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Distance Marketing Policy

1. Policy Statement

The company are committed to ensuring that all customers who are approached about our products or services via distance marketing methods, are provided with the required information and are given a compliant and fair service that is both transparent and straightforward.

We adhere at all times to the regulatory requirements under CONC 2.7 & COBS 5.1 [*ICOBS 3.1 *delete if not applicable] as set out under the FCA Handbook, the Distance Marketing Directive and the UK Distance Selling Regulations and ensure that our staff are provided with the correct information and support to remain compliant at all times.

Under the legal and regulatory requirements for distance marketing, this policy sets out the company’s intent and objectives on how we approach customers and the marketing methods, information and processes used.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide clear guidance to our staff on the legal, regulatory and our own business objectives for distance marketing and to ensure that our customers are provided with a compliant service at all times.

This policy has been developed with the CONC 2.7 requirements and the Distance Marketing Directive guidance as its foundation and our company objectives regarding distance marketing have been built around these obligations.

The company uses this policy and any associated procedures in conjunction with our Cancellation Policy, which sets out our objectives and obligations on a customer’s right to cancel.

3. Scope

The policy relates to all staff (meaning permanent, fixed term, and temporary staff, any third-party representatives or sub-contractors, agency workers, volunteers, interns and agents engaged with the company in the UK or overseas) within the organisation and has been created to ensure that staff deal with the area that this policy relates to in accordance with legal, regulatory, contractual and business expectations and requirements.

For the purposes of this policy and any associated documents, the company defines distance marketing as any activity of solicitation that includes: –

  • Telephone calls
  • Voicemail Messages
  • SMS & Text Messages
  • Email (including mailshots and newsletters)
  • Internet Chat or IM
  • Television (including interactive media)
  • Postal Materials (including magazine & newspaper inserts & leaflets)
  • Any other form of solicitation that does not involve face to face contact

4. Objectives

The company has laid out the below objectives which it intends to meet in relation to our distance marketing obligations. All staff are bound by these objectives and we will ensure that frequent and continuous reviews and audits are carried out on all distance marketing initiatives to ensuring we remain compliant with the laws and regulations.

The company will ensure that: –

  • Any distance marketing information is provided within sufficient time for the customer to query and understand the content, prior to any distance contract or offer being effective
  • Where distance marketing information has been provided via telephone communication, we will ensure that: –
    • we have disclosed the information required by regulation 10 of the Consumer Credit (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2010
    • we will provide a copy of the written agreement in accordance with section 61b of the Consumer Credit Act
    • we make our identity and the purposes of the call explicitly clear at the beginning of the conversation
  • The commercial purpose of any distance marketing is made clear and is accurate and easy to understand
  • Our full trading name, contact address, email address and our phone number are provided on any written distance marketing materials and where a premium rate number has been used, we will detail the cost per minute and the approx. length of any subsequent phone calls to that number
  • Where distance marketing is carried out via telephone communication, we will ensure that our full identity and the reason for the call is disclosed at the start of the conversation
  • Where any contractual terms and conditions are referred to or referenced on our distance marketing, we will ensure that the customer is provided with these contractual terms, conditions and obligations in good time before they are bound by any distance contract
  • Where abbreviated distance marketing information has been provided to a customer via telephone communication, we will ensure that the full distance marketing information is provided to them in writing in good time before they are bound by any distance contract

The company has in a process whereby all new and proposed distance marketing materials and content are first reviewed and authorised by the Compliance Officer prior to being put into circulation.

The Compliance Officer has the overall responsibility to ensure that any distance marketing information and materials are compliant with the FCA requirements and other regulating standards and that a continual process of review and monitoring in used to remain complaint and fit for purpose.

5. Distance Marketing Information

Where the company is obligated to provide a consumer with the distance marketing information, this is always done in good time before the consumer is bound by a distance contract or offer, with the commercial purpose being made clear and the information provided is in a clear and comprehensible manner and format. The information provided includes: –

6. Information About the company

The name and the main business of the firm, the geographical address at which it is established and any other geographical address relevant for the consumer’s relations with the firm

Where the firm has a representative established in the consumer’s EEA State of residence, the name of that representative and the geographical address relevant for the consumer’s relations with that representative

Where the consumer’s dealings are with any professional other than the firm, the identity of that professional, the capacity in which he is acting with respect to the consumer, and the geographical address relevant to the consumer’s relations with that professional

The particulars of the public register in which the firm is entered, its registration number in that register and the particulars of the relevant supervisory authority, including an appropriate statutory status disclosure statement (GEN 4), a statement that the firm is on the Financial Services Register and its firm reference number

7. Information About the Financial Service

  • A description of the main characteristics of the service we will provide
  • The total price to be paid by the consumer to us for the financial service, including all related fees, charges and expenses, and all taxes paid through the company or, where an exact price cannot be indicated, the basis for the calculation of the price enabling the consumer to verify it
  • Where relevant, notice indicating that the service is related to instruments involving special risks related to their specific features or the operations to be executed, or whose price depends on fluctuations in the financial markets outside the company’s control and that past performance is no indicator of future performance
  • Notice of the possibility that other taxes or costs may exist that are not paid via the company or imposed by it
  • Any limitations on the period for which the information provided is valid, including a clear explanation as to how long the company’s offer applies as it stands
  • The arrangements for payment and performance
  • Details of any specific additional cost to the consumer for using a means of distance communication

8. Information About the Contract

  • The existence or absence of any right to cancel under section 66A or 67 of the CCA or the cancellation rules in CONC 11.1 and, where there is such a right, its duration and the conditions for exercising it, including information on the amount which the consumer may be required to pay (or which may not be returned to the consumer) in accordance with those provisions or rules, as well as the consequences of not exercising the right to cancel
  • The minimum duration of the contract, in the case of services to be performed permanently or recurrently
  • Information on any rights the parties may have to terminate the contract early or unilaterally under its terms, including any penalties imposed by the contract in such cases
  • Practical instructions for exercising any right to cancel, including the address to which any cancellation notice should be sent
  • The EEA State or States whose laws are taken by the firm as a basis for the establishment of relations with the consumer prior to the conclusion of the contract
  • Any contractual clause on the law applicable to the contract or on the competent court, or both
  • In which language, or languages, the contractual terms and conditions and the other disclosed information will be supplied and in which language, or languages, the company, with the agreement of the consumer, undertakes to communicate during the duration of the contract

9. Information About Redress

  • How to complain to the company, whether complaints may subsequently be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service and, if so, the methods for having access to that body, together with equivalent information about any other applicable named complaints scheme
  • Whether compensation may be available from the compensation scheme, or any other named compensation scheme, if we are unable to meet our liabilities

10. Copy Information & Communication Change Requests

We acknowledge that the consumer has a right to request paper copies of any information, terms, conditions, agreement and/or contract relating to them and we always provide this in a durable medium within 5 working days.

We also provide straightforward and obstacle free methods of contacting us so that the consumer can change the means of distance communication used (unless this is incompatible with the contract concluded or the nature of the service provided).

11. Right to Cancel

We adhere to the legislative and regulatory requirements on informing the consumer of their right to cancel within the specified cancellation period.  Please see our Cancellation & Refund Policy for further information.

12. Responsibilities

The company will ensure that all staff are provided with the time, training and support to learn, understand and implement the Distance Marketing regulations and laws and the company’s objectives and obligations under these regulations.

Where any new distance marketing information or materials are released, all staff will be made aware of the changes and provided with an opportunity for feedback to ensure full understanding and compliance.