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TERMS OF BUSINESS

You should carefully read these Terms that apply to our appointment by you and the services we will provide.

Chalkwell Insurance Services Ltd of 745 London Road, Westcliff, SS0 9ST are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our Firm Reference Number (FRN) is 584659 which you can check on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA website www.fca.org.uk or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768. Our permitted business is introducing, advising, arranging, dealing as agent, assisting in the administration and performance of general insurance contracts and credit broking and supplementary debt-related administration in relation to insurance instalment facilities

Accepting our Terms of Business

By asking us to quote for, arrange or handle your insurances, you are providing your informed agreement to these Terms of Business. We draw your particular attention to:
• The section headed ‘The processing of your personal data’, specifically the sub-section titled ‘Credit checks’;
For your own benefit and protection, you should read these terms carefully. If you are unsure about any aspect of our Terms of Business or have any questions regarding our relationship with you, please contact us at the above address.

Our service

Helping you to decide

The capacity in which we act for you

We act as an insurance intermediary, not an insurer. We will usually act on your behalf when arranging your insurances, when helping you make any changes to your policy, when you renew your insurance and in the event of a claim. If there are any circumstances where we act as an agent of the insurer, we will let you know the capacity in which we act before we finalise your insurance arrangements.

Scope of service including our product range and the range of insurers used

We cannot guarantee the solvency of any insurer with which we place business. This means that you may still be liable for any premium due and not be able to recover the premium paid, whether in full or in part, should an insurer become insolvent.

Complaints

It is our intention to provide you with the highest possible level of customer service at all times, however, we recognise that things can go wrong occasionally. If this occurs we are committed to resolving matters promptly and fairly and ask you to contact us on 01702 715171, by email info@chalkwellinsurance.co.uk or in person
Should you not be satisfied with our final response, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). More information is available on request or on their website. www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Access to the FOS is available for complainants coming within one of the following categories at the time we receive their complaint:

• Consumers (private individuals acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft, or profession)
• Businesses employing fewer than 10 persons and with a turnover or annual balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million
• Charities with an annual income of under £1 million
• Trustees of a trust with a net asset value of under £1 million

Further details will be supplied at the time of responding to your complaint.

Payment for our services
We normally receive commission from insurers, product providers and, where applicable, finance providers.

• Any commission we receive will be paid by the insurer or product provider from the insurance premium.
• Any commission we receive from the premium finance provider will be paid from the finance repayment.

We do not charge any additional fees (payable by you) for handling your insurance or arranging premium finance unless we have agreed these with you in advance. Any fees we do charge are set out below
In addition to the amount charged by insurers we also make charges to cover the administration of your insurance. Any applicable insurance premium tax will be shown on the documentation we provide to you.
Where we arrange low or non-commission paying products, we may charge an arrangement fee not exceeding 10 % of the premium and will advise you of the actual amount at the time of quotation or renewal. These fees may be subject to change. Where there are changes, we will confirm this clearly and the actual amount will always be disclosed to you before you commit to purchasing the product.

As an insurance intermediary our remuneration may be as a fee agreed with you or from commission paid to us by insurers based on the amount they charge you. You are entitled, at any time, to request information regarding any commission which we may have received as a result of placing or renewing your insurance cover.
We take any commission once we receive your payment as cleared funds and after payment of the premium to the insurer. We may occasionally receive additional remuneration from certain insurers for insurance policies we place with them, finance providers, claims management services and others. Please ask us should you require further information. Where you choose to pay your premium by instalments, we may use a scheme operated by your insurer, or we may use a single Finance Provider, Premium Credit, and we may receive a commission for introducing you to them. The firm will advise the customer of any commission payable by the lender in relation to a credit agreement where knowledge of the existence or amount of commission could affect the impartiality of the firm in recommending a particular product or have a material impact on the customers transactional decision.

New Business – we do not normally make a charge for arranging a new policy but for certain products we do and will advise you when this is so.

