Re: Terms of Business

I am an Independent Mortgage & General Insurance Advisor and act on your behalf. I have access to the ‘whole’ mortgage market and general insurance market and enabling me to provide an excellent service to my clients with impartiality in mind and putting you the clients financial and personal interests first.

Your mortgage is likely to the largest financial transaction you will ever undertake and, therefore, understanding how your mortgage works and taking control of its repayment is essential to prudent money management. My aim is to identify savings compared with your current mortgage arrangements and to demonstrate how you can achieve additional savings by redeeming your mortgage earlier. In addition, I look to provide adequate protection for you and your family. I am committed to providing a high standard of professional service and customer choice.

Independent Financial Services (GB) 63 Meadway ,Rochdale, Lancashire OL11 3NP, and is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for regulated insurance and mortgage activities FSA No. 300740. FSA registration can be verified by accessing www.fsa.gov.uk. The FSA does not afford protection in certain circumstances. In the case of mortgages i.e. commercial loans and second charges. Full details can be obtained by unregulated products accessing www.fsa.gov.uk

I am covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance that provides additional protection for clients in the unlikely event of incorrect advice being given. Consumer Credit License No. 540351. Data Protection No. Z88277628.

Since I do not act as an agent on behalf of any lender for mortgage business, I arrange mortgages from the market as a whole. The advice and recommendations provided to you are totally independent and the research undertaken by me is of the entire available marketplace.

Level of Service

Independent Financial Services (GB) offers 2 levels of service, which you will be informed after it ascertained what your needs are:

v 1.Full advice and recommendation: I will provide you with information relevant to your mortgage needs, covering such items as an explanation of the main repayment methods and reasons for the recommendation and the implications of taking out a mortgage.

v 2.Non Advise:Information on different types of mortgage products and insurance products, to allow you to make an informed choice. Under Non Advise service we also provide ‘execution only’ service, where you provide the exact product details, and specifications / terms for a transaction on your behalf – and we will rebate part of the commission due from the product provider – terms must be mutually agreed in writing before any transaction will be actioned.

If you select a repayment option that includes for an interest only mortgage and investment vehicle to pay the loan .i.e ISA. Pension, Endowment. I am not regulated to offer such products and you will be referred to a suitable professional person.

How I will operate

During our initial meeting, I will be completing a detailed mortgage questionnaire (Fact Find) to enable appropriate advice to be given on your mortgage and other related insurance products.(Note: Fact Find may not be completed for loans and insurances not authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority). It is your choice to provide part or full information requested to determine the correct insurance or mortgage product in accordance to your needs and circumstances. If you with-hold any relevant information this may possibly lead to inaccurate product recommendation or limited advise / guidance (‘full advisory service’) or under information provision (‘non advisory service’). You agree that in most cases this information will be obtained in writing, but also verbally and to be recorded by voice capture or in writing. Important: lenders and product providers require disclosure of any associated material fact that can result in full under-writing a proposition for a loan or risk in good faith requested or not on an application form, falure to do so can put you at risk.

Having identified your aims and objectives, I will analyse your current mortgage and financial situation to establish the best possible mortgage programme to meet your needs and requirements.

Once I have made a recommendation to you, I will confirm my advice in writing. You should keep this for future reference, as it will be an important record of our discussions. Details of the loan will also be confirmed to you in the lender’s formal offer. It is important for you to ensure that any questions you have are answered before you proceed with your Mortgage/Re-Mortgage

Locum Agreement:

In recognition of the fact that a member of Independent Financial Services (GB) is not able to conduct routine mortgage or insurance business. Then in order to ensure that the interests of you the client(s) are not placed at Risk it is agreed that the responsibility for ‘locum cover’ will be vested to another suitably qualified and professional person at the discretion of Independent Financial Services (GB).

Fees and Charges

I may receive fees for regulated mortgage products from product providers with whom I place mortgages and, where this occurs, I will tell you in the Initial Disclosure Document (IDD) –‘Key Facts about Your Mortgage’. Additional associated fees will be disclosed in Key Facts Illustrations (KFI) when a suitable product has been researched on your behalf.

Complaints:

Should you need to complain, you should address your complaint to me (your local advisor) in the first instance to the above address. My aim is to resolve complaints satisfactorily between my clients and myself. I will ensure that they are handled swiftly and fairly in accordance with my complaints procedure below.

Complaints Procedure:

v Complaints, whether verbal or written, will normally receive a full written response within 28 working days. If additional information, or consultation with a third party is necessary, the complaint will be acknowledged in writing within 5 working days and will include an indication of the time anticipated to provide a full response.

v If the nature of your complaint makes it more appropriate, I will refer it to an independent specialist for investigation within 10 working days and will advise you in writing of the fact.

v All complaints should be resolved satisfactorily within 28 working days and preferably much sooner – unless I am awaiting information from a third party to resolve any matter. In such a case you will be informed for possible delays.

v I will write to you, in plain English, once I have completed my investigation into your complaint, explaining my findings and how I reached my decision/suggested course of action regarding the complaint you made.

v In the event you are not satisfied with the treatment of your complaint, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The details of the procedure and the Omdudsman’s address will be supplied to you at that time, or at your earlier request.

v We maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance for your protection. If you make a valid claim against us in respect of any FSA authorised and regulated activity we are registered, if we are unable to meet our liabilities in full, you may be entitled to readdress through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Details of the cover provided by the scheme are given in a leaflet which we will send to you at your request. Further information is available from FSA and the FSCS.

