Terms of Business

Our Terms

Terms of Business - One Quote Financial Brokers Ltd t/a One Quote, 11 James’s Terrace, Malahide, Co Dublin Tel: 01 845 0049

Email: info@onequote.ie

It is important that you read this document carefully. These Terms of Business set out the general terms under which our firm will provide our business services to you and the respective duties and responsibilities of both the firm and you in relation to such services. Please pay also pay particular attention to our website usage terms as well as our remuneration basis and contact us should you have any questions.

If any material changes are made to these terms we will update this page and we will notify you.

1. Our Authorisation

One Quote Financial Brokers Ltd, trading as One Quote is registered with the Central Bank of Ireland as an insurance/reinsurance intermediary under the European Communities (Insurance Mediation) Regulations, 2005 (as amended). Reference No:C50480

Copies of our regulatory authorisations are available on request. The Central Bank of Ireland holds registers of regulated firms. You may contact the Central Bank of Ireland on: Tel: 01 224 6000 or alternatively visit their website: www.centralbank.ie to verify our credentials.

Please note that this includes Central Bank authorisation to provide investment products (savings, investments, pensions, and ARFs) through the life insurance company agencies listed below:

Aviva Ireland Life and Pensions Ltd
Irish Life Assurance Plc
New Ireland
Royal London Insurance DAC
Standard Life International DAC
Zurich Life Assurance plc

2. Our Financial Broker Services

As a regulated financial broker, our principal business is to provide advice and arrange transactions on behalf of clients resident in the Republic of Ireland in relation to Life & Pensions, and Investment products.

Unlike other financial brokers, we not only compare the market for the most suited personal solutions but, offer you full-term discounts on all direct-priced protection (life insurance products), together with reduced provider charges on all pension & investment plan recommendations.

In choosing to use our free online market comparison quotation services, you agree to us contacting you via email to verify your quote and provide product details, as well as to us contacting you by telephone to discuss the suitability of your quote.

Protection

Mortgage Protection
Life Assurance
Specified Serious Illness Cover
Income Protection
Inheritance Tax Insurance Provision
Business Protection – (Key Person, Co-Directors and Partnership Insurance).

Insurance Based Investments

Investment Bonds
Childrens Regular Savings Plans

Private Pensions

Executive Pensions
Personal Pensions
PRSA’s
Pensions Bonds
Approved Retirement Funds

Group Pensions

PRSA Group Schemes
Occupational Group Pension Schemes

3. Our Remuneration

One Quote Financial Brokers Limited, may receive remuneration by way of commission from the financial services product providers, with whom we place protection (life insurance), pension, and investment business on your behalf.

With the exception of initial 30 minute, investment/pension related consultations, that are provided free of charge, a direct hourly fee, will be charged for our consulting and investment advisory services, where we will not be in receipt of any product related commission.

Please view the full details of our remuneration basis.

9. Protection Quotations Terms

All protection quotations (Mortgage Protection, Life Insurance, Serious Illness Cover, Income Protection) are valid for a minimum period of 30 days, but may change due to the occurrence of a birthday, prior to the starting date.

Quotations for insurance are indicative only (meaning they are actual where standard health acceptance applies, but may vary where a chronic health condition necessitates a premium loading). Further health underwriting requirements may in some cases, also mean a slight increase in the indicative premium, in which case this will be communicated in advance of final submission.

The underlying quotation engine is outsourced and although is considered robust and accurate, in the very rare event of a quote malfunction, you will be notified as soon as this comes to our attention. We accept on responsibility for an invalid quotation, but will rectify to provide the correct discounted premium confirmation, with no obligation on your part to proceed.

All quotations are subject to acceptance by the insurer concerned upon receipt of proposal forms and relevant documentation, including full health disclosure.

Please note full disclosure of all material facts must be made, including medical history and claims. Failure to disclose all relevant information could result in your policy being cancelled, claims not being paid, and difficulty in getting insurance elsewhere.

You can complete your application form online, once you have a PDF reader, you can also print sign, and scan declaration pages and direct debit mandate, using ink or via our secure digital signature service.

The offer of the first month free where applicable is subject to the insurer in question maintaining their free month offer and in accordance with their own company terms.

One Quote Financial Brokers Ltd, reserve the right to amend our discounted percentage levels as they apply to market conditions at any time. Written proof must be provided of a cheaper quote, for any additional discount to apply.

5. Early Cancellation Terms

Should a client wish to cancel any existing pension, or investment policy, at any time post the initial 30-day cooling-off period, investment values may change, as outlined in the policy conditions provided, relating to that specific investment policy contract.

In the case of a protection policy, including Mortgage Protection, Life Insurance, Serious Illness Cover, and Income Protection, no provider fee will be imposed by the product provider, but a flat administration charge to cover the costs we incur in terms of the service provision will apply and be invoiced directly. In choosing to make your application you are agreeing to these terms.

4. Codes of Conduct

One Quote Financial Brokers Ltd is subject to the Consumer Protection Code, Minimum Competency Code, and Fitness & Probity Standards which offer protection to consumers. These Codes can be found on the Central Bank’s website: www.centralbank.ie.

7. Fair & Personal 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, 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 constitute ‘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 it 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 provider is sufficiently large to constitute a fair and personal analysis of the market, we will consider the following criteria:

The needs of the customer;
The number of providers in the market that deal with brokers;
The market shares 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.

We will provide assistance to you for any queries you may have in relation to the policies and at the point of sale or in the event of a claim during the life of your policy, we will explain to you the various conditions and any exclusions or restrictions that may be attached to your policy.

