Is Financely Legit? How We Work, Charge and Protect Clients

What Financely actually does

Financely works on the debt side of corporate finance. Our clients are businesses that need capital for a trade flow, a project, a property or an acquisition, and lenders who want well-prepared transactions. We sit between the two and do the work lenders expect to see before they commit.

In practice, that means assessing whether a deal is financeable, building the structure and model, preparing the credit package and KYC file, approaching the right lenders, comparing term sheets and supporting the client through closing. Our project finance deliverables and commodity finance deliverables pages list every output in detail.

What Financely is not

We are not a lender. Financely does not lend its own money. Lenders make their own credit decisions, and no advisor can promise approval on their behalf.

We are not a broker-dealer. We do not sell securities, solicit investors into investment products, or hold client money for investment. Our work is advisory and arranging on debt transactions between businesses and institutional lenders.

We are not an issuer of bank instruments. We do not issue letters of credit, SBLCs, bank guarantees or proof of funds, and we do not take part in private placement programmes, MT799 schemes or similar offers. We publish guides warning against them, including our article on private placement programme scams.

Being clear about these limits is part of being legitimate. Firms that promise guaranteed funding, instant approvals or bank instruments for a fee are the ones you should worry about.

Why we charge an upfront retainer

Preparing a deal for lenders takes skilled, senior time. A typical engagement involves credit analysts, financial modellers, structuring specialists and people who manage lender relationships. That work happens whether or not a lender ultimately says yes, and it happens before any lender pays anyone.

Our fee is fixed and agreed in writing. Every client receives a written estimate setting out the scope, the fee and the delivery timeline before any payment. The retainer is a one-off fee. We do not charge clients success fees, and where we are compensated at closing, that compensation comes from the lender.

Advisors who work for free must cut corners. A firm that charges nothing upfront has to rely on volume and hope, which usually means thin preparation and poor outcomes. We explain this in more depth in why trade finance advisors charge upfront retainers and what structured finance retainers cover.

Payments are made by bank transfer to the account details published on our official bank details page. If anyone asks you to pay Financely anywhere else, stop and contact us first.

Why a project sometimes needs a larger budget

Our estimates are built on the information a client provides at the start. Sometimes the transaction turns out to be different from what was described, and the work grows accordingly. When that happens, we explain why and agree any increase in writing before doing the extra work. We never charge for additional scope without the client's approval.

Why some deals do not close

No honest advisor closes every deal, and anyone who claims otherwise is not being straight with you. These are the most common reasons financing does not complete.

The credit is not there yet. Thin equity, weak cash flow, unproven counterparties or a short track record can make a deal unbankable today, even when the business idea is sound. Our assessment tells clients this early, so they can fix it rather than pay for outreach that will fail.

Information turns out to be inaccurate. Lenders verify everything. If revenue, contracts, collateral or ownership differ from what was presented, the deal stops, and it should.

KYC or compliance checks fail. Sanctions exposure, unclear beneficial ownership or unexplained sources of funds end a transaction immediately.

Counterparties or markets move. A seller withdraws, a buyer cancels, prices shift or a lender changes its appetite. These events are outside anyone's control.

The client stops engaging. Deals stall when requested documents never arrive or decisions are not made in time. Our guide on why banks reject trade finance deals covers the lender side in more detail.

A declined deal is not evidence of a scam. It is the normal outcome of a real credit process, and the work product we deliver remains the client's to use with other lenders.

When clients breach their engagement

Most clients are professional and honest. A small number are not, and we think readers deserve to understand that side of the story too.

Misrepresentation. Submitting false financial statements, forged contracts or fictitious collateral breaches the engagement and exposes the client to serious legal consequences with lenders.

Circumvention. Going around Financely to deal directly with lenders or counterparties we introduced, in order to avoid agreed terms, breaches the confidentiality and non-circumvention provisions clients sign.

Disputing payment for delivered work. Filing chargebacks or payment disputes after receiving the agreed deliverables is a breach of contract, not a refund request.

Coercive demands. Threatening to post negative content unless fees are returned is not a complaint. In many jurisdictions it can amount to extortion. We describe how we handle this on our page on review extortion and coercive payment demands.

Honest reviews versus defamation

We welcome honest feedback, including criticism. If a client is unhappy with our service, we want to hear it, and we will respond to it directly.

Defamation is different. Publishing statements of fact that are false, such as claiming we took money and did nothing, that we are not a real business, or that we committed fraud, causes real harm to our team and to clients who rely on us. Some of these posts come from former clients who breached their contracts. Others come from competitors or from fraudsters who benefit when legitimate firms look untrustworthy.

When false statements are published, we act. Our defamation action policy explains the process, which can include formal notices, platform takedown requests and legal proceedings. We also publish an impersonation warning, because criminals regularly pose as Financely to collect fees from unsuspecting borrowers.

How we protect our clients

We tell clients when a deal is not ready. An honest bankability assessment sometimes means advising a client not to proceed yet. That costs us future fees, and we do it anyway, because sending an unprepared deal to lenders damages the client's reputation and ours.

We refuse transactions we believe are fraudulent. We regularly turn away private placement offers, fake commodity deals and instrument monetisation schemes, and we publish guides to help the public recognise them.

Everything is in writing. Scope, fee, timeline and deliverables are set out before payment. There are no hidden success fees charged to clients, and any change in scope is agreed in advance.

The work belongs to the client. Credit packages, models and data rooms we prepare remain usable by the client whatever the outcome of a lender round.

Our reputation is built on closed transactions and long client relationships, not on volume. Treating clients fairly is not only the right thing to do, it is the only sustainable way to run an advisory business.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Financely is an advisory and arranging firm. It is not a lender, bank or broker-dealer and does not issue bank instruments. Any financing is subject to lender underwriting, due diligence, credit approval, documentation and conditions precedent. No outcome, pricing or timeline is guaranteed.