Our Terms of Business
About this Document
This document outlines our terms of business it is given to consumers considering buying certain financial products. You need to read this important document. It explains the service you are being offered and how you will pay for it.
By choosing to transact business with us, you are agreeing to accept our terms of business and both parties will be bound by the terms laid out in this document.
Our Regulator
Clear Planning Limited is r authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for General Insurance, Pure Protection, and Equity Release business. You can check our details and regulatory permissions via the Financial Services Register at https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768. Our FCA reference number is 835461.
Our Status
Clear Planning Limited of Whitehall Waterfront, Riverside Studios, 2 Riverside Way, Whitehall Road, Leeds, LS1 4EH trades as a Limited Company. Our Company Number is: 11077180.
Advice
We offer a whole of market advised service for Equity Release products. We do not provide advice relating to home reversion plans.
We offer an advised service for Insurance. We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs.
If you are purchasing (or re-mortgaging) a buy to let property, we will only advise you on the mortgage arrangements; we will not provide advice on the tax or investment elements of the transaction. Should you require tax or investment advice, you should seek this from a suitably authorised and qualified individual.
Mortgage (Home Finance) Products
We offer a comprehensive range of Lifetime Mortgages from across the market, but not deals that you can only obtain by going direct to a lender. A list of the lenders that we provide advice from is available on request.
We are limited to only providing Lifetime Mortgages and do not offer Home Reversion Plans.
Insurance Products
We offer products from a range of insurers for pure protection (non-investment) insurance contracts. E.G. Life, Critical Illness and Income Protection Insurances.
We offer products based upon a fair analysis of general insurance providers for:
- Property, contents, personal possessions cover;
- Accident, sickness & unemployment cover;
A list of the insurers with whom we transact business is available on request.
What we will do
- Communicate clearly, promptly and in plain English;
- Explain all costs involved before they are incurred;
- Evaluate your needs before making a recommendation;
- Review the market from our list of providers to recommend the most suitable product and provider for your needs and circumstances;
- Deal with reputable providers of lifetime mortgage / insurance products; however, we cannot be responsible for their levels of service, including any delays in processing of your application caused by the product provider. Of course, we will work to mitigate these wherever possible.
What we will not do
- Provide a decision in principal before conducting a thorough review of your circumstances and needs (fact find) and obtaining sufficient supporting information to assist the application;
- Cause you to incur a credit search without first notifying you;
- Act without first obtaining your permission to do so;
- Cause you to incur costs without your prior agreement to proceed.
How we will Operate
During our initial consultation we will complete a client questionnaire (fact find) to enable us to better understand your circumstances and your needs; this enables us to give appropriate advice on your Lifetime Mortgage needs. A copy of this questionnaire is available for you to review upon request.
We will subsequently conduct research to establish what products are most appropriate for your needs and make these recommendations to you. These recommendations will be confirmed in writing as the advice we provided.
You will also be provided an illustration regarding the product(s) recommended.
Costs
Insurance Products
- No fee is payable by the client for our service in relation to insurance contracts;
- We are renumerated by way of commission by the insurance provider for the service provided to the client. Thus, the client has no fee’s to pay whatsoever.
Home Finance Products (This relates to Lifetime Mortgages and does not apply to Protection products such as: Life Insurance, Critical Illness Cover and Income Protection)
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Free |
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Free |
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Free |
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Free |
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|
|
Total Fee Payable to Clear Planning on Completion |
£995 |
We will charge fixed fees as follows:
This agreement is made on the basis that if the mortgage does not complete, there will be no fee payable.
Data Protection
Your personal information is very important to us and we will endeavour to take all due care to protect this information. We would like to highlight below a few matters relating to your information that you should be aware of.
Some services provided to Clear Planning Limited by third parties, such as processing business or obtaining compliance or regulatory advice, require us to disclose more than just your basic contact details. You agree that any personal information held by us may be disclosed, on a confidential basis and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, to any such third parties. You also agree that this information may be transferred electronically, such as by e-mail, and that we, or any such third party, may contact you in future by any means of communication which we consider appropriate at the time.
Most of your information is processed in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA). Product providers/lenders may administer your plan and provide other services, from centres in countries outside the EEA (such as India and the USA).
Where your information is processed outside of the EEA, we take additional steps to ensure that your information is protected to at least an equivalent level as would be applied by UK or EEA data privacy laws.
Complaints
If you wish to register a complaint, please contact us:
In writing: Whitehall Waterfront, 2 Riverside Way, Whitehall Road, Leeds, LS1 4EH
By phone: 0800 802 1221
If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Your Responsibilities
It is your responsibility to deal with us in an honest and transparent manner. Failure to disclose key facts that relate to your personal circumstances could significantly influence the advice given. In some circumstances failure to disclose information could impact upon your ability to obtain the most suitable product and could even invalidate the product, such as in the event it is interpreted as material non-disclosure that could be considered to be a fraudulent act.
If you have any doubts as to whether you should disclose a matter it is better to notify the provider and allow them to make an informed decision.
It is also your responsibility to check that the product provided is as you expected, therefore you should check the application and ‘offer’ document on a mortgage and the application and policy document on an insurance policy. If it is not as expected, please notify your adviser immediately.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
Insurance Advising & Arranging
For firms declared in default on or after 3 July 2015
Protection is at 100% where claims:
- arise in respect of a liability subject to compulsory insurance; or
- arise in respect of a liability subject to professional indemnity insurance; or
- arise from the death or incapacity of the policyholder due to injury, sickness, or infirmity including contracts for Long Term Insurance such as Long-Term Care, pensions and annuities
Protection is at 90% where claims arise under other types of policy with no upper limit
Mortgage Advising & Arranging
For claims against companies declared in default from 1st January 2010. Mortgage advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £50,000 so the maximum compensation is £50,000 per person per firm.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS. Visit www.fscs.org.uk or 0800 678 1100.
Cancellation Rights
Depending on the product provided you will have different cancellation rights; these will be explained to you as part of our advisory process and will be disclosed to you by the provider in their communications also. It is your responsibility, however, to exercise these rights in a timely fashion; we cannot do this on your behalf.
Instructions
We will normally accept your instructions verbally or in writing; however, we always recommend that all instructions are provided in writing for the avoidance of misunderstandings.
Client Money
WE DO NOT HANDLE CLIENT MONEY. We will not accept any cheque other than for the payment of your fee, any third-party payments must be made by you to them. Under no circumstances will we handle cash.
Call Recording
Telephone calls made to Clear Planning may be recorded and used for training and/or regulatory purposes.
Conflicts of Interest
We undertake not to transact business where we believe that to do so could result in a conflict of interest. Where we believe that our interests’ conflict, we will notify you in writing first and outline the basis upon which we are prepared to proceed. The decision to proceed will be yours however.
Declarations
By agreeing to the Terms of Business you are accepting the following:
- That this document has been clearly explained to you
- You are prepared to be bound by our terms and conditions as included in this document.
- That where appropriate we may forward your information on to necessary third-party lenders and insurance providers to facilitate the provision of any products as agreed with you.
- That the lender or Insurer we approach on your behalf may conduct a credit search.
- To pay the fee disclosed above when it becomes due.