Introduction

This is the agreement forming the basis of the relationship between you and us. It explains what you can expect from us and what we expect from you if you use our products and services.

You are the limited company, partnership, unincorporated association or sole trader that is registering with Funding Circle and/or applying for a product with us. The person who registers with Funding Circle on your behalf must be properly authorised to represent you in entering into this agreement with us.

We/us/Funding Circle are Funding Circle Ltd.

By registering with Funding Circle, you agree to this agreement with us.

This agreement comprises a set of general terms and conditions, our fees and charges tariff, and supplemental conditions that apply to individual services or products that you have, or apply for, with us.

The general terms and conditions are below and you can find all of the supplemental conditions at the end of the general terms and conditions. If any supplemental conditions conflict with the general terms and conditions, the supplemental conditions apply.

All terms and conditions and our tariff of charges are always available on our website. Funding Circle's Website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy also apply to you.

General terms and conditions

Can Funding Circle change this agreement?

Yes. We may make changes to any part of this agreement from time to time. We will let you know if we are doing so either through the website or by contacting you directly. If any changes might impact you negatively we will let you know in advance of making them.

What do you need to know about registering with Funding Circle?

When you register with us, you will create a username and password. You will also have to give us some personal information, including ways we can contact you and details for your nominated bank account. Your nominated bank account will be the account into which we transfer any funds payable to you in connection with a product. You must keep all of the information that you give to us up to date.

You must keep your Funding Circle username and password secure at all times. You must not transfer your Funding Circle registration to another person or permit another person to use it without our prior consent. We will assume that all activity by your username is by you.

We may de-register you if you breach this agreement (or any other terms that apply to your relationship with us or a member of the Funding Circle corporate group), or if we think that you might have been involved in fraudulent, suspicious or otherwise inappropriate activity (including misusing the Funding Circle platform and/or website, app and/or our services in any way).

If we de-register you while you have a product with us, we will continue to allow you to access your Funding Circle account but we may restrict the services you can use.

If you don't have a product with us, you can de-register at any time. If you have a product with us, you will not be able to de-register until you have terminated all products and, if you have any outstanding debt under those products, paid it off in full.

What do you need to know about applying for products with Funding Circle?

You must be registered with Funding Circle before you can apply for a product.

If you are a third party applying for a product on behalf of your client, we will assume that you have the full authority of your client and that your client has read and accepted this agreement.

What does Funding Circle do?

If you successfully apply for a product with us, we will match you with a lender who will enter into a contract with you. We may perform the following services on behalf of the lender in relation to that contract:

• assessing your creditworthiness and deciding whether you meet the applicable eligibility criteria
• preparing and providing your contract and any security document or guarantee (and any variations that might be needed to those documents)
• advancing funds
• collecting repayments
• collecting arrears and/or enforcing your contract (including enforcing any guarantee or security)
• resolving complaints

Neither we nor any other Funding Circle group company will be liable to you for any loss or damage sustained by you in connection with the proper performance of these services by us, or arising from circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

What do you need to know about having a product with Funding Circle?

If you have a product with us, you must give us any information that we ask for (which we may do at any time) about your financial condition, business and affairs, and compliance with any contract with a lender or other contract you may have concluded with a third party using our services.

You permit us, our agents or any other third party business advisory or audit professionals, on reasonable notice and during business hours to attend and inspect your premises, any secured assets and any of your books, accounts and records and to make copies of these. You also agree to meet with any such person to answer their reasonable queries within 21 days of our request.

What are Funding Circle's fees and charges?

From time to time, we may incur third party fees and charges in providing our services to you, such as disputed transaction fees, bank fees or payment processing charges. We will tell you about these fees or charges, and you authorise us to set-off or collect them from any payments due to you.

How can you make a complaint?

If you wish to make a complaint, you should contact us (using the details below) and we will do our best to fix the problem.

If you're not satisfied with our efforts to resolve the complaint, and you are an eligible small business, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. For more details, or to check your eligibility, you can visit their website at sme.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

How do we contact each other?

If you have any questions or queries, you should contact us by email at contactus@fundingcircle.com or by telephone on 020 7401 9111.

We will contact you in any way that feels appropriate to us, including via the Funding Circle website or by email or by writing to you using the details you have given us. We might also send you email prompts from time to time to remind you to log into and check your Funding Circle account.

