Introduction

Your mortgage is likely to be the largest financial commitment you will ever enter into, therefore, understanding how your mortgage works is essential to prudent money management.

Independence

We constantly review the whole mortgage market in order to select the appropriate lender and mortgage product to meet your individual circumstances and needs and we will therefore be acting on your behalf.

How we will operate

During our initial meeting, we will be completing a detailed mortgage questionnaire to enable appropriate advice to be given to you on your mortgage requirements.

We will also provide you with information relevant to your mortgage needs, covering such items as an explanation of the main repayment methods and the implications of taking out a mortgage.

Once we have made our recommendations to you, we will confirm our advice in writing. You should keep this as it will be an important record of our discussions. Details of the loan will also be confirmed in your lender's formal offer.

Fees and Charges

We may receive fees from lenders with whom we place mortgages. Before you take out a mortgage, we will tell you the amount of the fee in writing. Berriman Financial Services Ltd will charge a £250 non-refundable administration fee.

Confidentiality

We will treat all your personal information as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer) except where we are required by Law or where disclosure is made at your request or with your consent in relation to arranging your mortgage. You have the right of access under the Data Protection Act 1998 to your personal records held on our file.

You, or we, may terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time, without penalty. Notice of this termination must be given in writing. Please note that neither party can effect a termination under any circumstances after a formal offer of the amount applied for has been made on a mortgage/loan.

WE ARE NOT AUTHORISED TO HANDLE CLIENTS' MONEY.

All investments will be registered in the name of the client, unless otherwise instructed in writing. We will forward to you all documents showing ownership of your investments as soon as is practicable after we receive them; where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions is involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.

Cheques should be made payable to the insurer or investment management group and not to ourselves except any fee payable to us which is agreed with you.

Where we are arranging a life assurance policy to be used as protection for your loan, we confirm that our normal broking fee of 1.5% of the loan amount will be waived providing such policy is kept in force for a minimum period of three years, by which time we would have been paid our commission. Should you not proceed with this policy or cancel it within this period, we do reserve the right to charge you the above fee.

Where a loan is on a repayment or interest only basis our normal arrangement fee will apply, unless superseded by a separate fee agreement and accepted in writing by you. Should we make financial arrangements on your behalf and you subsequently decide to deal direct with the lender(s) concerned our fee as shown above will become immediately payable when an offer of mortgage is given to you.

Where we are arranging policies other than that associated with a mortgage, as this company receives commission direct from the insurance companies, we retain that commission and therefore make no charge to clients whatsoever for our advice and services in this respect. No fee will be charged where the client does not proceed or cancels their policy and exercises their right under cancellation rules. If we receive commission from the issuer of a security or from another intermediary, we will inform you. Details of this commission will be advised to you direct by the insurance company concerned.

We keep records of all of our business transactions for seven years. You may inspect the file we keep on your behalf at any time and we confirm that this company carries professional indemnity insurance.

If you should have any complaint about the advice you receive or a product, which you buy through our agency, please write to the Compliance Officer B.F.S. Ltd, B.F.S House, The Green, Horsmonden, Kent. TN12 8JS. Telephone 01892 724379. Your complaint will be reviewed by the most senior officer in the Company, according to our internal procedures, a copy of which will be sent you if you should complain, or if you should request a copy.

If you were to remain dissatisfied at the conclusion of our review, you would have the right to refer direct to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose address would already have been notified to you.

If you make a valid claim against us in respect of the investments we transact for you, or of any advice we provide to you, and we are unable to meet our liabilities in full, you may be entitled to redress from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; details of the cover provided are given in a leaflet which we will send you upon request or which you can obtain from the FSA or the Scheme itself.

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