Personal Current Account Terms & Conditions - Post Office

Personal Current Account Terms and ConditionsThese personal current account terms andconditions (referred to as the “Terms & Conditions”)apply to the Packaged Account, Standard Accountand Basic Account and include the GeneralConditions and the Special Conditions set out below.For your own benefit and protection, you should readthese Terms & Conditions carefully before completingthe application form. If you do not understand anypoint, please ask us for further information.You might also want to retain a copy of these Terms& Conditions in case you need to refer to them later.Additional copies are available on request.These Terms & Conditions are broken down into thefollowing sections:• Glossary;• Special Conditions; and• General Conditions.Glossary1.1 Some words in these Terms & Conditions havecertain meanings:“Account” means the Post Office ® personal currentaccount held by us in your name, which may be aPackaged Account, a Standard Account or a BasicAccount (as the case may be);“Account Holder” means the individual(s) in whosename(s) the Account is held;“Account Number” means the 8 digit number thatidentifies the Account.“Agreement” means the agreement between youand us which includes these Terms & Conditions;“ATM” means an Automated Teller Machine, whichis a cash dispenser at which you can access servicesand money using the Card and PIN;“Bank of Ireland (UK)” means Bank of Ireland (UK)plc, a company incorporated in England and Walesunder Company No. 7022885 whose registeredoffice is at Bow Bells House, 1 Bread Street,London EC4M 9BE.“Basic Account” means an Account to which SpecialConditions C1 to C3 apply;“Business Day” means any day from Mondayto Friday excluding Bank Holidays (English BankHolidays to apply in England and Wales; ScottishBank Holidays to apply in Scotland; Northern IrishBank Holidays to apply in Northern Ireland);“Card” refers to either or both of the following cardsthat may be used with an Account: a Bank of Ireland(UK) Cash Card; or a Maestro Card and includes anyreplacement cards we issue you;“Chip” means an integrated circuit embedded in a Card;“Credit Intermediary” means Post Office Limitedwhose registered office is at 148 Old Street, London,EC1V 9HQ (Company No. 02154540).“Credit Reference Agency” means Experian Limitedand/or Equifax Europe (UK) Limited and/or CallcreditInformation Group Limited.“Cut-off Time” means the latest point in timeduring any Business Day when we can receiveand process Payment Orders. The Cut-off Timewill vary for each type of Payment Order used andmay change from time to time. The current Cut-offTimes for the Account are set out in the TransactionInformation Box;“ECCI” means the European Consumer CreditInformation form;“General Conditions” means the terms andconditions set out in Part 2 of these Terms &Conditions (as may be amended by us from time totime);“Mandate” means the written form of authoritygiven by you authorising us to accept and act onyour instructions and to carry out transactions onyour Account (as may be amended by you from timeto time);“MasterCard Exchange Rate” means the exchangerate set by MasterCard from time to time, as shown,where applicable, on your statement;“Normal Working Hours” means the hours between9am and 5pm on a Business Day;“Packaged Account” means an Account to whichSpecial Conditions A1 to A5 apply;“Payment Order” means any instruction requestingthe execution of a payment transaction on yourAccount;“Payment Services Conditions” means the termsand conditions to which Special Conditions D1 toD24 apply;“PIN” means the personal identification numberissued to you which is generally required at the pointof sale, including at an ATM in order to authorise atransaction;“Reference Exchange Rate” is the exchange rateused as the basis to calculate currency change whichmay be the MasterCard Exchange Rate or other suchrates that we set and notify you of;“Reference Interest Rate” is the interest rate usedas the basis for calculating any interest to be applied,which is currently the Bank of England base rate;“Special Conditions” means the terms and conditionsset out in Part 1 of these Terms & Conditions (asmay be amended by us from time to time);“Standard Account” means an Account to whichSpecial Conditions B1 to B2 apply;“Transaction Information Box” means thesummary box of information which details the fullrange of payment transactions that apply to theAccounts which can be found in your “Guide toPersonal Banking”;“Unique Identifier” means the information werequire from you in order to initiate paymenttransactions on your Account (including, withoutlimitation, the IBAN, Bank Identifier Codes (BIC),Account Number and sort code).1.2 Any reference to “you” or “your” in these Terms& Conditions means the Account Holder whetheron your own or jointly with others. If the Accountis in joint names, the reference to “you” or “your”includes each of you together and separately.1.3 Except in relation to ‘Data protection - usingyour information’ any reference to “we” in theseTerms & Conditions means Bank of Ireland (UK),and references to “us” and “our” shall be construedaccordingly. Such references will also includeour successors in title and permitted assignsand transferees.If any term in