ISA Savings Terms and Conditions

With effect from 31 March 2008

We are committed to providing you with a quality service. In this page we aim to give you information to help you operate your Individual Savings Account (ISA).

This page explains the responsibilities of both the member and the Society. The terms refer to our ISA accounts and they specify our business relationship with you, the member. However, if a specific service we provide has terms and conditions stated in the product leaflet, then the specific conditions will take priority.

The Society fully supports and complies with the Banking Code as this mirrors the high standards of service that we wish to deliver to our members.

The Society offers Cash ISAs only. There are two types of ISA available:

Cash: this means saving your money in a straightforward deposit type account offered by building societies and banks. By opening a Cash ISA, you may be limiting the amount of investment in equities that you make through ISAs, if you do not already have a Stocks and Shares ISA.

Stocks and Shares: this means saving your money in longer term investments that are linked to the stock market.

1. Account opening, holders and membership

You can open an ISA if you are over 16.
You must be resident and ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes or, if not so resident, either perform duties which, by virtue of Section 28 of the Income Tax (Earnings & Pensions) Act 2003 (Crown employees serving overseas), are treated as being performed in the United Kingdom, or be married to, or in a Civil Partnership with, a person who performs such duties.
If you cease to become resident you must advise the Society immediately. If you are unsure of your residency status, please contact your local tax office.
When you open an ISA account you confirm that you have not subscribed and will not subscribe to another Cash ISA in the same tax year.
The account must be held in your sole name only. The only exception to this is where an enduring Power of Attorney is held on behalf of a mentally or physically incapacitated person.
You cannot open an ISA as a joint account. Similarly these accounts cannot be opened by a charity, club, business or other organisation.
The application form must be fully completed, signed and dated before the Society can open an ISA.
You must provide a National Insurance number to open an ISA. If you do not have a National Insurance number you must declare this on the application form.
The declaration on the application form must be completed with the tax year of the subscription you are making.
When you open an account we are required by law to confirm your identity. We will seek to validate your identity and residency using an online search facility. If this fails to provide us with the level of proof we require, we will ask you to provide proof of identity and/or address. We will let you know if we need this documentary evidence. Do not send original documents to us in the post. Further information is available in our leaflet Identifying you and preventing fraud.
If the account does not meet your needs, you have the right to cancel the account within 14 days of opening the account and we will return your money with any interest due to you. If you close your account within the cooling off period you still can open another Cash ISA during the tax year.
We reserve the right to withdraw or alter our range of ISAs at any time.
Once your ISA has been opened, we may provide you with a passbook as a record of all transactions that you will make on your account. You must keep your passbook safe and produce it whenever a transaction is to be carried out. When contacting the Society, you will be required to provide certain details to enable us to access your account. In any other circumstances, you should never give your account details or other security information to anyone. Keep information about your account containing personal details (for example, statements) safe and when you choose to destroy them, do so carefully. You should take simple steps such as shredding printed material. Be aware that your post is valuable information in the wrong hands. If you don't receive an account statement or any other expected financial information, contact us. We reserve the right to refuse to open an account if you do not comply with our account opening criteria for example the application form not being signed or failure to provide adequate proof of identification. We also reserve the right not to release a passbook until satisfactory evidence of identification has been provided. On opening an account, we will also provide you with details of the current interest rates that apply to your account. Please note that your telephone conversations with us may be recorded and used for security and training purposes.
When you open a share account you become a member of Saffron Building Society. This means that you have a direct say in how the Society is run. If you are aged 18 or over you are entitled to vote at the Society's Annual General Meeting provided your account was open at the Society's previous year-end (31st December) and had a balance of at least £100. Full details of your rights as a member and the procedure for the Annual General Meeting are in the Society's rules. You can obtain a copy of our rules by requesting them from our head office or any of our branches.
We do not have to recognise the interest or claim of any person other than the account holder 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.

