Guiding you through your journey
Welcome I would like to welcome you to HLPartnership (HLP), the natural home for mortgage and protection professionals. After a long career working within the network division at one of the largest companies in the industry, I joined HLP as Managing Director in 2018. Having been in the industry a long time, I was incredibly impressed by the phenomenal growth of HLP over the last 10 years; I knew that this was a network that I wanted to be a part of.
Very rarely do you find AR’s who speak so positively about their network, but every time I spoke to an HLP member, they were always highly complimentary which was a breath of fresh air. So many networks are behind the times when mortgage & protection advisers should be at the forefront of technology. I know that HLP’s forward thinking nature will help you succeed at every given opportunity. HLP brings together the best technology, field support and events programme in the market to build the strongest of network offerings. Shaun Almond, Managing Director
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Contents Welcome
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Fees and Commission Payments...........................................................................................................................................................4 When do I get paid?...............................................................................................................................................................................................................4 Why have I had no statement this week?........................................................................................................................................................4 Do you delay any commission payments?......................................................................................................................................................4 How do I pay my Network fees?................................................................................................................................................................................4 How do I know what commission I am due?..............................................................................................................................................5 What happens if I owe the Network money?..............................................................................................................................................5 Who do I contact if I have a query?.........................................................................................................................................................................5 Technology .........................................................................................................................................................................................................6 HLP Website Adviser Portal............................................................................................................................................................................................6 Stay secure.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6 HLP CRM System......................................................................................................................................................................................................................6 Tools To Help You Twenty7Tec.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 Mortgage Broker Tools (MBT)........................................................................................................................................................................................7 SmartrCriteria...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 Solution Builder from iPipeline...................................................................................................................................................................................7 Lender Provider & Insurer Panels...........................................................................................................................................................8 Going off-panel...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 Access to Insurance Providers......................................................................................................................................................................................8 Access to Lenders.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 L&G Mortgage Club.................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 Where can I find more details on lender proc fees................................................................................................................................9 A dedicated mortgage desk..........................................................................................................................................................................................9 Can I go direct to a product provider...................................................................................................................................................................9 Compliance ......................................................................................................................................................................................................10 Where can I find the Manual.....................................................................................................................................................................................10 Pay attention..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................10 Compliance Advisory Visit and File Reviews..............................................................................................................................................10 How do you monitor activity......................................................................................................................................................................................10 Financial Promotions /Stationery..........................................................................................................................................................................10 Professional Indemnity Insurance.........................................................................................................................................................................11 What happens if I receive a complaint............................................................................................................................................................11 Further Information.......................................................................................................................................................................................11 Introducers...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11 Useful contact details........................................................................................................................................................................................................12
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Fees and Commission Payments When do I get paid?
Do you delay any commission payments?
Commission payments should be processed on the first working day of the week, normally Monday, for any commissions received by the network up until 5pm on the previous Friday.
If an individual commission or a combination of commissions in the same household exceeds £3,000, the case(s) will require approval by the Compliance Team before payment can be authorised. Please ensure you respond promptly to any compliance request as failure to do so will delay payment.
When a payment is made, the statement will be emailed to a nominated email address on the following working day, normally Tuesday with the payment reaching your bank account by the 2nd working day of the week ordinarily the Wednesday of each week. Weeks which contain a Bank Holiday/s will be delayed accordingly.
We operate a strict case checking process. Should a case fail a compliance check, it will be checked again after 14 days, followed by two further checks (at 7 day intervals), thereafter it will be moved into ‘overdue’. At this point, it will remain your responsibility to satisfy any outstanding remedial action points.
Why have I had no statement this week?
How do I pay my Network fees?
If the balance of your account is either under £100 or in debit then no automatic statement will be issued, however you can request a statement which can be emailed by our Commissions team.
Your monthly membership, trainee fees (if applicable), and any other applicable charges will start from the day of appointment as per the Appointed Representative\Agreement.
Please ensure you respond immediately to any missing case requests or other queries from our Commissions Team to allow us to make your payment without delay.
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Any additional fees relating to or arising under Clause 12.4 of the AR Agreement will be debited to your Statement of Account on the last working day of each month. The charges payable under this Agreement are exclusive of value added tax (VAT) which shall be charged in addition if applicable. All assumptions regarding the applicability of VAT to services are based on our current understanding of HM Revenue & Customs practice which is subject to change in future.