these Terms & Conditions is orbecomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, then thatterm will be treated as if it were not included, andthe remaining terms will still apply.Important note for Basic Account holders:Please be aware that not all of these Terms &Conditions will apply to your Account, for example,those that apply to:• Overdrafts;• Maestro Cards;• Cheques and chequebooks.Where such terms do not apply to your Account, wehave endeavoured to make this as clear as possible.Part 1. Special ConditionsThese Special Conditions apply separately tothe Packaged Account, Standard Account andBasic Account.Packaged AccountSpecial Conditions A1- A5 apply to the PackagedAccount only.A1. You must make a minimum initial deposit of£100 in order to open the Packaged Account.A2. A monthly fee is applicable to the PackagedAccount in exchange for a package of benefits.A3. We may vary the fee and/or the benefits atany time for one or more of the following reasons:to reflect changes to the products that make upthe package, for instance adding or replacingproducts; to reflect changes in market conditionsor banking practices; to reflect alterations in thecosts of maintaining the Packaged Account; tocomply with legal or regulatory requirementsincluding recommendations or codes of practice, toaccommodate changes in technology; to introducea new service or improve the service we alreadyoffer you, to correct any errors, to make the termsof this Agreement clearer or more favourable toyou, or for any other valid economic, business,regulatory or legislative reason. Any variations willbe communicated to you in accordance with relevantlegislation, details of which can be found in theGeneral Conditions.A4. An overdraft may be made available to customerswho have a permanent address in the UK. All creditfacilities are subject to our usual lending criteria.A5. These Terms & Conditions are separate fromany terms and conditions relating to the package ofbenefits you may have with any third party providers.Standard AccountSpecial Conditions B1- B2 apply to the StandardAccount only.B1. You must make a minimum initial deposit of£100 in order to open the Standard Account.B2. An overdraft may be made available to customerswho have a permanent address in the UK. All creditfacilities are subject to our usual lending criteria.Basic AccountSpecial Conditions C1-C3 apply to the BasicAccount only.C1. You must make a minimum initial depositof £20 in order to open the Basic Account.23

C2. A monthly fee is applicable to the Basic Account.We may vary the fee at any time for one or more ofthe following reasons: to reflect changes in marketconditions or banking practices; to reflect alterationsin the costs of maintaining the Basic Account;to comply with legal or regulatory requirementsincluding recommendations or codes of practice, toaccommodate changes in technology; to introducea new service or improve the service we alreadyoffer you, to correct any errors, to make the termsof this Agreement clearer or more favourable toyou, or for any other valid economic, business,regulatory or legislative reason. Any variations willbe communicated to you in accordance with relevantlegislation, details of which can be found in theGeneral Conditions.C3. You must not allow the Basic Account to becomeoverdrawn. No credit facility will be provided by uson any Basic Account at any time.The Payment Services Conditions applyto all AccountsPayment ServicesSpecial conditions D1-D24 apply exlusively to theprovision of payment services and regulate theexecution of individual and successive paymenttransactions on your Account. In the event ofany conflict or inconsistency between the SpecialConditions and the General Conditions, the SpecialConditions shall prevail.General InformationD1. Bank of Ireland (UK) is the provider of paymentservices in relation to your Account. We haveoutlined below the main characteristics for each typeof payment service we offer for the Account but, ifyou have a query about any payment services weoffer, please call our Customer Service Centre on0845 266 8977 for further information.D2. The full range of debit and credit transactionsavailable on the Account (together with furtherdetails relating to each type of transaction) is setout in the Transaction Information Box. If youwant an additional paper copy of the TransactionInformation Box, you can request a copy by callingour Customer Service Centre on 0845 266 8977.D3. It is important that your contact details arecorrect and kept up-to-date. Therefore, if youchange your correspondence address, telephonenumbers or other contact details that you havegiven us, you must notify us as soon as possibleby calling our Customer Service Centre on0845 266 8977. Failure to do so may mean thatwe are unable to provide you with informationregarding the operation of your Account or anytransactions carried out on it.Payment transactionsD4. You should refer to the Transaction InformationBox to see which types of payment transactionyou may carry out on your Account. No otherforms of payment transactions are permitted onyour Account.D5. In respect of credit payments into yourAccount, the Account will be credited with theamount of any such payment on the sameBusiness Day as the payment is received by