Terms & Conditions

Information

Laura Doyle & Leah Pittam t/a Progressive Financial Services with registered office at 331 Bankhouse Business Centre, South Circular Road, Dublin 8. Registered in Ireland 513097. Phone: 01 901 8852 and Email info@progressivefs.ie

These Terms of Business set out the general terms under which our firm will provide business services to you and the respective duties and responsibilities of both the firm and you in relation to such services. Please ensure that you read these terms thoroughly and if you have any queries we will be happy to clarify them. If any material changes are made to these terms we will notify you. Terms of Business are effective from 29th of December 2014 and apply until further notice.

Authorisation with the Central Bank Of Ireland
Laura Doyle & Leah Pittam t/a Progressive Financial Services are authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland under the Investment Intermediaries Act, 1995; as a Mortgage Intermediary authorised under the Consumer Credit Act, 1995; and as an insurance intermediary under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulations, 2005. Copies of our various authorisations are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms. You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on (01) 224 6000 or alternatively visit their website at www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

Codes of Conduct
Laura Doyle & Leah Pittam t/a Progressive Financial Services are subject to and comply with the Central Bank of Irelands Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code and Fitness and Probity Standards, as set out by the Central Bank of Ireland. These codes are there for the protection of the consumer.

Our Services
Progressive Financial Services provides advice on life assurance, serious illness cover, other protection policies, pension policies, other retirement-related policies, and savings & investment policies. Progressive Financial Services are authorised to receive and transmit orders on your behalf to product producers/ lenders from which it has received a written letter of appointment.

Progressive Financial Services does not have a ‘tied’ relationship with any institution that would compromise our ability to offer you advice and choice.

Life & Pensions
Progressive Financial Services provides life assurance and pensions on a fair analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet the your needs.

We will provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies or in the event of a claim during the life of the policies and we will explain to you the various restrictions, conditions and exclusions attached to your policy. However, it is your responsibility to read the policy documents, literature and brochures to ensure that you understand the nature of the policy cover; particularly in relation to permanent health insurance policies (PHI) and serious illness policies.

Specifically on the subject of PHI it is our policy to explain to you a) the meaning of disability as defined in the policy; b) the benefits available under the policy; c) the general exclusions that apply to the policy; and d) the reductions applied to the benefit where there are disability payments from other sources. For a serious illness policy, we will explain clearly to you the restrictions, conditions and general exclusions that attach to that policy.

Non-Life Policies
Progressive Financial Services provides non-life policies, including investment and savings products, on a fair analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet the your needs.

Mortgages
Through the lenders or other undertakings with which we hold an agency, Laura Doyle & Leah Pittam t/a Progressive Financial Services can provide advice on and arrange products from the following range: fixed-rate loans, variable rate mortgages, capital & interest mortgages, interest only mortgages, residential investment property etc. We provides mortgages on a fair analysis basis i.e. providing services on the basis of a sufficiently large number of contracts and product producers available on the market to enable us to make a recommendation, in accordance with professional criteria, regarding which contract would be adequate to meet the your needs.

We will need to collect sufficient information from you before we can offer any advice on housing loans. This is due to the fact that a key issue in relation to mortgage advice is affordability.

Regular Reviews
With your agreement, we may review the policies you take out on a periodic basis to ensure that you are kept informed as to their benefits and to check whether they are still suitable for your needs. As your circumstances change, your needs will also change-you must advise us of those changes and request a review of the relevant policy so that we can ensure that you are provided with up to date advice and products best suited to your needs. Failure to contact us of changes in your circumstances, or request a review, may result in you having insufficient insurance cover and/or inappropriate investments. Any failure to disclose material information may invalidate your claim and render your policy void.

Fair Analysis
The concept of fair analysis is derived from the Insurance Mediation Directive. It describes the extent of the choice of products and providers offered by an intermediary within a particular category of life assurance, general insurance, mortgages, and/ or a specialist area. The number of contracts and providers considered must be sufficiently large to enable an intermediary to recommend a product that would be adequate to meet a client’s needs. The number of providers that constitutes ‘sufficiently large’ will vary depending on the number of providers operating in the market for a particular product or service and their relative importance in and share of that market. The extent of fair analysis must be such that could be reasonably expected of a professional conducting business, taking into account the accessibility of information and product placement to intermediaries and the cost of the search. In order to ensure that the number of contracts and providers is sufficiently large to constitute a fair analysis of the market, we will consider the following criteria:

– the needs of the customer

– the size of the customer order

– the number of providers in the market that deal with broker

– the market share of each of those providers

– the number of relevant products available from each provider

– the availability of information about the products

– the quality of the product and service provided by the provider, cost, and any other relevant consideration

Fees & Charges
The initial meeting where we complete the fact find is free, our hourly rate is €150 thereafter. Progressive Financial Services may receive commission and other payments from product producers or lenders on the completion of business. If we receive commission from a product provider, this will be offset against the fee that we will charge you. Where the commission is greater than the fee due, the commission will become the amount payable to the firm unless an arrangement to the contrary is made proof of any such agreement must be signed. We reserve the right to charge additional fees if the number of hours relating to on-going advice/assistance exceeds 10 hours per annum. Fund based commission may be added in respect of pension and investment products, this shall not exceed more than 1% per annum.

Conflict of Interest
Progressive Financial Services is to avoid any conflict of interest when providing business services to its client. However, should an unavoidable conflict arise we will advise you of this in writing before proceeding to provide any business service. If you have not been advised on any such conflict you are entitled to assume that none arises.

Compensation Scheme
Progressive Financial Services is a member of the Investor Compensation Scheme, 1988 which provides certain remedies to eligible clients in the event of default by the company. Compensation may be payable where money or investment instruments owed or belonging to clients are held, administered or managed by the firm cannot be returned to those clients for the time being and where there is no reasonably foreseeable opportunity of the firm being able to do so. A right to compensation will arise only:

If the client is an eligible investor as defined in the Act; and
If it transpires that the firm is not in a position to return client money or investment instruments owned or belonging to the clients of the firm; and To the extent that the client’s loss is recognised for the purposes of the Act. Where an entitlement to compensation is established, the compensation payable will be the lesser of: 90% of the amount of the client’s loss which is recognised for the purposes of the Investor Compensation Act, 1998; or compensation of up to €20,000. The main details of the operation and conditions can be found on www.investorcompensation.ie

Data Protection Policy
Progressive Financial Services complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003. The data which you provide to us will be held on a computer database and paper files for the purpose of arranging transactions on your behalf. The data will be processed only in ways compatible with the purposes for which it was given. We would like to keep you informed of insurance, investment, mortgage and any other services provided by us or associated companies with which we have a formal business arrangement, and which we think may be of interest to you. We would like to contact you by way of letter, email or telephone call.

Complaints
If you have any complaint in relation to the business services provided by the firm you should outline the nature of your complaint to the company in writing. We will acknowledge the complaint within 5 business days and the complaint will be fully investigated by Progressive Financial Services and a full response will be provided to you. While our investigation of any complaint is ongoing we will provide you with a regular written update. In the event that you are dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint or if your complaint is not resolved you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman or the Pensions Ombudsman. A full copy of our complaints procedure is available on request.