Terms Of Use

General Terms of Use..

You are currently viewing a page of the stearns.com website or a related web site (the “Site”) belonging to Stearns Lending or one of its subsidiaries (“Stearns”). The use of this Site and any of the services provided by Stearns in connection with this Site (the “Services”) are being provided to you expressly subject to these Terms of Use (the “Agreement”). This Agreement contains the terms and conditions that govern your use of this website.

By accessing, visiting, browsing, or interacting with any part of this Site, you agree that you are at least 13 years of age and that you have read, understand, and agree to be bound by all of the terms of this Agreement.

Stearns reserves the right to make changes to this Agreement and to the Site, without prior notice, at Stearns’ sole discretion. Continued use of any party of this Site constitutes your acceptance of these changes. The most current version of this agreement, which will supersede all previous versions, can be viewed by clicking the “Terms of Use” hyperlink located at the bottom of every page on Stearns’ website.

You understand and agree that effective use of this Site may require your browser to use software plug-ins and modules in order to correctly display content and utilize features on the Site. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NEITHER STEARNS NOR ITS AFFILIATES OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, OR LICENSORS WARRANTS THAT USE OF THIS SITE WILL BE UNITERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. FURTHERMORE, NONE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED PARTIES MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE EXPERIENCED FROM USE OF THE SERVICES OR THIS SITE, OR AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, OR CONTENT OF ANY OF THE INFORMATION , SERVICES, OR MERCHANDISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICES AND THE SITE OR ANY SITE CONNECTED TO THIS SITE VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT ANY MANUFACTURER’S WARRANTIES THAT THE PROVIDERS OF THE LINKED SITES OTHERWISE MAY OFFER.

EXCEPT AS SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT OR WHERE THE LAW REQUIRES AN ALTERNATIVE STANDARD, YOU AGREE THAT STEARNS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS, PROPERTY DAMAGE, ACCIDENT OR INJURY CAUSED EITHER BY ACCES TO OR USE OF THE SERVICES OR THE SITE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, STEARNS WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMING THROUGH YOU ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, ECONOMIC, OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE INSTALLATION OR USE OF THE SERVICES, THE SITE, BROWSER SOFTWARE, AND THE LIKE. THIS INCLUDES ANY LIABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH ANY COMPUTER VIRUSES, “WORMS” AND THE LIKE WHICH MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM.

“Services” under this Agreement include financial and business services offered directly by Stearns, and additional services available to you through independent third party service providers accessed through navigation of this Site. THE SERVICES ARE OFFERED ON AN “AS IS” AND “WHERE AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITH NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY- INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THOSE WARRANTIES WHICH ARE INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION, RESTRICTION, OR MODIFICATION UNDER THE LAWS APPLICABLE TO THIS AGREEMENT.

Access, Registration, and Submissions of Information

In order to access this Site or some of the resources offered herein, you may be invited to register personal or business information. This will allow Stearns to tailor its Services to your personal needs and alert you to other products and Services that may be helpful to you and/or your business.

Your continued use of this Site is conditioned upon the correct, current, and complete provision of any such information. If Stearns believes that the information you provide is not correct, current, or complete, Stearns retains the right to refuse you access to this Site or to any of its resources, and to terminate or suspend your access at any time and without prior notice.

As a convenience to you, any information you provide through this Site may be kept in a profile for you and/or your business. This profile and any of the information you provide will be protected to the extent described in our Privacy Policy.

If you are enrolled in any online services provided by Stearns, your use of those Services is governed by the agreement executed upon consummation of your enrollment (the “Agreement”), which incorporates these Terms of Use by reference. If there is any conflict between these Terms and the Agreement, the Agreement controls.

You hereby grant to Stearns the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, complete, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, and display all content, remarks, suggestions, ideas, or other information communicated by you to Stearns through this site, (together, “Submissions”), and to incorporate any Submissions in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. Notwithstanding the provisions set forth in the Privacy Policy, Stearns will not be required to treat any Submission as confidential, and may use any Submission in its business without incurring any liability for royalties or any other consideration of any kind, and will not incur any liability as a result of any similarities that may appear in future Stearns operations.

Stearns reserves the right to modify or terminate the Services and this Site or to modify or terminate your access to the Services and Site, in whole or in party, at any time and without prior notice.

Restrictions on Use

You may use this site for purposes expressly permitted in this Agreement. As a condition of this Agreement, you warrant to Stearns that you will not use the Site for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices or state or federal law.

You may not participate in or authorize any party to participate in activities including but not limited to co-branding, framing, or hyperlinking to this Site without the express prior written permission of an authorized representative of Stearns. “Co-branding,” for the purposes of this Agreement, means the display of a name, logo, trademark, or other means of attribution or identification of one party in such a manner as is reasonably likely to give a viewer the impression that such other party has the right to display, publish, or distribute content from or accessible within this Site. You may not use the Site or Services in any way which could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the Site, or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Site.

