Savings Accounts

Terms and conditions

  1. We can change the rate of interest paid on your investment as follows :-
    1. Subject to any special condition relating to interest rate changes which covers a particular account, we may change at any time the rate of interest to be paid on your investment, 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 expected to apply in the near future) :-
      1. to reflect general market conditions (including interest rates generally or the terms on which similar accounts are offered by other building societies, banks or anyone else providing financial services);
      2. so that we can compete more effectively with other building societies, banks and anyone else providing financial services;
      3. our costs have increased or are expected to do so;
      4. to maintain our financial strength for the benefit of all our customers;
      5. to take account of changes in the law, decisions of an ombudsman, regulator or similar person, or any code of practice with which we intend to comply.
    2. We can also change the rate of interest for any other valid reason where we reasonably believe change is appropriate.
    3. When we change the interest rates on your accounts, we will update the information on our telephone helpline and our website within three working days. To help you compare rates, the old rate will also be available on our website and helpline.
    4. If the interest rate on a variable rate savings account with a balance of £500 or more falls by more than 0.25 percentage points relative to the Bank of England Base rate we will tell you personally within 60 days.
    5. For types of account which we mainly run through branches, we will either:
      1. tell you personally within thirty days of the change; or
      2. within three working days of the change, put notices in our branches and in the newspapers we usually use (to help you compare rates more easily, our newspaper notices will show clearly old and new rates).
    6. For types of account which we do not mainly run through branches, such as postal, internet and telephone accounts, we will tell you personally within thirty days of the change.
    7. We will allow you to withdraw your investment without notice or loss of interest, in the event of the variable interest rate on the account being more than 3% below the prevailing Bank of England Base Rate for a continuous period of 28 days following a change in Bank of England Base Rate.
  2. We can change the terms on which your investment is held (other than the rate of interest and charges) as follows :-
    1. We can change these conditions and any special conditions applying to particular accounts at any time. Changes may include the removal of or amendment to conditions or the inclusion of new conditions, and may be made 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 expected to apply in the near future) :-
      1. to reflect general market conditions and standards (including the terms on which similar accounts are offered by other building societies, banks or anyone else providing financial services);
      2. so that we can compete more effectively with other building societies, banks and anyone else providing financial services;
      3. to improve efficiency and/or reduce costs;
      4. to give extra benefit to investors (including making the terms of accounts easier to understand);
      5. to take account of changes in the law, decisions of an ombudsman, regulator or similar person, or any code of practice with which we intend to comply;
      6. to correct errors;
      7. by agreement with you;
      8. the needs of the business justify a change.
    2. We may also change these conditions and any special conditions applying to particular accounts for any other valid reason where we reasonably believe change is appropriate.
    3. If the change is to your advantage, we may make the change immediately and tell you about it within 30 days.
    4. If the change is neither to your advantage nor disadvantage, we will always give you at least 30 days notice before making the change.
    5. You will be told of the change or given notice of the change in at least one of the following ways:
      1. by letter or other personal notice;
      2. by general notice in our branches and Principal Office, together with advertisements in the newspapers we usually use.
    6. If the change is to your disadvantage, we will tell you about it personally, by letter or other personal notice, 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 account or close it without having to pay any extra charges or interest as a result of the switch or closure.
    7. If we have made a major change or a lot of minor changes in any one year, we will give you a copy of the new terms and conditions or a summary of the changes.
  3. We can restrict at any time the amount which can be withdrawn from any account. We will only do this if:
    1. We reasonably believe that there may be fraudulent activity or other financial crime affecting the account;
    2. We are required to do so by law, regulation or court order;
    3. There is a dispute (which we reasonably believe may be genuine) about the ownership of, or entitlement to, the money in the account;
    4. Circumstances beyond our reasonable control prevent us from offering a normal service(such as in the event of terrorist threat, computer systems failure or strikes); or
    5. Circumstances exist which lead us reasonably to believe our financial stability is under threat (such as where rumours cause actual or potential abnormal levels of cash withdrawals).
    In the case of (d) and (e) above:
    1. We will act proportionately to the circumstances in question;
    2. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the restrictions are lifted as soon as practical and to minimise the inconvenience to you;
    3. We will take into account the interests of the Society’s membership as a whole;
    4. We will, if practical, give advance notice; and
    5. We may consider exceptions to the restrictions if we are reasonably satisfied that extreme hardship would otherwise be caused
  4. We do not have to recognise the interest or claim of any person other than the account holder(s) in respect of money held in any account, nor will we be liable in any way for failing to recognise such interest or claim, except as required by law.
  5. On proof of the death of any joint account holder, we will recognise only the survivor(s) as having any ownership of or interest in the account and the survivor(s) shall be entitled to operate the account on the same terms.
  6. We can close your account at any time, without giving you a reason, after giving you at least 30 days notice unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as suspected fraud, or where the investment has been accepted for a fixed term that has not expired. You can close your account at any time, without giving any reason, after giving any notice required by the special conditions applying to the account, except where the investment has been accepted for a fixed term that has not expired.
  7. You can transfer your investment to another person, subject to the conditions applying to your account, our prior approval and the payment of any necessary fee. No transfer will be valid unless made in a form approved by us and until registered in our records. We may refuse to permit such a transfer without giving any reason.
  8. We may make charges for items relating to the day-to-day running of your account and deduct those charges from the amount in the account. The charges will reflect expenses we incur and the cost of staff time and the use of our office and computer facilities. We will tell you about our current charges in the section of our website entitled Service Charges and can change our charges as follows:
    1. Changes may include the abolition of, or amendment to, existing charges, or the introduction of new charges and may be made 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 expected to apply in the near future):
      1. to reflect general market conditions and standards (including the levels of charges of other building societies, banks or anyone else providing financial services);
      2. so that we can compete more effectively with other building societies, banks and anyone else providing financial services;
      3. our costs have increased or are expected to do so;
      4. to maintain our financial strength for the benefit of all our customers;
      5. to take account of changes in the law, decision of an ombudsman, regulator or similar person, or any code of practice with which we intend to comply.
    2. We can change the charges, for any other valid reason where we reasonably believe change is appropriate.
    3. You can also find out about these charges by:
      1. phoning our helpline;
      2. looking on our website; or
      3. asking our staff.
    4. We will tell you the charge for any other service or product before we provide that service or product, and at any time you ask.
  9. Cheques, internal transfers and cash deposits will earn interest from the date of receipt.
  10. We will allow you to withdraw funds against cheques paid in after 8 full clear banking days. The Society does not guarantee that these funds have cleared.