2. Membership

A membership document means a passbook, certificate, card or any similar items, which we designate to be a membership document. We will give you a membership document, for most account types, 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. You must keep your membership document safe, and always inform us as soon as possible if you change your name, address, telephone number or email address.

We recommend that you regularly check your passbook. If you see an entry which appears to be wrong, you must advise us as soon as possible so that we can take action to sort it out.
If your membership document (passbook) is either lost or stolen you must advise us as soon as you can, in the first instance verbally, but always in writing. After you have (a) completed a lost/stolen passbook indemnity form and (b) paid the lost passbook fee (please refer to the Society's Savings Charges leaflet), we will, after a period of 14 days, arrange for the balance of your account to be transferred to a new account and provide you with a new membership document (passbook) showing your new account number.
If someone other than you produces your membership 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.

3. Interest

Interest is paid on 5 April each year. Your interest can be paid to your account or you can transfer your interest to another account you hold with the Society. You may change your instructions with regard to interest payments at any time by giving at least 28 days notice, in writing, prior to the next payment date.
The Society pays interest on your savings from the day after receipt up to and including the day before withdrawal or closure. The interest is calculated on the daily balance of your account. If the investment is made by cheque and the cheque is not honoured then the funds will be removed from your account and no interest will be earned on this amount.
The interest rate may be varied by the Society.
Interest and bonus will be exempt from Income tax providing all the ISA Terms and Conditions have been fully met.
In the event of the death of the account holder, gross interest will be paid up to and including the date of death. Thereafter, interest will be subject to tax.
ISAs are available indefinitely and there is no set end date.
We will keep you informed about any changes we make to the interest paid to your savings. If you are unhappy with the changes we will help you switch to another account or allow you to close your account without having to pay any extra charges or interest. We will tell you about rate changes in the following ways:

For designated postal and internet based accounts (excluding tracker accounts):
1. By letter, email or other personal notice within 30 days, or
  
  For branch based accounts:
2. Within three working days by general notice in our branches and principal office, together with advertisements in the following local newspapers: Saffron Walden Weekly News, Royston Weekly News, Haverhill Weekly News, Colchester Evening Gazette, Halstead Gazette, Clacton and Frinton Gazette, Brentwood Weekly News, Herts & Essex Observer, Mercury Series, Romford Recorder and the Newham Recorder. We reserve the right to change at any time the newspapers that we advertise in.
  
  Details of our current rates are also available on our website www.saffronbs.co.uk
Tracker accounts: Bank of England Base rate changes will be reflected on your account within 28 days.

Further information on each specific product can be found in the product leaflet.
If the balance falls below the minimum investment requirement of each product the interest rate will be fixed at 1.00% gross p.a./aer.

4. Deposits into your account

We will accept deposits in sterling in the form of cash and cheques. Cheques can only be made payable to the account payee. Cheques must not be made payable to the Society. Cheques crossed "account payee" will only be accepted into the account of the payee named. Any endorsements to an "account payee" cheque will not be accepted. Deposits can be made in person or by post. However, we strongly recommend that you do not send cash by post, as the Society cannot accept liability for any loss. We will refuse to accept a cheque drawn in your favour which is dated more than six months earlier than the date on which it is presented for payment.
You can only subscribe to one Cash ISA per tax year. Subscriptions only count towards the subscription limits for the tax year in which they are received by ISA managers. Where an investor does not subscribe to the maximum in any tax year, the balance cannot be made up in any other tax year. Once the limit of £3,600 has been reached for the tax year, investors may make no further subscriptions regardless of withdrawals.
Cheques and automated payments paid into your account will be added to the balance immediately. You will not normally be allowed to withdraw money against uncleared cheques. A cheque normally takes six working days to clear, as shown below. All number of days are working days.
Day 0 - Saffron Building Society receives the cheque
Day 1 - the account starts to earn interest on the money paid in.
Day 2 - the payer's bank account will be debited with the amount shown on the cheque.
Up until the end of day 6, a cheque may still bounce and the money be reclaimed from the payee's account.
Day 7 - the money is available to withdraw (if the account allows withdrawals). This is the same day that the customer can be certain that the money is theirs and cannot be reclaimed without their permission (as long as fraud has not been deliberately committed). The Society pays interest from the day after we receive the funds. You will be able to withdraw the funds on the seventh working day. The Society's clearing cycle may take longer when paying in via some financial institutions or agents.

