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T: 01744411604
E: enquiries@bestfitmortgages.co.uk

Terms Of Use

Best Fit Mortgages LTD - Services and Terms of Business

About Us

Best Fit Mortgages LTD is an Appointed Representative of Connect IFA Ltd, 39 Station Lane, Hornchurch, Essex RM12 6JL who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with firm reference number 441505. We are mortgage and insurance brokers. We are not a lender. Most buy to let mortgages are not regulated by the FCA. You can check our details on the FCA’s website www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

The FCA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services. Use this disclosure document to decide if our services are right for you. It explains the service(s) we offer and how you will pay for it. Our service and permitted business includes advising and arranging mortgages and insurance products, as stated below

Mortgages

• We are not limited in the range of mortgages we will consider for you in relation to regulated 1st charge and 2nd charge loans that are being raised for personal purposes or regulated loans that are being raised for business purposes.

• We will consider remortgages, further advances, 2nd charge loans and unsecured loans options for you if you wish to increase your borrowing on an existing property.

• We offer a comprehensive range of mortgages from Lenders across the market, but not deals that you can only obtain by going direct to a Lender.

• We can arrange other finance such as Business Buy to Let Mortgages, Commercial and Development Finance, Bridging Finance and International Mortgages.

• In addition to any fees we charge, we may receive commission from the lender. The amount of commission we receive will be disclosed to you on your illustration for all regulated mortgage contracts. For more information, see the section on Commission disclosure on page 3.

• We offer advice on the regulated products we recommend. In some circumstances, we may refer you to another party to provide the advice and recommendation where it is appropriate to do so.

Mortgages & Service Fees

Mortgage/Loan – Initial evaluation stage: No charge

• We will consider your financial circumstances and requirements then provide you with information, on the most competitive lender and product options suited to you for your property finance.

• We will provide you with an Illustration or ESIS document (European Standardised Information Sheet) to outline in writing all the features and costs associated with any mortgage or loan we recommend.

• We will arrange an initial decision in principle with the recommended lender. This means the lender confirms they are willing to lend subject to receipt of a satisfactory valuation and all supporting application documentation.

• If required, we will make a recommendation to you for a solicitors’ firm to facilitate the legal work required for your property purchase.

Mortgage/Loan – Processing stage: £199 administration fee

• On receipt of your application fee, we will start the process of completing the application form and collating it with any other documentation required by the lender and then submit this to them on your behalf.

• We will communicate to you in a timely fashion any other supporting information the lender requires in conjunction with your application.

• We will check documentation you supply is consistent with the expectations and requirements of the lender.

• We will ensure the lender application is monitored and progressing, for example checking that valuations have been instructed and lenders are working within their published service timescales.

• We will update you fully on the progress of the application until the lender issues the formal loan offer.

Mortgage/Loan – Mortgage Offer stage: Fee 0.50% of the mortgage loan* (minimum fee £499)

• We will check the loan offer to ensure it is correct. At this point our offer fee, for successfully securing you the offer from the lender, becomes payable.

• We will assist you, if required, with meeting any offer conditions such as arranging property insurance;

• We will liaise with your legal representative to ensure they have received a copy of the offer and assist them where required.

• We will liaise with the lender if any offer amendments are needed, for example if there is a change to the purchase price or mortgage amount required.

• We will continue to monitor and assist with your application until your purchase or refinance is successfully completed.

*Example: The fee payable would be £625 for a loan size of £125,000.

*The mortgage offer fee quoted is for standard mortgage/loan transactions. Should more specialist requirements be needed, we will advise you in writing if a different fee scale will apply before proceeding with an application.

Insurance

Part of our service is to review your protection requirements in conjunction with the mortgage or loan debt that is being arranged for you. We will take into account your existing plans, any other mortgages or debts you have and your income and outgoings before we recommend any plans that suit your personal circumstances.

• We will make a personal recommendation based on a fair and personal analysis of the market after we have assessed your insurance needs.

• We can offer products such as life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection, private medical insurance, buildings and contents, accident, sickness and unemployment cover and business protection from a range of insurers. Please ask us for a list of insurers we offer insurance from.

• We do not charge a fee for advising and arranging Buildings and Contents insurance policies. We will receive commission from the Insurer we place your business with.

• For all other Insurance policies, we charge a fee of £495. This fee however will be waived in lieu of the commission we receive from the product provider. Should you cancel the contract within the first 4 years, and the provider reclaims some or all of the commission paid to us, we reserve the right to raise an invoice for our fee at that point.

