Coutts & Co Business Current Account Conditions of Use
Unless otherwise agreed in writing between you and us, Business Current Accounts are operated according to the following Conditions.
Definitions
‘Account(s)’ means any Business Current Account(s) which we open and maintain for you;
‘Agreement’ means the agreement between us and you for the Account(s). It comprises the application form and the Conditions and any changes or amendments to them as notified;
‘you’ or ‘your’ means the sole trader, partnership, association, company or other body whether corporate or unincorporated and any partner or member of any association or other unincorporated body which holds the Account(s);
‘Conditions’ means these or any other Conditions of Use from time to time in force;
‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’ or ‘ourselves’ means Coutts & Co.
‘working weekday’ means any day between Monday and Friday (inclusive) excluding any UK Bank and Public Holidays.
1. The Conditions apply to the Account(s) unless otherwise agreed in writing by us.
2. We will act on your instructions in accordance with the mandate(s) for the Account(s) from time to time in force. In the case of instructions given by telephone, please see Condition 14. In the case of instruction by telex, facsimile or electronic means, we will act on instructions given in accordance with procedures and on terms separately agreed with you.
3. Running your Account
3.1 Each month, if there is a transaction on your Account(s), we will provide you with a statement. Statements can be requested on a choice of dates ranging from daily to annually. On request we can supply interim statements.
3.2 We will send you a statement of your Account(s) at least annually.
3.3 On receipt of your statement, you should check it and, if there is an entry which seems to be wrong, you should tell us as soon as possible so the matter can be resolved.
3.4 If we and you are unable to resolve it within a reasonable period of time, we will re-credit your Account(s) until the query is resolved.
3.5 We will keep original or copies of cheques paid from your Account(s) for at least six years, and we will provide you with a copy if required.
3.6 We will inform you if a cheque you have written has been returned unpaid, we will do this either by letter or in another confidential way. Charges are payable.
4. Protecting your Account
4.1 You should let us know as soon as possible if the nature of your business changes or if you change your contact details.
4.2 Items should be payable to the Account holder(s). For example, where a cheque is being paid into an Account, the payee should be in the same name as the Account.
4.3 If you send a cheque through the post, it will help to prevent fraud if you clearly write the name of the person you are paying the cheque to and put extra information about them on the cheque, for example:
4.3.1 if you are paying a cheque to a large organisation such as HM Revenue and Customs, write on the cheque the name of the account you want the cheque paid into and the reference number, if you have one (for example, HM Revenue and Customs, account - J Jones, reference: xxyyzz); and
4.3.2 if you are paying a cheque into a bank or building society account, always write on the cheque the name of the account holder (for example, XYZ Bank, account B Brown).
4.3.3 You should draw a line through unused space on the cheque so unauthorised people cannot add numbers or names.
4.4 On receipt of your statement, you should check it and, if there is an entry which seems to be wrong, you should tell us as soon as possible so that it can be resolved.
4.5 Do not give your Account details or your Account security information to anyone unless you know who they are and are satisfied why they need it.
5. Partnership Accounts
5.1 Normally, all parties to a Partnership Account will be required to sign a mandate addressed to us, providing us with authority to follow instructions for the operation of the Account and stating who may sign cheques on the Account.
5.2 As stated in the mandate, all of you are together and separately liable to repay any money owed to us on the Account.
5.3 In the event of our becoming aware of a disagreement between the parties to the Account, we may treat the Account mandate as cancelled or revoked and require all parties to provide authority for each transaction on the Account until matters have been resolved.We may also ask for return of unused cheques and cards and suspend operation of our telephone and electronic banking service.
6. Paying sterling into your sterling Account
6.1 Examples of the ways in which sterling can be paid into your Account include:
6.1.1 over the counter at our offices or at other banks by special arrangement, using a pre-printed credit slip or the Drop and Go service;
6.1.2 by post with a credit slip.We do not recommend sending cash by post.
