SAFEGUARD INSURANCE SERVICES LIMITED
Registered Office: Safeguard House, 371-375 Bexley Road, Northumberland Heath, Erith, Kent DA8 3EZ

TERMS OF BUSINESS AGREEMENT

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Applying to General Insurance customers

By accepting these Terms of Business, you are giving your consent to the actions described in the following sections. Please read this document carefully.

Safeguard Insurance Services Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our Firm Reference Number is 306226 and this can be verified by visiting the FSA’s website www.fsa.gov,uk/register or by telephone on 0845 606 1234.

Our Service

As an Independent Insurance Broker we act on your behalf when arranging your insurance. As part of our customer services, we administer all correspondence received from both you and your insurances through the year including the checking of proposal forms, policy documents and endorsements as well as negotiating with insurers on your behalf. Ultimate responsibility does however lie with you, the policyholder, to ensure that the documents received meet your requirements. We do not act for every insurance company and therefore cannot guarantee that the cost of your insurance cover will be the cheapest in the market or that the policy wordings will provide the widest cover. We will advise you if the product recommended is not regulated by the FSA.

We will make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs, or advise you if we are unable to place your insurance.

Confidentiality and Data Protection

All personal information about our customers is treated as Private and Confidential and kept secure. We will only use and disclose the information we have about private individuals in the course of arranging and administering their insurance, and will not disclose any information to any other parties without their written consent. We may use information we hold about our customers to provide them with information about other products and services, which we feel may be appropriate to them. If you cancel or lapse your policy we may contact you the following year to provide a quotation. If you do not wish to receive marketing information from us please write to us at the above address. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, private customers have a right to see personal information about them that we hold in our records. If you have any queries or requests in this regard please contact us. We will only take instructions from you or your legal representative to effect or to alter a policy.

Solvency of Insurers

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.

Duty of Disclosure

It is your responsibility to provide complete and accurate information to insurers when you take out an insurance policy, throughout the life of the policy, and when you renew your insurance. It is important that you ensure all statements you make on proposal forms, claim forms and other documents are full and accurate.

Please note that if you fail to disclose any material information to us and your insurers, this could invalidate your insurance cover and could mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid. You should take particular care to check the accuracy of all information you provide. If you are unsure whether or not a fact is ‘material’ please discuss it with us.

Any alteration verbally notified to Safeguard Insurance and not acknowledged by them or your insurance company within 21 days should be confirmed in writing to Safeguard and acknowledgement sought. Please quote the Broker Reference on all correspondence sent. You are advised to keep copies of all letters that you send to us for your own protection.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

If we are unable to meet our financial obligations you may be eligible to receive compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. (www.fscs.org.uk).

Complaints

It is our intention to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. Should we not meet your expectations, please contact Mr Stewart Johns at the address overleaf. We will acknowledge your written complaint in writing, within 5 business days of receipt, advising you of who is dealing with it, and when you may receive a response. We will provide you with a full written response to your complaint within 20 business days of receiving it. If the written response cannot be given to you within 20 business days, we will inform you in writing of the reasons why and when you can expect to receive our final response. Should you not be satisfied with our final response, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 0SR. 0845 080 1800.

Governing Law

This Agreement, which sets out our Terms of Business with you, will be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law.

Fees & Charges

In addition to the amount charged by insurers we also make charges to cover the administration of your insurance.
Safeguard Insurance seeks to offer the best possible cover to clients at the most competitive prices. We will reserve the right to charge for the work involved in setting up, renewing or processing any adjustments for your policy.
This is fairly charged according to the work we undertake on our clients behalf.

Mid Term Cancellations: £50.00 - additionally we will make a deduction to the value of the commission reclaimed, from any return premium owed to you.
Bounced Cheque/Refer to Draw: £25 per cheque

Our charges are non refundable & will apply in addition to any charge your insurer makes.

In the unfortunate event of a claim, any outstanding balance of premium on your account becomes payable immediately.

For certain commercial insurance policies, insurers will only provide cover where the premium is due in full on inception of the policy. This means that no refund will be paid if the policy is cancelled before renewal. We will advise you if this affects you.

Where appropriate, fees may be agreed in advance for Commercial Clients.

Where we arrange low or non-commission paying products, we will charge an arrangement fee not exceeding 100% of the premium, and will advise you of the actual amount at the time of quotation or renewal.

In view of the costs involved in making changes to your policy, we will not issue refunds of less than £25.00.

Payment by Finance Companies

If you chose to pay your insurance using a Finance Company, and default on your payments to them, we will be informed by the Finance Company. If you do not make other arrangements to pay the insurance premiums you acknowledge and agree that we may, at any time after being so informed, instruct on your behalf the relevant insurer to cancel the insurance and to collect any refund of premiums which be made by the insurer and if any money is owed to the Finance Company under your credit agreement pay it to the Finance Company. You will be responsible for paying any time on risk charge and putting in place any alternative insurance and/or payment arrangements you need.

Commercial Declaration

The following Declaration is to be signed by you and returned to us after the issue of the policy documentation but if not so signed the same is binding on you.
“I confirm that I have received the full policy documents and schedule. The policy and schedule are free from any errors or omissions and the terms and conditions have been understood and accepted by myself. I understand that in the event of inaccuracies, false statements or failure to disclose facts material to the insurance, claims may not be paid or the policy voided. I confirm I have read and understood Safeguard’s Terms of Business”.

Handling Client Money

We may receive money as Agent of an insurer and all monies are held in a Non-Statutory Trust bank account. For the purposes of some transactions, client money may pass through other authorised intermediaries before the insurer receives it. Interest will not be paid to customers in respect of money held in a Client Bank Account.

Professional Indemnity

We maintain Professional Indemnity insurance as required by the FSA.

Third Party Rights

Unless otherwise agreed between us, in writing, no term of this Agreement is enforceable under the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. All activities undertaken by us as outlined in this Agreement are provided by us for your exclusive use and all data, recommendations, proposals, reports and other services are for your sole use. You agree not to permit access by any third party to this information without our express written permission.

Advice

We undertake to advise our customers on matters relating to personal and commercial insurance contracts and will do so without charge. This does not extend to legal advice. The advice given never supersedes specific advice provided by insurers in their policy documents and associated literature.

PAYMENT OF PREMIUM IS DUE ON OR BEFORE INCEPTION DATE FOR NEW BUSINESS, PRIOR TO RENEWAL DATE FOR EXISTING BUSINESS AND PRIOR TO ANY AMENDMENT DATES FOR EXISTING BUSINESS.