Terms of Business

Client Agreement
Mortgages and Protection Planning

1. INTRODUCTION

Private Wealth Mortgages are able to act on your behalf in advising you on mortgages and protection planning. We offer you an initial discussion (without charge) at which we will describe our services more fully and explain the payment options. Should you decide to go ahead with an application there is a cost for our advice and services.

2. OUR OBLIGATIONS

Recommendations

We will confirm to you in writing the basis of our recommendations. We will also provide you with a ‘Key Facts’ Illustration (KFI) or an European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS) which is a personalised description of the costs and features of the mortgage or protection product that we are recommending. You may ask us to provide you with additional KFIs/ESISs or illustrations for any mortgage and or protection product.

Financial Crime

We are obliged to put in place controls to prevent our business from being used for money laundering and other forms of financial crime.

We will verify your identity before undertaking any business with you. To do this 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. The check may leave a ‘footprint’ on your credit file but it will not affect your credit rating.

Conflict of interests

We always act in your best interests. However there may be situations where we, or one of our other clients, has some form of interest in the business being transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your own interests, we will write to you and ask for your consent before we carry out business for you. We will also let you know the steps we will take to make sure you are treated fairly.

Protecting personal information

To provide our services properly, we’ll need to collect information on your personal and financial circumstances. We take your privacy seriously and will only use personal information to deliver our services. For further details on how we process personal data, please refer to Appendix A at the foot of this document.

Communicating with you

Our normal ways of communicating with you are by telephone, post, e-mail, or in person. Our communications will be in English.

We may ask you to confirm your instructions to us in writing as this helps to avoid any future misunderstandings.

Where you have consented for us to do so, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion (by telephone, email or post) should we wish to discuss the relative merits of a particular mortgage product or service which we feel may be of interest to you.

3. YOUR OBLIGATIONS

This section sets out your obligations in agreeing to receive our services.

Providing information about your circumstances

Our advice will be based on the information that you give so it is important that you provide us with the information we request about your circumstances and objectives to allow us to provide you with the appropriate advice. If you limit the information provided it could affect the suitability of the advice we give.

Providing information to your insurer

Your insurance / protection cover is based upon the information you provide to the insurance company. Where you are buying insurance as an individual, this means that you must take ‘reasonable care’ to answer all questions asked by the insurer fully and accurately. For general insurance policies such as accident & sickness or buildings insurance, once cover has been arranged, you must immediately notify the insurers or us of any changes to the information that you have already provided. Failure to provide accurate and up to date information may invalidate your insurance cover and mean that a claim may not be paid.

Legal and accounting advice

We are not qualified to provide legal or accounting advice or to prepare any legal or accounting documents. Please note it is your responsibility to refer any point of law or accountancy that may arise during the course of discussions with us, to a solicitor or accountant.

4. OUR SERVICES AND HOW WE CHARGE FOR THEM

For any aspect of our services, all actual charges and fees will be fully disclosed to you. We will not charge you until we have discussed your payment options and agreed with you how we are to be paid. We will also let you know if there are any other costs that might arise in connection with the services we provide to you.

Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you, will only be given after we have assessed your needs and objectives. We will also take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider.

Mortgage Advice

Our mortgage services are designed to provide you with the best mortgage solution for your needs. We advise on mortgage products, this means that we will make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs.

We offer a comprehensive range of mortgages from across the market. There may be rates suitable for you that are only available by going direct to a lender. Our advice will be based on the most suitable mortgage product included within the range available to intermediary firms. 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. We may charge a fee for providing advice in relation to this but would agree this with you at the time.

Alternative Finance Options

You should note that where we provide services in relation to increased borrowing on an existing mortgaged property there may be alternative options available to you that may be more appropriate. For example, you may be able to obtain a further advance from your existing lender, or obtain an unsecured loan for the additional funds. Where your existing mortgage is a first charge against the property, a second charge mortgage may be available and where your existing mortgage is a second charge a first loan may be available.

Protection Planning

Our advised protection planning services are suitable if you are looking for the best way to protect you, your family or your business through products such as critical illness cover, income protection, health insurance and life cover. We advise on non-investment protection products e.g. term assurance, income protection and critical illness cover from a range of insurers.