How do I know what commission I am due? Commission rates are as published on our website within the secure ‘Members Area’. Individual login details will be provided and the commission rates are within the ‘Product and Services’ section. Our network retention does not apply to any broker fees paid directly to your firm by customers but it would apply to broker fees incorporated in a loan and paid to us by the lender or packager whether for regulated or non-regulated products. In respect of life, income protection and critical illness policies remunerated by indemnity commission, a Commission Reserve will be retained against the commission received. The Commission Reserve will be an agreed percentage which is earmarked to offset any exceptional lapsation or debit balance. The application of the Commission Reserve deduction will be reviewed periodically in line with persistency and other key performance indicators.
Please note that insurers place restrictions on cases issued on your own life or those of close family members and these must be conducted on a non-indemnity basis. Should we receive indemnity commissions in respect of these cases we will either ask for the case to be re-issued or withhold a large proportion of the commission within the Commission Reserve.
What happens if I owe the Network money? Commission rates are as published on our website within the secure ‘Members Area’. Individual login details will be provided and the commission rates are within the ‘Product and Services’ section.
Who do I contact if I have a query? If you have any queries about our accounts or commission processing, please contact our Commissions Team on 0330 0552 651 or by email to commissions@hlpartnership.co.uk.
A higher percentage Commission Reserve may be retained in the case of large life policies (or linked policies) where the amount of indemnity commission is disproportionate to your average monthly turnover from all classes of business and usually in all cases where the gross commission exceeds £3,000.
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Technology The HLPartnership Website Adviser Portal
HLPartnership CRM System
This exclusive area of our website gives you access to a variety of network privileges and links to support services. The Adviser Portal is also used to record new business, update CPD and keep up to date with network, regulatory and market changes.
You will have received an email with user details and links to download the HLPartnership CRM system. Parts of the system will need to be installed so it is important to read the email carefully before attempting to install the software.
You should already have received login details via email. If you have not received these logins, please contact us as soon as possible.
If you need any technical support or assistance installing the HLPartnership CRM system please contact the support team on 0845 659 2360 or email to support@360lifecycle.co.uk. Our Tech Support Team are available to help with any questions you may have regarding our CRM system, compliance queries or any other matters. You can reach them on: 0330 0552 651 or email: tech@hlpartnership.co.uk.
Stay secure Important note: This login is solely for use by yourself. Any trainee/advisers/administrators will be assigned their own login details separately and will not be able to access the online commission statements unless you provide authorisation for another individual to have this access. You are required to notify HLPartnership as soon as possible of all new joiners/leavers to your firm including administrators and para-planning staff in order to ensure the correct licences are in place. It is a requirement that all new business is notified to HLPartnership Limited via the Adviser Portal on the Members Area. Failure to notify HLPartnership of new business within 5 days of submission to the provider may incur an Additional Compliance Charge.
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The Adviser Portal To enable our Accounts team to allocate commissions to you promptly it is vital that details of all business cases are input to the Adviser Portal as soon as possible but at least within 5 days of policy submission. If we are unable to locate a case or if the case n Is not updated on time n Contains errors e.g. incorrect adviser/policy/account numbers/provider n Has not been marked as complete n Has been marked as ‘Not Proceeding’ (NPW) in error ...it will take longer for us to reconcile our accounts and your commission payment may be delayed. If you do make a mistake, use the ‘Edit’ button on the system to correct it before Completion.
Tools To Help You You have access to a suite of tools to help you in the mortgage and protection conversation with your customers.
Twenty7Tec SOURCE powered by CloudTwenty7 is a sophisticated search engine for mortgage, and secured loan products. The database behind SOURCE stores up to 700 pieces of individual lending criteria per product, helping ensure search results reflect the specific circumstances of each applicant. As SOURCE is a live online platform, it benefits from real time product updates, ensuring the data being used is always the most relevant and up to date. When you access SOURCE you will see you also have access to a mortgage criteria search solution, which supports free format text criteria searches and the production of evidence of research documentation. This criteria search functionality is currently free of charge to all users of SOURCE until the end of 2021.
Mortgage Broker Tools (MBT) Members of HLP can access a free three-month trial of MBT Affordability, followed by discounted pricing to access the platform. We encourage everyone to trial the product which gives you accurate, up to date affordability results for over 40 lenders from a single form, and in under a minute. You can sign up here.
SmartrCriteria SmartrCriteria is Legal & General Mortgage Club’s mortgage criteria search tool, tailor-made for busy advisers to make your life easier. Once you’ve entered a client’s mortgage requirements, it does the research for you, quickly matching the most appropriate lenders from the panel to their circumstances. And now it’s faster, and even more accurate.
