The account provider is Kent Reliance Building Society (‘KRBS’) and our principal office is Reliance House, Sun Pier, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4ET. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (registered number: 206038), a member of the Building Societies Association and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The Society will conduct various registration searches to establish proof of identity and address. If your identity cannot be verified electronically we will require proof directly from you. The Society’s accounts may only be opened by UK residents.

An inactive account is an account with a balance below £100, on which there have been no customer-initiated transactions for the whole tax year. An inactive account fee will be debited from each inactive account on 31 August each year. If there are insufficient funds in the account to cover the inactivity fee, the balance will be charged as the inactivity fee and we will close the account without further notice. Accounts where the first named account holder is under 16 years of age on 5 April, are exempt from this fee.

All accounts, other than ISAs and inter-generational accounts, may be opened on behalf of children under the age of 16. Children up to the age of 7 will need a parent/guardian/representative to open and operate accounts on their behalf. Once children reach the age of 7, they may operate the account. To do this the operator of the account will be required to provide authority and the child’s signature to the Society. Once children reach the age of 16, the parent/guardian/representative may no longer operate the account. If the child has not previously been authorised to operate the account themselves, the parent/guardian/representative will be required to provide authority and the child’s signature to the Society. Lower withdrawal limits may apply to children under the age of 16.

If the child is entitled to receive interest without the deduction of tax, the child’s parent/guardian must complete HM Revenue & Customs form R85. In the absence of a completed R85, tax will be deducted from child’s accounts in the normal way.

After opening the account, you will have 14 days to reconsider any choice you've made. You can cancel your decision up to the end of the consideration period (14 days) and your full initial deposit will be returned without interest. If the deposit is a transfer from an existing account with the Society, the original account terms would be reinstated. If you've paid any cheques into your account, we can't return these funds until the cheque(s) have cleared - normally after six clear working days.

It is your responsibility to notify the Society in writing of any change in your name, address, telephone number(s) or e-mail. We will correspond with you using the details you have provided, unless the correspondence is returned by Royal Mail marked “gone away”.

If you move overseas, you may no longer open new accounts with the Society. You may not add further funds to any KRBS ISA once you cease to be resident and ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes.

• Electronic transfer (CHAPS) - £25
  (guaranteed to be processed the same business day if instructions are received before 11.00am)
• Duplicate or interim statement - £10
• Inactive account fee - £10 per annum
• Replacement passbook £10

If we increase or add a charge, we will notify you personally at least 60 days before the change is effective.

Cheques withdrawn from your Kent Reliance account cannot be stopped except in the case of loss or theft. If a cheque is stopped, we can issue a replacement cheque, but this must be made payable to the same payee as the original. Cheques withdrawn and subsequently returned for investment will earn interest from the date of re-investment.

You must allow six clear working days for clearance on all cheques paid in, before withdrawal can be made against them. Post-dated cheques will not be accepted. Cheques can only be accepted if made payable to one or more account holder(s) with the account number on the reverse. The Society may refuse to accept cheques from third parties, other than financial institutions.

Transfer(s) from an existing account(s) held with the Society will be accepted, subject to normal transfer and withdrawal conditions applying on the relevant account.

Non-cheque payments into your account on a business day will be made available to you on the day of receipt. Payments into your account received on a non business day, or after 3.00pm on a business day, will be treated as received on the next business day.

Note: Our branch and agency network will have different cut-off times - please check with the relevant branch or agency for further information.

For all account types, interest is calculated on the balance held in the account from the date a deposit is treated as received until the day before withdrawal/closure or transfer. For new accounts, interest will be paid either the date the initial deposit is received or the date your identity is adequately verified, whichever is the later. Unless account terms specify otherwise, interest is added to the account annually on 5 April.