If we allow you to make a withdrawal against a cheque earlier than the seventh working day, this is no guarantee that the cheque has been 'cleared'. If the cheque is not 'cleared', you will have to repay us the amount of the withdrawal.

If a cheque that you have paid into your account is lost in the clearing process, then it will not be cleared and (provided we have not acted negligently) we will remove the amount from your account accordingly. It will then be your responsibility to obtain a replacement for the lost cheque.

Cheques paid in which are subsequently returned from the bank will be debited to your account and there will be a charge (please refer to the Society's Savings Charges leaflet). Cheques returned for any reason will usually be returned to the account holder.
Payments can be made to your account by standing order. You can obtain details of how to set up a standing order on your account from your passbook, by requesting them from any of our branches, or Head Office.
The Society accepts no responsibility and will not be liable for incorrect bank details being quoted for payments received by BACS and as a result funds being returned to the originating bank.
While we try to operate your account accurately, mistakes may occur. If you are aware that an amount has been incorrectly credited or debited to your account you should notify us immediately. If you use funds with the knowledge that they were incorrectly credited to your account, we will take steps to recover the money from you or take it from your account and take such other proceedings or actions as may be appropriate.
If we become aware of an error we will notify you and amend the error accordingly, including removing any money incorrectly credited into your account.
The maximum overall investment any customer may hold with the Society in total may not exceed £5,000,000. Exceptions to this limit may be considered by the Society's board. Some products carry their own maximum investment limit, details of which can be found in the product literature.
If you cease to become resident or ordinarily resident in the UK you will no longer be able to subscribe to your ISA although your account can remain open.

5. Withdrawals and account closures

Under normal circumstances we will not close your account without giving you at least 30 days notice. Examples of circumstances that are not 'normal' include threatening or abusive behaviour towards staff. We will not close your account, or threaten to do so, as a response to a valid complaint you have made. If you break the general or specific terms and conditions of your account or any account holder becomes bankrupt we may suspend the use of the account immediately.
The Passbook must accompany any withdrawal.
Withdrawals have no effect on the subscription limits.
All withdrawals under the ISA rules are tax free.
Your account must not go overdrawn. Withdrawals cannot be made unless you have sufficient cleared funds in your account.
If withdrawals, payments, or fees made from your account take the balance below £0.00, therefore creating an unauthorised overdraft, your account must be brought back into credit immediately. If this happens we will advise you personally by letter or email.
If full settlement of any unauthorised overdraft is not made within 28 days from the date we issue a notice of formal demand, we reserve the right to register the account as 'defaulting' with one or more licensed credit reference agencies.
Where we take court action to recover any outstanding unauthorised overdraft, interest may be charged at the Bank of England's base rate up to and including the date of judgement. Following judgement by the court the debt will continue to attract interest at a rate set by the court.
If you have other savings accounts with the Society, we may set off any debit balance on one account against a credit balance on another account to bring the account back into a positive balance. We will write to you personally if we do this.
Withdrawals at branches can be made from cleared funds in your account of up to £500 in cash per day and £100,000 by cheque on demand. A withdrawal form must be completed in writing and the membership document (passbook) must be presented. For your protection we may require proof of your identity before allowing withdrawals from your account. For withdrawals larger than these, notice of one banking day is required (please note that cash withdrawals with notice are subject to a maximum of £1,000 per day). Withdrawal terms and conditions are specific to the type of account you have with the Society.

