Terms of Business
In these Terms of Business MCM shall mean MCM Insurance Services.
Regulatory Information.
1. McMorrow Murphy Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Our FSA firm registration number is 304919. Our permitted business is for the advising on and arranging of (including administration and renewal of) non-investment insurance contracts. You can verify this by visiting the FSA Register at www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by calling 0845 606 1234.
Company Information.
2. "MCM Insurance" is a trading style of McMorrow Murphy Limited which is an independent intermediary and is the legal entity regulated by the FSA. McMorrow Murphy Limited also has parent undertaking to the MCM Group Limited www.mcmgroup.co.uk. The company was established in 1977 and is privately owned. MCM does not have any share capital or voting rights in any of the Insurance companies from which it may select products. MCM has offices in Manchester, Birmingham and Derry (NI). Head Office is situated at
MCM Insurance
MCM House
611 Stretford Road
Old Trafford
Manchester
M16 0QA
Alternatively,
The Coach House
11 Owler Ings Road
Brighouse
West Yorkshire
HD6 1EJ
Tel: 0161 786 3150
Fax: 0161 786 3159
Our Service.
3. We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs (This is known as an Advised Sale). Commercial Legal Expenses for Business may form part of a policy we are recommending to you. We may on a very few occasions recommend a specific policy to you based on our knowledge of the market at that particular time. We will have negotiated a 'scheme' with a single insurer in order to provide adequate cover and service levels at a relatively nominal cost in comparison to the standard cost. If this has been the case, then no advice has been provided and no personal recommendation made. We have used our interpretation of information that you have provided us and have not necessarily taken into account your individual needs and circumstances (This is known as a Non Advised Sale). Where legal expenses cover does not form part of the policy we are recommending to you, we will add it in at nil or a relatively nominal cost to yourselves. We will send you this information and give reasons for our recommendations in writing should you decide to go ahead. You will normally only receive a limited amount of this information if the sale is completed over the telephone or by some other non face-to-face contact, this is designed to improve our advising and selling process. After arranging your insurance we will continue to help you with any ongoing changes you have to make and the associated administration including assistance when making a claim.
Insurance Policies (Insurance Contract).
4. We will normally select contracts on the basis of a fair analysis of the market (you can request a list of the companies we deal with for each Insurance contract we select). This will be based on our assessment of your demands and needs and our knowledge of the products available to us that will best suit you at that particular time. We will also tell you when we cannot meet any of these needs. Determined by the complexity of your needs we may choose to select Insurance contracts from a limited number of insurers which we will outline to you in writing.
Quotations.
5. Most quotations are usually valid for 30 days unless otherwise stated.
Policy Terms, Conditions and Warranties.
6. It is your responsibility to read through all documentation we send to you, including the policy terms, conditions and details of the warranties. This information will normally be issued by your insurance company, which will usually include a policy, a policy schedule, and sometimes a separate endorsement, and if you are a Consumer, a summary of cover. It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand everything in this paperwork and you are able to comply with any requirements exactly. If you do not you may be in breach of the conditions and your insurance company may be able to terminate the contract or not pay a claim. If you cannot comply or you do not understand any policy terms and conditions you should inform MCM immediately. MCM recommend that clients retain all paperwork relevant to their insurances, as this may be useful for future reference.
Disclosure.
7. It is your responsibility to disclose any circumstance which is material or likely to influence the basis of the contract when you take out the Insurance contract, throughout the life of the arrangement and when you renew the Insurance contract. A material fact is one which may influence an underwriter in their acceptance of the risk or premium level quoted, these are details particular to you or your organisation such as previous incidents, even if they did not result in an insurance claim, criminal or motoring convictions or particular details of your risk are all relevant facts, even when we do not specifically ask for them, you should disclose them. Failure to disclose them could later result in a claim not being paid and rendering the policy invalid. If you are still unsure about what information may be material to the contract, you should disclose it. Remember it remains your responsibility to check that all statements made on proposal forms; MCM risk profiles; claim forms and other documents are full and accurate. If we complete a form on your behalf, you should check that the answers shown to any questions are correct before signing the document. We strongly advise you to keep copies of any correspondence you send to us or directly to your insurance company. You are also reminded that it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to make false statements or withhold any relevant information to obtain a certificate of motor Insurance.
Claims.
8. You should notify us immediately of all incidents that may give rise to a claim or as soon as practicably possible. Failure to notify could result in insurers repudiating a claim. After you notify us, we will inform your insurance company within 5 working days, and continue to advise you promptly of their requirements, continuing to notify you of information required to establish the nature and extent of loss. If there is any conflict of interest, we will inform you and obtain your consent to handle the claim before we do anything. When we receive a payment on your behalf we will send it to you without undue delay.
Financial Aspects.
9. We are registered under the Consumer Credit Act and our Licence Numbers are Z747005X and Z7469956, this enables us to offer you credit facilities. We accept payment by cash, guaranteed cheque or credit/debit cards or by way of an installment facility. We will provide you with the payment options and information on interest charges when we provide a quotation. After you have taken out your insurance and before we receive payment, we shall ensure you have any documents you are required to have by law, but we may retain other documents until we receive payment.
Client Money - General.
The FSA rules are designed to protect you in the event that an insurance intermediary fails or is unable to transfer: - any premium money it has received from you to the insurer; or any claims or return premium monies that it has received from the insurer to you. We are governed by strict rules pertaining to client money, set down by the FSA. Where we hold monies in a client bank account we will be retained by use. If you are unhappy with this arrangement, please contact us.