IMPORTANT: Where loans and insurance products are not regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) the above complaints process may not be applied, and will be at the discretion of the proprietor of Independent Financial Services (GB)

Confidentiality & Use of Data:

Collection of Data:

We collect your data during the fact find process into your circumstances. With your consent we may collect your data from Institutions with whom you currently have contracts and insurance policies, from your employer and professional advisors. We may obtain data from credit reference agencies.

Your information will be held on computer databases and in paper form. We use the data primarily to provide you with financial service advise or information, to complete transactions on your behalf. We analyse and assess your data to maintain and develop our service delivery with you as our client. Use of your data includes financial risk assessment, money laundering checks, compliance and regulatory reporting and fraud prevention. We use your data to help us prepare proposals for you to enter into mortgage transactions and insurance proposals, insurance proposals and claims. Your data will be kept for six years in compliance with our financial services responsibilities.

I will treat all your personal information as private and confidential (even if you are no longer a client) except where disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to arranging a mortgage or insurance. Under the Data Protection Act 1998. You have a right of access to your personal records whether held manually or electronically upon payment of a fee. Certain Data may not be disclosed if it compromises the interests of another individual. If you believe that any information about you is incorrect or incomplete you should contact us, if the data is incorrect or incomplete, we will correct it accordingly.

E-Commerce Sales & General Insurance:

For general insurance products we offer ‘Non Advisory Service’ and ‘Execution Only Service’, we can only provide guidance for an insurance product. You have to be evaluate if the product is suitable for yourself or family or third parties.

Website Analysis:

When you visit our company websites, a certain amount of information is retained regarding the event to enable us to understand the profile of our visitors.

Security:

At Independent Financial Services (GB) we take security and protection measures as vital to not only safe guard our interests but that of our clients. We have sophisticated firewalls in place to safeguard clients personal data from third party unauthorised access. We take reasonable precautions to protect your security, but cannot take responsibility for hacking, viruses, and cookies, and other activities that compromises our security and is beyond our control.

Execution Only Service:

In Execution Only Services you have to give us precise instructions to act on your behalf, where you choose the exact product, scheme, term, and other details. We expect you to have taken professional advice, and be entirely satisfied in your product choice. As we are acting on Execution basis only and will not be liable to inaccurate instructions by you. Execution business is transacted at the sole discretion of the Principals of the company, we have the right to reject any offer, this is non - negotiable and final. We attempt to offer savings and add value to our clients, events outside our companies or associates control, we cannot be held responsible.

In Execution Only Services you will receive from the product provider, or from us, information about the commission we receive. We will advise you of the amount of commission payable to us from the product provider we have arranged for you. If we receive a commission or other form of benefit from another intermediary or business associate, we will not inform you.

Termination of Contract – General Insurance Products

For general insurance products You, or We, may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time, without penalty. Notice of this termination by either party must be given in writing.

Zero Tolerence

We also have zero tolerence to abusive, threatening, aggressive and unreasonable behaviour to members of staff belonging to Independent Financial Services (GB), we reserve the right to cease trading activity with any client in any stage of our relationship with you or related parties. A written notice will be sent for zero tolerence activities and company principals decision will be final and non negotiable. This applies to general insurance products and secured / unsecured loans.

Contact:

Once Independent Financial Services (GB) has acted upon your instructions, normally further advice will not follow. However you agree we may contact you every 6 months to review your circumstances, or anytime earlier should you require further information or advise.

Fees and Charges General Insurance

We derive income from commission paid to us in respect of transactions in i.e. mortgages, life assurances, assett protection insurances health care insurances and income protection insurances.

As independent advisor(s) we do not normally charge fees, but if we do so you will be provided in writing the fees to be charged if they are refundable or not, and if any commission is to be rebated. If you choose to pay a fee, you will be notified in writing before any chargeable work is carried out, explaining how it is calculated. In general Independent Financial Services (GB) gets paid from the product provider in commission for mortgage related business will be disclosed to the client.

We do NOT Handle Client Monies:

Crossed cheques for premiums or fees can only be made to the product or parties with delegated authority representing the product providers for regulated business. (Note: For non regulated FSA business any associated fees are put into a segregated ‘client account’)

General Insurance: IF YOU SUBSEQUENTLY CEASE TO PAY PREMIUMS ON AN INSURANCE POLICY AND, in consequence, we are obliged to refund any commission paid, WE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHARGE YOU A FEE, BUT NOT IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL THE POLICY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CANCELLATION NOTICE SENT TO YOU BY THE PRODUCT PROVIDER.

Non Regulated FSA Activities: Independent Financial Services (GB) also engage in intermediary activities for products and services NOT regulated by the Financial Services Authority. You will not be afforded protection or compliance for such business under the FSA, FSCS and FSO. For further information visit for regulated activities www.fsa.gov.uk. For example in the case of certain commercial loans and unsecured loans Independent Financial Services (GB) act only as an introducer to product providers, and NO advise is given. Only generic information. Therefore suitable professional advise should be obtained before progressing, as no liablity will be taken what so ever.

For any client to contact Independent Financial Services (GB) is on the basis the terms of business have been read and agreed, and allow us to contact the client.

Think Carefully Before Securing Other Debts Against Your Home. Your Home May be Repossessed If You Do Not Keep Up Repayments on Your Mortgage Or any Other Debt Secured On It

Independent Financial Services (GB) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority