Great British Finance

About our services
Great British Finance Limited 19 High Street, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 8JE

1. The Financial Services Authority (FSA)
The FSA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. This document is designed by the FSA to be given to consumer considering buying certain financial products. Use this information to decide if our services are right for you.

2. Whose products do we offer?
Investment

• We offer products from the whole of the market.
• We only offer products from a limited number of companies.
• We only offer products from a single company.

Insurance

• We offer products from a range of insurers for Term Assurance, Critical Illness, Health Insurance and Buildings and Contents Insurance.
• We only offer products from a limited number of insurers.
• We only offer from a single insurer.

Mortgages

• We offer mortgages from the whole market.
• We only offer mortgages from a limited number of lenders.
• We only offer mortgages from a single lender.

3. Which service will we provide you with?

Investment

• We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs.
• You will not receive advice or a recommendation from us. We may ask some questions to narrow down the selection of products that we will provide details on.
• You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.

You will provide basic advice on a limited range of stakeholder products and in order to do this we will ask some questions about your income, savings and other circumstances but we will not:
- Conduct a full assessment of your needs;
- Offer advice on whether a non-stakeholder product may be more suitable.

Insurance

• We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs for Term Assurance, Critical Illness, Health Insurance and Buildings and Contents Insurance.
• You will not receive advice or a recommendation from us we may ask some questions to narrow down the selection of products that we will provide details on. You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.

Mortgages

• We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs.
• You will not receive advice or a recommendation from us. We may ask some questions to narrow down the selection of products that we will provide details on. You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.

4. What will you have to pay us for our services?
Investment

• Before we provide you with advice, we will give you our Keyfacts guide 'about the cost of our services'
• We will tell you how we get paid, and the amount, before we carry out any business for you.

Insurance

• A fee.
• No fee we will receive commission from the provider.
• You will receive a quotation which will tell you about any other fees relating to any particular insurance policy.

Mortgages

• No fee. We will be paid by commission from the lender.
• A fee up to the equivalent to 2% of the loan amount with a minimum fee of £295. For example on a Mortgage of £100,000 the fee would be £2000. We will also be paid commissions from the lender.

You will receive a key facts illustration when considering a particular mortgage, which will tell you about any fees relating to it.

Refund of fees

• If we charge you a fee, and your mortgage scheme does not go ahead, you will receive:
• No refund if you decide not to proceed
• A refund of 50% of the fee charged, if the lender declines your application
• A full refund

GREAT BRITISH FINANCE LIMITED'S POLICIES ARE IN BOLD

5. Who regulates us?

Great British Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our FSA Register number is 431032
Great British Finance Limited's permitted business is advising are advising on and arranging savings and investments products, pensions, mortgages and non-investment Insurance contracts.

You can check this on the FSA's Register by visiting the FSA's Website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

6. What to do if you have a complaint

If you wish to register a complaint, please contact us:
....in writing Mr Kevin P. Smith, Great British Finance Limited, 19 High Street, Swadlincote,
Derbyshire DE11 8JE.
....by phone 0845 3700020
If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

7. Are we covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)?
We are covered by the 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.

Investment
Most types of investment business are covered for 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000 so maximum compensation is £48,000.
Insurance
Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit.
Mortgages
Mortgage advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000 so the maximum compensation is £48,000.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

Additional Terms of Business

1. COMMENCEMENT DATE
This Terms of Business comes into effect on the date you receive it from us and are read in conjunction with the 'Keyfacts about our services'.
2. OUR FIRM (referred to as "we" or "us" in this document)
We are bound by the rules of and authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
3. OUR SERVICES TO YOU
We offer you advice based solely on the information provided by you, and as we are not tied to any insurance company.
We shall only ever recommend a course of action if we believe it to be suitable for you. If you want to restrict the area of advice, you can confirm this at the first interview or at any time. Otherwise, we can advise on the following services as regulated by the FSA: life assurance; pensions; investments; mortgages and general insurance. We do not provide advice in relation to individual share and gilt holdings.
The FSA does not regulate the advice on all the products and services we provide; these include some forms of life and illness protection or general insurance and health care products.

