By accepting these Terms of Business, you are giving your consent
to the actions described in the following sections. Please read this
document carefully
Cumbria Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by
the Financial Services Authority. Our Firm Reference Number (FRN)
is 304323. You can check this on the FSA register by visiting the
FSA's website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or telephone the FSA on 0845
606 1234.
Our Service
We offer a wide range of insurance products and have access to leading
insurers in the marketplace. For some types of insurance we deal
predominately with a single or limited number of insurers which we
have selected as offering value for money and quality service.
We will give you details of these arrangements before you make any
commitment on any product we offer you and a list of the insurers
used in these cases, will be available on request.
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 information about you will be treated as private and confidential
and kept secure. We will only use and disclose the information we
have about you in the normal course of arranging and administering
your insurance. We may pass information about you which may include
details of your payment record to credit reference agencies for the
purposes of arranging payments by instalments. As a member of the
Broker Network Ltd, the products and services we can offer may be
enhanced. We may pass information about you to the Broker Network
Ltd as part of our required management procedures.
We may also use the information we hold about you to provide you
with information on other products and services we can offer which
we feel may be appropriate to you. 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, or for
us to disclose information about you to other parties for marketing
purposes please write to us at the above address. Under the Data
Protection Act 1998 you have rights of access to any personal information
we hold about you in our records. If you have any queries or requests
in this regard please contact us.
At your request we may provide information to your personal representative.
We will however only do this on completion of our Data Protection
Authorisation Form, details of which can be obtained from us.
Your Duty to Disclose Information
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.
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.
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 of 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.
Claims payment will be made in favour of you. If you require a payment
to be made to a third party then you must confirm the required payee
name and details and provide a brief explanation for your request.
Please contact us for guidance on claiming under your policy.
Cancellation
Your policy document will detail your rights to cancel your insurance
once you have taken it out. Depending on the type of policy you have
purchased, you may be entitled to cancel within 14 or 30 days of
either conclusion of the contract or receiving your policy documentation,
whichever occurs later.<
Where you cancel a policy before renewal you will be responsible
for paying a charge to meet the cost of cover provided and administration
expenses. Please see the Charges section.
To enable your insurer to process the cancellation, you will need
to return certificates and any official documents to our office within
30 days of your notice to cancel.
Complaints
It is our intention to provide you with the highest possible level
of customer service at all times. Should we not meet your expectations,
we have a complaints procedure, which is explained below.
Should you wish to complain you may do so:
• In writing to the Complaints Manager Paul Bradbury
• By telephone on 01228 531071
• By Fax on [01228 810248
• By e-mail at cumbria@cumbriainsurance.co.uk
• In person by visiting our office (see above for address)
Should you not be satisfied with our final response, you may be entitled
to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Further details will be supplied at the time of responding to your
complaint.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and
you may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot
meet our obligations.
Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available
from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme at (http://www.fscs.org.uk).
Charges
In addition to the amount charged by insurers we also make charges
to cover the administration of your insurance.
Renewal of Policies Nil
Other than travel and caravan £7.50
Mid-term changes £10
Mid-term cancellation £10
Duplicate certificates £10
Returned Cheques £30
Credit Card Payments £5
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 insurance brokers we earn our income predominantly 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 may occasionally receive additional remuneration from certain
insurers for insurance policies we place with them. Please ask us
should you require further information
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.
Insurers reclaim commission paid to us when you cancel a policy before
renewal or where there is a mid-term alteration to your policy which
results in a refund of premium. The amount reclaimed is based on
the number of days until the planned renewal date. As a consequence,
we will make a deduction to the value of the commission reclaimed,
from any return premium owing to you.
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.
In view of the cost involved in making changes to your policy, we
will not issue refunds of less than £5
Terms of Payment
Our payment terms are as follows (unless specifically agreed by us
in writing to the contrary):
• New policies: immediate payment on or before the inception
date of the policy
• Alterations to existing policies: immediate payment on or
before the effective date of the change
• Renewals: due in full before the renewal date
If payment is not received from you in accordance with the above
terms, we, or your insurer may be forced to cancel or lapse the relevant
policy/policies, which could mean that part or all of a claim may
not be paid.
When renewal is invited and the policy is paid by monthly direct
debit, we will issue a notice to you. To ensure you are not left
without cover, the absence of a response to this notice will be deemed
as your consent to cover being renewed automatically.
If any direct debit or other payment due in respect of any credit
agreement you enter into to pay insurance premiums is not met when
presented for payment or if you end the credit agreement we will
be informed of such events by the credit provider.
If you do not make other arrangements with us 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
may be made by the insurer and if any money is owed under your credit
agreement pay it to the credit provider or if we have already been
debited with the amount outstanding use it to offset our costs.
You will be responsible for paying any time on risk charge and putting
in place any alternative insurance and/or payment arrangements you
need.
Unless we advise otherwise, any payment we receive from you will
be held on behalf of the insurer with whom we arrange your policy,
as their agent. This means that any payment you make to us will be
regarded as having been paid to the insurer.
On occasions when we do not act as the insurer’s agent for
the receipt of premium payments, your payments will be segregated
into a statutory trust client bank account and held by us as trustees
on your behalf. The rules governing such trusts prevent us from making
payments on your behalf unless we hold cleared funds from you. Please
make all cheques payable to Cumbria Insurance Brokers Limited.
We may pass the money you pay us to another intermediary. We will
only do this where it is a necessary part of the process of arranging
cover for you. Where this includes intermediaries outside the UK,
the legal and regulatory regime may be different from that of the
UK. In the event of the intermediary failing money may be treated
differently than if it was held by an intermediary in the UK. You
may notify us if you do not wish your money to be passed to a person
in a particular jurisdiction
No interest will be payable to customers in respect of the client
account. Any interest earned will remain in the ownership of Cumbria
Insurance Brokers Ltd.
General
If any provision of these terms of business is found to be invalid
or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions
of these terms of business and the remainder of the provision in
question will not be affected.
These terms of business shall be governed by the laws of England,
Wales or Scotland and the parties agree herewith that any dispute
arising out of it shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction
of the relevant court.