us,save where the date of receipt is not a BusinessDay in which circumstances the Account will becredited on the next Business Day.D6. Once we have accepted your instruction tomake a payment from your Account, you will notbe able to cancel it once the payment has left yourAccount. You may be able to cancel your instructionto make a payment from your Account providedyou tell us before the relevant Cut-off Time.D7. We may decline any transactions on yourAccount. If a transaction is declined, you will beinformed at the time of the transaction and, wherepossible, you will be given the reasons for decliningthe transaction. If it is not possible to give youreasons for declining the transaction at the time,you can call the Customer Service Centre on 0845266 8977 and we will explain to you why thetransaction was declined. However, we reserve theright to withhold this information from you whereits disclosure would put us in breach of a legal orregulatory requirement which applies to us or wouldotherwise compromise the security of your Accountor those of our other customers.D8. If we, or our agents, debit or credit an amountto your Account in error, you acknowledge andagree that: (i) we may make any necessarycorrecting entry without having to seek your priorapproval; and (ii) our total liability to you in respectof any such error shall be to remedy the error andrestore the Account to the state it would have beenin had the transaction not been made.Payment OrdersD9. Where we receive a Payment Order:• before the Cut-off Time on any Business Day,we will treat your instruction as being receivedby us on the same Business Day;• after the Cut-off Time on any Business Day, wewill treat your instruction as being received byus on the next Business Day;• out of normal Working Hours, we will treatyour instruction as being received by us on thenext Business Day.D10. For the purposes of this provision, we will bedeemed to have received a Payment Order whenwe hold a properly authorised form of instructionfrom you and, in the case of outgoing payments,you have provided us with the relevant UniqueIdentifier. You acknowledge and agree that wewill not be able to process any transaction in theabsence of the relevant Unique Identifier.D11. You are responsible for ensuring thecorrectness and accuracy of all Payment Orders forany outgoing payments on your Account and youacknowledge that we are under no obligation tocheck whether the Unique Identifier or otherinformation provided with a Payment Order iscorrect.D12. All payments you instruct us to make fromyour Account will be credited to the beneficiarybank within one Business Day following the dateof receipt of the Payment Order. Please refer tothe Transaction Information Box for further details.D13. Any incoming payment to your Account(whether made by you or a third party) is determinedby us solely on the basis of the Account Numberaccompanying the payment. Where the AccountNumber is incorrectly stated on a Payment Order,we will take reasonable steps to recover the paymentbut you acknowledge that we shall have no liabilityfor the non-execution of the payment to theAccount.D14. We may refuse to act on any (incoming oroutgoing) Payment Order where:• your instructions are unclear, incorrect,incomplete or are not in the required form(e.g. you do not tell us the sort code, AccountNumber or any other information that we needto process the transaction);• your instructions are not authorised inaccordance with the Mandate;• we suspect fraudulent or other unlawful activity;• you have insufficient available funds in yourAccount. Please see the “Personal currentaccount charges explained” brochure for thecurrent charges applicable to overdraft charges(relevant to Standard and Packaged Accountsonly);• to do so would put us in breach of a legal orregulatory requirement;• you are in breach of your Agreement;• we believe there is any significant adversechange in your financial circumstances;• we consider that our business reputation maybe significantly compromised.Where we refuse to process a Payment Order forany reason, we will notify you. We may do this ina variety of ways depending on the nature of yourAccount and type of payment:• Card transactions – by displaying a messageon the ATM or other point of sale paymentterminal immediately;• Direct Debits and standing orders – by displayingrelated charges on your bank statement and bywritten notice;• For other payment types (e.g. telegraphictransfers) – by contacting you directly to adviseyou that the payment request has been refused.You may request details of any unpaid item(s),the associated charge(s) and our reason(s) forrefusing to make the payment by contacting us on0845 266 8977.D15. The way in which you must authoriseindividual payment transactions on your Accountis detailed within the relevant section of theTransaction Information Box. In order to protectyour Account, we have designed various securityprocedures for use in connection with certain typesof payment transactions which you must completein order to authorise these payment transactions.Where security procedures apply, you will be toldwhat the relevant security procedures are when youinstruct us to carry out a payment transaction. Ifa payment transaction is authorised in accordancewith