Client Agreement for Mortgages, Lifetime Mortgages, Protection and General Insurance.
This is our standard Client Agreement upon which we intend to rely. For your own benefit and protection you should read these terms carefully before signing them. If you do not understand any point please ask for clarification. Please keep this Client Agreement and any other documents provided by us in a safe place.
The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd is able to act on your behalf in advising you and arranging mortgages, lifetime mortgages and non- investment insurance contracts.
Our Recommendations
Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you, will only be given after we have assessed your needs and considered your financial objectives and attitude to any risks that may be involved. We will also take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider.
We will confirm our recommendations to you in a suitability report along with details of any special risks associated with the products recommended. Once an Offer Letter has been produced you have seven days period of reflection and consideration.
How we are remunerated
We charge for our services by way of a fee in accordance with our Mortgage and Lifetime Mortgage Fee Menu listed below.
For mortgages we will also receive a Procuration fee (typically between 0.3% – 0.5% of the loan amount) from the lender and for Lifetime Mortgage products we will also receive a commission payment (typically between 1% and 2.5% of the loan amount) from the provider, details of these can be found in the KFI+ (Key Facts Illustration Plus) or ESIS (The European Standardised Information Sheet) that you will be provided with.
Mortgages
We advise on a comprehensive range of ‘First Charge’ mortgage products from across the market except deals that you can only obtain by going directly to a lender. If there is a particular mortgage product that you are aware of which is available directly from a lender that you wish us to review and comment on, we are happy to do so, however, we reserve the right to charge you a fee for providing advice in relation to this.
- Where we recommend a product we will provide you with a separate KFI+ (Key Facts Illustration Plus) or ESIS (The European Standardised Information Sheet)document detailing the product/provider details.
- There may be alternative options available, ie ‘Second Charge Mortgages’. we do not advise in this area but can introduce you to a specialist adviser.
- We offer an Execution only service for certain individuals in certain situations- If this is relevant the implications will be fully disclosed and you will be asked to sign a disclaimer.
- We will not advise or recommend the purchase of any property as a Buy to let investment without recommending you seek advice on the tax implications of such a transaction from an Accountant or Tax specialist.
Mortgage fee menu: (All fees to be paid at application stage except for cases deemed to be complex when the fee is payable at the onset of the advice process.)
Residential:
Existing clients re-mortgaging existing property only – Loyalty reward no fee charged.
All new clients doing prime Product Transfers – £195
All new clients standard case re-mortgaging – £245
Standard Purchase – £395 (existing clients – £195)
Adverse / complex re-mortgage or purchase – £495(existing clients – £395)
Buy to Let:
Existing clients re-mortgaging existing property only – Loyalty reward no fee charged
All new clients doing BTL Product Transfers – £295
All new clients standard case re-mortgaging – £345
Standard Purchase – £445 (existing clients – £295)
Adverse / complex re-mortgage or purchase – £545 (existing clients – £395)
Commercial:
Fee of 1% deducted rom the borrowed amount.
Refund of fee policy
All fees are fully refundable should we be unable to achieve a Lenders Mortgage Offer except in the following circumstances:-
- Client not proceeding through own choice
- Client not proceeding through valuation / property chain issues
- Clients non-disclosure of material facts
Lifetime Mortgage
We offer a comprehensive range of Lifetime mortgages from across the market. We offer full advice and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. Where we propose to do so we will provide you with a separate KFI+ (Key Facts Illustration Plus) or ESIS (The European Standardised Information Sheet) document detailing the product/provider details.
For Lifetime mortgages we use the trading name ; ‘Equity Advice Harrow’
Lifetime Mortgage fee menu:
Completion fee – 1% (min £750)
Non – investment Insurance (Protection and General Insurance
We offer products from a range of Insurers for all non-investment insurance contracts from across the market. We offer full advice and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. Where we propose to do so we will provide you with a separate illustration detailing the product/provider details.
We offer an Execution only service for certain individuals in certain situations- If this is relevant the implications will be fully disclosed and you will be asked to sign a disclaimer.
We do not charge a fee for our advice but receive commission from the providers.
Mortgage and lifetime Mortgage
Our fees are charged for our work and expertise and cover the following:-
- We will provide you with expert independent advice as all our advisers have at least 14 years’ experience in arranging mortgages. We will initially conduct a personal financial review. We will then carry out extensive product research in order to recommend the most appropriate product.
