Savings: Key Commitments

We will:

Act fairly and reasonably in all our dealings with you treating you courteously and with patience;
Give you information on our savings accounts and the services we provide in plain language, and offer help if there is any aspect which you do not understand;
Help you to understand the financial implications of the different accounts;
Help you to understand how an account works;
Rectify errors and take any complaints seriously, dealing with them promptly and thoroughly;
Make sure that our accounts and services meet all relevant laws and regulations.

GENERAL PROCEDURES

As an investor, with a share account, you are bound by the Conditions of the account(s) and by the Rules of the Society.

A copy of the Rules of the Society will be provided on demand free of charge to you if you have not already received a copy. If you have previously been issued with a copy of the Rules, the Society will make a charge of £1.00 for each copy issued thereafter.

Holders of deposit accounts do not have membership rights and therefore the account Conditions only determine the contract between the depositor and the Society. Depositors do not have voting rights.

It is important to study the conditions of an account before making an investment in order to be certain that it meets your needs. The Society’s staff will help you to choose the appropriate account to meet your needs if requested.

CHANGING YOUR MIND

If after opening an account you find that you are not happy about your choice of current savings account, you may cancel it within 14 days without having to give any notice due under the terms of the account. We will then help you switch to another of our accounts or we will give you all of your money back with any interest you have earned. If the investment was by cheque you will have to allow 7 working days before the account can be closed to ensure that all funds being returned are cleared.

If you do not exercise your right to cancel during this period you will be bound by the terms and conditions of the account.

AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS

Apart from cheques which are the subject of “special clearance”, you will not be permitted to withdraw funds which will take the balance of your account below the balance prior to the cheque being credited for a period of seven working days.

The Society will not accept cheques which are 6 or more months out of date and you will be advised of any cheques which are returned by your bank or building society for whatever reason. Withdrawals cannot be made against these funds.

JOINT ACCOUNTS

The Society will require joint account holders on opening an account to stipulate whether the account is to operate on one or more signatures. Written authorisation is required for any changes to the account mandate with all joint holders confirming any alteration leading to a reduction in the number of signatures needed for withdrawals. In the instance of a joint account where a joint account holder notifies the Society in writing that the account is to be operated on both signatures in future, both signatories do not have to provide that confirmation.

Insofar as voting rights are concerned, only the first named account holder will have the right to vote on ordinary and special resolutions.

CALCULATION OF INTEREST

Interest on investments begins to accrue on the day following receipt of the investment by the Society, and thereafter on a daily basis, up to and including the date of withdrawal. Cheque payments to an account are treated in exactly the same manner as payments of cash in that they attract interest on the day following receipt.

Depending on the terms of issue of the account, interest may be paid by warrant to you or a third party nominated by you, or added to the capital outstanding in the account, or transferred to another account with the Society. Interest becomes due on closure of the account, or on the dates specified in the terms of issue of the account.

For interest calculation purposes regarding accounts where interest is paid half-yearly or monthly, each half-year is treated as 182½ days. This means in effect that interest earned on an investment in each half-year will be equal, assuming that the balance and interest rate remains constant. Also, leap years are effectively ignored in that every year is treated as having 365 days. Transactions taking place on the 29th February are treated as having been made on the 28th February, with the 29th February being disregarded completely.

“Penalty interest” is calculated on the amount withdrawn on which notice was required but not given. “Penalty interest” is calculated at the prevailing rate of interest at the time of withdrawal. The application of “penalty interest” to an account may lead to the capital outstanding being reduced if accrued interest is insufficient to cover the amount of the penalty.

INTEREST RATES

Interest rates are variable.

Each year the Society will send you a summary of all our interest rates. Accounts no longer available will be clearly marked.

The summary of interest rates provided will include details of the various rates applicable throughout the previous twelve months.

CHANGES IN INTEREST RATES

When giving notification of interest rate changes the Society will list both the old and the new rates in any newspaper advertisement.

Changes in the rates of interest will be published in The Cumberland and Westmorland Herald within three working days of the change. In addition notices of the new rates will be displayed prominently in the Society’s banking hall.

If the Society reduces the interest rate payable on any type of account by 0.25% or more relative to the Bank of England base rate, the Society will write to you if you have an account(s) where the balance is £250.00 or greater.

The Society will offer to switch the account or allow you to withdraw the funds (notice period and “penalty free”). You will then have 60 days in which to effect the switch or withdrawal.

NB: The 0.25% could occur in a single change or a series of changes, which aggregate to 0.25% or more within any 12 month rolling period.