4. HOW WE ACT FOR YOU
We prefer our clients to give us instructions in writing to avoid possible disputes. We will, however, accept oral instructions providing they are subsequently confirmed in writing.
Any advice we give you will normally be in writing, but if given orally will be recorded on your file. Where any recommendation we make, or transaction we undertake for you, results in a right to cancel the policy under certain conditions, we will advise you of these rights. We will also tell you if you do not have a right to cancel the arrangement.
Occasions can arise where we, or one of our other customers, will have some form of interest in business, which we are transacting for you. If this happens, or we become aware that our interests, or those of one of our other customers, conflict with your interests, we will inform you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions.
When we arrange investments for you we will register these in your name unless otherwise agreed in writing. Additionally, we will ensure you receive either a contract note, documents of title, or certificates evidencing title. All such paperwork will be forwarded to you by post as soon as possible after we receive them. Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, the documents will normally be retained until the series is completed.

5. INVESTMENT RISK
All investments carry a degree of financial risk, which will tend to increase in proportion to the potential rate of return on the investments.
Any product which is directly or indirectly invested in assets which may fall in value (for example equities) may itself fall in value along with any decrease in value of those assets. Before entering into any investment agreement, you must ensure that you understand the risk associated with the product and are content to accept that level of risk.

6. WE DO NOT HANDLE CLIENT MONIES
Crossed cheques for premiums or investment monies can only be made payable directly to the product provider. No premiums or investment monies of any kind should be paid or made payable to anyone else, with the exception of premiums in respect of general insurance.

7. HOW DO YOU PAY FOR OUR SERVICES?
We can derive income for our services in three ways ie fees, commissions or a combination of the two.
Commission
We derive our income from commission paid to us by life assurance companies, general insurance companies, unit trust managers, stockbrokers and other intermediaries with whom investments/products are made. You will receive details from the operator in question, or from us, about commission we receive. We shall tell you the amount of commission payable to us on any investment/product we have arranged for you. We reserve the right to act as an agent for third parties and to share commission received with them.
If we arrange to effect a life/protection policy from which we receive commission and YOU SUBSEQUENTLY CEASE TO PAY PREMIUMS which results in us refunding commission which has been paid to us, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHARGE YOU A FEE to recompense us for the time spent in advising you and arranging the policy. WE SHALL NOT CHARGE ANY FEE IF YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL THE POLICY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CANCELLATION NOTICE SENT TO YOU BY THE PRODUCT PROVIDER.
Fees
If charging a fee, prior to assessing your financial circumstances and conducting any business, we will discuss a proposed fee with you and confirm this in writing in the form of a Fee Agreement.
Commission is received from the product provider or investment operator and the amount for any transaction will be disclosed to you in writing for products that are regulated. If commission or any other form of benefit is received from another intermediary we will inform you, but will not tell you its amount unless you ask us to do so.
A fee may be charged in the following circumstances:
i) if the work we do for you does not relate to investments/products on which commission is payable;
ii) if you instruct us to give you advice, but not to arrange the sale or purchase of any investment/product for you; or
iii) if it is agreed that the work is carried out on a fee basis in addition to any commissions payable. However, in some circumstances these commissions may be re-invested or used to enhance the investment and/or products being arranged.
Where we propose to charge a fee, we will notify you in writing before we carry out any chargeable work, explaining how it will be calculated.
Other payments to us
If we receive any other form of benefit from the issuer of an investment or from another intermediary, we will inform you, we will also tell you the amount should you request it.

8. 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 FSA 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.
We may also contact you or pass your details to other companies associated with us to contact you (including by telephone) with details of any other similar products, promotions, or for related marketing purposes in which we think you may be interested.
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 commission or alleged commission 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, or contacting you for marketing purposes, please contact The Data Protection Officer on 0845 3700020 or in writing at Great British Finance, 19 High Street, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 8JE.
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 purposes.
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.

9. CONTACT
Once we have acted upon your instructions we will not normally give you further advice. However, we may review our record of your investments and policies periodically and contact you to suggest that we arrange a review meeting. We will, however, be pleased to advise you at any time should you require further assistance. We like to keep our customers informed of products and services we offer which may be of interest to them, therefore, from time to time we may forward marketing material to you, unless you advise us otherwise in writing.

10. HOW CAN YOU, OR WE, TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT?
You, or we, may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time without penalty. Notice of this termination must be given in writing and sent by first class post. It will be deemed to be received two business days after being posted.
Any business currently being completed will be completed unless we receive your instructions to the contrary.
Any fees outstanding at the date of termination will be due within four weeks of the termination date.

11. LAW
These Terms of Business are governed and shall be construed in accordance with English law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.