Our protection planning advice and application service is paid for by commission received from the product provider.

We will advise you of the amount of this commission being received. We do not charge a separate fee to you for this.

Home Insurance – we do not provide advice on home insurance. However, we can refer you to Uinsure to offer you a home insurance quote if required. We may receive an introducer fee and you will be notified if this is the case.

5. OUR CHARGES

We are paid for our services by the following method:

A combination of a fee from you, our client and commission from the mortgage lender.

Our usual fee for a new mortgage transaction is split into two parts, application and offer.

  • Application fee:  If after your initial consultation with your adviser, you wish to use our services, a non refundable fee is payable. This is paid only when the mortgage application is submitted.
  • Offer fee: The balance of any fee due after the initial engagement, is payable when the formal mortgage offer is issued by the lender.

The fee charged will be categorised as either Tier 1 or Tier 2 as follows:

Tier 1 Tier 2
Application fee £250 £499
Offer fee £249 £300
Total £499 £799

 

Example of Tier1 – Standard remortgage or standard purchase.

Example of Tier2 – Complex mortgage, debt consolidation, adverse credit, portfolio landlord.

 

We will also receive commission paid by the lender upon successful completion of the mortgage.

Where we recommend third-party services, we may receive an introducer fee from the service provider.

When the rate finishes with your present lender we can advise on your options. We do not usually charge a fee for our mortgage services as we will receive commission from the mortgage lender. However where a lender does not pay commission a fee of £250 may be charged. This will be agreed with you at the outset.

You will receive a Key Facts Illustration/European Standardised Information Sheet when considering a particular mortgage which will tell you about any fees and commission relating to it.

Our fees are non-refundable if an application has been submitted and your mortgage does not go ahead.

6. CANCELLATION

Ending this agreement

  • We may terminate our agreement by giving you at least 20 business days’ written notice
  • You may terminate our agreement at any time, without penalty. Notice of termination must be given in writing and will take effect from the date of receipt.
  • Any transactions already initiated will be completed according to our agreement unless otherwise agreed in writing.
  • You will be liable to pay for any services we have provided before cancellation and any outstanding fees, if applicable.

Amendments

From time to time it may be necessary to amend the terms set out in this agreement where it’s not necessary to issue a new agreement. If this is the case we’ll write to you with details of the changes at least twenty eight business days before they are due to take effect.

Product cancellation rights

Full details of any financial products we recommend to you will be provided in the relevant product information you will receive. This will include information about any product cancellation rights along with any other early termination rights and penalties.

In most cases you can exercise a right to cancel by withdrawing from the contract. In general terms you will normally have a 30 day cancellation period for a life, protection or payment protection policy and a 14 day cancellation period for all other policies

Please note that there is no automatic right to cancel a mortgage contract once the mortgage transaction has been concluded.

7. HOW YOU ARE PROTECTED

Private Wealth Mortgages Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), 12 Endeavour Square, Stratford, London, E20 1JN.

Our Financial Services Register number is 445980. Our permitted business is advising on and arranging mortgages and non-investment insurance contracts.  We are also registered to advise on and arrange consumer buy to let mortgages.   You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website www.fca.org.uk or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

Please note that business buy to let mortgages are not regulated by the FCA.

What if things go wrong?

If you are unhappy with our advice or any aspect of our services, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible. We’ll do our best to resolve your concerns.

In writing:  Salli Anstey, Private Wealth Mortgages Ltd, Hillreed House, 54 Queen Street, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 5AD

By phone:  01403 270006

By e-mail:  sanstey@privatewealthmortgages.co.uk

We have a complaints procedure and we can provide further details on request. If you do have a complaint, and you are not happy with our response, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) maybe able to help. The FOS settles disputes between financial services businesses and their clients. Full details are available at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Additional Peace of Mind

We are also covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’). You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim.

Insurance : advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim, without any upper limit.

Mortgages : advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, up to a maximum limit of £85,000 per person per firm.

Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at www.fscs.org.uk/consumer.