6.2 We reserve the right to refuse to accept an amount paid in and, if we do, we will tell you.
7. Paying currency other than sterling into your sterling Account
7.1 Non-sterling notes may be paid into your Account over the counter at our offices or at other banks by special arrangement.
7.2 Cheques, travellers cheques and bankers drafts payable outside the UK and/or in a currency other than sterling should be presented at our offices.The clearing cycle will vary according to the method and place of payment.
7.3 Cheques payable outside the UK paid in for collection or negotiation, are dealt with in accordance with our guidelines we may issue from time to time and on the following terms:
7.3.1 you warrant that you have good title to them;
7.3.2 you indemnify us against all liabilities, claims, losses, expenses, exchange rate fluctuations and agents’ charges that may arise; and
7.3.3 you authorise us to debit the Account if any cheque is returned unpaid with the amount credited together with the amount of any of the items mentioned in 7.3.2.
7.4 We reserve the right to refuse to accept an amount paid in, and if we do, we will tell you.
8. When your money is available to you on your sterling Account
8.1 When a cheque is paid into your Account, we have to collect the payment from the bank of the person or business who gave you the cheque.This is known as ‘clearing a cheque’.The cycle of clearing a cheque explained here does not apply to foreign cheques, which will usually take longer to clear. Further information regarding the operation of the clearing cycle can be found in the current edition of the APACS publication ‘Cheques and Cheque clearing - the facts’, available on the APACS website www.apacs.org.uk.
8.2 You should allow at least four working weekdays before you use the proceeds of a cheque drawn in England and Wales. For example, if you pay a cheque in on Monday, it will be cleared on Wednesday. However, in some cases, because cheques may still come back unpaid after this time, it may take up to five working weekdays for a cheque to clear and postal and other delays can extend this period much further.You should make an allowance for this before withdrawing the money from your Account. If you pay in a cheque drawn in England and Wales on a Saturday or Sunday or after 3.30pm on a working weekday, the payment is not passed to your Account until the following working weekday, when the cheque clearing period will start. A cheque paid in over a Coutts counter, drawn on a Coutts & Co sterling account and paid into another Coutts & Co sterling account, will be presented for payment on the same working weekday the cheque is paid in.A cheque paid into your Account drawn on a bank outside England and Wales takes longer to clear. Please ask us for details.
8.3 We, at our discretion, may sometimes allow you to draw the cheque proceeds before the cheque has actually cleared.This may mean that your Account balance includes uncleared funds. If your commercial banker allows you to draw against these funds then you may have to pay overdraft interest and fees in addition to the actual amount of the returned cheque. Interest on any unarranged overdraft will be payable at our Unarranged Borrowing Rate from time to time in force.
8.4 If you pay cash into any Coutts Office with counter facilities in the UK before 3.30pm on a working weekday, the amount will be credited to your Account that day.This will affect any interest or charging calculations immediately. Cash paid in at another bank in the UK will be included in your Account balance two working weekdays later.
8.5 You should allow five working weekdays before you can use the proceeds of a cheque paid into a Coutts Office that does not have counter facilities. Cheques paid in at some other financial institutions, or alternative places such as the Post Office, may take longer to be cleared for payment.Additionally, we do not accept cash at Coutts Offices without counter facilities.
8.6 If the cash paid in has to be converted from one currency to another we will use our spot selling rate of exchange.
8.7 If you need to make sure the cheque has been paid, (for example, if you wish to release goods, or pay funds away), then ask us about special presentation.There may be a charge for this service.
8.8 References to cheques in Condition 8.1 also include bankers drafts and other items paid into your Account.
8.9 Automated credits received by you, will normally take three working weekdays to reach your Account. For example, a payment sent on Monday will be received into your Account on Wednesday.Automated payments through some financial institutions may take longer than three working weekdays.
8.10 It is important to note that automated credits can be recalled from your Account by the person paying the money. If this happens, then a debit will be applied to your Account, normally on the same day as the credit. However, for some Standing Order credits, the debit will be applied on the following working weekday.You should make an allowance for this before withdrawing the money from your Account.