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 any 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 substantial hardship would otherwise be caused.
Withdrawals can be made at any time by giving us notice in writing or verbally, if your ISA is subject to a notice period, you will need to give the required number of day's notice so that you do not lose interest on the amount of your withdrawal. You can make withdrawals immediately however you will lose the required number of days interest on the amount you are withdrawing.
When you give notice to make a withdrawal or closure you will be given a due date on which the withdrawal/closure can be made. The notice can be extended by a maximum of 6 days from the due date. Any further extension will not be permitted and any withdrawal or closure will be subject to a new notice period or interest penalties in accordance with the terms of the ISA.
If you make a withdrawal by cheque and it is made payable to a third party, then the cheque can only be stopped by the Society if it is reported lost or stolen. You will need to contact your nearest branch or our Head Office to complete a Lost/Stolen cheque declaration form. A charge is payable for this service, please refer to the Society's Savings Charges leaflet for details.
All cheques drawn from the Society accounts are "Account Payee Only" which means they cannot be endorsed to the benefit of a third party.
Cheques drawn from your account are valid for six months.
We will close your account as soon as possible after we receive your written instructions, subject to clearance of your funds.
You can close your account at any time without giving any reason, after giving any notice/or paying any penalty required by the conditions of the ISA. Instructions for closure must be signed by the account signatory and your passbook presented.
If you close your Cash ISA during a tax year in which you have invested you will not be able to invest in another Cash ISA until the next tax year. However, if a current year's subscription for a Cash ISA is transferred into a Stocks and Shares ISA, you are entitled to subscribe to another Cash ISA once the transfer is complete (subject to overall subscription limits).
Cash withdrawn by a customer in error cannot be reinstated.
We reserve the right to close an account if the balance falls below the minimum investment for that account.

6. Transfers

The Society accepts transfers of previous and current tax year's subscriptions from another ISA manager.
If you are transferring to another Cash ISA with the Society, you must give the required notice period to make the transfer.
You can transfer out your current tax year's subscriptions in whole and previous year's subscriptions in whole or in part to another ISA manager at any time by giving us notice in writing. If your ISA is subject to a notice period you will need to give the required number of days notice to transfer out funds. If you are transferring out the current year's subscriptions, the whole year's subscription must be transferred.
You can make transfers out immediately, however you will lose the required number of days interest on the amount you are transferring where a notice period applies.
Transfers out will be subject to the new ISA manager's Terms and Conditions regarding acceptance of transfers.
An ISA cannot be transferred from one investor to another.
The Society reserves the right to charge a fee for transfers out to other ISA managers or within the Society. On certain ISA accounts if you choose to transfer your account, a £30 administration charge will be applied (Please refer to the Society's Savings Charges leaflet).
TESSA-only ISAs were reclassified as Cash ISAs on 6 April 2008 and can be transferred to another Cash ISA or a Stocks and Shares ISA.
Any ISA transfers into a Society account will take no more that 30 days to complete. We will let you know if it does.

7. Statements

We will send you a statement for your account once a year.
It is your responsibility to examine your statements. If you are aware that an amount has been incorrectly credited or debited to your account you should notify us immediately.
It is your responsibility to advise the Society of any change to your address or correspondence address.

8. Postal accounts

You can only transact on postal accounts through the post.
Cheques withdrawn will be made payable to the account holder only.

9 Internet accounts

You can only transact on internet accounts through the internet. Please refer to the online terms and conditions for specific conditions that relate to these accounts.

10. Charges

When you become a customer you will be given details of any charges we make relating to the operation of the account. Savings charges are listed in the Society's Savings Charges leaflet. The charges will reflect expenses we incur and the cost of staff time and the use of our office and computer facilities. Charges are made in accordance with the Society's rules. A copy of the Society's rules are available on request. If you are unhappy with the introduction of a new charge you can close your account without having to pay any extra charges or interest.
Where we introduce new charges, or increase existing charges, we will tell you personally at least 30 days before the increase takes effect.
A change, which abolishes a charge or reduces the amount of an existing charge, may be introduced with immediate effect and without notice.

