Terms and conditions
Overview
Please ensure that you check your bank statements regularly and advise Norwich and Peterborough immediately if you suspect a transaction may be incorrect.
Gold Current Account conditions
These Conditions relate to the use of your Gold Current Account. Unless you are a Basic Banking Customer (please refer to the definitions below), you will receive a Gold Current Account card which can be used as a cheque guarantee card, as a card to withdraw cash from a LINK cash machine or Visa/PLUS cash machine and as a Visa debit card for use in an Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) terminal to acquire goods, services or cash. If you are a Basic Banking Customer, you will receive a card that can be used to withdraw cash from a LINK Cash Machine or Visa/PLUS machine. The Society may also permit it to be used to obtain other services that the Society may provide from time to time.
When you pay a cheque into your account it will not earn interest until the third day after the day it is applied to your account. This means that you may incur overdraft interest if your account is overdrawn when a cheque is paid into your account.
About your account
Gold Current Accounts opened from 1st September 2005 will be ''share'' accounts. You will therefore become a shareholding member of the Society (if you are not a shareholding member already) when you open a new Gold Current Account. Any Gold Accounts opened prior to this date will either confer ''deposit'' or ''share'' status depending on the account type held. The Society operates a permanent charitable assignment scheme.
DEFINITIONS
In these conditions:
"the Society" (or "we") means Norwich and Peterborough Building Society of Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6WZ;
"Account" means a Gold Current Account;
"Account holder" (or "you") means the person(s) in whose name(s) the Account is held;
"Agreement" means the agreement between the Society and you relating to the Account and in which these conditions are incorporated;
"Basic Banking Customer" means a customer who has an Account which does not have any overdraft facility and who has a Card which can be used to withdraw cash from a LINK Cash Machine or Visa/PLUS Cash Machine but which cannot be used to guarantee cheques or as a Visa debit card;
"Available Funds" means the amount of money that you can withdraw from your Account at a particular point in time. If you are in credit this is the Cleared Balance plus any approved overdraft. If you are overdrawn this is the difference between your Cleared Balance and the limit of any Approved Overdraft;
"Approved Overdraft" means an overdraft facility we have agreed to provide you with on your Account following a request from you, or an offer made by us;
"Cleared Balance" means the balance of your Account either in credit or overdrawn, excluding the value of any cheques that are not yet available for you to withdraw against;
"Working Day" means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England and Wales;
"Card" means a card issued for use with the Account;
"Cash Machine" means an automated teller machine (ATM) where the Card may be used to obtain cash and other services that may be offered;
"Cheque Book" means a cheque book issued by the Society for use in connection with the Account;
"Password" means the password agreed between the Society and yourself to enable the Society to provide you with certain services in relation to the Account over the telephone;
"PIN" means the Personal Identification Number issued by the Society for use with your card;
"EFTPOS terminal" means any system used to accept transactions made by a Visa or other debit card;
"Rules" means the Rules of the Society as amended or replaced from time to time.
Use of account
1. You agree to be bound by the Rules of the Society. See section "About your account" above.
2.
(i) You may become a Basic Banking customer if you are aged 16 or over. To operate an Account other than as a Basic Banking customer, you must be aged 18 or over and meet our eligibility criteria.
(ii) Your Account may not be used for commercial or business purposes and the Society accepts no liability in respect of an Account used for such purpose. If we believe that the Account is being used for commercial or business purposes, we reserve the right to make transaction charges in line with our current business banking tariff, or to close your Account after giving you 30 days' notice of our intention to do so.
3. We reserve the right to decline to open an Account.
4. Unless you pay money into your Account at least once every month, we may close your Account after giving you 30 days' notice of our intention to do so.
5. We allow withdrawals to be made by either cash (maximum £500 per customer per day) or by cheque.
6. The central clearing cycle is 3 Working Days. We comply with this timetable for automated payments. With regard to cheques, you should allow 4 full Working Days after the day you pay a cheque into your Account, before drawing against it. You should note that, on occasions, cheques may be returned unpaid beyond this period. If you draw against the value of a cheque that has not cleared and there are insufficient funds in your Account, your Account will become overdrawn and interest and our monthly overdraft fee (if applicable) will be charged. If you are a Basic Banking Customer, you will not be able to draw against the value of a cheque that has not cleared if there are insufficient cleared funds in the Account to meet the withdrawal.
