This Agreement is supplemental to the agreement for your Account, but will only take effect when you apply for and receive a Card and PIN for use on your Account.Where these Conditions conflict with the agreement for your Account, these Conditions shall prevail.
1. Definitions
Account means your sterling current account with Coutts & Co in the UK;
Agreement means the agreement between us and you to provide you with a Card and comprises the application form and these Conditions and any changes or amendments to them as notified by us to you from time to time;
Card means the Coutts Account Card or Cash Card issued to you and any renewal or replacement card supplied by us from time to time under this Agreement;
Card Transaction means any use of a Card such as obtaining cash, buying goods or services, whether in person, by mail order, over the telephone or by electronic means, and guaranteeing cheques on your Account up to the value of the guarantee limit stated on the The Account Card;
Conditions means these or any other conditions of use from time to time in force;
PIN means the personal identification number that we issue for use with a Card and which you may change on receipt;
we,our or us means Coutts & Co;
you or your means the person or persons to whom or for whose use we supply a Card.
2. Issuing of cards
2.1 All Cards are and remain our property.You must immediately return to us or our agents all Cards issued to you upon request where we or they believe that there is good reason to request the Card(s) be returned.We shall not be liable for any refusal by any person to accept or honour the Card and PIN, any machine malfunction, strike or dispute, or any other circumstances affecting the use of a Card or PIN where such matters are not within our direct control.
2.2 You will be solely responsible, or, if there is more than one of you, jointly and severally responsible, for all liabilities howsoever incurred, on the Account or otherwise arising from use of the Card(s) and/or PIN(s). For the avoidance of doubt, no liability to us in respect of Card Transactions is incurred by you until we settle amounts claimed from us for Card Transactions made by you using the Card(s) and/or PIN(s).
3. Use of your card
3.1 You must ensure that you:
3.1.1 sign all Cards immediately upon receipt, keep them secure at all times and do not allow any other person to use your Cards;
3.1.2 keep strictly secret the details of the PIN;
3.1.3 take all reasonable precautions to prevent the PIN becoming known to another person and prevent its fraudulent use;
3.1.4 ensure that PIN details are memorised and that any notification of the PIN is destroyed;
3.1.5 choose the PIN carefully if you decide to change it;
3.1.6 do not keep a cheque book and Card together;
3.1.7 do not use a Card before or after the period for which it is stated to be valid or after notification of its cancellation or withdrawal is given to you;
3.1.8 do not use a Card to carry out Card Transactions for illegal purposes; and
3.1.9 comply with this Agreement and any operating and other instructions which we or our agents give you from time to time. Such instructions form part of this Agreement.
3.2 All Card Transactions require our authorisation.When we work out the money available on your Account,we may also include the amount of any authorisation for a Card Transaction we have already received and those Card Transactions which have not yet been charged to your Account.
3.3 We will charge your Account with the full amount of Card Transactions, any interest, charges and fees, whether or not you havegiven us authorisation.We may charge Card Transactions to yourAccount at any time.A payment cannot be stopped, but the suppliersmay make a refund.
3.4 You must not use a Card to go overdrawn on your Account unless we have previously agreed this with you.
3.5 You will not be required to present a voucher or other document for payment when using your Card(s), except your Account cheque book, unless required for identification purposes. You will need your Account Cheque Book to obtain cash advances at our counters.You may be asked to key in a PIN, or sign a receipt, when using a Card to pay for purchases.
3.6 If you use your Account Card(s) to guarantee a cheque:
3.6.1 you must write the cheque in the presence of the bank or retailer being paid;
3.6.2 we may debit your Account even if the cheque is not technically correct;
3.6.3 you cannot cancel or stop the cheque for any reason, even if there is something wrong with the cheque, and we may still charge the amount of the cheque to your Account.
3.7 If you write any cheques with or without an Account Card as a guarantee,we may pay by whatever method we think fit, including electronic payment, and you agree that we are not bound by our duty actually to present a cheque for payment.
3.8 If you wish to query any item on any statement, you must contact us immediately.You should check the statements on your Account carefully.
4. Charges
4.1 If a Card Transaction is made in a currency other than sterling, the amount will be converted and debited to your Account in sterling. The sterling amount will be calculated by applying the exchange rate and exchange rate transaction fee.The exchange rate will be that which is determined by MasterCard (the provider of the Cirrus/Maestro payment schemes) on the date the Card Transaction is processed. Exchange rates may fluctuate, and the exchange rate used for conversion may differ from the exchange rate prevailingwhen the Card Transaction is made.