Mid-term adjustments £20.00
Cancellations                  £30.00
Renewals                         £15.00 for premiums up to £499.00
£20.00 for premiums from £500.00 to £999.00
£25.00 for premium over £1000.00
Variable for commercial products
Late payment fee            £20.00
Instalment fee                 £25.00 – for payment in two instalments

You will receive a quotation which will tell you the total price to be paid, and which identifies any fees, taxes and charges separately from the premium, before your insurance arrangements are concluded.

We act as agents of the insurer in collecting premiums and handling refunds due to clients. Such monies are deemed to be held by the insurer(s) with which your insurance is arranged.

Cancellation of insurances – you should make any request for the cancellation of a policy to the contact details included within this Terms of Business, either by letter, email or phone and where requested any relevant certificate of insurance must be returned to us or to the insurer concerned. Cancellation requests will always need to be confirmed in writing.
In the event of cancellation, charges for our services will apply in accordance with the ‘Payment for our services’ se

The terms of your policy may allow insurers to retain the premium in full or to charge short-period premiums in the event of cancellation before the policy expires.
Refunds – where a policy is cancelled before renewal, insurers charge to cover their costs, with the balance refunded to you, subject to no claim having been made. Full details will be available in your policy. In the event of an adjustment giving rise to a return of premium the amount may be refunded or held to credit. If you cancel your policy after the expiry of the cooling off period or if you request a mid-term adjustment which results in a refund of premium, we reserve the right to charge you for our time and costs. This will usually result in us reducing the amount refunded to you by the FULL amount of the commission and fees we would have earned/received. The reason for this is that the majority of our costs are incurred either in initially finding and setting up your policy or in the annual renewal process when we check the ongoing suitability of the cover the policy offers. These costs are recovered through the commission we earn. If you cancel, this does not give us an opportunity to recover the costs we incurred and would often result in us making a loss. However, any charge made will not exceed the cost of the commission and fees we would have earned. In view of the cost involved in making changes to your policy, we will not issue refunds of less than £10.00.

Ending your relationship with us
Subject to your immediate settlement of any outstanding premiums and fees, you may instruct us to stop acting for you and we will not impose a penalty. Your instructions must be given in writing and will take effect from the date of receipt.

In circumstances where we feel we cannot continue providing services to you, we will give you a minimum of 7 days’ notice. Valid reasons may include but are not limited to non-payment of premium or fees, failure to provide requested documentation or information, deliberate misrepresentation or non-disclosure or attempted fraud, use of threatening or abusive behaviour or language, or intimidation or bullying of our staff.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, if our relationship ends, any transactions previously initiated will be completed according to these Terms of Business. You will be liable to pay for any transactions concluded prior to the end of our relationship and we will be entitled to retain commission received for conducting these transactions, together with all fees charged by us for services provided.

Your responsibilities
If you are a consumer, you are responsible for answering any questions in relation to any proposal for insurance cover honestly and to the best of your knowledge, providing complete and accurate information which insurers will require. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of applying for insurance cover. This is particularly important before taking out a policy but also at renewal or if you make a mid-term amendment to your policy.

If you fail to disclose information, or misrepresent any fact which may influence the insurer’s decision to accept the risk or the terms offered, this could invalidate the policy and mean that claims may not be paid.

If you are a commercial customer you have a duty to give a fair presentation of risk to the insurer. This means that you should disclose every material circumstance relevant to the risk being insured following a reasonable search within your business to identify and verify such information. This should include information which you and where applicable your senior management, persons responsible for arranging your insurance or other relevant third parties know or ought to know and should include all information that would influence the judgement of the insurer or that would put the insurer on notice that it needs to make further enquiries.

Examples of material circumstances are:
• Special or unusual circumstances relating to the risk;
• Any particular concerns which led you to seek insurance cover for the risk; and
• Anything which those concerned with the class of insurance and field of activity in question would generally understand as being something that would be dealt with in a fair presentation of risks for this type of insurance.
• The information must be presented in a way which would be reasonably clear and accessible to a prudent insurer. If you are unsure whether to disclose any information you should speak to us. You need to take into account the size & complexity of your business, and allow yourself sufficient time before your renewal date to consider and/or assess your insurance requirements.
• Failure to provide a ‘fair representation’ may result in a number of remedies by the insurer. If the breach was deliberate or reckless the insurer can void the contract and keep the premium. If the breach was not deliberate or reckless the insurer can void the contract, proportionately reduce a claim settlement or amend the insurance policy terms and conditions then review the merits of a claim on this basis.
You should therefore always provide complete and accurate information to us when we ask you about the insurance risks your business faces before taking out a policy, at renewal and throughout the life of the policy. This also applies to your responses in relation to any assumptions you may agree to in the process of

