sends You and retain these documents in Your safe keeping.
5.6 You will advise Us immediately of any changes to the details You have provided or if You realise that information previously provided has changed or contains errors.
5.7 If an offer of compensation is sent directly to You, You will notify Us of this within 3 days, unless We notify You that We have received this information too.
5.8 You authorise the lender to make payment of any compensation directly to Us. We will then deduct Our fee and forward the balance to You.
5.9 You agree, unless a legal or statutory requirement dictates otherwise, to receive all written communications from Us by email to the email address supplied by You. We may also use post to send such communications.
5.10 You will not, at any time throughout the term of this agreement, withdraw from any lender our authority to act on your behalf and/or work with them, without first cancelling this agreement in accordance with clause 8.
Our Obligations
6.1 We will manage Your claim with reasonable care and diligence to ensure that where there has been a case of irresponsible lending. We maximise the possibility of You getting what you are entitled to. Where it is advisable to accept a reduced full and final offer from the lender we will write to you advising of the reasons for this and seeking your approval.
6.2 We will assist You to fill in any necessary forms and where appropriate check the details You have provided, however We will NOT “coach” You on how to fill in these in, in order to maximise the claim value where this would result in inaccurate information being entered. All answer, statements or declarations are Your responsibility.
6.3 We will keep You updated on the progress of Your claim as it progresses.
6.4 If We do not feel that the claim has sufficient merit to be continued, We will advise You of this. We will then release the specific case from this agreement to allow You to proceed with the claim yourself if you wish. (Please note, if We do this only the specific case is released from this agreement – any other cases not notified under this clause will still be pursued by Us and a success, or cancellation, fee is payable.)
6.5 We have an obligation to ensure that We avoid any conflicts of interest. We therefore have the right to refuse to take on a claim, or where a claim has been started, terminate this agreement, if we suspect that this would be the case. We will provide details to You on why We are unable to continue with the claim.
Payment – No Win No Fee*
7.1 All claims are undertaken on a No Win No Fee basis (*i.e., unsuccessful claims will not incur any costs to the customer. Only successful claims with compensation agreed by the lender will become eligible for payment of fees).
Our normal fee is dependant on the level of redress we manage to recover for you and is in line with FCA regulations.
If we are successful in representing your claim, we take a percentage of the final compensation that you’ve been awarded. The percentage (or fee) is dependent on the amount of refund being offered, with the maximum percentage being 30% for a refund up to £1,499. Even then, fees are capped at a maximum value depending on which refund band the claim falls in.
The table below illustrates, the fee percentages by refund band and the maximum fee chargeable for each band.
| Refund Amount | Fee Percentage Payable % | Maximum Fee £ |
| Up to £1,499 | 30 | 420 |
| £1,500-£9,999 | 28 | 2500 |
| £10,000-£24,999 | 25 | 5000 |
| £25,000-£49,999 | 20 | 7500 |
| Over £50,000 | 15 | 10000 |
Where the claim results in a refund and balance write-off, the two are combined to calculate the total value of the claim. The fee payable then is the lower of the percentage of the total claim value, 75% of the refund amount or the maximum chargeable for that claim band.
Example a) If we succeed in obtaining Compensation of £1,000, Our fees would be £360. (30% of £1000 = £300 plus VAT of 20% = £60 giving a total of £360). You would therefore receive £640.
Example b) If Compensation of £1,100 is awarded but £800 is used to reduce Your outstanding balance, the fee would be £225 (75% of the cash amount of £300, being £225, which is less than 30% + VAT on the overall £1100 award where the fee would equal £396). You would then receive £75. (£300 minus our fee of £225).
7.2 Where an offer of compensation solely relates to a write-off (balance reduction) of your outstanding balance, rather than a ‘cash in hand’ payment, no fee is payable.
7.3 If we are representing you on multiple claims, either with the same lender or across multiple different lenders, we reserve the right to pay our fees owed by you on one claim with ‘cash in hand’ received from another.
7.4 You authorise the lenders to pay all compensation due to you directly to Us. We will then deduct Our fees and forward the balance to You within 3 working days.
7.5 Where a compensation payment is made directly to You by the lender You must notify Us immediately. We will provide You with an invoice which must be paid within 24 hours.