7. We will debit your account with:
(i) withdrawals from the Account and payments made out of the Account through cheques, our Internet (NetmasterGold) service, use of your Card at cash machines, EFTPOS terminals and other devices or elsewhere;
(ii) transactions on your Account authorised by you or by any joint Account holder;
(iii) the amount of any cheque paid into your Account, which is not subsequently cleared, with effect from the date the cheque was received;
(iv) any charges, fees or interest due to us in respect of your Account in accordance with our scale in force from time to time (a copy of which is available at any branch of the Society);
(v) the costs of recovering or attempting to recover monies owing by you to us if a debit balance on the Account remains outstanding for seven days after a request from us to you to bring the Account into credit or within an agreed overdraft limit as varied;
(vi) charges made by other institutions for use by you of their Cash Machines.
8. We will not be liable if a retailer, supplier or bank refuses to accept use of your Card. If a retailer or supplier agrees to make a refund, we will credit your Account with the amount when we receive the refund. We will not be liable for any delay in receiving the refund.
9. A request for authorisation of an EFTPOS or Cash Machine transaction may be declined if the Card has been reported as lost or stolen or if you do not have enough Available Funds in your Account. Alternatively, and at our discretion, we may pay the transaction and charge you a 'paid item fee' and any overdraft interest, other fees or charges in accordance with our scale of fees and charges.
10. We may refuse to make a payment on a cheque, direct debit, standing order, bill payment, EFTPOS, Cash Machine or other transaction unless you have enough Available Funds in your Account at 5.00pm on the Working Day before the payment is due.
11. The maximum bill payment that can be made through our branches and Contact Centre is £10,000 per transaction. There is no limit to the number of payments that can be made per day. The maximum bill payment that can be made via our Internet (NetmasterGold) service is £10,000 per day. Bill payments can only be made if there are sufficient Available Funds in your Account.
Interest
12. Interest on any credit balance is calculated on a daily basis and credited to the Account monthly. The rate or rates of interest that we pay on credit balances (which may be varied from time to time) are available on this website and from our Contact Centre. Cash and monies received into the Account by Bankers' Automated Credit will earn interest from the day of their receipt by the Society. Cheques paid into your Account will earn interest from the third day after the day we receive them.
Overdraft facility
13. If we agree an overdraft facility on your Account you will be entitled to use it, up to and including the agreed amount, on the terms, at the rate(s) of interest and subject to any monthly fees and charges as we may notify to you from time to time. Overdraft interest is calculated daily on the Cleared Balance of your Account and debited to your Account monthly. (This means you could pay overdraft interest even though your bank statement may show that your Account has remained in credit).
14. If you exceed your Approved Overdraft facility, we will charge you interest at our unapproved overdraft rate but only on the amount that you exceed your Approved Overdraft facility by; the remainder will be charged at an Approved Overdraft rate. We may also charge you fees and charges in accordance with our scale of fees and charges from time to time. The rates of interest that we charge on overdrawn balances (which may be varied from time to time) are available elsewhere within the web site and from our Contact Centre. Before we deduct overdraft interest or any monthly overdraft fee from your Account we will give you at least 14 days' notice of how much we will deduct, this will usually be notified to you on your bank statement. Interest and charges will usually be applied to your Account on the last working day of the month following after the month you incur them.
15.
(i) We may at any time by notice to you require the amount of any debit balance on your Account to be repaid immediately in full or in part;
(ii) We may at any time cancel or amend any overdraft facility by notice to you;
(iii) We reserve the right at any time to reduce any overdraft facility in accordance with the level of monthly credits to your Account, by notice to you.
16. We may from time to time by written notice to you set the whole or part of any credit or debit balance in the Account:
(i) against any credit or debit balance on any other account or accounts held in your name with the Society; or
(ii) against the outstanding debit balance of any other loan or loans you may have with the Society (whether or not secured).
Joint Accounts
17. If your Account is a joint account we will accept the instructions of any one of the Account holders for all withdrawals and for any other purpose in connection with your Account.