8.11 Automated payments made from your Account, will normally appear as cleared funds on the account of the person receiving the money two working weekdays after we have debited your Account.Automated payments between Coutts & Co sterling Accounts will appear as cleared funds on the beneficiary’s Account on the day of the payment.
9. Postdated cheques
9.1 You must not issue postdated cheques, because the payee is likely to pay it into their bank before the due date. If they do, it is likely that we will pay the cheque when it is presented for payment.
10. Cancelling payments
10.1 You can ‘stop’ a cheque you have issued (that is, ask us not to pay it), provided it has not been guaranteed by a Card* and has not already been paid from your Account.You will need to provide us with the cheque number, amount and payee details.
10.2 If a cheque is more that six months old, it is regarded as ‘out of date’ and we may refuse to pay it.
10.3 You can cancel or amend Standing Order instructions at any time by contacting us.
10.4 You can cancel or amend Direct Debit instructions at any time by contacting both us and the payee, but several days’ notice is required. If any money is wrongly taken from your Account under a Direct Debit, we will refund your Account as soon as you tell us about it.
10.5 You can inform us of your request at any time by writing or telephoning your banking services team.
10.6 Payments made by Business Cash Card, Cheque Guarantee Card*, credit or charge card, telegraphic transfer, bankers draft or by using ‘same day instruction’ such as a CHAPS cannot be countermanded.
10.7 It may not be possible to cancel payments if you do not give us enough notice of your decision to cancel.
*Cheque Guarantee Card is only available on Sole Trader and Partnership Accounts.
11. Status enquiries
11.1 If we receive a status enquiry about you, we will only respond if we have your written consent, unless we are legally obliged to.We may on notice to you, decline to reply to any enquiries about you.
11.2 Telephone and facsimile enquiries will only be answered if we have your consent.
11.3 If you have been the subject of an enquiry, you may request a copy of our reply.
12. Overdrafts
12.1 Overdrafts may be available for over 18s only.We, at our discretion, may amend the overdraft limit on the Account, subject to giving you written notice.
12.2 If at any time you issue instructions to us to withdraw funds from the Account where:
– there are insufficient funds available to cover the withdrawal;
or
– the requested withdrawal would cause an agreed overdraft to be exceeded, we will treat your instructions as a request for an unarranged overdraft.We may exercise our sole discretion and, without contacting you, allow an overdraft to be created or allow the borrowing limit to be exceeded. In these circumstances, the new or excess overdraft is an unarranged overdraft.We may refuse to pay a cheque (or allow any other payment or withdrawal) which could have the effect of exceeding the overdraft limit. If we do pay a cheque, (or allow any other payment or withdrawal), which results in the overdraft limit being exceeded, it will not mean that the overdraft limit has changed, or that we will pay any other cheque (or allow any other payment or withdrawal), which would have the same effect.
12.3 You agree that if you or any appropriately authorised signatory on the Account:
12.3.1 request an overdraft limit or an increased overdraft limit and we agree to the request; or
12.3.2 informally request an overdraft by issuing a payment instruction in any form (eg issuing a cheque or making a card transaction on the Account) which, either through exercise of our discretion to pay the item on presentation for payment or through payment being guaranteed to a third party, results in the Account becoming overdrawn when no agreed overdraft limit is in place or which results in the overdraft limit being exceeded; in either case, this will vary the contract (ie not revoking and replacing any earlier agreement) under which overdraft facilities are provided by us. If the facilities are provided with our prior agreement, they will be an arranged overdraft. If they arise through exercise of our discretion to pay items presented for payment of through payment being guaranteed to third parties, they will be an unarranged overdraft.
12.4 We may disregard any uncleared credits for the purposes of calculating the amount of the overdraft outstanding (and any interest payable). If, however, we pay a cheque (or allow any other payment or withdrawal) against uncleared credits, this does not mean that we are bound to do so at other times.
12.4.1 Overdrafts are repayable upon demand in accordance with normal banking practice.This means that at any time we may, on giving you written notice, withdraw your right to overdraw the Account and demand immediate repayment of the overdraft. If we demand repayment of the overdraft, you must immediately stop issuing cheques and making withdrawals on the Account.
12.4.2 Without prejudice to our overriding right to call for repayment on demand, an overdraft limit will be available until further notice or until the agreed review date, which may be extended by mutual agreement.
12.5 We will continue to give reasonable notice if we place restrictions on the availability of overdraft facilities; however, we can give less than 30 days’ notice where the circumstances justify this.
12.6 We will always tell you if we intend to place a restriction on your ability to make drawings under an overdraft limit.You may at any time tell us in writing that you no longer require the overdraft limit.
12.7 When we agree an overdraft limit, we will provide you with details of any existing security we hold for the overdraft and/or any new security required to secure the overdraft in a schedule attached to the confirmation of overdraft arrangement.We will not be obliged to make the overdraft available until any security required has been completed to our satisfaction. Overdrafts will also be secured by any available security which we may from time to time hold.This does not apply to any overdraft which, by virtue of the terms of a mortgage deed previously or in the future executed by you in favour of us over land in the UK, would constitute a Regulated Mortgage Contract in accordance with rules made by the UK Financial Services Authority.Where we require that an overdraft must be secured by such a mortgage we will have carried out the procedures required by the Financial Services Authority which include the provision of illustrations for cost and comparison purposes and various warnings in a form prescribed by law. In any case where these procedures have not been followed, this will indicate that we have determined that your overdraft is not to be secured by a land mortgage which you may have previously given to us, irrespective of its terms, and that we do not intend to require that you execute mortgage security as a condition of us providing the overdraft facility. All security will require to be granted in our preferred form.
12.8 We may debit the Account on which we have made the overdraft available with interest, fees, costs or charges as detailed above, even if it means that the overdraft limit is exceeded.
12.9 The overdraft Conditions of Use will not be affected in any way by the Account on which we have made the overdraft available being allocated another account number by us or being transferred to another of our branches, offices or departments.
13. Interest on Borrowing
13.1 Interest accrues on a daily basis and is debited to your Account on our usual charging dates which are normally at the end of March, June, September and December or when the Account is closed.
13.2 If interest accumulates on the Account during a charging period, we will give you at least 14 days’ notice of the amount before it is deducted from the Account.
13.3 Interest on any unarranged borrowing or borrowing in excess of an arranged limit will be payable at our Unarranged Borrowing Rate from time to time in force.
13.4 Our rates including Base Rate and Unarranged Borrowing Rate are published in our offices and on our website www.coutts.com. Alternatively, please ask us about our published rates.We may, at our discretion, at any time vary our rates by publishing notices in our offices and/or in the Financial Times,The Times and The Daily Telegraph or other national newspaper or by notice posted to you.The change will take effect on the date stated in the notice.
14. Banking by telephone
14.1 If you wish to give us instructions by telephone, we will take all reasonable steps to identify and verify the caller and their authority on the Account(s) with us.We may, at our discretion, ask that you complete a separate authority in this regard and that authorised persons provide us with security information to aid verification.You must take care of this information including any passwords used for validation purposes, since it is essential to help prevent fraud and protect your Account(s).
Please ensure that you:
a) do not allow anyone else (except your staff) to use this security information; and
b) always take reasonable steps to keep this security information secret at all times.
14.2 You authorise us to act on any instructions given after we have gone through the verification process, whether the instructions were authorised by you or not.
14.3 It is essential that you tell us as soon as you can if you suspect or discover that someone else knows the security information of you or any person authorised to give us instructions by telephone and may use it without your authority.
14.4 The fastest method of advising us is by telephone.
14.5 Once you have told us that someone else knows the security information of you or any authorised person, we will take immediate steps to prevent this information from being used. We will refund you the amount of any transaction (together with any interest and fees if appropriate) not authorised by you after you have told us that someone else knows the security information.