Consumer buy-to-let mortgages

Where you take out a consumer buy-to-let mortgage, if you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS settles disputes between financial services business and their customers Full details of the FOS can be found on its website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Business buy-to-let mortgages

Where you take out a buy-to-let mortgage, if you cannot settle your complaint with us, you will not be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

8. CLIENT MONEY

We are not permitted to handle client money and we cannot accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is in respect of a service for which we have sent you an invoice) or handle cash.

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APPENDIX A – PROTECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION & PRIVACY NOTICE

PWM a trading style of Private Wealth Mortgages Ltd, also trading as Private Wealth – Advice for Later Life. This privacy notice explains how we use any personal information we collect about you.

What information do we collect about you?

We collect information about you when you engage us for mortgage advice and non investment services. This information will relate to your personal and financial circumstances. It may also include special categories of personal data such as data about your health, if this is necessary for the provision of our services.  We take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to deliver our services.

We may also collect information when you voluntarily complete client surveys or provide feedback to us.

Information relating to usage of our website is collected using cookies. These are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. We’ll use your information collected from the website to personalise your repeat visits to the site.

Information about connected individuals

We may need to gather personal information about your close family members and dependants in order to provide our service to you effectively. In such cases it will be your responsibility to ensure that you have the consent of the people concerned to pass their information on to us. We’ll provide a copy of this privacy notice for them or, where appropriate, ask you to pass the privacy information to them.

Why do we need to collect and use your personal data?

Processing of your personal data is necessary for the performance of our contract for services with you. Generally this is the lawful basis on which we intend to rely for the processing of your data. (Please see the reference to special categories of data below). Our policy is to gather and process only that personal data which is necessary for us to conduct our services appropriately with you.

Special categories of personal data: there are certain categories of personal data that are sensitive by nature. The categories include: data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership and data concerning health. Depending on the nature of the products and services that you engage us for we may need to obtain your sensitive personal data particularly in relation to health. Our policy is that should we require any special category of personal data we will only gather this with your explicit consent.

How will we use the information about you?

We collect information about you in order to provide you with the services for which you engage us.

Who might we share your information with?

If you agree, we may email you about other products or services that we think may be of interest to you.

We won’t share your information for marketing purposes with other companies.

In order to deliver our services to you effectively we may send your details to third parties such as those that we engage for professional compliance, accountancy or legal services as well as product providers that we use to arrange financial products for you.

Where third parties are involved in processing your data we’ll have a contract in place with them to ensure that the nature and purpose of the processing is clear, that they are subject to a duty of confidence in processing your data and that they’ll only act in accordance with our written instructions.

Where it’s necessary for your personal data to be forwarded to a third party we’ll use appropriate security measures to protect your personal data in transit.

To fulfil our obligations in respect of prevention of money-laundering and other financial crime we may send your details to third party agencies for identity verification purposes

How long do we keep hold of information?

In principle, your personal data shouldn’t be held for longer than is required under the terms of our contract for services with you. However, we’re subject to regulatory requirements to retain data for specified minimum periods. We also reserve the right to retain data for longer than this due to the possibility that it may be required to defend a future claim against us. In any case, we’ll not retain your personal data for longer than 2 years past the time of your death.

You have the right to request deletion of your personal data. We’ll comply with this request, subject to the restrictions of our regulatory obligations and legitimate interests as noted above.

How can I access the information you hold about me?

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you’d like a copy of some or all of your personal information please email or write to us using the contact details noted below.

When your personal data is processed by automated means you have the right to ask us to move your personal data to another organisation for their use.

We have an obligation to ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. Please ask us to correct or remove any information that you think is incorrect.

Marketing

We’d like to send you information about our products and services which may be of interest to you. If you’ve agreed to receive marketing information, you may opt out at a later date.

You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes. If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please contact us by email or post.

Cookies

We use cookies to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity.

For further information visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/

You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However in a few cases some of our website features may not function as a result.

Other Websites

Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies. 

What can you do if you are unhappy with how your personal data is processed?

You also have a right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority for data protection.

In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113 (local rate)

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you: by email at info@privatewealthmortgages.co.uk

Or write to us at Hillreed House, 54 Queen Street, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 5AD.