the relevant security procedures you will, inthe absence of any evidence to the contrary, beliable for any such transactions. We may change oursecurity procedures from time to time but, if we dothis, you will be notified in advance.Disputed transactionsD16. If at any time you become aware of:• a transaction on your Account that has notbeen correctly executed (for instance, if theamount of a cash withdrawal on your Accountis wrong); or• a transaction on your Account that has notbeen authorised by you; you must in each casenotify us without undue delay by calling ourCustomer Service Centre on 0845 266 8977so we can investigate the transaction for you.D17. The sooner you notify us and the moreinformation you can provide about the transaction,the quicker we will be able to determine whetherthe transaction was in fact unauthorised or executedincorrectly. In some cases, we may ask you to putyour query in writing. Failure to notify us promptlymay mean that you are not entitled to a refund fromus or other form of redress.45

Lost or Stolen Cards9. You must take care not to lose or damage yourCard and you must not let anyone else have it. Ifyou lose or part with your Card, if it is taken fromyou even for a short period, is stolen or used in anunauthorised or irregular manner, or if someoneelse knows your PIN or any password relating toyour Account you must(a) telephone us immediately on 0800 169 2646,or for calls from outside the UK+44 117 373 3865;(b) confirm this in writing within 3 days; and(c) take all reasonable steps to help us recover the Card.10. If the Card is lost, mislaid or stolen, likely tobe misused or the PIN, or any password relatingto the Account, or Card number is disclosed, or ifwe have reason to believe any of these things mayhave happened, we may advise the police and givethem any information they may need. You musttell us everything we need to know about thecircumstances of the loss, theft, misuse or disclosureand take all steps we feel are necessary to recoverthe Card. If you have or get back the Card after theoccurrence of any of these events, the Card must notbe used and must be cut in half, through the Chipif applicable, and returned immediately to us. Theremay be a charge for a replacement Card.11. If you act fraudulently, you will be responsiblefor all losses. If you act without reasonable care andthis causes losses you may be liable for them. Theseconditions will apply if you fail to follow the safeguardsoutlined at Card Terms & Conditions 7 and 8.12. We will be responsible for any unauthorisedwithdrawals made with the Card if:(a) the Card is lost in the post when sent by us to you; or(b) the Card is used by someone else after you havereported to us that it has been lost or stolen or thatyou suspect your PIN or any password relating tothe Account is known to someone else.13. We will credit the Account with any amountdebited in the circumstances outlined in CardTerms & Conditions 12 including any relatedinterest and charges. You will be responsible forany other losses but your liability to us will belimited to a maximum of £50 for transactionsundertaken before you report the loss of yourCard providing you have complied with these CardTerms & Conditions. However, if you have notprotected your PIN or any password relating toyour Account, you may be liable for all withdrawalsor purchases without limit.Payment14. Subject to Card Terms & Conditions 12, you shallpay us the amount of the transactions and any losswhich we suffer as a result of any breach of theseTerms & Conditions. Your liability shall be settledeither from monies standing to the credit of theAccount or on demand by us.15. The amount of each transaction will bewithdrawn from the Account by electronic transfer.On each Business Day we shall be entitled towithdraw funds from the Account ahead of all otherdrawings or debits to make up the total value of thetransactions which have been notified to us since theprevious Business Day.16. For Standard and Packaged Accounts, the debitfrom the Account for any Maestro transaction willnormally occur within three banking days from thedate of the Maestro transaction. The debit can bedelayed if the supplier delays in asking for paymentor for any other valid reason.Miscellaneous17. We will not be liable for any delay in performingany of our obligations in respect of the use of theCard where such delay or failure arises becauseof civil disturbance, industrial dispute or anycircumstances beyond our reasonable control.18. Nothing in these Terms & Conditions entitles youto use the Card to create an overdraft on the Account.Additional Conditions for Maestrotransactions (applicable to Standardand Packaged Accounts only)19. A Maestro Card may be used as a debit card (i.e.an alternative means of withdrawing funds fromthe Account without issuing a cheque) to settle anypurchase from retailers or suppliers. You may also usethe Maestro Card abroad to pay for goods and servicesat an international point of sale and to withdraw cashat ATMs where the Maestro logo is displayed.20. When the Card is used for a Maestro transactionyou authorise us to deduct from the Account theamount charged to you by the retailer or otherMaestro operator.21. You can not cancel a Maestro transaction afteryou have used the Card.22. Any