This document discusses the general terms and conditions of the service offered via the Best UK Equity Release website.
Platinum Financial Consulting LTD is a financial services company. We offer a wide range of products and services via bespoke websites. We run a range of websites focused on providing information on specific financial products. These terms and conditions relate exclusively to the products and services featured on our Best-UK-Equity-Release.co.uk website.
Platinum Financial Consulting LTD is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can check this on the FCA’s Register by visiting the FCA’s website www.fca.org.uk/register FS No. 827778 or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768. We use the trading style Best UK Equity Release.
Platinum Financial Consulting LTD administration offices are located at The Old School House, East End Road, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, CM0 7PY and can be contacted on 020 33 55 4837. We do not directly sell Equity Release products to customers in the UK. Customers must receive personal advice and recommendation from a fully qualified Equity Release adviser, who will recommend a product they believe is suitable to the customers need.
All the advisers we use are authorised and regulated by the FCA and hold a specialist industry recognised Equity Release qualification. They are also members of the Equity Release Council and will abide by The Equity Release Council Code of Conduct.
The Financial Conduct Authority regulates the financial services industry in the UK and their address is 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HS.
Each client with whom the firm does business is categorised to identify the level of regulatory protection. We propose to classify you as a ‘Retail Client’ for Investment purposes. This is a pre-defined term of the Financial Conduct Authority which recognises you as a private individual as opposed to a business or other organisation.
We will communicate with you in English both verbally and written for the sending and reception of orders and information.
Our website will provide general information and quotes on Equity Release. Any quote obtained is for information purposes only and is neither product nor provider specific. We do not ask for any information about your wider financial circumstances but just focus on the product or service you requested. Nothing on the website is intended to be personal financial advice and recommendation and cannot be inferred as such.
Our telephone support team will answer general questions about Equity Release but they will not make any assessment about personal suitability. The telephone support service is provided without advice.
Our customers can only buy an Equity Release product using our process after they have received advice from a fully qualified and regulated equity release adviser. Customers can request advice using our on line form or via our telephone support service. Advice can either take place via a telephone interview or at a face to face meeting. The customer will chose which method they prefer.
The adviser and their firm will be responsible for providing the customer with all necessary regulated documentation. This includes (not exclusively) the advisers terms and conditions and the term and conditions of the provider, Key Features documents, initial disclosure, quotes, suitability reports. These are the documents on which the customer must rely.
With very few exceptions, the adviser will confirm to you in writing the key features of the product arranged on your behalf.
Please note that equity release products available and providers’ general Terms and Conditions are subject to frequent change. Any information we provide is based on present legislation which may change, as well as our understanding of current tax law and practice.
It is important that you explore alternatives to using equity release and to assess whether your goals can be achieved via alternative methods. Your adviser should help with this. We also strongly recommend that you discuss your plans with your immediate family, or anybody who would believe they have a financial interest in your home. We cannot be liable for any subsequent issues arising where you, or an interested party, form the opinion that equity release was an inappropriate course of action.
Equity release is a mortgage loan secured against your home. Equity release contracts will have many guarantees and safeguards built in to protect the customer. The customer has the obligation to maintain the home in a good state of repair. If you fail to adequately maintain the home then you could forfeit some of the guarantees contained in your contract. It is your responsibility to read and ensure you fully understand the terms and conditions of any equity release contract you are offered before applying for the product.
If you have not previously done so, any equity release loan will have to be repaid either on the death of the last person named on the equity release mortgage, or if they should previously be taken into long term care. In order to repay the loan the mortgaged property may need to be sold. It may not be possible to leave the property in your will, or pass it to your children or family. You should make your immediate family aware of this before any equity release mortgage completes.
Neither the customer nor Platinum Financial Consulting LTD can be responsible for delays with the Royal Mail or problems with other entities that are not under their direct control.
We will act honestly, fairly and professionally, known as conducting business in ‘Client's best interest’ regulations. Occasionally situations may arise where we or one of our other clients have some form of interest in business transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interest, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.
In accordance with the rules of our regulator, The Financial Conduct Authority, we are prohibited from accepting any payment (commission or other non-monetary benefits) which is likely to conflict with the duty of the firm to its clients.
Your adviser will inform you of your statutory right to cancel. The Distance Marketing Directive normally grants you 30 days in which you may cancel a life or pension contract. The Distance Marketing Directive may not apply depending on how you have interacted with your adviser. As an equity release mortgage goes through a legal process known as conveyancing, which will also require your property to be valued, there is typically a period of several weeks between the date when you first applied for the product and the date you accepted the equity release providers offer. You can cancel at any time during this period, although you may not receive reimbursement of any fees you have paid.
The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”). By applying to us to assist you with your retirement options, you consent to us, or any company associated with us, processing, both manually and by electronic means, your personal data for the purposes of the administration and management of your pension contract.
“Processing” includes obtaining, recording or holding information or data, transferring it to other companies associated with us, product providers, the FCA 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.
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 committing or alleged committing 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 020 33 55 4837 or in writing at The Old School House, East End Road, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, CM0 7PY.
You may be assured that we will treat all personal data and sensitive personal data as confidential and will not process it other than for 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.
This client agreement is governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving seven days notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. Any transactions effected before termination and a due proportion of any period charges for services shall be settled to that date.
By applying for any service featured on the Best UK Equity Release website, it is agreed that you have read the above terms and fully consent to the terms imposed and authorise the transfer of information, on a confidential basis when warranted between any such third parties. You acknowledge that these Terms of Business come into effect from the date you first make contact with us.
Platinum Financial Consulting is committed to ensuring that our dealings with our customers are transparent, fair and professional. If you feel any part of our service falls short of these standards please contact us immediately.
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