Terms Of Insurance Business

About us

West Pennine Insurance Consultants Ltd of 84 Church Street, Littleborough OL15 8AU is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). We are permitted to [arrange] [advise on] [deal as an agent of insurers] [assist in claims handling] with respect to non-investment insurance policies. You can check these details on the FSA's Register by visiting the FSA's website http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234.

Your duty of disclosure

Your insurance is based upon the information provided to the insurance company and you must ensure that all such information is complete and accurate, and that any facts that may influence the insurer's decision to accept and pay a valid claim are disclosed.

Failure to disclose material information may invalidate your insurance and could mean that part, or all, of a claim may not be paid.

How to cancel

You may have a statutory right to cancel this insurance within a short period. Please refer to your policy summary or your policy document for further details. If you cancel you will receive a pro rata refund of premium from the insurer. We may also keep an amount that reflects our administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the insurance.

If you wish to cancel outside this period you may not receive a pro rata refund of premium. We may also keep an amount that reflects our administrative costs of arranging and cancelling the insurance.

Fees and charges

Please refer to our tariff of administration charges for fees payable under these Terms of Insurance Business. These will apply if you instruct us to carry out a mid-term adjustment, renewal, cancellation, etc. on your behalf.

Complaints

It is our intention to provide a high level of service at all times. However if you have reason to make a complaint about our service you should contact Area Manager at the above address. You may be entitled to refer it subsequently to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Further information is available at http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

How to claim

Please refer to your policy summary or your policy document if you need to notify a claim. You should contact the insurer direct as soon as possible using the contact details provided.

Protecting your information

All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer), except where the disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to administering your insurance, and except where law requires us. The FSA may ask us to provide it with access to our customer records in order that it may carry out a review of our activities.

Some or all of the information you supply to us in connection with your insurance proposal may be passed to other insurance companies for underwriting and claims purposes. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have a right of access to see personal information about you that is held in our records, whether electronically or manually. If you have any queries, please write to the managing director at the above address.

Protecting your money

Prior to your premium being forwarded to the insurer, and for your protection, we either hold your money as an agent of the insurer (in which case your insurance is treated as being paid for), or we hold it in a client bank account on trust for you. We may extend credit to other customers from this account and we may need to transfer your money to another intermediary in some cases. However your money will be protected at all times because of our requirements under the FSA rules. We also reserve the right to retain interest earned on this account.

By accepting these Terms of Insurance Business you are giving your consent for us to operate in this way.

Compensation arrangements

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at http://www.fscs.org.uk/

Tariff of Fees and Charges

Policy Cancellations

All policy cancellations will incur a maximum administration charge of 15% of the total premium originally paid plus £15, (this is subject to a minimum charge of £15.) This is in addition to any other charged imposed by the Underwriters.

INSTALMENT CHARGES
Subject to status you may be able to spread your payments through our own instalment scheme. Any premium being paid by instalments using our short-term credit arrangements will be subject to a charge of 12.5% of the total premium. Payment can also be made in two halves subject to a £10 credit charge. We will give you full details of your payment options when we discuss your insurance in detail.

In the event of any claim all instalments have to be paid up in full.

OTHER CHARGES
In addition to premiums charged by the Insurers we may at our discretion, make the following charges to cover our administrative costs for these specific activities:

Mid term adjustments £16

Motor/commercial vehicle renewals £16

All other renewals £13

Replacement of lost certificates £16 Cancelled or stopped cheques - £20

The charges for Commercial customers will be detailed in your letters if they do not conform to the above.

Please note that all premiums quoted by insurers are rounded up to the nearest pound.

WITHHOLDING DOCUMENTATION
We may keep certain documents such as your insurance policy documents or certificate whilst we are waiting for full payment of premiums or administration charges. In these circumstances we will ensure that you receive full details of insurance cover and will provide you with any documents, which you are required to have by law.