What is the other legal info you need to know?

Severance.

If any provision of this agreement is found to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, this will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

Waiver.

Our rights under this agreement may be exercised as often as necessary, are cumulative and not exclusive of any rights or remedies provided by law. Delay in the exercise of any right granted to us in this agreement is not a waiver of that right.

Third party rights.

Any Funding Circle company holding security as described in this agreement is entitled to enforce all rights available to it under this agreement in accordance with the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

Assignment.

We and any Funding Circle company may assign or transfer (without notice) all or part of our respective rights and/or obligations under this agreement to any person we reasonably consider capable of performing them. We may also exercise any of our rights through any Funding Circle company or a service provider we engage. You cannot assign or transfer your rights and/or obligations under this agreement.

Governing law and jurisdiction.

This agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with English law. If any dispute (whether contractual or non-contractual) arises out of, or in connection with, this agreement, you and we each submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

What do you need to know about applying for a Funding Circle Business Loan?

The person applying for a loan must be properly authorised to represent you in doing so.

We do not guarantee that your application for a loan made through us will be successful. When you apply for a loan, we will assess you against any eligibility criteria that apply. These eligibility criteria may change from time to time. If you no longer meet the eligibility criteria for your loan, we may decide to restrict the Funding Circle services you can use.

When you apply:

• The information you give us must be true, accurate and up to date in all respects and not misleading
• You must disclose to us all matters that you are aware of (including but not limited to any legal claims, undisclosed liabilities, litigation, court proceedings or investigations which are current, threatened, pending or otherwise reasonably likely to occur against you by any third party) which could materially and adversely change your financial condition, business or assets. You must also inform us if there is any change in these circumstances
• You must not omit to tell us any information which could reasonably be considered relevant to an application for credit
• We will collect information about you, your business and people connected with your business from third parties in connection with your loan application and the intermediary services we provide, including to verify your identity. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information we obtain from third parties, and we accept no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or inaccuracy of that information or any decisions we take based on that information.

If your application is successful, you will enter into a loan contract with a lender, and we will have certain rights under that agreement (as a third party) to enable us to properly perform our role as 'servicer' of your loan contract. If there is any conflict between this agreement and your loan contract with a lender, your loan contract will take precedence.

You must ensure that all documents we ask you to sign in relation to your loan (and any guarantee or security) are validly executed by or on behalf of the borrower or the guarantor. We will only release your funds once all of our checks have been completed and all requirements satisfied. We may withdraw a lender's loan offer if our checks and requirements are not satisfied.

If you have a loan through us, you must not, without our prior written consent, take out a loan, borrow any monies, or enter into any arrangement that has the effect of borrowing (other than asset-specific financing or invoice purchasing arrangements) from your directors, officers, members, partners, shareholders or any other third party in the following circumstances:

• The relevant loan ranks in priority of recovery to the loan you have through us. If this happens, we may require you to take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the rights to payment of the relevant loan are subordinated behind the loan you have through us, except to the extent otherwise required by insolvency law
• The relevant loan is unsecured, and is for a total amount exceeding £25,000 or 30% of the total amount you have borrowed through us (whichever is higher).

What do you need to know about repaying your Funding Circle Business Loan?

We will collect your monthly loan repayments on behalf of your lender and we will do so by direct debit unless we agree to collect it by other means (which may incur a fee). We will take your payment up to five days before the payment due date shown in your loan repayment schedule so that we can distribute it to the relevant lender.

If you think that you may not be able to make a repayment due under your loan contract, you should contact us immediately.

If any monthly loan repayment has not been made seven days or more after the payment due date, we may charge you a fee which will be payable immediately by you on demand. We may also charge you other costs associated with collection and enforcement. See 'Are there any extra fees and charges that you should know about in relation to the loan?' below and our fees and charges tariff for details.

If you are behind on your payments or in default in respect of more than one loan, we will allocate payments received (including by way of realised security) in accordance with our internal policies and applicable law, which will always reflect the rules of any applicable government scheme.

We may work with third party debt collection agencies in seeking to recover any outstanding debts and/or we may take other steps including (but not limited to) taking the following steps on behalf of your lender:

• Assigning any outstanding debts to debt purchasers
• Commencing formal legal action
• Insolvency processes.