5. Currency and travellers cheques
5.1 Should you choose to take advantage of the currency and travellers cheque delivery service which may be offered to you, details about you, your Account, the Card and a delivery address supplied by you will be passed to International Currency Exchange Plc, or any supplier which we may appoint in their place, who will use the information to debit your Account and fulfil the order.
6. Lost and stolen cards and liability for losses
6.1 If a Card is lost or stolen, if you suspect that someone knows the PIN, or you wish to cancel use of the Card(s), you must notify us immediately by telephoning the Card Loss Centre on 0870 600 0459 (+44 1423 700 545 from outside the UK). This is a 24 hour service. If a Card is subsequently found after it has been cancelled, it must not be used again but destroyed immediately by cutting through the magnetic stripe, signature box and chip.
6.2 If a Card and/or PIN is used by someone who has it with your permission, you will have to pay for all Card Transactions that person carries out using the Card, even if they are not authorised by you.
6.3 If we can show that you have acted fraudulently, you will be responsible for all losses. If we can show that you have acted without reasonable care eg, by not complying with conditions 3.1 and 6.1 and this causes losses, you will be responsible for them.
6.4 Unless we can show that you have acted fraudulently or without reasonable care, your liability for the misuse of Card(s) or PIN will be limited as follows:
6.4.1 if your Card and/or PIN is misused before you tell us of its loss or theft, you will only have to pay up to £50 towards such misuse;
6.4.2 if someone else carries out a Card Transaction using your Card details on the internet, over the telephone or by a mail order, you will not be liable for the transaction;
6.4.3 once we receive notice of the loss or theft of a Card, possible misuse of a Card and/or PIN or you wish to cancel use of a Card,we will cancel the Card and you will not be liable for any further transactions.
6.5 If a Card is used before you have received it, you will not be liable for any transactions carried out with that Card.
6.6 You agree that you will assist us or our agents in the investigation of the loss, theft or possible misuse of a Card and/or PIN and will assist us to recover the Card. You consent to the disclosure by us to third parties of any relevant information concerning the Account in connection with such investigation and recovery. Any adjustments to the Account will be made after we have concluded any such investigation.
7. Refunds and claims
7.1 We will only credit your Account with the amount of any refund on receipt of a properly issued refund voucher or other verification of the refund by a retailer or service provider in a form acceptable to us.
7.2 Your liability to us under this Agreement is not affected by any act or omission of any retailer or service provider.We will not be responsible in any way for the goods, services or information supplied to you.
8. Ending this agreement
8.1 Subject to condition 8.3, either party may end this Agreement at any time on written notice to the other party. If either party exercises its right to end this Agreement, then all Cards issued in respect of the Account must be returned to us (cut in two across the magnetic stripe, signature box and chip) together with the repayment of the Card Transactions on the Account, any other amounts settled by us on your behalf but not yet debited to your Account and any charges due.
8.2 We reserve the right to suspend any Card for any reason which in our absolute discretion we consider justifies suspension.
8.3 Where we suspend a Card on your Account, this will not affect your liabilities under this Agreement.We will usually give you 30 days notice of our intention to close an Account and cancel the Card, although in some circumstances we are entitled to close the Account and cancel the Card immediately.
9. General
9.1 From time to time,we may change these Conditions of Use and any other terms agreed with you.We will give you notice of any such changes. If the change is to your advantage,we may make the change immediately and tell you about it within 30 days. In all other cases,we will give you at least 30 days notice.
9.2 The headings in this Agreement are for ease of reference only and shall not be taken into account in the construction or interpretation of any clause or provision to which they refer.
9.3 We may record telephone conversations with you to maintain or improve our service and to help resolve problems which may arise from misunderstanding or human error. Strict controls and security will be maintained over access to recorded tapes at all times.
9.4 The laws of England and Wales apply to these Conditions.You and we (i) irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts and (ii) undertake not to commence any proceedings in relation to this Agreement in the courts of any other jurisdiction.
9.5 If we at any time do not strictly enforce or we waive any of the terms of this Agreement, this shall not prevent us from deciding to enforce any of the terms strictly at a later date.
9.6 You must notify us immediately of any change of address.
9.7 Repayment of your liabilities under this Agreement will be settled either from any credit balance on the Account or by creating an overdraft on your Account and you will be charged interest at the applicable rate on any such overdraft in accordance with the agreement for your Account.
10 Your information
10.1 Please note that we will use your information in accordance with the clause headed Your information which forms part of the Conditions of Use of your existing agreement with us and which can be identified by the above symbol. If you require a copy of that clause, please ask your private banker.