CHANGES IN TERMS AND CONDITIONS

You will be advised of any changes to terms and conditions by a personal letter as follows:

if the change is to your advantage we will make the change immediately and will tell you about it within thirty days.
if the change is neither to your advantage or disadvantage we will give you at least thirty days notice before making the change.
if the change is to your disadvantage we will give you at least thirty days notice before making the change. At any time up to sixty days from the date of the notice you may switch your account or close it without notice and without loss of interest.

TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP

The Society may without giving any reason, give to the holder of any share which has not been issued for a fixed-term, not less than one months notice in writing of intention to repay the holding in whole or in part. If the holding is to be repaid in full on cessation of the notice interest is also paid up to the date of closure.

The Society may also refuse to accept investments without giving any reason.

CHARGES

If you wish to make a cheque payment into your account using “special clearance” you will be advised of the cost on application.

If any cheque paid into your account is returned by the bank, a charge of £5.00 will be debited to your account to cover the expenses incurred by the Society.

CHEQUES

Withdrawal cheques drawn on your investment account made payable to a third party cannot be countermanded.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION

We will hold and process your information by computer and otherwise. By “your information” we mean the personal and financial information we obtain when you open an account or which is given to us during the course of your relationship with us.

We will treat your information as confidential. It will only be disclosed to third parties in the following circumstances:

when you request us to do so or give your consent;
when we are required to do so by law.

We may contact you personally (by letter, telephone, email or other electronic means) with details of other products and services which we think may be of interest to you.

If you do not wish to receive marketing material a note will be made in your records to this effect to ensure your wishes are complied with.

If you request in writing the Society will advise you of the information held about you as required under the Data Protection Act. You should advise the Society if at any time you become aware of any information held by the Society about you being inaccurate.

SUPERSEDED ACCOUNTS

In the event that an account type is superseded, the Society will either:

Maintain the interest rate on such accounts at the same level as an account with similar features from the current range, or
Switch those accounts to an account type with similar features,

or where there is no account type with similar features,

Within 30 days of an account becoming superseded, contact those holders advising them that the account type is superseded, giving information about other accounts and helping to switch accounts without penalty.

COMPLAINTS

The Society is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service Scheme.

Although the Society is committed to providing you with a first class service, we recognise that there may be an occasion when you feel that we may not have done this and you wish to make a complaint.

We will always try to resolve any complaint speedily and at the earliest possible stage.

The purpose of this section is to set out our procedures if you make a complaint.

Your complaint will initially be dealt with by either the Branch Manager, Mrs S J Askew, or the Secretary, Mr P Richardson.
If the complaint involves financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience, and cannot be resolved by the close of business on the business day following the receipt of the complaint, then the Chief Executive, Mr C Hayward, will then handle the complaint from that point. You will be sent an acknowledgement of your complaint within 5 days of us receiving it. Included with that letter will be a copy of this leaflet which sets out our internal complaints procedures.
If the Chief Executive is unable to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction or in the opinion of the Chief Executive the complaint is of such a serious nature, you will be advised that your complaint is being referred to the Society’s Board of Directors and the date of the Board Meeting at which it will be discussed.

Within 4 weeks of receiving your complaint the Chief Executive will:

advise you in writing of the Board’s final response. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet at this time. If you are dis-satisfied with the response you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months.
if it has not been possible for the Board to consider the complaint within that time, then you will be informed that this is the case and also when you will be contacted again by the Society.
If a final response is made within 8 weeks, the Chief Executive will write advising you that if you are dis-satisfied with the response you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You will be provided with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet and informed that if you wish to refer the matter to the FOS this must be done within 6 months from the date of the Final Response.
If for whatever reason it has not been possible to make a final response within 8 weeks after the complaint has been received, the Chief Executive will write advising you that if you are dis-satisfied with the delay you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service at this point. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet at this time.
If you are satisfied to allow the Society further time to arrive at its final response, without referring the complaint to the Ombudsman at that time, but are dis-satisfied with the final response, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman Service within 6 months. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet when the final response is sent to you.

It is our aim to ensure that all complaints are dealt with as speedily as possible and whenever practicable within 4 weeks of receiving the complaint.

