terms of business

Authorised Status:

C & G Financial Service t/a Homeloans is authorised by the Financial Regulator. A copy of the company’s Authorised Status is contained in these Terms of Business.  Our IFSRA registration number is A001734/06.  Our CRO registered number is 308163.

Homeloans is a member of The Independent Mortgage Advisors Federation and the Professional Insurance Brokers Association.


Contact Information:

Ashbourne
13 Main Street,
Ashbourne,
Co Meath,
Ireland

++ 353 1 835 3232
++ 353 1 835 3304

Swords
52 Main Street
Swords,
Co, Dublin,
Ireland

++ 353 1 840 8081
++ 353 1 840 8094

Services:

Homeloans offer advice in relation to domestic, commercial and residential investment mortgages, home and property insurance and also in relation to life assurance products (term cover, serious illness, pensions, savings  & investments) and transmit orders on clients behalf to any of the insurance undertakings, lenders or product producers from whom the Company hold letters of appointment.  A list of all such entities is contained elsewhere in these Terms of Business.


Remuneration Policy:

General Branch
Homeloans, in respect of property and home insurance do not charge any fees.

Life Assurance & Investment Business
Homeloans, in the case of life assurance / investments contracts where the firm is not in receipt of commission, will charge a service fee, agreed with clients, depending on complexity the transaction, time spent and nature and extent of the transaction

Mortgage Business
Homeloans is in receipt of mortgage commissions from lenders at a rate of up to 1% of the value of the amount borrowed. A list of lenders whom Homeloans hold agencies with is listed in this document.


Conflict of Interest:

It is the policy of Homeloans to avoid conflict of interest when providing services to clients.  Where an unavoidable conflict arises we will advise you of this in writing before providing any business service.  If you have not been of any such conflict you may assume that none arises. 

Homeloans may be receipt of soft commissions from the following insurance undertakings and Mortgage Lenders - list any company from which soft commissions are received


Complaints Procedure:

Homeloans has in place a written procedure for the handling of complaints.  This procedure ensures that all complaints are recorded and acknowledged within 5 days.  All complaints are fully investigated and the complainant updated (if relevant) at 20 day intervals.  A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.

All complaints should be directed to Martin Gavin, The Complaints Officer, Unit 3, The Mall, Walkinstown, Dublin 12.

In the event that a client remains dissatisfied with the handling of and / or response to a complaint they may refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman, Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau, Regus House, Harcourt Centre, Harcourt Road, Dublin2.  Phone: 1890 88 20 90.


Consumer Protection:

Homeloans is a member of the Investor Compensation Scheme established under the Investor Compensation Act 1998.  The legislation provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and to the payment in certain circumstances, of compensation to clients of firms covered by the Act.  However you should also be aware that a right to compensation would only arise where money or investment instruments held by this Company on your behalf cannot be returned either for the time being or for the foreseeable future and where the client falls within the definition of eligible investor as contained in the Act.  In the event that a right to compensation is established, the amount payable is the lesser of 90% of the clients loss, which is recognised as being eligible for compensation or €20,000.


Money Laundering

Client Identification
As with other professional services firms, we are under stringent requirements to identify our clients for the purposes of the anti-money laundering legislation. We are likely to request from you, and retain, some information and documentation for these purposes and/or to make searches of appropriate databases. If satisfactory evidence of your identify is not provided within a reasonable time, there may be circumstances in which we are not able to proceed with your business transaction.


Money Laundering Reporting
The provision of investment services is regulated under the Criminal Justice Act 1994 (Section 32(2)) Regulations 2003 and, as such, directors and staff in Investment and Mortgage Intermediary firms are required to report all knowledge or suspicion, or reasonable grounds to know or suspect, that a criminal offence giving rise to any direct or indirect benefit from criminal conduct has been committed, regardless of whether that offence has been committed by a client or by a third party. If as part of our normal work we have knowledge or suspicion, or have reasonable grounds to know or suspect, that such offences have been committed we are required to make a report to the Gardaí and the Revenue Commissioners. In such circumstances it is not our practice to discuss such reports with you because of the restrictions imposed by the tipping off provisions of the anti-money laundering legislation.


Client’s Money:

Homeloans will not accept direct payments of any form. All payments must be addressed to the relevant insurer or be made by means of a direct debit. Payments must represent premium in respect of either a renewal of a policy, which has been invited by an insurance undertaking or product producer or a proposal accepted by an insurance undertaking or product producer.


Credit Policy:

We regret that credit cannot be extended to clients in respect of premiums, initial, renewal or additional.  Initial or first premiums must be paid at inception of cover directly to the insurer and renewal premiums before the policy renewal date otherwise the Company will advise the insurance undertaking or product producer involved and cover will be cancelled. Your individual policy document will contain details of default remedies and actions of the particular insurance undertaking in the event of your non-payment. On receiving your policy document you should read the terms and conditions of your policy in detail.


Products entered into on a Distance Basis:

We confirm that there are no additional charges imposed by C & G Financial Services t/a Homeloans for products conducted on a distance basis (ie without meeting our client face to face).

We hereby enclose practical instructions for exercising the right to cancel the contract (applies to life assurance contracts only).  Cancellation should be sent in writing, signed by the policy owner (or joint owners if more than one) to the relevant insurance company.  No particular format is required other than a clear instruction to cancel. 

Life policies arranged through our office are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ireland (unless specifically noted to the contrary in the Product Providers Key Document and/or Customer Booklet), and the Irish Courts and Law will be used to determine any matters which may become the subject of a legal dispute.

The terms and conditions of all the products we arrange will be provided in the English language. C & G Financial Services t/a Homeloans will communicate with you in the English language at all times.

If you are making a complaint regarding a life insurance product and are unhappy with the outcome after the relevant life assurance company has processed your complaint, you may write to Financial Services Ombudsman, Regus House, Harcourt Centre, Harcourt Road, Dublin2.


Receipts:

Homeloans will issue receipts for each payment received pursuant to Section 30 of the Investment Intermediaries Act 1995 and should be retained in a safe place.


Data Protection:

You may have entitlements under the Data Protection Act to inspect all personal information held on file by Homeloans upon request and to require Homeloans to correct any errors of fact that may exist. Any requests should be forwarded to the Compliance Officer: Rachel Farrell, Homeloans, Unit 3, The Mall, Walkinstown Road, Dublin 12.


Insurance Undertakings / Lenders

The following are a list of insurance undertakings and product producers from which letters of appointment are held.


Life Assurance Undertakings

• Irish Life Assurance plc
• Friends First Assurance Company of Ireland Limited
• Eagle Star Life Assurance Company of Ireland Limited
• Hibernian Life and Pensions Limited
• Canada Life
• Caledonian Life
• New Ireland Assurance Company

Non Life Assurance Undertakings

• Hibernian General Insurance
• Allianz General Insurance

Lenders

• Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Ltd
• First Active plc
• IIB Homeloans Ltd
• IFG Investment and Mortgage Services Ltd
• EBS Building Society
• Ulster Bank Ireland Ltd
• AIB Finance Ltd
• ICS Building Society
• Irish Life and Permanent plc
• Start Mortgages Ltd
• GE Money
• Seniors Finance Ireland Ltd
• Leeds Building Society