UNCLAIMED BALANCES

If:

  1. you cannot be traced after reasonable enquiry, and
  2. either:
    1. for a period of 3 years you have made no payment to or withdrawal from your account and the amount in that account is less than £100, or
    2. for a period of 5 years you have made no payment to or withdrawal from your account,

we may decide to close that account and the money in it will be retained by us. If, however, you contact us at a later date we will either open a new account for you and credit that account with the amount of money in the closed account or repay the money to you, with interest, at a rate which we reasonably consider to be appropriate.

ACCOUNT DOCUMENTS

  1. An "Account Document" means a passbook, certificate, card or any similar item, which we designate to be an Account Document. We will give you an Account Document, but it will remain our property and must be returned to us whenever we ask, to be brought up to date or for such other purposes as we may reasonably require.
  2. You must produce the relevant Account Document before making a withdrawal.
  3. It is essential that you tell us as soon as you can if you suspect or discover that your Account Document has been lost, stolen or tampered with by phoning our helpline.
  4. If someone other than you produces your Account Document to us, pretends to be you or to be authorised by you, and is therefore able to withdraw money from your account, you will be liable for the amount of any withdrawals made if you have acted fraudulently or with gross negligence.
  5. Please notify us when you change your name, address, phone number or e-mail address (if this is how we communicate with you) by writing to your local branch or our Investment Department at Head Office, including your passbook for amendment.

RETENTION AND SET-OFF

We have the right to retain and set-off all money in any account you hold with us against any money you may owe to us (whether under a mortgage, loan, guarantee or otherwise) which is due for payment but which has not been paid. We will notify you in writing when we have done this. Interest or bonuses will not be paid on any money after it has been used in this way.

SERVICE OF NOTICES

  1. You will be taken to have received any letter or other personal notice 72 hours after we have posted it to you.
  2. If we, accidentally, fail to:
    1. send to you a communication intended for our investors generally or a category of our investors of which you are one, or
    2. display a notice at our Principal Office or any branch office

this will not make the notice invalid.

This leaflet should be read in conjunction with the Society's Memorandum and Rules and any special conditions contained in the account literature.

For more information or details of our interest rates contact your local Furness branch or ring our helpline free on 0800 781 4311 or e-mail us at furness.direct@furness-bs.co.uk

Furness Building Society follows the Banking Code, a copy of which is available on request or by accessing www.bankingcode.org.uk. The Society has a complaints handling procedure and complaints we cannot settle may be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Eligible for investment by Trustees.

A member of the Building Societies Association.