Cancellations
8.1 You have a 14 day ‘cooling off’ period from the day that You sign this agreement in which to cancel it without charge. If You choose to do this, then:
8.2 We will cease all work on Your claim(s)
8.3 We will notify all of the lenders that We have made contact with that We are no longer managing Your claim.
8.4 We will not make any charges to You for the work already undertaken.
If the 14 day ‘cooling off’ period has passed You can still cancel the agreement at any stage, but will be liable to pay the following:
8.5 If the contract is cancelled AFTER the ‘cooling off’ period but BEFORE a compensation offer is received then We will charge a fee of £50 for each case that you wish to cancel to cover the cost of work undertaken up until that point.
8.6 If the contract is cancelled AFTER a compensation offer is received then the standard success fee outlined above in section 7 is payable. (This includes where the refund might be paid within the cooling-off period).
8.7 Payment of cancellation fees is due within 21 days of Us invoicing You for the cancellation fee.
8.8 If You decide that You do not want to proceed with Our services, You can cancel Your contract by any reasonable means including verbally or over the telephone by calling our telephone number 03300 165 808, by email at cancellations@impaktclaims.co.uk or by post at Our address Impakt Claims, Pioneer House, Pioneer Business Park, North Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 1AD
Breaching this Agreement
9.1 If you breach any clause in this agreement then the following will apply:
9.2 We will notify you of what you have done to cause the breach and what needs to be done by you to fix it. We will give you a period of 14 days to carry out the actions needed in order to resolve it. If this is not going to be possible you must contact us so that we can agree a mutually suitable plan to allow us to continue to represent you under this agreement.
9.3 If you fail to resolve the breach within the period specified in (a) above we will deem this to be a cancellation of the agreement and as such cancellation fees will be payable in accordance with clause 8 of this agreement.
Complaints
10.1 You have the right to complain about Our service at any time.
10.2 Acknowledgement of a complaint will be made by a company complaint handler within five business days of receipt, providing their name or job title within the business, together with details of the business’s internal complaints handling procedures.
10.3 No later than eight weeks after receipt of the complaint, the following will be sent to the complainant:
A final response (which must inform the complainant that they can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service along with the details and timescales for doing so), or
a response which explains that the business is still not in a position to make a final response, reasons for the further delay and indicates when it expects to be able to provide a final response; and also informs the complainant that they can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service along with the details and timescales for doing so.
10.4 If You are still unhappy after We have responded You have the right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Full details of Our Internal Complaint Procedure can be found at www.impaktclaims.co.uk. If You would like a copy sending to You please contact Us and We will arrange this.
Limitations of Liability
We shall not be liable for any costs or losses caused to You as a result of:
Delays caused by You in providing information or documentation requested by Us.
Delays in the transmission or delivery of information or documentation caused by email service providers or the postal service.
Claims settlement amounts later found to be lower than the maximum achievable.
Failure of information or documentation sent between You and Us to arrive with the other party.
Any other matter which is outside of Our control.
Before you sign this agreement you must read the terms carefully. You must also read our Pre Contractual Information document. If there is anything that you do not understand in either document you must ask us for additional information or clarification before you sign this agreement.
You must also carefully read the Privacy Policy as displayed on our website (www. impaktclaims.co.uk/privacy-policy). This contains details of what we will do with your data, the consent you are giving by entering this agreement, and also your rights under the Data Protection Act. If you do not understand any part of this document, you must ask us for additional information or clarification before you sign the agreement.
By signing this agreement you agree to your personal data being stored and processed in accordance with this policy.
By signing this you also declare that you have read and accept the terms included within our Privacy Policy, as displayed on our website (www. impaktclaims.co.uk/privacy-policy).
This contains details of what we will do with your data, the consent you are giving by entering this agreement, and your rights under the Data Protection Act. Under those terms, we will process your personal data under the lawful basis of consent and where necessary for the performance of a contract, we will process your data to assess and submit your claim to the lender and will share your data with that third party as part of the claim process. For full details of how your data will be used, please refer to the privacy policy.
I confirm that I have given The Claims Experts Ltd all documentation, including that in electronic form, that I know about which is relevant to the claim.