Solution Builder from iPipeline Using Solution Builder you can quickly find the right solution for your client’s protection needs by researching, quoting and comparing across multiple product sets including Life, Critical Illness and Income Protection. The system allows you to set your client’s expectations earlier in the process with Intelligent Matrix Quoting by viewing a range of indicative premiums from a simple input screen without having to run multiple quotes. You can also view a number of solutions for your client’s protection needs in a single view with Menu Builder and include multi-benefit and single-benefit products. Quotes are held for more than 30 days and, by bringing in the indicative underwriting solution XRAE, you can find a great protection solution tailored to your client’s life and critical illness needs.
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Lender, Provider and Insurer Panels Going off-panel
Access to Lenders
You are reminded that you may only recommend products from our designated panel of lenders, insurers and packager partners. Available providers may depend on your company set up and must be notified to customers using the Initial Disclosure process.
Each adviser will need to register themselves with our lender partners. Please use the following link for a list of lenders and how to register with each one. Click here.
Provider details are available on the Adviser Portal of our website. It is essential that the ‘Submit New Case’ section of the Adviser Portal is completed and updated within 5 working days of submission/completion.
There may be occasions, for firms that already have registrations with a lender, to simply switch. We recommend you contact your Lender Business Development Manager to see if this option exists for your firm.
In the event that it is in the customer’s interests to use a provider who is either not on our panel or is outside your chosen scope of service, you may be able to access the product through our ‘Off Panel’ process. An ‘Off Panel’ request form is on the Members Area of our website and must be submitted for authorisation PRIOR to submitting an application form to that provider.
Access to Insurance Providers We will automatically notify relevant Insurance providers of your appointment to the HLPartnership network based on your firm’s scope of service. You will then receive an agency from the Insurer with instructions on how to register to submit business. Please note you will need to request your own protection agency for Zurich and Guardian this can be done by visiting the Insurer’s website or by following the links below. Click here for Zurich. Click here for Guardian. When asked to select your panel choice, please make sure you choose the ‘HLP Partnership Panel’. If you have any questions, please call us before completing the agency request.
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L&G Mortgage Club For firms who already have registrations with lenders you may be able to transfer your agency. We recommend you speak to your lender before starting the registration process. HLPartnership have written to L&G to advise that you are now a HLP AR but each adviser within your firm will need to complete an online registration for the L&G Mortgage Club which may be needed for certain lender registrations. Please note in order to register for the L&G Mortgage Club you will need your L&G protection agency number, which takes approximately 5 working days to receive from appointment. Please use the link below to register. Click here. Advisers must not share lender/provider logins or allow anyone to use their logins on their behalf.
Where can I find more details on lender proc fees? When submitting business directly to a lender please ensure you refer to our HLP Master Proc fee list located in our Adviser Portal to ensure you are accessing the correct lender credentials to receive the correct and enhanced proc fee details. The Master Proc Fee List contains information on how to register or submit business to each lender. This is particularly important as HLPartnership have secured from a number of lenders, enhanced proc fees for our members, but these rates would only apply where you have registered correctly and selected the appropriate distribution route. For products accessed through the L&G Mortgage Club, payment of individual cases can be requested on exchange. This can be accessed by going to the following website: Click here. We are unable to credit payments to your Statement of Account if the Adviser Portal does not hold properly completed Submission and Completion/On Risk data for each policy.
Can I go direct to a product provider? You are not permitted to hold direct agencies with any providers except to receive renewal commissions arising from business written prior to your appointment as a member of HLPartnership. As stated above it is essential that the ‘New Business Control System’ section of our website is completed and updated within 5 working days of submission/completion.
For Lloyds Banking Group For Lloyds Banking Group Brands – Halifax, BM Solutions and Scottish Widows Bank, HL Partnership handle the payment of your proc fees direct from the lender and you are not able to claim your fees on exchange via the L&G Mortgage Club. For Halifax cases, please make sure you select Home Loan Partnership as the payment route when submitting applications. Halifax will pay HLP proc fees weekly following completion. For Product Transfers (PT), proc fees are paid by the 15th of the month of completion i.e. if the PT starts on the 1st February, HLP will receive the proc fee by the 15th February. For BM Solutions, the payment route when submitting applications is HLPartnership Ltd. Proc Fees are paid weekly following completion. For example, if the completion day is between Friday and Thursday, BM Solutions will pay HLP by the following Thursday. When it comes to Scottish Widows Bank (SWB) applications you will need to make sure you select H L Partnership Limited as the payment route when submitting applications. Mortgage applications and Product Transfers with SWB will be paid to HLP on the 2nd of each month following completion.
