Our terms of use
Terms of business letter for mortgage and insurance - our status
The Mortgage Brain is the trading style of Elmco Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA registration number is 445887
Our Relationship
Any advice or recommendation that we offer to you, will be based on your stated objectives, circumstances and take into account any restrictions that you wish to place on the type of products you would be willing to consider.
With very few exceptions, we will confirm to you in writing the basis of our reason for recommending the products arranged on your behalf.
Your stated objectives will be reiterated in the Suitability Letter, which we will issue to you following our recommendation, along with details of any special risks associated with the product recommended. Unless confirmed in writing, to the contrary, we will assume that you do not wish to place any restrictions on the advice we give you.
Full details of the products we may recommend to you including, for example, the minimum duration of the product, information on the right to cancel or whether no right to cancel arises, and any other early termination rights and penalties, will be covered in the relevant product disclosure information you will receive before conclusion of any contract.
Any products we have arranged for you, will not be kept under review but we will advise you upon your request. However, we may contact you in the future by means of an unsolicited promotion should we wish to discuss the relative merits of a particular product or service which we feel may be of interest to you.
The Mortgage Brain is not permitted to handle client money and we cannot accept a cheque made out to us (unless it is in respect of an item for which we have sent you an invoice) or handle cash.
You or we may terminate our relationship at any time without penalty. However, where we have undertaken work on your behalf for which a fee is due, we reserve the right to charge you that fee.
If we agree to work on a fee basis in place of, or together with commission, we will provide you with a separate fee agreement confirming our charges and any related expenses before carrying out any chargeable work. Details for the payment of our fees are confirmed in the fee agreement.
We reserve the right to charge you a fee, without the need for a separate fee agreement, if you subsequently cease to pay premiums in the policy we arrange for you. This could apply for a period of up to four years and will reduce pro rata in line with the commission we are obliged to return to the Product Provider. The maximum amount of the fee will be no more than the amount of commission disclosed in the illustration.
Where, on receipt of instructions from you, a financial report is prepared or work undertaken that does not result in commission being paid, or advice given but no transaction is arranged on your behalf, fees will be costed on a time-spent basis at a rate agreed with you in writing.
Your Protection
Circumstances can arise where we or one of our other customers may have some form of interest in business being transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interest or those of one of our other customers’ 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 most cases you can exercise a right to cancel, by withdrawing from the contract recommended to you. In general terms you will have a 30-day cancellation period for a pure protection policy and a 14-day cancellation period for a general insurance policy. Please note that in most instances you will not be able to exercise a right to cancel a mortgage contract, unless the contract is concluded at a distance (i.e. no face to face advice), at which point you will have a 14-day cancellation period. Additionally, any contracts arranged at your explicit consent (normally referred to an ‘execution only’) do not provide cancellation rights.
The start of the cancellation period will normally begin, for pure protection policies, when you are informed that the contract has been concluded or, if later, when you have received the contractual terms and conditions. In other cases, the cancellation period will begin on the day the contract is concluded or, if later, the day on which you receive the contractual terms and conditions. Instructions for exercising the right to cancel, if applicable, will be contained in the relevant product disclosure information which will be issued to you.
All Policy Documents or Lender’s Offer Documents will be forwarded to you as soon as practicable after we receive them. If there are a number of documents relating to a series of transactions, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.
Mortgage Broker Fees
We do not charge a fee for a mortgage consultation, however there may be a fee for arranging your mortgage. The precise amount depends on your circumstances. However, it will be no more than £495 or 1% of the advance-whichever is greater.