HOW WE CAN HELP YOU
Please take some time to read through this and ask us to explain anything that isn’t clear.
Once your application is proceeding, we will:
- Appoint one of our experienced consultants to manage your application for you
- Clearly communicate the process and what is required from you
- Update you, via whatever medium you prefer
- Regularly contact the lender to ensure that your application is being progressed, and
- Liaise with all parties including the lender, solicitors and estate agents to ensure all issues are dealt with
OUR TERMS OF BUSINESS
Our Head Office is:
Ground Floor, 3 Victory Park, Fulcrum, Solent Way, Solent Business Park, Whiteley, PO15 7FN
1. Financial Services Act
Following an initial consultation with you we will outline our services based on how they apply to your individual needs. Our initial consultation will always be free and there is no obligation to proceed with a recommendation. Our Combined Initial Disclosure Document (CIDD) will highlight our services and any associated costs following our initial consultation. The CIDD document should be read in conjunction with these Terms of Business and 'Our Commitment To You', which will be issued alongside the CIDD by your Mortgage Consultant. Our internal auditing procedures include monitoring and compliance with Financial Conduct Authority guidelines.
2. Authorisation
We are directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Residential mortgages have been regulated by the FCA since 1st April 2013. General Insurance has been regulated by the FCA from the same date. Buy-to-Let and commercial mortgages are not regulated by the FCA (under certain conditions a Buy-to-Let mortgage may be regulated, and we will advise you if this applies to your application).
3. Fees
Our fees our laid out in the CIDD and Our Commitment To You, which will be sent to you by your Mortgage Consultant following your initial obligation-free consultation. Our fee is usually payable on full application for a mortgage, with a fee applicable per application. Depending on your individual needs and the complexity of these, we may charge a smaller initial fee for a decision in principle if there is a lot of work involved for us, followed by a larger fee on mortgage completion. An example of where an initial fee may be charged is if you have bad credit history. Our CIDD will tell you how much is payable and at what stage in the process. Our fee is payable when you wish to proceed with the recommendation made by your Cleerly Mortgage Consultant. This will follow a full assessment by your Mortgage Consultant that the mortgage product is suitable for your needs, which will be before any application is made and before you are liable for any fees. In circumstances where a suitable mortgage offer is not produced as a result of our recommendation, then the fee is fully refundable. Our fee refund conditions are laid out explicitly in Our Commitment To You. Please ask us for details of any fees that may be applicable to you following your initial consultation, including refund conditions, if this is not clear.
4. Advice
We will provide you with an explanation of the main repayment methods (e.g. capital and interest or interest only), but, if you select a repayment option that includes an investment product that is regulated by the FCA, we will recommend you seek advice from an appropriately authorised Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). Details of an IFA near you can be obtained from www.unbiased.co.uk or by calling 0800 085 3250.
During the initial meeting(s), we will complete a Fact Find to enable appropriate advice to be given on your mortgage and other related insurance products. Once we have made our recommendations to you, we will confirm our advice in writing. You should retain this confirmation as a record of the advice given. Details of any products applied for will be confirmed by the mortgage lender or insurer in a formal Mortgage Offer or Insurance Acceptance Terms. It is your responsibility to check that the formal offer and/or acceptance terms are correct before you exchange contracts.
5. Lenders & Insurers
We constantly review the mortgage and insurance markets in order to select the most appropriate providers to meet your individual circumstances. We use lenders who consistently provide our customers with a competitive product range and high standards of service; however, the standards of service can vary over time. Cleerly is not liable for any delays incurred in the processing of your mortgage and/or insurance application that are caused by the product provider. However, we will actively work to assist the smooth processing of your application.
6. Other services
Cleerly works very closely with a select panel of conveyancers that we can recommend to you. The mortgage recommended to you may offer the option of free or subsidised conveyancing (whether appointed by you or your proposed new mortgage provider); in both cases you are responsible for checking the appointment of the conveyancer and on-going progress of the legal work.
7. Written instructions
We require our clients to give us instructions in writing to avoid possible disputes. If the matter is urgent, we will accept oral instructions provided they are confirmed in writing.
8. Termination
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.
9. Variation
No variation of this agreement will be valid unless confirmed in writing by one of the Directors of Cleerly Limited.
10. Documents & Record-keeping
We will forward documents to you as soon as practicable after we receive them. Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, we will normally hold the documents until the series is complete and then forward them to you.
We keep records of all our business transactions for a minimum of seven years. You (or your agent) may inspect contract notes, vouchers and entries in books (whether kept manually or electronically). We treat all our clients’ records as confidential (even when you are no longer a client), so we reserve the right to give you copies of your particular records rather than allowing access to files containing records about other clients. You have rights of access under GDPR to your personal records.
11. Sharing information
As your mortgage broker, we reserve the right to discuss your personal circumstances with any lender in order to determine the most appropriate product for your needs. We, or the lender, may undertake a credit check upon receipt of your mortgage application, or, in some cases, before an application is submitted, to enable the preparation of an “Agreement in Principle”. We will seek your permission before this credit check is undertaken. This check may be registered as part of your credit record. The lender may also supply information to a Credit Reference Agency regarding the way your account is managed.
12. Professional Indemnity Insurance
We maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance.
13. Financial crime
We are required to verify your identity in accordance with Anti-Money Laundering regulations. No mortgage offer or insurance acceptance terms will be produced until such verification has been obtained. We will also seek to verify the sources of deposits and large movements as evidenced in bank statement transactions or in other written financial records. This is for the purpose of the prevention of financial crime and forms part of our regulatory responsibility.
14. Data Protection
From time to time, we’ll tell you about new services from the Group companies. You can choose not to receive this information when you engage with us during the arrangement of your mortgage. We may also want to provide you with related information from third parties that we think may be of interest to you or whose products or services may be of interest to you.
You can change your instructions at any time by writing to:
The Data Protection Officer (Compliance Dept), Ground Floor, 3 Victory Park, Fulcrum, Solent Way, Solent Business Park, Whiteley, Hampshire, PO15 7FN.
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 and 2018, the Data Controller in relation to any personal data you supply is Cleerly Limited.
If you email us, we will keep a record of your contact and your email address. In addition to specific services that you request, we may also contact you with details of relevant products and services, as well as information about the Company. If you do not want us to do this please let us know by emailing unsubscribe@cleerly.co.uk. For further information on the marketing communications, we may send to you, please review our privacy policy.