- We complete all the paperwork on your behalf as we are familiar with speaking to individual lenders and knowing exactly their criteria and what paperwork each one will require in order to progress the case as quickly as possible.
- We will present all our findings in our Suitability Report detailing your current situation and suitable recommendations together with our reasons for the advice.
- You will have one point of contact, as we will liaise with Lenders, Solicitors and Estate Agents on your behalf.
- Regular updating to make sure you are kept in the picture and we will make the whole process as easy and stress free for you as possible.
- You will also receive advice on which Solicitor to use and the role they take.
- We will advise you on your options with regard to the type of survey you may require. We can also refer you to a tried & trusted surveyor contact.
- We give expert advice in arranging your Buildings and Protection insurance as well as providing an opportunity to receive a Pension review.
- We can also introduce you to a Professional Will Writer to either draw up a new will or amend an existing will.
Initial Consultation
We offer you an initial no obligation consultation. The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd will bear the cost of this initial meeting at which we will:-
- Describe our services more fully and explain the payment options.
- Gather and analyse personal financial information about you and your aims and objectives;
- Recommend and discuss any action we think you should take and, with your agreement, arrange relevant solutions for you.
Lender Fees added to your mortgage
Should you decide to add the Lenders fees to your mortgage we will undertake a cost comparison analysis and provide you with two KFI+ (Key Facts Illustration Plus) or ESIS (The European Standardised Information Sheet). One copy to include the fee added and one copy without the fee added. Should the product we recommend have the option to add the fee and you choose to do so we would ask you to sign the declaration at the end of this document to show your positive election of this fact. We will then discuss this proposal with you and confirm full details in the Suitability report.
Information provided by you
It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to us, or any Provider or Lender, at every stage of the relationship. It is important that you ensure all statements that you make to us or any Provider or Lender, are true and accurate and that you fully disclose all material information when requested to do so.
If you fail to disclose any material information to us or to any Provider or Lender, this could invalidate your policy or mortgage agreement. We cannot be held responsible for your failing to disclose relevant information when requested to do so.
Treating Customers Fairly
We are committed to treating our customers fairly. At The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd, we are committed to offering our customers the highest possible standards of service. In so doing we are pleased to support the Financial Conduct Authority initiative ‘Treating Customers Fairly’. We recognise that both we and our customers have everything to gain if we look after your best interests and treat you fairly in all aspects of our dealings with you.
Service and Standards
We are committed to providing the highest standard of financial advice and service. Your interests are very important to us and for any advice or service we provide we will:
• be open, honest and transparent in the way we deal with you;
• not place our interests above yours;
• communicate clearly, promptly and without jargon
Client Classification
We treat all our clients as “retail clients” unless you request otherwise. This means you are provided with the highest level of protection under the regulatory system and should have the right to take any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Conflicts of Interest
Occasions may arise where we or one of our clients have some form of interest in business being transacted by you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our clients conflict with your interests, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd maintains Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Cancellation rights
In most instances, you will not be able to exercise a right to cancel a mortgage or Lifetime Mortgage product. On receipt of an Offer Letter you have a seven day cooling off period.
In other non-mortgage cases you can exercise a right to cancel by withdrawing from the contract. Generally you will normally have a 30 day cancellation period for a pure protection policies. Instructions for exercising the right to cancel, if applicable, will be contained in the relevant product disclosure information which will be issued to you.
Client money
The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd is not permitted to handle client money or handle cash and we cannot accept a cheque made out to us
(Unless it is in respect of an item for which we have sent you an invoice/fee agreement form).
Instructions
We prefer our clients to give us instructions in writing, to aid clarification and avoid future misunderstandings. We will, however, accept oral instructions provided they are confirmed in writing. Confirmation by email is acceptable; however, text confirmation is not an acceptable method of confirmation.
Data Protection
The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”). By signing this document you consent to us or any company associated with us for processing, both manually and by electronic means, your personal data for the purposes of providing advice, administration and management. “Processing” includes obtaining, recording or holding information or data, transferring it to other companies associated with us, product providers, the FCA or any other statutory, governmental or regulatory body for legitimate purposes including, where relevant, to solicitors and/or other debt collection agencies for debt collection purposes and carrying out operations on the information or data.
In order to provide services to you we may be required to pass your personal information to parties located outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) in countries that do not have Data Protection Laws equivalent to those in the UK. Where this is the case we will take reasonable steps to ensure the privacy of your
The information provided may also contain sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Act, being information as to your physical or mental health or condition; the committing or alleged committing of any offence by you; any proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by you, including the outcome or sentence in such proceedings; your political opinions; religious or similar beliefs; sexual life; or your membership of a Trade Union.