This Site is for your personal and non-commercial use, except where otherwise specified. You may not use this site for any purpose other than those specifically allowed in this Agreement. You may not modify, copy, distribute, display, send, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, content, software, products or services obtained from or otherwise connected to this Site. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, content, or information through any means not intentionally made available or provided for through the Site.

Trademarks, Copyrights, and Other Proprietary Information

All of the pages, screens, material, and content accessible from this Site (the “Content”) is the proprietary information of Stearns or the party that provided or licensed the Content to Stearns, whereby Stearns or the providing party retains all rights, title, and interest in the Content. The Content is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaties. The Content may not be copied, distributed, republished, uploaded, posted, or transmitted in any way without the prior written consent of Stearns.

The above provisions do not affect your right to print a copy of the Content solely for personal use. In doing so, however, you may not remove, alter, or cause to be removed or altered, any trademark, trade name, service mark, or other proprietary notice or legend appearing on the Content. Modification or use of the Content except as expressly provided in this Agreement is a violation of Stearns’ intellectual property rights. Neither title nor intellectual property rights are transferred to you by granting you access to this Site.

Trademarks, service marks, logos, and copyrighted works appearing on the Site are property of Stearns or the party that provided the trademarks, service marks, logos, or copyrighted works to Stearns. Stearns and such parties retain all rights associated with any of the respective trademarks, service marks, logos, and copyrighted works appearing on the Site.

If you believe in good faith that materials available on this or any other Stearns Site infringe your copyright, you may send Stearns a notice requesting removal of such material. If you believe in good faith that Stearns or one of its third-party affiliates has wrongfully filed a notice of copyright infringement against you related to this Site, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides that you may send to Stearns a counter-notice. Details on notices and counter-notices are available on the United States Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov.

The Site may be hyper-lined to other sites which are not maintained by or related to Stearns. Such hyper-links are provided as a Service to users and are not sponsored by or affiliated with Stearns. Stearns has not reviewed any or all of such sites and is not responsible for the content of those sites.

Use of Communication Services

The Site may contain or provide access to forums, bulletin or chat services, message boards, and/or other message or communication facilities (collectively, “Communication Services”). Stearns makes no warranty that these Communication Services will be available at any particular time or will be free of fault or error. These Communication Services are provided as a convenience to facilitate your understanding and use of Stearns’ products and services. You will not use these Communication Services to send any abusive, defamatory, dishonest, or obscene message, to transmit any proprietary material belonging to another party, that violates any law or may be considered to violate any law, or that advertises or engages in commercial activity. Violation of this section may result in terminating your use of the Communication Services.

Stearns reserves the right to monitor use of this site to determine compliance with this Agreement, as well as the right to remove or refuse any information for any reason. Stearns reserves the right to terminate your access to any and/or all Communication Services at any time, for any reason, and without advance notice. Stearns also reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process of governmental request, or to edit or remove any information transmitted through the Communication Services, in whole or in part, in its sole discretion. Materials submitted through a Communication Service may be subject to limitations on use, reproduction, and dissemination and you are responsible for abiding by such limitations.

Notwithstanding the above provisions, you remain solely responsible for the content of your submissions. You acknowledge and agree that neither Stearns nor any third party affiliate of Stearns will assume any liability related to any action or inaction by Stearns or such third party with respect to your submissions and use of the Communication Services. Stearns specifically disclaims any liability with respect to the Communication Services and any actions resulting from your participation in any Communication Service. Managers and hosts are not authorized Stearns spokespersons, and their views do not necessarily reflect those of Stearns.

Limitations on Liability

Stearns, its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, agents, officers, and directors will not be liable for any incidental, direct, indirect, punitive, actual, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages, including loss of revenue or income, pain and suffering, emotional distress, or similar damages. Even if Stearns has been advised of the possibility of such damages, in no event will the collective liability of Stearns and its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, agents, officers, and directors to any party exceed the greater of $100 or the amount you have paid to Stearns for the applicable content or service out of which liability arose.

You will indemnify and hold Stearns, it subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, agents, officers, directors and contractors (the “Indemnified Parties”) harmless from any breach of this Agreement by you, including any use of Content other than expressly authorized I this Agreement. You agree that the Indemnified Parties will have no liability in connection with any such breach or unauthorized use, and you agree to indemnify any and all resulting loss, damages, judgments, awards, costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees of the Indemnified Parties in connection therewith. The Indemnified Parties shall also be held harmless from and against any claims brought by third parties arising out of your use of this site.