Might you have to provide a personal guarantee for your loan?

Yes. One or more shareholders may need to give a personal guarantee to secure your obligations under your loan contract. You will need to ensure that the shareholder(s) in question have read, understood and signed the terms of our personal guarantee before we release funds.

Different rules apply for personal guarantees for loans entered into under the government's Recovery Loan Scheme – click here for more details.

Might you have to provide security for your loan?

Yes. In certain circumstances you may be required to provide security (for example a debenture, mortgage or charge) to secure your obligations under your loan contract, for example if you breach any terms of your loan contract or wish to take out further lending with a third party.

Any security taken in respect of your loan will be held by a company within the Funding Circle corporate group on behalf of the lender. The Funding Circle company holding the security will usually act through Funding Circle, but it may appoint an alternative agent to act on its behalf.

The duties of Funding Circle and/or any Funding Circle company that holds your security are solely administrative in nature and Section 1 of the Trustee Act 2000 (which relates to the duty of care owed by trustees) will not apply. This agreement takes precedence over any legal provisions that might otherwise apply.

Different rules apply for providing security for loans entered into under the government's Recovery Loan Scheme – click here for more details.

What happens to the security if your loan is terminated?

If you fail to make a repayment when due or a default event occurs under your loan contract, Funding Circle is entitled to terminate your loan contract on the lender's behalf and:

• Funding Circle and/or the Funding Circle company which holds the relevant security may take steps to enforce the security, and you must take all steps required to realise the security
• Funding Circle and/or the Funding Circle company which holds the relevant security may rely on any representation, notice or documents believed by us or it to be genuine, correct and appropriately authorised, and any statement made by a director, authorised signatory or employee of any person regarding any matters which may reasonably be assumed to be within their knowledge or power to verify
• Funding Circle and/or the Funding Circle company which holds the relevant security is entitled to recover from you, and be indemnified for, all costs incurred in connection with the security. These costs are payable on demand.

Are there any extra fees and charges that you should know about in relation to the loan?

The fees and charges associated with your loan are set out in your loan contract.

If you do not comply with the terms of your loan contract, we will incur costs when carrying on collections and/or enforcement activities on behalf of the lender; and these will be charged to you. These can be found on our fees and charges tariff.

We reserve the right to change any of the costs set out in our fees and charges tariff from time to time on notice to you.

Different rules apply for providing security for loans entered into under the government's Recovery Loan Scheme – click here for more details.

What is the Recovery Loan Scheme?

From April 2021, UK businesses may be eligible to borrow through the Government’s Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS). The RLS aims to help businesses across the UK affected by Covid-19, providing support for businesses to recover and grow following the disruption of the pandemic. More information on this scheme can be found here.

You can apply through the Funding Circle website for a loan under the RLS.

If you receive an offer for a Funding Circle Business Loan under the RLS, the supplemental conditions for Funding Circle Business Loans will apply to your RLS Loan except as modified below. If any of these supplemental conditions for RLS Loans conflict with the general terms and conditions or the supplemental conditions for Funding Circle Business Loans, these supplemental conditions for RLS Loans will take precedence.

Might you have to provide a personal guarantee for your RLS Loan?

If your RLS loan amount is greater than £250,000, Funding Circle's standard policy for requiring personal guarantees will apply.

If your RLS loan amount is £250,000 or below, you will not be required to provide a personal guarantee and no personal guarantee given under any other loan you have through us shall be used to recover any amounts you owe under your RLS loan.

Might you have to provide security for your RLS Loan?

If your RLS loan amount is greater than £250,000, Funding Circle's standard policy for requiring security will apply.

If your RLS loan amount is £250,000 or below, you will not be required to provide security under the loan at any time.

Are there any extra fees and charges that you should know about in relation to an RLS loan?

As with all Funding Circle loans, the fees and charges associated with your loan are set out in your loan contract.

If you do not comply with the terms of your loan contract, as with all Funding Circle loans, we will incur costs when carrying on collections and/or enforcement activities on behalf of the lender. These can be found on our fees and charges tariff.

These fees and charges may be charged to you as long as the total cost to you does not exceed what is permitted under the RLS rules.