The processing of your personal data
In your dealings with us you may provide us with information that may include data that is known as personal data. Where we process personal data, we comply with statutory data processing requirements as set out by the Data Protection Act 2018. The personal data we will collect will include information relating to your name, address, date of birth , contact details, health and criminal offences.

We will process your personal data to allow us to provide you with our services as your insurance broker in quoting for, arranging and administering your insurances and in arranging insurance premium finance where applicable. Your personal data will also be used to manage future communications between ourselves. Where you have agreed, or in circumstances where to do so will be in our mutual interests, your personal data will be used to provide you with further information about our wider products and services. You can opt out from receiving such communications by e-mailing info@chalkwellinsurance.co.uk. In processing personal data for insurance purposes about health or criminal offences, we will only do so to enable us to provide our service to you and on the basis of it being in the public interest.

We will only use your data for the purpose for which it was collected. We will only grant access to or share your data within our firm or other firms associated with us with other authorised third parties and product and service providers such as insurers and premium finance providers where we are entitled to do so by law under lawful data processing.

The Data Protection Act 2018 provides you with Access Rights that allow you to gain an understanding on the data being processed, who we share it with, for what purpose, why we need to retain it and retention periods, to object to the processing and to place restrictions on the processing, to request copies of your data and to request the deletion of your data.

If you require further information on how we process your data or you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us by emailing info@chalkwellinsurance.co.uk or by writing to us or by calling 01702 715171 How we process your personal data is detailed further within our Privacy Notice.

Credit checks
We, and other firms involved in arranging your insurance, insurers, other intermediaries or premium finance companies, may use public and personal data from a variety of sources including credit reference agencies and other organisations. The information is used to help tailor a price, to ascertain the most appropriate payment options for you and to help prevent fraud. Any credit reference search will appear on your credit report whether or not your application proceeds. If you have any questions about this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Communications/Documentation


We will issue all documentation to you in a timely manner. Documentation relating to your insurance will confirm the basis of the cover and provide details of the relevant insurers. It is therefore important that the documentation is kept in a safe place, as you may need to refer to it or need it to make a claim. A new policy/policy booklet is not necessarily provided each year, although a duplicate can be provided at any time upon request. You should always check the documentation to ensure all the details are correct and if this is not the case you should contact us immediately.

Notification of Incidents/Claims


It is essential to notify us immediately of all incidents that may result in a claim against your insurance policy. You must do so whether you believe you are liable or not. Any letter or claim received by you must be passed to us immediately, without acknowledgement. Only by providing prompt notification of incidents can your insurance company take steps to protect your interests. Your policy summary and/or policy document will provide you with details on who to contact to make a claim.
Please contact us for guidance on claiming under your policy.

Financial Crime


Please be aware that current UK money laundering regulations require us to obtain adequate ‘Know Your Client’ information about you. We are also required to cross check you against the HM Financial Sanctions List as part of the information gathering process.
We are obliged to report to the National Crime Agency any evidence or suspicion of financial crime at the first opportunity and we are prohibited from disclosing any such report.
We will not permit our employees or other persons engaged by them to be either influenced or influence others in respect of undue payments or privileges from or to insurers or clients.

General


If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions of these Terms and the remainder of the provision in question will not be affected. These Terms shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales or Scotland and the parties agree herewith that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant court. These Terms supersede all proposals, prior discussions and representations (whether oral or written) between us relating to our appointment as your agent in connection with the arranging and administration of your insurance. These Terms constitute an offer by us to act on your behalf in the arranging and administration of your insurance. In the absence of any specific acceptance communicated to us by you (whether verbal or written) you are deemed to accept our offer to act for you on the basis of these Terms, by conduct, upon your instructing us to arrange, renew or otherwise act for you in connection with insurance matters.