If at any time you wish us or any company associated with us to cease processing your personal data or sensitive personal data, please contact The Data Protection Officer on 0208 9077714 or in writing at The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd , 120 Kenton Road, Harrow, Middx, HA3 8AL.
You may be assured that we and any company associated with us will treat all personal data and sensitive personal data as confidential and will not process it other than for a legitimate purpose. Steps will be taken to ensure that the information is accurate, kept up to date and not kept for longer than is necessary. Measures will also be taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss or destruction or damage to the data.
Subject to certain exceptions, you are entitled to have access to your personal and sensitive personal data held by us. You may be charged a fee (subject to the statutory maximum) for supplying you with such data.
Complaints
If you wish to register a complaint, please write to Steve Coleman, The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd, 120 Kenton Road, Harrow, Middx, HA3 8AL or telephone 0208 9077714.
A summary of our internal complaints handling procedures for the reasonable and prompt handling of complaints is available on request and if you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme
If you make a valid claim against the company in respect of the advice provided and we are unable to meet ourliability in full you may be entitled to redress from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to which we subscribe. The FSCS provides protection against an authorised firm going out of business. Advice and arrangement on mortgages is covered up to a maximum limit of £50,000. Advice and arrangement on non-investment insurance is covered up to a maximum limit of 100% of the claim, without any upper limit.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available at the FSCS website at
Anti-money laundering
We are required by the anti-money laundering regulations to verify the identity of our clients, to obtain information as to the purpose and nature of the business which we conduct on their behalf, and to ensure that the information we hold is up-to-date. For this purpose we may use electronic identity verification systems and we may conduct these checks from time to time throughout our relationship, not just at the beginning.
Regulatory Statement
The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under registration number 468411.
The FCA can be contacted at 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London W14 5HS.
Law
This client agreement is governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
Termination of Authority
The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving sevendays notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. Any transactions effected before termination and a due proportion of any period charges for services shall be settled to that date.
VAT
Under current legislation the majority of our services are not subject to VAT but should this change in future and where VAT becomes due, we will notify you before conducting any further work. Generic reports and advice will be subject to VAT. We will inform you at outset whether VAT is applicable.
Your Declaration
Client consent
This is our standard client agreement upon which we intend to rely. For your own benefit and protection you should read these terms carefully before signing them. If you do not understand any point please ask for further information. Please confirm to us in writing if you do not consent to us or any company associated with us processing any sensitive data as described above.
- I/We confirm that I/we have received financial advice from the Advisor. As a consequence I/we acknowledge that the Advisor may from time to time review my/our file with a view to bringing to my/our attention in the future products or services that may be of interest to me/us.
- In relation to any such future contact to be made with me/us:“I/We expressly consent to be being contacted without prior notice or arrangement by post, telephone (including mobile telephone and SMS communications), fax or email using the contact details I/we have previously provided to the Advisor and further consent that such contact may be in relation to (a) my/our mortgage arrangements and/or (b) other products and services in respect of which I/we may not have received initial advice and/or (c) any regulatory duty or service which may from time to time be required to fulfil or provide.” I/We agree that consent provided is valid for a period of five years from the date of signature by me/us. I/we may withdraw the consent given by notice in writing to the Advisor at any time.
- I/We agree that consent is provided in accordance with the firms Data Protection policy.
- I/We can confirm that we have not received any tax advice or recommendation from The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd.
- I/We can confirm that the Adviser made a full verbal initial disclosure concerning the firm’s status, it services and costs at the outset of our discussions.
- Should the product recommended have the option to add the Lenders fees and, I/we choose that option, I/We can confirm my/our agreement.
- It is your responsibility to ensure all documents provided are genuine and authentic. if you commit Mortgage fraud by falsifying documents Lenders are likely to instigate legal proceedings which could lead to prosecution resulting in fines and /or imprisonment. I/we can confirm that all documentation I/we have provided is not fraudulent.
- In accordance with a fee menu explained earlier in this document I/we confirm my/our agreement to your fee of £……………………… which we will pay on my/our mortgage application.
The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Reference Number 468411. The Mortgage & Financial Advice Shop Ltd is registered in England and Wales under registration number 4359340. The registered office is 2nd Floor Dagnall House, Lower Dagnall St, St Albans, Herts, AL3 4PA.