Consent to Marketing

Best Fit Mortgages would like to keep in touch with you from time to time to keep you abreast of the market and to tell you about products and services that maybe of interest to you. This includes content such as emails letting you know about new lender launches and criteria, and articles that will keep you abreast with market changes such as the BTL tax changes. We would like to take particular care to ensure that any marketing or promotional information that we may send to you, is done so with your prior, express permission.

Please read this in conjunction with our privacy notice that can be found at Privacy Policy .

If you do not indicate your agreement for us to make contact with you, please be aware we may be unable to provide you with details of products and/or services that may suit your needs and circumstances.

We keep in touch in the following ways:

All of the below

• Phone

• Email

• SMS text messaging

• Instant messaging (e.g. Skype, WhatsApp etc.)

• Post

Terms & Conditions

Our Ethical Policy

We aim to provide the highest standard of advice and service possible. The interest of our customers is paramount to us and to achieve this we have designed our systems to place you at the heart of our business. In doing so, we will:

• Be open, honest and transparent in the way which we deal with you.

• Not place our interests above yours.

• Communicate clearly, promptly and without jargon.

• Obtain feedback from you to help identify any improvements required.

Consent to Marketing

You have expressed how you wish to receive marketing under the section Consent to Marketing. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at marketing@bestfitmortgages.co.uk or 01744411604.

Instruction to proceed

Please sign this document to confirm you would like to proceed with our services and agree to the Terms and Conditions in this document as well as those contained in the web links in this agreement. Where we recommend a product from a lender who wishes to deal directly with you or you choose yourself to deal directly with a lender we have recommended, our fees as detailed on page one still apply. Where speed is required, we will consider accepting your verbal instructions to proceed and in these circumstances you understand that instructing us to proceed is your acceptance of these terms and conditions.

Payment of fees

We offer you the facility to pay our fees by debit or credit card or direct bank transfer. Please complete your preferred card details in our card authority form. We will use these card details to process any payments due to Best Fit Mortgages as per this agreement, and also any payments the lender requires to process your application as per the mortgage illustration. Please let us know if you wish to pay by an alternative method. We reserve the right to charge interest at the rate of 8% per annum for any amounts due to us which remain unpaid after the due date.

Refund of fees

Please note that fees are not refundable.

Commission disclosure

We are a credit broker and not a lender. We have access to an extensive range of lenders. Once we have assessed your needs, we will recommend a lender(s) that provides suitable products to meet your personal circumstances and requirements, though you are not obliged to take our advice or recommendation. Whichever lender we introduce you to, we will typically receive commission from them after completion of the transaction. The amount of commission we receive will be a fixed percentage of the amount you borrow from the lender. Commission paid to us may vary in amount depending on the lender and product. The lenders we work with pay commission at different rates. However, the amount of commission that we receive from a lender does not have an effect on the amount that you pay to that lender under your credit agreement. For sales of non-investment insurance such as life and critical illness insurance, we are remunerated by commission from the insurance provider. Commission will normally be based on a percentage of your premium for a set period of time.

Cancellation rights

Certain protection and insurance contracts allow you the right to cancel after a contract has been put in force. Prior to you entering into a contract of protection or insurance we will provide you with specific details should this apply including: its duration, terms and conditions, practical instructions and any costs for exercising it, together with the consequences of not exercising it.

Termination

The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving 7 days notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. Any transactions effected before termination and a due proportion of any period charges for services shall be settled to that date.

Force majeure

We shall not be in breach of this Agreement and we shall not incur any liability to you if there is any failure to perform our duties due to any circumstances reasonably beyond its control.

Restrictions and Legal Jurisdiction

Please be aware that the FCA does not regulate all the mortgages and property finance we are able to arrange. We are committed however to providing the same high standards even when dealing with your requirements for non-regulated products.

This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

What to do if you have a complaint

It is our intention to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. If there is an occasion when we do not meet these standards and you wish to register a complaint, please write to: Compliance Department; Connect IFA Ltd, 39 Station Lane, Hornchurch, RM12 6JL or call: 01708 676110. If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Are we covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

We are 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.

Mortgage advising and arranging is covered up to a maximum limit of £85,000.

Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim, without any upper limit.

Where the firm has not taken steps and caused a contract not to be effected by an Insurer on a Pure Protection Policy or General Insurance claim arising from the death or incapacity of the policyholder owing to injury, sickness or infirmity, then 100% of the claim is covered.

Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS.