On Income Protection policies, we will explain to you; (a) the meaning of disability a 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 Cover policy, we will explain clearly to you any restrictions, conditions, and general exclusions that attach to that policy and the importance of full and true disclosure at the point of any existing health conditions you may already have.

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 Income Protection and Serious Illness Cover policies.

8. Sustainability Factors - (ESG) Investment/ARF/Pension Advice

When providing advice, the firm considers the adverse impact of investment decisions on sustainability. As part of our research and assessment of products, the firm will examine the Product Provider literature to compare financial products and to make informed investment decisions about ESG products. The firm will at all times act in the client’s best interests and keep clients informed accordingly. The consideration of sustainability risks can impact the returns of financial products.

When assessing all insurance-based investment products, we will consider the different approaches taken by product providers in terms of them integrating sustainability risks into their product offerings. This will form part of our analysis for choosing a product provider.

10. Consumer Duty of Disclosure

Section 14 (1) – (5) of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act which is effective from 1st September 2021 alters consumers’ duty of disclosure:

You are required to answer all questions posed by us or the insurer honestly and with reasonable care – the test will be that of the ‘average consumer. Average consumer as per Directive No. 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, considering social, cultural, and linguistic factors.
Specific questions will be asked. Where you do not provide additional information (after being requested to do so) it can be presumed that the information previously provided remains unchanged.

An insurer may repudiate liability or limit the amount paid on foot of the contract of insurance, only if it establishes that non-disclosure of material information was an effective cause of the insurer entering into the relevant contract of insurance and on the terms on which it did.

Completed proposal forms/statement of fact:

Completed proposal forms or Statements of Facts will be provided to you. These are important documents as they form the basis of the insurance contract between the insurer and you the consumer. You should review and confirm that the answers contained within are true and accurate.

11. Regular Life Insurance Review

It is in your interest that you review, on a regular basis, the products which we have arranged for you. As your circumstances change, your needs will 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 in relation to changes to your circumstances or failure to request a review may result in you having insufficient insurance cover.

12. Regular Investment Product Review

We will provide annual assessments of the suitability of the insurance-based investment product which we have recommended to you. You will be personally assessed with regard to your attitude to investment risk on each and any lump sum investment or pension investment we arrange, but should your circumstances or risk attitude change you may also contact us anytime to discuss a free fund switch.

13. Rights of Early Cancellation

You have the right to withdraw from your life, pension, or investment contract within 30 from your policy inception date. To withdraw within this time written instruction from one or other policyholder must be sent to One Quote via letter or email. Any monies paid to the product provider/insurer will then be refunded accordingly and no cancellation fee will apply.

14. Conflicts of Interest

It is the policy of One Quote Financial Brokers Ltd t/a One Quote to avoid a conflict of interest when providing services to clients. Where an unavoidable conflict arises we will advise you of this in writing before providing any business services. If you have not been made aware of any such conflict you may assume that none arises.

15. Payment Default Remedies

Product providers are entitled to withdraw benefit or cover on default of any payments due under any products arranged for your benefit. It is therefore critical to the guaranteed continuance of your insurance that your premium is paid in full. Some insurers may include as a term of the insurance a settlement due date or in some cases a warranty under the terms of which the premium must be paid to them by a certain date. We inform our clients of such requirements and the relevant date in good time to allow the payment terms to be met.

Failure to comply with the terms of the warranty may mean that the insurer’s obligation under the policy will be terminated. We will automatically advise you of any payments outstanding on your policy and the consequences of failure to pay premiums. An outline of the action and remedies which the relevant product producers may take in the event of default by a client is included in the product producer’s policy document.

16. Consumer Protection

Compensation Scheme

Although we never hold receive or hold monies in, meaning all investment funds are transferred directly to the chosen product provider, we are members of the Investor Compensation Scheme.

This scheme is operated by the Investor Compensation Company Limited. See below for details.

Investor Compensation Scheme

The Investor Compensation Act, 1998 provides for the establishment of a compensation scheme and the payment, in certain circumstances, of compensation to certain clients (known as eligible investors) of authorised investment firms, as defined in that Act. The Investor Compensation Company Ltd. (ICCL) was established under the 1998 Act to operate such a compensation scheme and our firm is a member of this scheme.

Compensation may be payable where money or investment instruments owed or belonging to clients and 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 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 as applicable compensation of up to €20,000.

For further information, contact the Investor Compensation Company Ltd at (01) 224 4955.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

We also carry professional indemnity insurance (PII).

The base PII amount applying to each claim is to increase €1,564,610.oo
The base aggregate PII amount per year €2,315 610.00

17. Confidentiality

We will use your personal information only for the purpose for which you provide it. All such information will be held in accordance with the Data Protection Acts. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that persons employed by us are aware of and comply with such legislation. We would like to be able to contact you by way of telephone, letter or email, in relation to any products which we might consider to be of interest to you. If you do not wish us to provide you with details of possible additional products, please let us know.

18. Complaints Procedure

If you would like to talk to us about how we could improve our service, or if you are unhappy with the service you are receiving, please let us know by telephoning or writing to us. Any complaints will be responded to in writing. We will carefully consider any complaint as soon as we receive it and do all we can to explain the position to you. If we do not answer your complaint to your satisfaction, you may, of course, take up the matter with the Financial Services Ombudsman or the Pensions Ombudsman. We will respond to any complaint within 5 working days in writing.

19. Data Protection

The firm complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018. The data which you provide to us will be held on a computer database 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 and as outlined in our Privacy Notice made available on your website. You have the right at any time to request a copy of any personal data within the meaning of the GDPR that our office holds about you and to have any inaccuracies in that information corrected. Please contact us at info@onequote.ie if you have any concerns about your personal data.

Client Acknowledgement