retailer, supplier or ATM acquirer may seekauthorisation from us before accepting payment ofany amount by use of the Card and it shall be at ourdiscretion whether to give the authorisation.23. The amount of money in the Account may bereduced by the amount of any payment made byMaestro (whether or not we adjust the balanceshown on the Account) and any such reductionwill be cancelled only if we are satisfied that thetransaction to which the payment relates has beencancelled (in which event the authorisation shall alsocease to have effect).24. We may, at our sole discretion, disclose anyinformation to any third party concerning you, theAccount and/or any Card transaction as we deemnecessary to comply with our obligations as amember of MasterCard Worldwide.25. If you use your Maestro Card to withdraw cashin currencies other than sterling from any ATM(excluding Bank of Ireland ATMs and some otherBank ATMs in the Republic of Ireland), or to buygoods or services in currencies other than sterlingfrom any retailer, a non-sterling transaction fee willapply. Please see our separate “Personal currentaccount charges explained” brochure for details.The actual amount charged will be detailed with thetransaction on your bank statement.26. If you use your Maestro Card to withdraw cash incurrencies other than sterling from any ATM (excludingBank of Ireland ATMs and some other Bank ATMsin the Republic of Ireland), a non-sterling cash feewill apply. The machine will give you notice that youmay be charged. Please see our separate “Personalcurrent account charges explained” brochure for details.The actual amount charged will be detailed with thetransaction on your bank statement.27. If you use your Maestro Card to withdraw cash incurrencies other than sterling from any ATM (excludingBank of Ireland ATMs and some other Bank ATMs inthe Republic of Ireland), or to buy goods or servicesin currencies other than sterling from any retailer,the amount of the transaction will be exchanged intosterling at the MasterCard Exchange Rate operatingon the date the transaction is applied to your Account.Please visit https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/index.html for more details of thespecific rate applied. The actual rate used will bedetailed with the transaction on your bank statement.28. If you use your Maestro Card to withdraw cash incurrencies other than sterling from Bank of IrelandATMs and some other Bank ATMs in the Republicof Ireland, the amount of the transaction will beconverted into sterling at the prevailing ReferenceExchange Rate operating on the date of withdrawalfrom your Account. The actual rate used will bedetailed with the transaction on your bank statement.29. Exchange rates can fluctuate and for this reason,in some cases, the exchange rate applicable when aMaestro Card transaction is made can differ from theexchange rate applicable when the amount is actuallyapplied to your Account. In the case of Maestro Cardtransactions it is the latter exchange rate which willapply (i.e. the exchange rate applicable when theamount is applied to your Account).Data protection – using your informationPost Office Current Accounts are provided byBank of Ireland (UK). Both Post Office Limitedand Bank of Ireland (UK) plc (and in this Dataprotection section ‘we’ ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to eitheror both of Post Office Limited or Bank of Ireland(UK) plc, depending on the context) are the datacontroller for the purposes of this Agreement.Important information about you and Bank ofIreland (UK).Bank of Ireland (UK) is a member of the Bank ofIreland Group. In this statement, ‘our Group’ meansthe Governor and Company of the Bank of Irelandand any of our subsidiary or associated companies.For a full list of our Group, write to us at the addressbelow. We may hold your information and it may beused by any other member of our Group.Considering your applicationTo help us decide whether to enter into this and anyfuture agreement with you, we may use:• any information you have given us;• information we already hold about you;• information we receive from enquiries wemake about you; and• information we get from other dealings withus or our GroupWe may make and keep copies of your passport,driving licence or other proof of your identity thatyou provide. We may also search your record heldby credit reference agencies or ask them to makeenquiries for us. We may give credit referenceagencies the information they need to maketheir enquiries. The credit reference agencies willkeep a record of our search, whether or not yourapplication goes ahead. This record will be availableto other organisations that make similar searchesand could affect your ability to get credit elsewhere.Information the credit reference agencies hold aboutyou may already be linked to records relating toother people. (This is called an ‘association’.) You maybe considered to be financially linked to these peopleand we may consider their credit records whenconsidering your application.If you are providing information on behalf of otherswithin your business, you are applying for credit withsomeone else, or you have told us about a financiallink with another person, you must be sure that youare entitled to:1011

• release information about that other person andanyone else you have referred to; and• authorise us to search, link or record informationabout you (and anyone you have referred to) atcredit reference agencies.Credit reference agencies will create a link betweenyour credit records and those of any person youhave said that you have a financial relationshipwith. When you or the people you have a financialrelationship with apply for credit in the future, bothyour and their credit records will be taken intoaccount. This process will continue until one of youtells the credit reference agencies that there is nolonger a financial link. We may also use a creditscoring system or other automated system formaking a decision.Using and sharing your informationWe will give credit reference agencies any information:• that we hold about you;• about your payment record;• about your Agreement with us (including if youhave broken it); and• about you not telling us about any change ofaddress, if any payment is overdue.It is important that you give us accurate information.We will check your details with fraud-preventionagencies.If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraudis identified, details will be passed to fraud preventionagencies. Law enforcement agencies may access anduse this information. We and other organisations mayalso access and use this information to prevent fraudand money laundering for example, when:• checking details of applications for credit andcredit related or other facilities• managing credit and credit related accountsor facilities• recovering debt• checking details on proposals and claims for alltypes of insurance• checking details of job applicants and employeesPlease contact us at Post Office, Fraud PreventionUnit, PO Box 52746, London EC4P 4WP if you wantto receive details of the relevant fraud preventionagencies. We and other organisations may access anduse, from other countries, the information recorded byfraud prevention agencies.We will share information with other businesses,including our Group or other lenders, to:• assess applications for credit and credit-relatedservices (such as insurance) made by you andmembers of your household;• trace people who have debts and recover debts;• prevent fraud and money laundering;• make decisions about your Account;• produce and analyse statistics and carry outmarket research;• help us identify products and services which maybe of interest to you (unless you have asked usnot to); and• consider dealings between our Group and otherbusinesses or lenders.We may also give information about you and yourdealings with us to:• anyone who has guaranteed to us that they willmeet your liabilities if you can’t;• your insurer;• anyone acting for you;• anyone who introduced you to us;• any finance house, motor trade, vehicle-recoveryagent, lawyer or law enforcement agency;• companies or other organisations which keepregisters of assets and interests in them;• credit-industry and fraud-prevention networks(to detect and prevent crime); or• any regulatory or government organisation(if we have to do so by law).We may also use selected third parties to processyour information and provide services on our behalf.Where we do this, we will ensure that adequateprocedures and safeguards are put in place toprotect your personal data at all times in accordancewith the Data Protection Act 1998.Please write to the address shown below if youwould like details of credit reference agencies andothers we get information about you from, or detailsof who we can give information about you to. By law,you have a right to see these details.We may link information between any of yourAccounts and other products and services youhave with our Group. We will not use these linksfor marketing purposes without your permission.We may keep information about you after yourAccount has closed to meet our legal obligations andbusiness needs.Direct marketingPost Office Limited and our trusted partnerswould like to contact you about other products,services and offers that might be of interest toyou. By submitting the application form, you willbe indicating your consent to receiving marketingcommunications by post, phone and email unlessyou have indicated an objection to receiving suchcommunications by ticking the relevant boxeson the form.Transferring your information abroadFrom time to time we may transfer informationabout you to previously approved companies orpeople based outside the European Economic Area.We will only do so if the person or company agree togive your information the protection we would haveto give it in the UK and to act on our instructions.Sensitive informationYou may have given us information about yournationality or health to help us assess yourapplication and your continued eligibility for theproduct. By providing this information and signingthe application form, you consent to your sensitivepersonal information being used for the purposesdescribed above.Your right to information: You have a legal right toreceive a copy of the information we hold about you.To see this information, write to: Post Office CurrentAccounts, PO Box 541, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 9LEYou must pay a fee before we provide the information.We will tell you the current fee when you write to us.1213