18. All agreements, indemnities, obligations, liabilities and authorities given by one or more of the joint Account holders shall be assumed to be joint and several. In other words, each of you will be fully liable in respect of the Account, together and individually.
Cheques
19. When using the Card as a cheque guarantee card you must:
(i) use only cheques taken from the Cheque book;
(ii) sign and date the cheque in the presence of the payee;
(iii) ensure that the payee writes the Card number on the reverse of the cheque;
(iv) not draw a cheque for more than £100, nor issue more than one cheque in respect of any one transaction or to the same payee at the same time or on the same day;
(v) not issue a cheque in excess of the Cleared Balance or any Approved Overdraft available on your Account;
(vi) not stop payment of the cheque;
(vii) not use this facility outside the British Isles or after the expiry date of the Card; and
(viii) accept that the Society may debit the amount of any cheque, whether guaranteed or not, to the Account without reference to you (even if the cheque bears any irregularity) and you will be liable for the payment of any debit balance so created, together with interest and other charges.
20. We recommend that you ensure that there are sufficient Available Funds in your Account before you write a cheque. We may refuse to pay any cheque without incurring any liability to you or to any third party, whether or not you have sufficient Available Funds in the Account to meet the cheque. We will usually only refuse to pay a cheque if there are enough Available Funds in your Account where there is a reason for doing so. For example, because the cheque has not been written out correctly or where this is a court order that requires us to freeze your Account or if we suspect that fraudulent activity is occurring on your Account.
21. You must not post-date a cheque. If you do, and it is presented to us before the date you have inserted, we may pay the cheque at the time it is presented, or return it as we choose and without any liability to you.
22. We will accept an instruction to stop a cheque before 12 noon on the day that the cheque is presented to us for payment.
Cards
23. The Card may only be used by the Account holder whose name is shown on the Card. You must sign the Card immediately on receipt and keep it secure at all times and separate from your Cheque Book.
24. We will accept responsibility for faults which occur in systems which belong to us, which cause you to suffer a loss, unless the fault was obvious or notified by a message or notice on display. We will not be responsible for any consequential loss suffered by you or by any third party.
25. We may issue a further Card from time to time unless you notify us in writing that you do not wish us to do so.
We may decline to issue a further Card for your Account if your current Card has not been used for over 12 months. We will notify you in writing if this is the case.
26. Each Card and each Cheque Book remain the property of the Society and must be returned on demand or on closure of the Account. We may refuse to issue or re-issue a Cheque Book or any Card (without giving a reason) but will only usually do so if you are in breach of these conditions.
27. Some institutions may charge for using their Cash Machines. You authorise us to deduct these charges from your Account.
PINs and/or passwords
28. You should keep the PIN, Password and selected personal information secret at all times and not written or recorded in any way. Never give your Account details or other security information to anyone.
29. You must memorise the PIN and Password and not keep a record of them (even in disguised form). You must immediately destroy the notification of the PIN which we send you. You can ask not to be issued with a PIN.
30. The PIN can be changed at certain Cash Machines. Details of these machines are available from the Society. You must inform us, as soon as you can, and change the PIN and/or Password if you believe that anyone else knows them.
Charges and expenses
31. You will be liable for the cost of any proceedings, costs, claims, demands, losses or liabilities incurred by the Society arising out of:
(i) the Society stopping payment of a cheque at your request; or
(ii) your failure to comply with the Rules or these Conditions.
Changes
32. We may change these Conditions at any time if we reasonably believe that the change is needed for any of the following reasons (which may relate to circumstances existing at the time or those which are reasonably expected to apply in the near future):
(i) to reflect, in a proportionate manner, changes which we reasonably make to your Account or to the services we provide you with or the way in which we provide them:
(ii) to reflect, in a proportionate manner changes in technology or general practice in the personal banking industry;
(iii) to reflect, proportionately, the requirements or recommendations of the Financial Services Authority or any other body responsible for regulating our business or the requirements or recommendations of the Financial Services Ombudsman or any other appropriate ombudsman;
(iv) to reflect, proportionately, any changes, or changes of interpretation, in the relevant laws or any codes of practice with which we intend to comply;
(v) to enable us to harmonise in a reasonable manner the products or services following any acquisition of personal banking accounts or any take over of, or merger with, another personal banking service provider;
(vi) to correct errors, to clarify the meaning of a Condition or make it easier to understand;
(vii) to enable us to maintain our competitiveness, while having regard to the interests of our personal banking customers, in the interests of our business as a whole;
(viii) if it is necessary to maintain our financial strength in the interest of all our consumer customers.
33. If any change made to these Conditions is to your disadvantage, we will tell you about it personally at least 30 days' before we make the change. At any time up to 60 days' from the date of the notice you may, without notice, switch your money to another account or close it without having to pay any extra charges. We may make any other change immediately and tell you about it within 30 days.
34. We can also make a change to these Conditions for any valid reason (other than a valid reason mentioned in Condition 32) where we reasonably believe the change is appropriate. Where we do so you can within 60 days of our notifying you of any change, without giving us any notice, switch your money to another account or close it without having to pay any extra charges. We will tell you this and that we are making the change in accordance with this Condition 34 when we give you notice in accordance with Condition 32.
35. We can change the fees and charges we make at any time. Changes may include the abolition of, or amendment to, existing fees and charges, or the introduction of new fees and charges and may be made if we reasonably believe the change is needed for any one or more of the following reasons (which may relate to circumstances existing at the time or those which are reasonably expected to apply in the near future):
(i) to reflect, in a proportionate manner, changes in the costs which we reasonably incur in carrying out the relevant activity;
(ii) to reflect reasonably the charges made by anyone else providing a personal banking service;
(iii) to reflect changes which we may reasonably make in the activity we carry out or the service we provide or to provide new services;
(iv) to maintain our financial strength in the interests of all our consumer customers;
(v) to reflect, proportionately, the requirements or recommendation of the Financial Services Authority or any other body responsible for regulating our business or the requirements or recommendations of the Financial Services Ombudsman or any other appropriate ombudsman;
(vi) to reflect, proportionately, any changes or changes of interpretation, in the relevant laws or any codes of practice with which we intend to comply.
36. When we change any fees or charges in relation to your Account, we will give you at least 30 days' notice.
37. We may change the interest rates applying to your Account by giving notice to you. We may do so for one or more of the following reasons:
(i) to reflect, proportionately, changes in the Bank Repo Rate (or base rate) set by the Bank of England (or the nearest equivalent rate set by the Bank of England or any body which may, in future, take over responsibility for interest rate setting from the Bank of England.
(ii) to reflect, proportionately, the introduction of new rates of interest or changes to interest rates charged by our competitors in the personal banking industry;
(iii) because of any change in the way the Account is used;
(iv) to reflect, proportionately, the requirements or recommendations of the Financial Services Authority or any other body responsible for regulating our business or the requirements or recommendations of the Financial Services Ombudsman or any other appropriate ombudsman;
(v) to reflect, proportionately, any changes, or changes of interpretation, in the relevant laws or codes of practice relating to financial service providers;
(vi) to comply with our agreement with you;
(vii) to reflect, proportionately, any increases or reductions in the costs we reasonably incur in operating our personal banking business;
(viii) if it is necessary to maintain the Society's financial strength for the benefit of all our consumers customers;
(ix) if we transfer your Account, or if we acquire personal banking accounts from another provider, or our business is merged with another provider, to enable us to harmonise the interest rates charged to our personal banking customers in a reasonable manner
38. When we change the interest rates applying to the Account, we will tell you about the changes within 30 days by either:
- letter, e-mail or other personal notice; or
- within 3 working days of the change by prominent notices/leaflets in our branches and by advertisements in one national and two local newspapers selected by us. We will state clearly the previous and new interest rates. We will also have the previous and new rates for the Account available from our Contact Centre and our website within 3 working days of the change.
39. We may also change the interest rates for any valid reason (other than a valid reason mentioned in Condition 36) which reasonably justifies a change .Where we do so we will give you reasonable notice in writing in advance of the change or, if this is not practical, at the earliest opportunity after the change has taken place. We will also tell you that the change has been made under this Condition 39.
Statements of account
40. When you have made transactions on your Account during a month we will usually provide you with a statement for that month. This may be in the form of a paper statement sent to you through the post or an electronic statement made available to you to view using internet. You may also ask us to send you paper statements on a more frequent basis although we may charge you for this service. We will also stop sending you statements at anytime. Please notify us immediately if any statement includes a transaction which you suspect may be incorrect.
