This document discusses the general terms and conditions of all products sold via the Best Pension Annuity website. Individual product variations will be highlighted in the initial disclosure documents issued with product quotes.

Our Relationship
Platinum Financial Consulting LTD is a financial services company. We offer whole of market research for annuities and a limited panel for income drawdown products. These terms and conditions relate exclusively to the products and services featured on our Best-Pension-Annuity website.

We run a range of websites focused on providing information on specific financial products.

Authorisation Statement
Platinum Financial Consulting’s administration offices are located at The Old School House, East End Road, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, CM0 7PY and can be contacted on 020 33 55 4827. We offer pension and annuity products from the whole of the UK market. We choose to limit our income drawdown products to just two providers.

Platinum Financial Consulting is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can check this on the FCA’s Register by visiting the FCA’s website www.fca.org.uk/register FS No. 827778 or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

The Financial Conduct Authority regulates the financial services industry in the UK and their address is 12 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN.

Client Classification
Each client with whom the firm does business is categorised to identify the level of regulatory protection. We propose to classify you as a ‘Retail Client’ for Investment purposes. This is a pre-defined term of the Financial Conduct Authority which recognises you as a private individual as opposed to a business or other organisation.

Communications
We will communicate with you in English both verbally and written for the sending and reception of orders.

Services to be provided
We offer a service for customers who want us to provide them with quotes based on the requirements they give to us. We are not required to make a personal recommendation as the customer will make their own decision about whether any product meets their needs. We do not ask for any information about your wider financial circumstances but just focus on the product or service you requested. This service is provide without advice.

This means that without advice from Platinum, you have decided to buy an annuity or income drawdown product and have selected the benefits you want. We have not made a “personal recommendation”. You have made an informed decision about your annuity or income drawdown product and its features.

With very few exceptions, we will confirm to you in writing the key features of the product arranged on your behalf.

In the case of an impaired life or smoker’s annuity, the provider may request that your doctor provides a medical report. You may also need to attend a medical. Enhanced rates cannot be guaranteed if you are not willing or able to cooperate with this process.

Please note that annuity and income drawdown products available and providers’ general Terms and Conditions are subject to frequent change. Any information we provide is based on present legislation which may change, as well as our understanding of current tax law and practice.

It is important that you make sure you are not giving up benefits you may be unaware of or incurring additional cost. When arranging your new contract you may ask us to obtain details of your current pension contract from your existing pension provider. We cannot be liable for any early redemption penalties, loss of guaranteed annuities or any other benefits lost or costs you may incur resulting from your requested transfer. From 6th April 2015 The Pension Schemes Act 2015, has made it compulsory for people who have a personal pension worth £30,000 or more that contains a Guarantee such as a Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR) or Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) to take financial advice before the transfer can be completed. If you instruct us to transfer your pension fund without asking us to check for a Guarantee or it subsequently transpires that a Guarantee applies to one or more of the pensions you wish to transfer, we may need to cancel the transaction or part of it. In such a case we will not be held liable for any costs or losses relating to the aborted or delayed transfer, nor for any advice fees or costs you may subsequently be required to pay.

The customer should understand that it is their responsibility to ensure that information entered onto an application form is correct. This condition applies even if Platinum Financial Consulting has completed the application form on your behalf. It is the client’s responsibility to check all information is correct.

We must receive your signed original application form, and any required supporting documentation before we can begin to set up your annuity or income drawdown contract.

In relation to annuities only, as your new annuity provider will only guarantee the annuity rate they are offering you for a period of time, it is in your own interest to return your application form as quickly as possible. Sending back your application form does not guarantee you will receive the annuity rate offered by your new provider. Even if your fully completed application is with your new annuity provider before the guarantee date, other factors beyond our control could cause the guarantee not to be honoured. Delays in the administration between the ceding (existing pension) provider and your new annuity provider could cause your fund to be transferred after the guaranteed date. This would cause your annuity to be issued at the annuity rate applicable at the time the funds were received and could be more or less than the amount you were originally quoted. You should therefore ensure your ceding provider receives your instruction to deinvest your fund as soon as you have made up your mind to buy an annuity.

For both annuity and income drawdown contracts, while your pension fund remains invested with your existing pension company, it is liable to fluctuations in investment markets. The amount transferred to your new provider could be higher or lower than the amount contained in your quote. This would result in the benefits (tax free cash and / or income) you receive being accordingly higher or lower.