Interest may be paid without deduction of tax to individuals who are eligible and certify that they do not expect to be liable to income tax. In the absence of the required certification, interest will be payable after deduction of income tax at the rate applicable to building society savings accounts. Where the tax deducted exceeds the investor’s tax liability (if any), a claim may be made to HM Revenue & Customs for repayment of tax. In order to determine whether there is any liability to tax at the higher rate, the amount of interest actually paid or credited on the account must be included in the investor’s annual income tax return, together with the amount of gross interest earned. Every year the Society is required to supply to HM Revenue & Customs particulars of interest paid or credited to investors. Interest on ISAs is paid in full with no tax deducted. Non taxpayers who are ordinarily resident in the UK can arrange to have their interest paid gross by completing a form R85, available from our website www.krbs.com, by calling our Head Office on 08451 22 11 22 or through our branch and agency network. If you need to check whether you are eligible to have your interest paid without tax deducted call the HM Revenue & Customs helpline on 08459 800 645. We are unable to pay interest without deduction of tax for non UK residents.

Calls to and from Kent Reliance may be monitored and/or recorded for compliance, legal, customer service and training purposes.

A withdrawal request taking the balance below the minimum operating balance will be treated as a request to close the account. Posted cheque withdrawals will be sent to the first named account holder’s registered address. A few days’ notice is required for cash withdrawals in excess of £500 up to £2,500. Withdrawals in excess of £2,500 must be paid by cheque or bank transfer (BACS). The passbook must be sent with all withdrawal or transfer requests for passbook operated accounts. We may require investors to produce proof of identity before permitting withdrawals and we may contact you by telephone as an additional security measure to confirm your instructions.

Payments made by an electronic process for example BACS or standing order will be received by the recipient’s building society/bank by the third business day. However, any withdrawal requests received by post may take up to four business days. From 1 January 2012, electronic payments will be received by the recipient’s building society/bank by the following business day; withdrawal requests received by post may take up to two business days.

Payment instructions received on a non business day, or after 3.00pm on a business day, will be treated as received on the next business day.

If your payment does not reach the recipient’s building society/bank, you will be protected so long as the details you gave us for making the payment were correct. If you tell us that the payment has not been received, we will investigate to see whether the payment reached the recipient’s building society/bank. If it did, it will be their responsibility to correct any mistake.

If the payment did not reach the recipient’s building society/bank we will refund to you the amount of the payment and restore your account to the position it would have been in (for example by paying any interest you would have earned and refunding any interest or charges that you have paid as a result) except where HM Revenue & Customs regulations do not allow us to do so.

If you give us the wrong account details for a payment, we will try to recover the funds for you if you ask us to, but we may charge you for doing so. We are not liable to compensate you if we are unable to recover the funds in these circumstances.

You must tell us as soon as possible after you become aware of any unauthorised payment. We will generally investigate the payment and, if the payment was not authorised by you, we will refund it and return your account to the position it would have been in (for example by paying any interest you would have earned and refunding any interest or charges that you have paid as a result).

However, you will be liable for:
(1) all payments made from your account(s) if you have acted fraudulently; and
(2) all payments on your account(s) that take place until you tell us that your payment instrument (for example passbook or bond certificate) has been lost or your passwords (or similar) have become known to someone else, if the payment was made because you deliberately or carelessly failed to keep your payment instrument safe. However, after you tell us, you will not have any further liability for unauthorised payments.

At the Society’s discretion, you may be liable up to a maximum of £50 for any losses incurred in respect of unauthorised payments on your account.

Interest rates may vary from time to time and are set out on our interest rates sheet available on our website www.krbs.com, by calling our Head Office on 08451 22 11 22 and through our branch and agency network. We will notify rate changes either by advertising in The Times and The Sun or personally. If you hold a payment account with us (for example an instant access account) we may notify you not less than 60 days before the change takes effect; if you hold a non payment account with us (for example a fixed rate bond or a cash ISA) we will notify you not less than 30 days after the change takes effect. Where the rate on your account is linked to a reference rate, such as the Bank of England Base Rate (for example our Direct tracker rollover bond), your rate will change on the 1st day of the month after the reference rate changes and you will not be notified of this change.