11. Change of ISA terms and conditions

We can change the terms on which your investment is held (other than the rate of interest and charges) as follows:
1. If the change 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 account or close it without having to pay extra charges or interest for doing this.
2. We may make any other change immediately and tell you about it within 30 days.
3. 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 new changes.
  
  We will notify you of any changes to terms and conditions of your account by either:
  - - Notices in branches
  - - Advertisement in local newspapers
  - - Writing directly to you
The operation of any society account is subject to the Society's rules. A copy of the Society's rules are available on request.

12. Unclaimed balance

If:
1. You cannot be traced after reasonable enquiry, and
2. 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
3. For a period of 5 years you have made no payment to or withdrawal from your account and the amount in that account is more than £100.
  
  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, including interest, or repay the money to you.

13. Lien

We have the right to retain and set off all money 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 inform you in writing when we have done this.
Interest or bonuses will not be paid on any money that has been used in this way.

14. Service of notices

Where we send a notice or other document by post, it will be treated as properly served if we post it to you in a pre-paid envelope addressed to your notified address. The notice or document will be treated as served 72 hours after it is posted. We will not be liable for delays due to circumstances outside our control, including postal delays.
If you change your name and/or address you must inform us, in writing, within 28 days. Before we can change your records we will require evidence of your change of name (marriage certificate etc).
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 head office or any other branch office
This will not make the notice invalid.

15. Branch Closure

If we plan to close or move your branch or agency, we will tell you at least 12 weeks beforehand. We will also tell you how we will continue to provide services to you.

16. Banking Code

Saffron Building Society is a mutual organisation, which means we operate for the benefit of our members. We subscribe to the Banking Code, which sets minimum standards of customer service and our staff will be happy to help with any questions you may have and will supply you with a copy of the code, if you would like one.

17. Data protection

For full details of how we use your information, and your rights to see the information we hold about you, please refer to any savings brochure or ask for a copy of 'Your guide to Data Protection', available at any of our branches, by calling 0800 072 1100 or on our website.

18. Complaints

We have an internal complaints procedure and are a member of the Financial Ombudsman Services scheme. Please see the leaflet 'internal complaints procedure', available at any of our branches or our Head Office, or click here for further details

We are not responsible for failure of any machine, data processing system, transmission link or any industrial dispute or circumstances beyond our control which obstructs or disrupts any service we provide you.

19. General

All information will be treated in the strictest confidence; however the Society is obliged by law to return information on ISA holders to HM Revenue & Customs.
The Society will notify you if, by reason of any failure to satisfy the provisions of the ISA regulations, an ISA has, or will, become void.
An ISA can only be made void on written instructions from HM Revenue & Customs.
ISA investments will be and must remain in the beneficial ownership of the investor and must not be used as security for a loan.
If you have any concerns regarding ISA accounts please talk to your Independent Financial Advisor.

Saffron Building Society is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Payments under the Scheme are limited to a maximum of £35,000 per person, that is 100% of the first £35,000 of an investor's total invested and/or deposits. Most investors are covered, including individuals and small firms. Although most shares and deposits in UK building societies are denominated in sterling, the euro and other European Economic Area currencies are also covered. Further details are available on request from the Society.

Saffron Building Society operates an Internal Complaints Procedure details of which are available from all branches, by calling 0800 072 1100, or by visiting our website at www.saffronbs.co.uk.

Saffron Building Society is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service and subscribes to The Banking Code.

Member of the Building Societies Association.

Saffron Building Society, Saffron Independent Financial Advisers Ltd and Crocus Home Loans Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for investments, pensions, life assurance, insurance and regulated mortgages. Saffron Building Society's FSA registration number is 100015. Registered Office: Saffron House, 1A Market Street, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB10 1HX.