A dedicated mortgage desk Don’t forget that by being part of the HLPartnership network you automatically have access to the L&G Mortgage Club mortgage help-desk for assistance with any research or product queries. Contact them for free on 01226 230 504.
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Compliance Where can I find the Manual?
How do you monitor activity?
The manual can be found by clicking the ‘Compliance’ section on the Adviser Portal and choosing the document library. In the library you will be able to download the Network Procedures Manual.
All new business will be monitored remotely via the HLPartnership CRM system. This system is the sole method you are permitted to use to supply mandatory point of sale documentation and it provides an essential audit trail. You should note that failure to follow the sales process and in particular incomplete files can lead to delayed commissions or additional compliance charges if cases have to be checked multiple times.
Pay attention It is your responsibility to ensure that you and all other persons engaged in your business become familiar with the contents of the manual and follow the defined procedures to the letter. Although you may feel you are already familiar with these procedures, your attention is drawn particularly to the sections covering Client Money, Financial Crime, Financial Promotions, Training & Competence, the Advice Process and Complaints Notification since any failure on your firm’s part to observe these procedures may result in serious and costly action being taken against you.
Compliance Advisory Visit and File Reviews Shortly after your appointment, a visit will be arranged to your place of business by our designated Regional Compliance Manager (RCM). This initial visit will be for advisory rather than audit purposes and is designed to guide and help you understand your obligations, with particular reference to record keeping and the way your firm conducts its business. If you need any help or guidance before this visit, please contact your RCM.
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Our Compliance Team will be reviewing the majority of your firm’s cases with immediate effect until business quality standards have been met (usually no longer than 3 months). If you have any questions you can contact the team, again on 0330 0552 651 or email: compliance@hlpartnership.co.uk.
Financial Promotions/Stationery You must submit proofs of all stationery and marketing material to our Compliance Department for approval before any item is issued to any member of the public or published. You must destroy all stationery and other relevant printed material that you used in connection with your business prior to this appointment. Before conducting any regulated activity on behalf of HLPartnership, you are required to include a mandatory status disclosure on letterheads, fax headers, websites and email footers. The status disclosure can be used on other materials if you wish.
Further information The basic statement is as follows: [Your Company] is an appointed representative of HL Partnership Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. There are variations to the above statement depending on the legal status of your company and whether or not you use trading styles. Please see our Guide to Financial Promotions part of the Network Procedures Manual or contact our Compliance Department for guidance.
Professional Indemnity Insurance From your appointment your firm is insured under our network PI insurance policy. There is a policy excess payable on any claim arising and your attention is drawn to Clause 6.2 of the AR Agreement which explains your liability for any uninsured amounts arising. The policy covers business transacted with our knowledge and consent and from our extensive panels. Please note that business conducted off panel without our expressed consent is unlikely to be covered by the scheme and you would potentially bear the full cost of any claim against you personally.
What happens if I receive a complaint? You must also follow strictly the complaints notification procedure described in the Network Procedures Manual, since it is a condition of the policy that we notify all complaints, however trivial they may at first appear, to our PI insurers at the earliest opportunity. If you delay notifying us of a complaint, you may invalidate the cover leaving your firm liable for a potential uninsured loss.
Introducers Your firm may receive introductions that you pay for as a business arrangement only from a person or firm who has entered into an Introducer Deed of Undertaking with us. Please ask us for an Introducer Application form for each such person or firm and do not continue with or commence any new introducer arrangements unless we have formally accepted the person or firm.
In Summary Naturally, there is a lot to think about and become familiar with when joining a new network so we have a friendly, knowledgeable and committed team here at HLPartnership to provide any support and assistance you may need. The above points should help avoid any pitfalls early on but every firm is different so please do feel free to contact us and ask any questions you have.
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Useful contact details General Enquiries: Website: Facebook: LinkedIn: Twitter: You Tube:
Tel: 0330 0552 651 www.hlpartnership.co.uk www.facebook.com/HLPartnership www.linkedin.com/company/hl-partnership/ @hlpartnership HLPartnership
Email: General Enquiries: Accounts: Marketing: Compliance: Membership: Recruitment:
support@hlpartnership.co.uk commissions@hlpartnership.co.uk marketing@hlpartnership.co.uk compliance@hlpartnership.co.uk membership@hlpartnership.co.uk mail@hlpartnership.co.uk