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Financial Conduct Authority
Is an independent watchdog that regulates the financial services. It requires us to give you this document. Use this information to decide if our services are right for you.

Advance Schemes Limited
Is an independent intermediary and accepts responsibility for the advice given and for arranging & administering your insurance and introducing to a finance provider.

Whose products do we offer?
We offer a wide range of Personal & Commercial insurance products & have access to a wide range of insurers & finance providers in the market place, although there are times when we use a select panel of insurers or a sole provider. A list can be provided on request.

Which service will we provide you with?
We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs for Personal or Commercial insurance and finance. We are able to discuss your needs and establish a product suited to your demands. In certain circumstances we might use the services of another intermediary to place your insurance and in these circumstances we will advise you of this.

Who regulates us?
Advance Schemes Limited of 2 K D Plaza, Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1AX is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA Firm reference number is 821614. Our permitted business is to arrange, advise on, deal as an agent of insurers, assist in claims handling, help with ongoing changes, introduce to an insurer/premium finance provider(s) for Personal & Commercial insurance. You can check this on the Financial Services register by visiting https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0300 500 8082.

Ownership
Advance Schemes Limited’s directors are Brian & Jonathan Collis There is no ownership between ourselves and any insurer.

Financial Services Compensation scheme (FSCS)
We do not guarantee the solvency of any insurer we place business with. We are covered by the FSCS for insurance mediation only; this does not extend to consumer credit lending i.e. credit broking or lending. The FSCS is the UK’s compensation scheme of last resort for clients of authorised financial services firms. You may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and circumstances of claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim with no upper limit, although compulsory insurance is protected in full. Further details regarding the FSCS can be obtained from its website www.fscs.org.uk

Disclosure (Your duty to us)
You have a duty to take reasonable care to provide complete, accurate and honest answers to the questions we ask when you take out, make changes to, and renew your policy. Please also tell us if there are any changes to the information set out in the Proposal Form/Statement of Fact, certificate of insurance (if applicable) or on your schedule. If any of the information provided by you changes after you purchase or renew your policy and during the period of your policy please provide us with details.
If any of the information provided by you is not complete and accurate your insurer; may cancel your policy and treat it as if it never existed, or may refuse to pay any claim, or may not pay any claim in full, or may revise the premium and/or change the compulsory excess, or the extent of the cover may be affected. Any relevant changes in circumstances or in the risk must be notified to ourselves immediately they occur and cover may be invalid until the insurer has accepted changes.
For motor policies, it is an offence under the Road Traffic Acts to provide incomplete or inaccurate information to the questions asked in your application for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of motor insurance. Insurers recommend you keep a record (including copies of letters) of all information provided to them or us for your future reference. A copy of the completed application form (if applicable) can be supplied on request.

Commercial Clients Duty of Fair Presentation
It is your responsibility, throughout the lifetime of a policy and at renewal, to provide us and your insurers with a fair presentation of your risk including complete and accurate information. You should check details on any forms that have been completed on your behalf to ensure they are correct. All material facts should be disclosed, relating to the insurance cover we arrange for you. Material facts are those which are likely to affect both the assessment and acceptance of risks being insured. If you are unsure whether a fact is material, you should disclose it. Failure to provide full and accurate information may invalidate your cover, thus any future claim may be declined. If you are in any doubt as to what may constitute a material fact then please don’t hesitate to ask us.

Accuracy
The onus is upon clients to ensure that information supplied to us is accurate, and we cannot accept responsibility in the event that such information is inaccurate. Clients should, wherever possible, give instructions to us in person, as they will be responsible for the consequences of instructions given on their behalf and clients must check that the information which has been given to us is accurate and read any Proposal Forms or Statement of Facts before signing it. We do not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions on the Proposal Form or Statement of Facts, whether or not a member of staff has completed or assisted in completing the form.

Mid Term Cancellation by Client
You have certain rights of cancellation and these are shown in the insurer’s policy details document. Policies vary between insurers but be aware that cancellation refunds are not given after a claim and are often calculated on a short period scale weighted in favour of the insurers as their costs are similar whether a policy has run for one day or for one year. Also please be aware that we do not refund commission or fees since these are earned for arranging the policy, and we apply a £25 cancellation charge. Return premiums less than £25.00 will not be refunded. For some insurance contracts insurers do not provide refunds for cancellation of cover. We will advise you of this if it affects you. We require you to send us written and signed instructions if you wish to cancel.

Cooling Off Period
Your policy document details your full rights to cancel your insurance. A personal policy that lasts for more than one calendar month offers you the facility to cancel the cover (providing there have been no claims) within 14 days from the policy start date or the date you receive the full policy documentation from us or your insurers, whichever occurs later. You will be entitled to a refund of premium less our £50 charge and any charge by your insurer for the time your insurance cover was in place.