Home News Mortgages Awards Savings Current products & rates Key commitments Contact Privacy Policy Site Map ...news........... Bank Base Rate Turnaround First Time Buyers update: looking more positive? What’s this ‘Credit Crunch’ about?	Savings: Key Commitments We will: Act fairly and reasonably in all our dealings with you treating you courteously and with patience; Give you information on our savings accounts and the services we provide in plain language, and offer help if there is any aspect which you do not understand; Help you to understand the financial implications of the different accounts; Help you to understand how an account works; Rectify errors and take any complaints seriously, dealing with them promptly and thoroughly; Make sure that our accounts and services meet all relevant laws and regulations. GENERAL PROCEDURES As an investor, with a share account, you are bound by the Conditions of the account(s) and by the Rules of the Society. A copy of the Rules of the Society will be provided on demand free of charge to you if you have not already received a copy. If you have previously been issued with a copy of the Rules, the Society will make a charge of £1.00 for each copy issued thereafter. Holders of deposit accounts do not have membership rights and therefore the account Conditions only determine the contract between the depositor and the Society. Depositors do not have voting rights. It is important to study the conditions of an account before making an investment in order to be certain that it meets your needs. The Society’s staff will help you to choose the appropriate account to meet your needs if requested. CHANGING YOUR MIND If after opening an account you find that you are not happy about your choice of current savings account, you may cancel it within 14 days without having to give any notice due under the terms of the account. We will then help you switch to another of our accounts or we will give you all of your money back with any interest you have earned. If the investment was by cheque you will have to allow 7 working days before the account can be closed to ensure that all funds being returned are cleared. If you do not exercise your right to cancel during this period you will be bound by the terms and conditions of the account. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS Apart from cheques which are the subject of “special clearance”, you will not be permitted to withdraw funds which will take the balance of your account below the balance prior to the cheque being credited for a period of seven working days. The Society will not accept cheques which are 6 or more months out of date and you will be advised of any cheques which are returned by your bank or building society for whatever reason. Withdrawals cannot be made against these funds. JOINT ACCOUNTS The Society will require joint account holders on opening an account to stipulate whether the account is to operate on one or more signatures. Written authorisation is required for any changes to the account mandate with all joint holders confirming any alteration leading to a reduction in the number of signatures needed for withdrawals. In the instance of a joint account where a joint account holder notifies the Society in writing that the account is to be operated on both signatures in future, both signatories do not have to provide that confirmation. Insofar as voting rights are concerned, only the first named account holder will have the right to vote on ordinary and special resolutions. CALCULATION OF INTEREST Interest on investments begins to accrue on the day following receipt of the investment by the Society, and thereafter on a daily basis, up to and including the date of withdrawal. Cheque payments to an account are treated in exactly the same manner as payments of cash in that they attract interest on the day following receipt. Depending on the terms of issue of the account, interest may be paid by warrant to you or a third party nominated by you, or added to the capital outstanding in the account, or transferred to another account with the Society. Interest becomes due on closure of the account, or on the dates specified in the terms of issue of the account. For interest calculation purposes regarding accounts where interest is paid half-yearly or monthly, each half-year is treated as 182½ days. This means in effect that interest earned on an investment in each half-year will be equal, assuming that the balance and interest rate remains constant. Also, leap years are effectively ignored in that every year is treated as having 365 days. Transactions taking place on the 29th February are treated as having been made on the 28th February, with the 29th February being disregarded completely. “Penalty interest” is calculated on the amount withdrawn on which notice was required but not given. “Penalty interest” is calculated at the prevailing rate of interest at the time of withdrawal. The application of “penalty interest” to an account may lead to the capital outstanding being reduced if accrued interest is insufficient to cover the amount of the penalty. INTEREST RATES Interest rates are variable. Each year the Society will send you a summary of all our interest rates. Accounts no longer available will be clearly marked. The summary of interest rates provided will include details of the various rates applicable throughout the previous twelve months. CHANGES IN INTEREST RATES When giving notification of interest rate changes the Society will list both the old and the new rates in any newspaper advertisement. Changes in the rates of interest will be published in The Cumberland and Westmorland Herald within three working days of the change. In addition notices of the new rates will be displayed prominently in the Society’s banking hall. If the Society reduces the interest rate payable on any type of account by 0.25% or more relative to the Bank of England base rate, the Society will write to you if you have an account(s) where the balance is £250.00 or greater. The Society will offer to switch the account or allow you to withdraw the funds (notice period and “penalty free”). You will then have 60 days in which to effect the switch or withdrawal. NB: The 0.25% could occur in a single change or a series of changes, which aggregate to 0.25% or more within any 12 month rolling period. CHANGES IN TERMS AND CONDITIONS You will be advised of any changes to terms and conditions by a personal letter as follows: if the change is to your advantage we will make the change immediately and will tell you about it within thirty days. if the change is neither to your advantage or disadvantage we will give you at least thirty days notice before making the change. if the change is to your disadvantage we will give you at least thirty days notice before making the change. At any time up to sixty days from the date of the notice you may switch your account or close it without notice and without loss of interest. TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP The Society may without giving any reason, give to the holder of any share which has not been issued for a fixed-term, not less than one months notice in writing of intention to repay the holding in whole or in part. If the holding is to be repaid in full on cessation of the notice interest is also paid up to the date of closure. The Society may also refuse to accept investments without giving any reason. CHARGES If you wish to make a cheque payment into your account using “special clearance” you will be advised of the cost on application. If any cheque paid into your account is returned by the bank, a charge of £5.00 will be debited to your account to cover the expenses incurred by the Society. CHEQUES Withdrawal cheques drawn on your investment account made payable to a third party cannot be countermanded. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION We will hold and process your information by computer and otherwise. By “your information” we mean the personal and financial information we obtain when you open an account or which is given to us during the course of your relationship with us. We will treat your information as confidential. It will only be disclosed to third parties in the following circumstances: when you request us to do so or give your consent; when we are required to do so by law. We may contact you personally (by letter, telephone, email or other electronic means) with details of other products and services which we think may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive marketing material a note will be made in your records to this effect to ensure your wishes are complied with. If you request in writing the Society will advise you of the information held about you as required under the Data Protection Act. You should advise the Society if at any time you become aware of any information held by the Society about you being inaccurate. SUPERSEDED ACCOUNTS In the event that an account type is superseded, the Society will either: Maintain the interest rate on such accounts at the same level as an account with similar features from the current range, or Switch those accounts to an account type with similar features, or where there is no account type with similar features, Within 30 days of an account becoming superseded, contact those holders advising them that the account type is superseded, giving information about other accounts and helping to switch accounts without penalty. COMPLAINTS The Society is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service Scheme. Although the Society is committed to providing you with a first class service, we recognise that there may be an occasion when you feel that we may not have done this and you wish to make a complaint. We will always try to resolve any complaint speedily and at the earliest possible stage. The purpose of this section is to set out our procedures if you make a complaint. Your complaint will initially be dealt with by either the Branch Manager, Mrs S J Askew, or the Secretary, Mr P Richardson. If the complaint involves financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience, and cannot be resolved by the close of business on the business day following the receipt of the complaint, then the Chief Executive, Mr C Hayward, will then handle the complaint from that point. You will be sent an acknowledgement of your complaint within 5 days of us receiving it. Included with that letter will be a copy of this leaflet which sets out our internal complaints procedures. If the Chief Executive is unable to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction or in the opinion of the Chief Executive the complaint is of such a serious nature, you will be advised that your complaint is being referred to the Society’s Board of Directors and the date of the Board Meeting at which it will be discussed. Within 4 weeks of receiving your complaint the Chief Executive will: advise you in writing of the Board’s final response. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet at this time. If you are dis-satisfied with the response you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months. if it has not been possible for the Board to consider the complaint within that time, then you will be informed that this is the case and also when you will be contacted again by the Society. If a final response is made within 8 weeks, the Chief Executive will write advising you that if you are dis-satisfied with the response you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You will be provided with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet and informed that if you wish to refer the matter to the FOS this must be done within 6 months from the date of the Final Response. If for whatever reason it has not been possible to make a final response within 8 weeks after the complaint has been received, the Chief Executive will write advising you that if you are dis-satisfied with the delay you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service at this point. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet at this time. If you are satisfied to allow the Society further time to arrive at its final response, without referring the complaint to the Ombudsman at that time, but are dis-satisfied with the final response, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman Service within 6 months. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet when the final response is sent to you. It is our aim to ensure that all complaints are dealt with as speedily as possible and whenever practicable within 4 weeks of receiving the complaint.	Apply online for a mortgage illustration Mortgage products and interest rates Current investment products and interest rates General procedures » Changing your mind » Availability of funds » Joint accounts » Calculation of interest » Interest rates » Changes in interest rates » Changes in terms and conditions » Termination of membership » Charges » Cheques » Confidentiality and data protection » Superseded accounts » Complaints »
2007©Penrith Building Society, 7 King Street, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 7AR. Tel: 01768 863675 Penrith Building Society is regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is entered in its register under number 164473 www.fsa.gov.uk/register Mortgages subject to status. Only available to those aged 18 and over. Mortgages not available in Scotland. Written quotations available on request. Penrith Building Society, 7 King Street, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 7AR. Previous mortgage cost is not an indication of future cost. YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT.