How we are paid
On receiving an enquiry an initial consultation will be arranged with you. The purpose of the consultation is to ingather relevant information from you and to discuss your needs and objectives. We shall agree with you how we are to be paid for our services should we be instructed to proceed. There is no charge for this preliminary meeting and no obligation on either side.
We shall work with you either on a fee basis or on a commission basis whereby the financial institutions with whom we place your business will pay us for doing so. We shall always tell you in writing about any commission we are entitled to earn before proceeding. If you prefer to work with us on a fee basis, we shall give you a note of our fee structure in writing before going ahead with giving you advice.
Fees will usually be based on time spent and evaluated at a rate per hour calculated to recover our costs. Fees may attract an additional VAT charge whereas commissions, under current legislation, do not.
Commission is paid to an IFA firm by a provider, usually an insurance company or an investment house, for the successful placing of business. The commission is included within the provider's normal product charges, so there is nothing you need to pay us in addition. The amount of commission is based on a percentage of the premiums payable or sums invested.
Whether we take our remuneration by way of commission or fees will be a matter of discussion and agreement, and no charges for fees will be made without prior notification in writing.
We typically do not charge fees for arranging mortgages other than for adverse lending cases. We are remunerated by the lender instead. Details of our remuneration will be given to you in writing before proceeding.
We do reserve the right to charge a fee when appropriate. We shall agree that with you before we proceed to give you our advice. The amount will depend upon individual circumstances and will be confirmed with you at the outset before we carry out any work on your behalf.