Client Money (As an Agent of an Insurer).
We act as agents for the insurer for the collection of premiums and payment of claims and refunds of premiums. This means that premiums are treated as being received by the insurer when received in our bank account and that any claims money or premium refund is treated as received by you when it is actually paid over to you. There are occasions where such transactions are restricted (for example, to receiving premiums only) and we will tell you if this is the case.
Client Money (Statutory Trust).
We will hold money separate from our own money with an approved bank, segregated in a client bank account designated as subject to a statutory trust. We act as trustees of our clients' monies and must meet certain legal and regulatory conditions.
Client Money (Non-Statutory Trust).
We will hold client money separate from our own money with an approved bank segregated in a client bank account designated as subject to a non-statutory trust. Under a non-statutory trust we are entitled to use client money to make advances of credit, for example to pay another client's premium before the premium has been received from the other client and to pay claims and premium refunds to a client before such monies have been received from the insurer. We act as trustees of our clients' monies and must meet certain legal and regulatory conditions. You may notify us if you do not wish us to hold your money in this way, otherwise we will assume that we have your consent to hold your money in a non-statutory account.
Payment to Third Parties.
We may transfer client money to another person, such as another broker or settlement agent, for the purpose of effecting a transaction on your behalf through that person. We do however still remain responsible to you in respect of your money. This may include brokers and settlement agents outside of the UK. The legal and regulatory regime applying to a broker or settlement agent outside the UK may be different from that of the UK and in the event of a failure of the broker or settlement agent, this money may be treated in a different manner from that, which would apply if the money was held by a broker or settlement agent in the UK. You may notify us if you do not wish your money to be passed to a person in a particular jurisdiction.
Charges/Fees, Refunds and Direct Debits.
10. We may charge you a documentation fee of £10.00 in respect of each transaction we complete. The documentation fee will not be identified separately. The documentation fee will be automatically included in any invoice we produce. With exception to our documentation fee we will outline all other charges and fees separately. These other charges and fees will be outlined to you before you become liable to pay them and are generally not refundable if the Insurance contract is cancelled. All charges and fees are payable within 14 days from commencement of the Insurance contract. Return premiums will normally be allowed when the Insurance contract is not subject to any other refund clauses. When this happens we will retain a proportion (up to 100%) of our commission for the costs and expenses incurred by us for the service provided. When you pay by direct debit we will request insurers to automatically adjust any amount in consideration of any change in the Insurance contract and/or for renewal of the Insurance contract. Please note if you pay by direct debit and we notify you of renewal, the Insurance contract will be automatically renewed (unless you advise us to cancel the arrangement) and you will become liable to pay the amount due. Some policies may be subject to a minimum deposit where no refund is allowed. Please check your policy carefully or ask us for confirmation.
Cancellation Arrangement.
11. After you have entered into the Insurance contract, you may be entitled to a period of reflection during which you may decide not to proceed. Consumer clients have a right to cancel within 14 days of receiving information (sometimes referred to as a Cooling-off period). For Commercial Clients this is determined by the type of Insurance contract and the cancellation clauses specific to that contract. You are advised to check with us first. In either case you will be charged for the period of cover you have consumed and our charges or fees if any apply.
What to Do if You Have a Complaint.
12. The firms intention is to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. If there are occasions when we do not meet these standards, speak to us first and we will try and put things right. We operate a strict complaints procedure and all details of any complaint will be logged; if we are unable to remedy the complaint quickly, we will acknowledge your concerns in writing and endeavour to do this within 5 working days but in all cases 'within good time'. We will advise you of who is dealing with the matter and when you may expect to hear from us again. We will also send you a copy of the procedures so you are aware of what we are doing to address your concerns. If after this process we cannot settle your complaint we will tell you if you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman, who is an independent government regulated arbitrator. (Consumer and Commercial customers with a turnover <£1M are covered by this Scheme). In the first instance write to
Mr S Whetham
MCM Insurance
MCM House
611 Stretford Road
Old Trafford
Manchester
M16 0QA
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
13. MCM is covered by the FSCS. 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. Further information is available from the FSCS. Insurance advising and selling is covered for the first £2000 and 90% of the remaining, without any upper limit.
Other Matters.
14. This agreement is governed by law of England and Wales (unless otherwise specifically stated). Any dispute arising out of this agreement will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts (unless otherwise specifically stated). We may use the information we hold about you to provide you with information about other products and services which we can offer. We may contact you by mail, telephone, post or other means. You can exercise your right to give notice to stop data being processed for marketing purposes by informing us at any time.
Treating Customers Fairly.
15. It is the intention to treat customers fairly at all times. If you are unsure of anything contained within these Terms of Business or have any questions regarding your policies please contact us - our staff are always happy to clarify policy cover, Terms and Conditions.
- Outcome 1 - Consumers can be confident that they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is central to the corporate culture.
- Outcome 2 - Products and services marketed and sold in the retail market are designed to meet the needs of identified consumer groups and are targeted accordingly.
- Outcome 3 - Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before, during and after the point of sale.
- Outcome 4 - Where consumers receive advice, the advice is suitable and takes account of their circumstances.
- Outcome 5 - Consumers are provided with products that perform as firms have led them to expect, and the associated service is both of an acceptable standard and as they have been led to expect.
- Outcome 6 - Consumers do not face unreasonable post-sale barriers imposed by firms to change product, switch provider, submit a claim or make a complaint.