Mid Term Cancellation by Us
It may become necessary for us to cancel a policy, e.g. due to non-payment, undisclosed material facts, etc. In the event that we wish to cancel the policy we will write to you (at your last known address) by Recorded Delivery/Signed For, giving you 7 days notice of the cancellation. Please be aware that we do not refund commission or fees since these are earned for arranging the policy, and we apply a £25 cancellation charge. Return premiums less than £25.00 will not be refunded. For some insurance contracts insurers do not provide refunds for cancellation of cover. We will advise you of this if it affects you. If we are asked to cancel the policy by a third party premium finance provider, we will undertake this action however we will be acting as your agent in the process

Claims
Clients are reminded of the conditions included in the policy and the fact that non–compliance may invalidate cover. All incidents which could possibly give rise to a claim should be notified to your insurers without delay, and a report form completed. All correspondence, claims, summonses, etc should be forwarded immediately (unanswered) to the insurer or ourselves. Details of claims procedures may be found in your policy booklet. If you choose to instruct a Third Party Claim Management company instead of the one provided by us, we will be unable to assist in the recovery of any uninsured losses.

Renewals
We aim to provide your renewal terms 10 days before the renewal date, although this is not always possible. We will not renew your policy (even if a policy has been previously paid by direct debit to us) without your explicit instructions to continue cover. However policies paid by Direct Debit to insurers may be automatically renewed by the insurer.

Payment of Premiums
Unless otherwise agreed, premiums are payable before inception of cover. Unless an acceptable reason for non-payment by the due date is given and agreed in writing, it will be assumed that further cover is not required and we reserve the right to cancel or lapse the cover. Any refund of monies will be subject to retention to compensate us for the loss of commission & fees or for the cost of work done by us arising out of the non or late payment of premiums, and a charge of £25.00.

How your payments are handled
We hold all client money which includes money collected for onward transmission to insurers and refund payments to clients in a client bank account with an approved bank under a statutory trust arrangement in accordance with Financial Conduct Authority rules. In some circumstances we may need to use another intermediary to arrange your insurance and as a result will pass money through other authorised intermediaries before finally paying the insurer. This money is also held in the same client account. It is our policy to retain any interest that may be earned on monies held in our client account.

Payment Options
We normally accept payments by cash (subject to a limit), cheque, debit card, credit card or by bank transfer. It is sometime possible to spread payments through an insurer’s instalment scheme or a credit facility that we have arranged with a select number of premium finance providers. However acceptance will be subject to a credit check. If you choose to pay for your insurance premium through one our preferred premium finance providers (you are entitled to ask us for a list of providers) we will provide you with a breakdown of costs of your monthly instalments and a document outlining key features of the credit agreement. Clients who have previously defaulted on instalments may not be offered this facility again. Insurers and Finance Companies apply their own charges for payment defaults and these will be advised to you when the agreement is set up. We will charge £25 for processing payment of missed instalments via a Finance Company.

Our Charges
We are an independent intermediary who provides a full range of services. We provide free quotations and advice on changes/additions to your current needs. We also make telephone calls and handle communications on your behalf in respect of any claim made against your policy, at no additional cost. However we do apply fees in respect of new business, mid term adjustments and renewals. For personal insurance a fee of £50 will be charged at inception and each renewal of a policy. For commercial insurance a fee of up to £1000 will be charged, based upon the size of the premium. A £25 mid-term adjustment fee applies for all policy types and will apply to each and every mid term adjustment. A list of fees is available on request. A charge of £25.00 may be made in the event of a default, failure to pay or issue of recorded delivery letters. This charge may be made each and every time this occurs. Return premiums less than £25.00 will not be refunded. Cancelled policies are subject to retention of all commission and a £25 charge.

Commission on Commercial business
You may request details of commission we receive from Insurers and on request, we will also provide you with a list of those insurers with whom we are able to place the particular product arranged.

Law Applicable to the Contract
This agreement shall be governed by the Laws of England, Wales or Scotland and the parties agree that any dispute arising out of it shall be subject to the (non) exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant Court.

Confidentiality of Information
To help make sure you receive a competitive quotation, offer of appropriate payment options, protect against fraud and to verify your identity, insurers may use publicly available data which they obtain from a variety of sources, including a credit reference agency and other external organisations. Their search will appear on your credit report whether or not your application proceeds.
All information on our records relating to you will be treated as private and confidential and will only be disclosed to others such as our business partners, insurers, credit providers and other third parties who are directly involved in the normal course of arranging and administering your insurance. By accessing our sites and using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information to a third party.
Where you have given us consent we may use the data we hold about you to provide you with a renewal quotation and information about products and services we consider may be appropriate.

Our Retention of your Personal Information
By using our services you consent to us and our partners retaining any personal information you have provided. We will retain any personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the business purpose for which it was collected. We will also retain and use your personal information for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
Under the General Data Protection Regulations 2018, you have the right to ask us for a copy of any personal information about yourself that we hold on our records. Please contact us if you require any more information. For further information on your rights under the General Data Protection Regulations please refer to the Information Commissioners Office – www.ico.org.uk.

Conflicts of Interest
Our company ethics and culture towards customer service means that we never deliberately put ourselves in a position where our interests or duty to another party prevents us from discharging our duty to you. We always act in our customers’ best interest. Where we become aware of any actual or potential conflict of interest we will inform you of the situation, the options available to you and we will ask for your consent to proceed.

Bribery & Corruption
Our company culture & ethics mean that we do not bribe or use any other means to improperly influence the decisions of clients, potential clients or government officials. Our business is structured with appropriate systems and controls so as to comply with the requirements of the Bribery Act 2010.

Remuneration
When you take out a policy with us we charge you a fee for the services we provide. We usually receive a commission from an insurer when placing your business, which is a percentage of the total annual premium. If arranging finance for you we usually receive an additional commission from the finance provider which is a percentage of the total value of the individual loan. We also occasionally receive additional remuneration from insurers, premium finance providers and other associated business partners if we reach specific profit targets. Please feel free to ask us for any further information.

Termination of Agreement
Our agreement may be terminated by either one of us by giving 30 days notice in writing to the other. You will be liable to pay for any outstanding transactions or adjustments prior to termination without any penalty fee as long as these are settled immediately on termination. We will be entitled to retain any fees or commission payable in relation to business transacted prior to date of the termination.

What to do if you have a complaint
Our aim is to provide all of our clients with an excellent level of service. However we recognise that there may be an occasion, when you do not feel satisfied with the service you have received from us. We take complaints very seriously and with this in mind we have developed a Customer Complaints Procedure which lets you know how you can get in touch with us and how we will deal with your complaint or issue. Should you need to make a complaint, please contact our Complaints Manager Daniel Ody using any of the following methods:

• In person
• In writing to Advance Insurance, 2 KD Plaza, Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1AX
• By telephone – 01442 256783
• By email – info@advanceschemes.com

We will endeavour to resolve your complaint by the close of business of the next working day. However, if this is not achievable, you can be assured that we will deal with your complaint promptly and fairly, in line with our formal complaint handling procedures listed below:

• We will write to you within five working days to acknowledge your complaint and provide details of who is handing your complaint
• We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint as our investigations proceed
• We aim to provide a final response to your complaint within eight weeks from receipt of your complaint
• If we cannot provide you with a final response within eight weeks from the date of receipt of your complaint, we will outline the reasons for the delay and provide you with an indication of when you can expect a response
• When investigating your complaint, we will take into account any financial losses or material inconvenience you have suffered. Our final response letter will set out the reasons for our decision and we will make it clear to you, as to whether we accept or reject your complaint.
• If you are in any way dissatisfied with our final response, or if we have been unable to provide our final response to you within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) free of charge if you are:
  • An individual consumer; or
  • A person acting for purposes which are outside your trade, business, craft or profession; or
  • A micro enterprise or small business (that employs fewer than fifty (50) people and whose annual turnover is less than £6.5 million and annual balance sheet total does not exceed £5 million) at the time the complainant refers the complaint; or
  • A charity which has an annual income of less than £6.5 million at the time the complainant refers the complaint; or
  • A trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £5 million at the time of the complainant refers the complaint; or
  • A consumer who is a member of any business, charity or trust who is complaining as a beneficiary of a group policy; or
  • A guarantor in respect of an obligation or liability of a person which was a micro-enterprise or small business as at the date that the guarantee or security was given.

If you do decide to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman you must do so within six months of the date of our final response letter. If you do not refer your complaint to the Ombudsman within six months of the date of our letter, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. Very limited circumstances include where the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.

If we think that your complaint was made outside of these time limits we will leave this matter for the Ombudsman to decide. If the Ombudsman agrees with us, they will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances.

The FOS offer an independent service for resolving disputes and you may contact the FOS by:

• Calling their consumer helpline on 0800 0 234 567 (free for people phoning from a "fixed line" (for example, a landline at home) or 0300 123 9 123 (free for mobile-phone users who pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 or 02)
• Writing to them at Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, Isle of Dogs,London E14 9SR
• Emailing complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
• FOS website: http://www.fos.org.uk/

We will include a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s leaflet ‘Your Complaint and the Ombudsman’ in all resolution and 8 week response letters.