To avoid the risk of your fund falling in value while your new contract is arranged you may ask your existing pension provider to switch your fund into less volatile cash funds. While this would protect you from investment downturns, equally you would not benefit from any investment increases that occurred before you purchased your new product.

For income drawdown contracts only, our initial quote will show your pension fund invested in the Royal London Governed Portfolio 5 which is classified as a balanced fund. This is not a personal recommendation and this fund is used for illustration purposes only. We have selected it to use for illustrations as it is in the middle of the risk range of all the Governed Portfolios. These portfolios are used by the majority of our customers. You can request a quote using alternative funds if you wish. If by the time your money has been transferred you have not completed our fund management exercise your pension fund will be placed in the fund used on the last quote you received from us. This fund will be used until such time as you complete a fund management exercise or make an alternative fund selection.

Typically you have the right to cancel an annuity or income drawdown contract within 30 days of it being set-up, please check your provider’s key features document. Your original pension provider is not obliged to take your fund back. In such circumstances you would need to find another provider to take your fund as you could not take it as a personal lump sum.

Neither the customer nor Platinum Financial can be responsible for delays with the Royal Mail or problems with other entities that are not under their direct control.

Platinum Financial Consulting is permitted to handle clients’ money. However in case of any income drawdown, annuity or pension business (which is the scope of this agreement) we never handle cash or accept a cheque made out to us, unless the cheque is in settlement of charges or disbursements for which we have sent you an invoice. Where we hold money as an agent of an insurer, we are restricted to holding premiums only. Any interest we receive for credit balances will be retained by the business and not passed on to customers. We never have direct access to your pension fund.

Material Interest
We will act honestly, fairly and professionally, known as conducting business in ‘Client's best interest’ regulations. Occasionally situations may arise where we or one of our other clients have some form of interest in business transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests or those of one of our other clients conflict with your interest, we will write to you and obtain your consent before we carry out your instructions, and detail the steps we will take to ensure fair treatment.

In accordance with the rules of our regulator, The Financial Conduct Authority, we are prohibited from accepting any payment (commission or other non-monetary benefits) which is likely to conflict with the duty of the firm to its clients.

Rights to Cancel
We will inform you of your statutory right to cancel. The Distance Marketing Directive normally grants you 30 days in which you may cancel a life or pension contract. However there will be occasions where no statutory rights are granted, however this will be explained before any contract is concluded.

Data Protection
The information you have provided is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “Act”). By applying to us to assist you with your retirement options, you consent to us, or any company associated with us, processing, both manually and by electronic means, your personal data for the purposes of the administration and management of your pension contract.

“Processing” includes obtaining, recording or holding information or data, transferring it to other companies associated with us, product providers, the FCA or any other statutory, governmental or regulatory body for legitimate purposes including, where relevant, to solicitors and/or other debt collection agencies for debt collection purposes and carrying out operations on the information or data.

As you are a remote customer, to protect you and ourselves we may need to verify your identity electronically. This is NOT a credit check and it will not make any impact on your credit rating.

The information provided may also contain sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Act, being information as to your physical or mental health or condition; the committing or alleged committing of any offence by you; any proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by you, including the outcome or sentence in such proceedings; your political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, sexual life; or your membership of a Trade Union.

If at any time you wish us or any company associated with us to cease processing your personal data or sensitive personal data, or contacting you for marketing purposes, please contact The Data Protection Officer on 020 33 55 4837 or in writing at The Old School House, East End Road, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, CM0 7PY.

You may be assured that we will treat all personal data and sensitive personal data as confidential and will not process it other than for legitimate purposes. Steps will be taken to ensure that the information is accurate, kept up to date and not kept for longer than is necessary. Measures will also be taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss or destruction or damage to the data.

Subject to certain exceptions, you are entitled to have access to your personal and sensitive personal data held by us. You may be charged a fee (subject to the statutory maximum) for supplying you with such data.

Law
This client agreement is governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Termination
The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time without penalty by either party giving seven 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.

YOUR CONSENT
By applying for any product featured on the Best Pension Annuity website, it is agreed that you have read the above terms and fully consent to the terms imposed and authorise the transfer of information, on a confidential basis when warranted between any such third parties. You acknowledge that these Terms of Business come into effect from the date you first make contact with us.

Platinum Financial Consulting is committed to ensuring that our dealings with our customers are transparent, fair and professional. If you feel any part of our service falls short of these standards please contact us immediately.