Several people may hold an account jointly, unless the terms of the account do not allow it to be a joint account. All information regarding the account will be sent to the first named account holder’s registered address. Liability to and from the Society is joint and several, meaning that each named investor is responsible for all the obligations of the account. If we have reason to think that there is a dispute between account holders we may (but will not be obliged to) require the signatures of all account holders, despite any authorisation that has been given previously.

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. Please note, until we have received either a statutory declaration or probate, we will only release funds for funeral expenses and inheritance tax.

The Society will allow any beneficiary(ies) to continue operating the account, after probate or letters of administration have been obtained, under the same terms and conditions and interest rate, except no further deposits will be allowed. For intergenerational ISAs, the account will no longer be eligible for any tax exemption applicable to ISAs at the time.

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 give you notice 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.

Where mail is returned to us marked “gone away”, or there have been no customer initiated transactions on a savings account for a period of three years or more and we have not heard from you during this time, we may flag the account as dormant. To reactivate a dormant account, we will need to establish proof of identity and address. We are a member of the Building Society Association’s Dormant Account Scheme. Flagging your account as dormant does not affect your ownership of funds.

We may change these terms and conditions and any special condition(s) applying to particular accounts for any valid reason where we reasonably believe a change is appropriate. Changes to interest rates will be subject to condition 16; any other change to your disadvantage will apply only after we have given you at least 60 days’ personal notice before the change takes effect. All other changes will be notified via our website www.krbs.com and notices will be displayed in our branch and agencies. We can limit at any time without notice the amount which may be withdrawn in respect of any account, if we reasonably consider it necessary in order to protect the interests of our membership as a whole. The issue of accounts may be suspended from time to time at the Society’s discretion.

You will be treated as accepting any change(s) we make unless you tell us (before it is due to come into effect) that you want to terminate your agreement with us and not accept the change.

You may terminate this agreement at any time by notifying us in writing at our Head Office address, subject to any specific terms applicable to your account. We may terminate this agreement at any time by notifying you in writing at the first named account holder’s registered address at least 60 days’ in advance; where there are exceptional circumstances for example fraud, threatening or abusive behaviour towards our staff, this notice period will not apply.

Where we refer to personal notification of changes to your account’s terms, this will be in writing unless you have registered for Online Services in which case we may notify you by e-mail or in writing.

You will, by opening a share account, become a member of the Society. Your rights and obligations as a member will be as set out in the Rules of the Society for the time being in force, copies of which are available on request. In the event that you breach your obligations and investment contract we will require you to indemnify us in respect of any loss we may suffer as a result. If your account is held jointly then we may hold either of you responsible to indemnify us in respect of any breach of your obligations.

Operation of all accounts will be governed by English Law and the language we will use in our communications will be English. We will not be liable to you for any breach of or failure to perform our obligations where that breach or failure is due to abnormal and/or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which would have been unavoidable despite all the Society’s efforts to the contrary.

The FSCS, set up under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, may cover your account. We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to depositors if a bank/building society in the UK is unable to meet its financial obligations. Most depositors - including most individuals and small businesses - are covered by the Scheme.

In respect of deposits, an eligible depositor is entitled to claim up to the greater of £50,000 and €50,000. For joint accounts each account holder is treated as having a claim in respect of their share so, for a joint account held by two eligible depositors, the maximum amount that could be claimed would be the greater of £50,000 and €50,000 each (making a total of the greater of £100,000 and €100,000). The limit (the greater of £50,000 and €50,000) relates to the combined amount in all the eligible depositor’s accounts with the Society, including their share of any joint account, and not to each separate account.

For further information about the Scheme (including the amounts covered and eligibility to claim) please ask at any of our branch or agencies, call us on 08451 22 11 22, refer to the FSCS website www.fscs.org.uk or call 020 7892 7300 or 0800 678 1100.