Closure
41. You may close your Account at any time by written notice to us at any branch of the Society, provided that you return your Card and all unused cheques and pay to us the amount of any debit balance on your Account. You must then also pay to us any other amounts due to us in respect of your Account, whether arising on or after the date of termination.
42. We may close your Account and end this Agreement by giving you at least 30 days' notice. We may close your Account and/or refuse to accept any further monies without giving notice to you if there are exceptional circumstances, for example, fraud. We will always tell you why we are closing or have closed your Account. If we close your Account we will pay to you the amount of any credit balance on your Account (after deduction of any charges or other sums due to us). If you cannot be traced after reasonable enquiry, your Account may be closed and the balance held in a suspense account for such period as we may deem fit, after which it may be forfeited to us (provided that we may repay the balance in the event that a valid claim is received).
Lost or stolen
43. You must notify us as soon as possible if your Cheque Book or the Card is lost or stolen or liable to misuse or if the PIN, Password or selected personal information becomes known to anyone else. A 24-hour telephone service is available for this purpose on Peterborough 01733 372 374.
44. We will accept and act on notice of loss received from a recognised card notification organisation, e.g. Sentinel Card Services.
45. If notice of loss of the Cheque Book or Card is given orally, you must confirm it in writing within seven days at any branch or at our Principal Office at Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6WZ.
46. We will not provide a replacement Cheque Book or Card until we have received written notice of the loss from you or from a card notification organisation.
47. Unless we can show that you have acted fraudulently or without reasonable care, your liability for misuse of the Card will be limited as follows:
(i) if someone else uses the Card before you tell us that it has been lost or stolen or that someone else knows your PIN, you will not be liable for more than £50. After we have been notified, you will not be liable for any further use of the Card by anyone else;
(ii) if someone else uses your Card details without your permission, and your Card has not been lost or stolen, you will not be liable.
48. If someone else uses your Card before you receive it, you will not be liable.
49. If you ask us about a Card transaction we will give you details of it. In some cases, you will be required to give us confirmation or evidence that you have not authorised a transaction. If we need to investigate the matter further we will need you to co-operate with us, our agents and with the police if we need to involve them.
50. If you act fraudulently you will be responsible for all losses. If you act without reasonable care and this causes loss, you may be responsible for it. This may be the case if you do not follow conditions 28,29 and 30 and other advice that we give you about taking care of the Card and PIN.
Notices
51. Except for notification of a change in interest rates, any notice to you under this agreement may be given by us by publication in one national and two local newspapers selected by us or by written notice to you (including in a statement).
Transfer
52. We may transfer or assign this Agreement and/or our rights and obligations under this Agreement. If we are of the view that in so doing this will serve to reduce the assurance which the Society provides to you, we will endeavor to obtain your prior agreement.
Information about you
53. We will add to your record with the credit reference agencies who we use, details of your Agreement with us, the payments you make under it and any default or failure to keep to its conditions and any deliberate non payment following a change of address without notice. If this is a joint account, an association will be created between each Account holder at credit reference agencies which will link your financial records. You and anyone else with whom you have a financial link understand that each other's information will be taken into account in all future applications by either or both of you. The linking will continue until one of you successfully files a disassociation at the credit reference agencies.
The credit reference agencies will also use the records for statistical analysis about credit, insurance and fraud.
You may obtain the names and addresses of the credit reference and fraud prevention agencies we use from time to time by telephoning 0800 88 33 22. You have right of access to your personal records held by these agencies.
We will also use and disclose the information relating to you and your account(s) in the following ways:
- To assist in tracing and pursuing debtors
- To comply with any request for information received from any appropriate regulatory body including the Banking Code Standards Board
- To allow us to provide you, by post, email or telephone, with details of any products and services that we provide or which companies within our Group provide or which other organisations with whom we have business relationships provide, which we think may be of interest to you
- For general business purposes, marketing and research.
54. We may search your records at credit reference agencies from time to time before giving you details of any products or services that we provide or which companies within our Group provide or which other organisations with whom we have business relationships provide, which we think may be of interest to you.