Data Protection

We take the security of Your Personal Data very seriously. Please review our Privacy Policy which can be found at Privacy Policy . A hard copy of the policy is available on request. We also recommend you view the Privacy Notice of lenders or providers we recommend to you here: Lenders Privacy Policy .

Please note that phone calls may be recorded.

When you ask us to arrange a mortgage, loan or other product or service for you, we will keep in touch with you in relation to this application. We will not send general marketing to you without your explicit consent. Please see the last section of this document to provide consent to marketing. You may chose not to give consent, but we will still retain your data for processing as described in our Privacy Policy and to fulfil this contract.

If you have any concerns or complaints as to how we have handled Your Personal Data or you may lodge a complaint with the UK’s data protection regulator, the ICO, who can be contacted through their website at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or by writing to Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

PRIVACY NOTICE

Best Fit Mortgages LTD are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy statement, together with any document referred to within, sets out the basis on which we will use the personal information you supply to us directly yourself or supplied to us by a third party. Best Fit Mortgages LTD is responsible for the processing of the personal information you supply and is registered with the Information Commissioners Office under the UK Data Protection act 1998, registration number ZB707721.

Website

We have structured our website so that you can visit without identifying yourself or revealing any personal information.

If you review or download information from the website, this information is tracked to enable us to provide you with tailored information and to give us information about your use of our website. This action will not personally identify you.

Should you wish to complete a contact or enquiry form on the website or through our connected portals, we collect and store the personal information supplied to us via secure servers to enable us to fulfil your request.

Any personal information you chose to disclose via the website or portals will be processed in accordance with this privacy notice.

What information do we collect?

To arrange a mortgage, loan or other plan or service for you, we will need to collect a wide range of personal data and financial related information. Our UK based team will only collect information that is pertinent to the service we provide and will hold this information only for as long as necessary.

We will also collect credit or debit card details to make payments for Best Fit Mortgages LTD services and to pass to relevant parties such as lenders and surveyors. This information will not be retained after payment has been made.

We will retain and process your personal information based on our ‘Terms of Business’ contract with you, our statutory and legal obligations, our regulatory requirements and our legitimate business interests.

How is the information collected?

We collect information via a variety of means which include website forms, telephone calls, email, text messages, social media, post, fax and face to face meetings. We may also monitor and record our telephone conversations with you.

The information may be collected directly by Best Fit Mortgages LTD and its staff or from third parties to whom you have agreed may pass your personal information to Best Fit Mortgages LTD.

How is the information used?

Best Fit Mortgages LTD will use personal data received to process your request for a mortgage, loan or other plan or service on your behalf. You may advise us at any time should you no longer wish us to use your data. We will use the information in several ways to improve how we support our customers, which includes but is not limited to:

• Letting you know about changes to our products and services.

• Confirmation of your identity.

• Training of our staff and fraud Investigation and prevention.

• Confirmation of the documents and information you provide to us.

• Keeping our records up to date and complying with regulatory and legal obligations.

• Administration and review of the mortgages, finance and products we have arranged for you.

• Helping us to assess your needs for protection plans in connection with your borrowing.

• Conducting surveys to help us improve our service.

Who will your information be shared with?

To arrange a mortgage, loan or other plan or service we will need to share your personal data with relevant third parties. These third parties include mortgage lenders, product providers, surveyors, solicitors and other parties that relate to your applications.

When we proceed with a mortgage, loan or other plan or service for you and your data is shared with a lender or provider, we recommend you also read their Privacy Notice in conjunction with ours. This can be found on the lenders or providers website or our central page here: Lender Privacy Policies .

As an Appointed Representative of Connect IFA Ltd, information about yourself will be shared with Connect IFA Ltd who are our Network. Connect IFA Ltd assist us with the processing your application as well as for compliance oversight purposes.

If your request for services has come from an introducer of business to Best Fit Mortgages LTD, we may share limited information with the introducer for the purposes of keeping them informed as to how your application is progressing.

We use third party software systems including cloud-based storage, to help us to manage mortgage, loan and product applications and to process and verify the personal information you supply to us. All software suppliers store any data in the UK and are subject to UK regulations including the UK Data Protection Regulations and are obliged to keep your details securely and use them only to fulfil the contracted service.

Marketing

We will seek your explicit consent to provide you with general market news and updates and to inform you of any products and services offered by Best Fit Mortgages LTD and its associated companies that are not connected with your specific mortgage, loan or other plan or service. If you use a service offered by Best Fit Mortgages LTD, you will not automatically be opted in to marketing without your consent. We will not provide your personal data to any unconnected third party in connection with marketing.

We will obtain explicit consent from you either verbally, via our website, via meetings face to face including shows and events, by email, or by completion of a consent form and will keep a record of your consent.

Marketing may include emails, telephone calls, social media and postal marketing. You can advise us of your preferences on how you would like us to provide marketing and the marketing content that is of most interest to you. You may update your preferences at anytime and you may also withdraw your consent at anytime.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

It may be necessary to update this privacy policy from time to time to meet legal, regulatory and commercial requirements. Please visit this page from time to time and take note of any changes. Any personal data collected prior to any change will not be affected by the change without your permission.

On the 25th May 2018, The Data Protection Act 1998 was superseded by The Data Protection Act 2018 supplemented by GDPR. This Privacy Notice sets out most of your rights under the new act but may be updated further if regulation changes in the future.

Changes of ownership

Best Fit Mortgages LTD may from time to time sell or transfer the control of the company. Any personal data supplied by you where relevant to the part of the business being sold or transferred will be transferred to the new owner or controlling party and will continue to be used under the terms of this policy for the purposes that the personal data was originally supplied to us.

Access

You have a right to access any personal information we hold about you. To request access or for any questions about this privacy policy please contact:

Best Fit Mortgages LTD

60 Chiltern Road

St. Helens

Merseyside, WA9 2HT

Email: contact@bestfitmortgages.co.uk

T: 01744411604

Cookies Policy

Last updated August 30, 2024

This Cookie Policy explains how Best Fit Mortgages LTD (“Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our“) uses cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our website at https://bestfitmortgages.co.uk (“Website“). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

In some cases we may use cookies to collect personal information, or that becomes personal information if we combine it with other information.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners in order to make their websites work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, Best Fit Mortgages LTD) are called “first-party cookies.” Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third-party cookies.” Third-party cookies enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g., advertising, interactive content, and analytics). The parties that set these third-party cookies can recognize your computer both when it visits the website in question and also when it visits certain other websites.

Why do we use cookies?

We use first- and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Website to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Online Properties. Third parties serve cookies through our Website for advertising, analytics, and other purposes. This is described in more detail below.

How can I control cookies?

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie rights by setting your preferences in the Cookie Consent Manager. The Cookie Consent Manager allows you to select which categories of cookies you accept or reject. Essential cookies cannot be rejected as they are strictly necessary to provide you with services.

The Cookie Consent Manager can be found in the notification banner and on our website. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website though your access to some functionality and areas of our website may be restricted. You may also set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies.

The specific types of first- and third-party cookies served through our Website and the purposes they perform are described in the table below (please note that the specific cookies served may vary depending on the specific Online Properties you visit):

How can I control cookies on my browser?

As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser to browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information. The following is information about how to manage cookies on the most popular browsers:

• Chrome

• Internet Explorer

• Firefox

• Safari

• Edge

• Opera

In addition, most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit:

• Digital Advertising Alliance

• Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada

• European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance

What about other tracking technologies, like web beacons?

Cookies are not the only way to recognize or track visitors to a website. We may use other, similar technologies from time to time, like web beacons (sometimes called “tracking pixels” or “clear gifs”). These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enables us to recognize when someone has visited our Website or opened an email including them. This allows us, for example, to monitor the traffic patterns of users from one page within a website to another, to deliver or communicate with cookies, to understand whether you have come to the website from an online advertisement displayed on a third-party website, to improve site performance, and to measure the success of email marketing campaigns. In many instances, these technologies are reliant on cookies to function properly, and so declining cookies will impair their functioning.

Do you use Flash cookies or Local Shared Objects?

Websites may also use so-called “Flash Cookies” (also known as Local Shared Objects or “LSOs”) to, among other things, collect and store information about your use of our services, fraud prevention, and for other site operations.

We do not use Flash content.

Do you serve targeted advertising?

Third parties may serve cookies on your computer or mobile device to serve advertising through our Website. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services that you may be interested in. They may also employ technology that is used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements. They can accomplish this by using cookies or web beacons to collect information about your visits to this and other sites in order to provide relevant advertisements about goods and services of potential interest to you. The information collected through this process does not enable us or them to identify your name, contact details, or other details that directly identify you unless you choose to provide these.

How often will you update this Cookie Policy?

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. Please therefore revisit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.

The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.

Where can I get further information?

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at marketing@bestfitmortgages.co.uk or by post to:

Best Fit Mortgages LTD

60 Chiltern Road

St. Helens

Merseyside

WA9 2HT

Phone: 01744411604