14.6 If the security information of you or of any authorised person is used without authority before you tell us someone else knows it, you will not be liable for any loss, unless you or such other authorised person has acted fraudulently or negligently, eg by not following Condition 14.1 and 14.3.
14.7 If you wish to give us instructions by facsimile or telex, we will ask you to complete another mandate. For your further security, telephone, facsimile or telex instructions may require written confirmation in respect of certain transactions eg high value payments, stopped cheques or lost and stolen reports.
14.8 We may record electronic messages to us and telephone conversations with you in order to resolve problems which may arise through misunderstanding or human error.
14.9 We may also record and monitor calls for the purposes of training and improving our service.
14.10 We maintain strict controls and security over access to recordings.
15. Our fees
15.1 For details of our fees for Business Current Account(s) see our separate leaflet. Alternatively, please ask us about our fees. We review our fees from time to time and we may increase our fees or introduce a new fee on notice to you (see Condition 16.6).
15.2 Our quarterly fees are payable at the end of March, June, September and December or when the Account is closed. You will be given at least 14 days’ notice of the amount before it is deducted from your Account except when the Account is closed.
15.3 You authorise us to deduct from your Account(s) the amount of our fees from time to time.
15.4 We will confirm to you in writing if we are to charge a fee for arranging an overdraft limit. If a fee is payable, we will debit it to the Account on which we have made the overdraft available either on the date of the confirmation or shortly afterwards. You will also be responsible for paying any costs incurred by us in connection with the overdraft whether as a result of you breaking the terms of the arrangement or not.These costs will include (but not be limited to) costs of taking and discharging any security; taking steps, including court action, to obtain payment; enforcing and/or preserving our rights under any security held for the overdraft facility; tracing you if you change address without notice and communicating with you if you break the terms of the overdraft arrangement. If such costs remain unpaid then we may debit them to the Account on which we have made the overdraft available.
16. General Conditions
16.1 We may, without notice, use any credit balance (in any currency) on any Account(s) in your name or in the case of a partnership, in the name of any partner, to reduce or discharge the principal amount of any borrowing in your name, to pay any accrued interest or to discharge any other liability to us, whether already incurred or to be incurred, and we will tell you of any transfers which we have made.
16.2 Unless otherwise agreed, we may apply the whole or any part of any payment to any monies and liabilities owing to us. In relation to such monies and liabilities we shall have a lien over securities of any kind or other items held by us on your behalf including cheques for collection.
16.3 Unless otherwise agreed in writing, we do not provide advice on or consider the suitability of facilities for your particular circumstances (including tax circumstances).We make no warranties or representations about the advisability of any underlying transaction entered into by you.You should obtain independent professional advice on such matters, and upon any security or guarantee required by us.
16.4 Coutts & Co is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. In respect of deposits with a UK office, payments under the Scheme are limited to a maximum of £35,000. Most depositors, including individuals and small firms, are covered. Deposits denominated in all currencies are treated alike. Further details of the Scheme are available on request.
16.5 The Agreement shall be construed in accordance with English Law.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.
16.6 We may, at our discretion, add to or vary these Conditions and any other Terms agreed with you, our banking hours, banking practices, account services and our fees by giving you notice in our offices, in the national press or by post.The change will apply from the date stated in the notice. If the change is to your advantage, we may make it immediately and give you notice by one of the above methods within 30 days. In all other cases, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice. 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 any extra charges or interest for doing this.
16.7 If you give instructions contrary to any of these Conditions, we may, at our discretion and without affecting our other rights, refuse to act on the instruction.
16.8 We shall not be liable to you for any loss you may suffer if we are prevented from or delayed in providing you with any banking or other service due to strikes, industrial action, failure of suppliers or equipment or other causes beyond our control.
17. Regulation
17.1 Each transaction with us shall be subject to Applicable Law, banking practice and our internal regulations, compliance and control procedures.You authorise us to do anything on your behalf which we may consider necessary to ensure due compliance with them.
17.2 Even if you may have given us instructions to the contrary, we shall not be liable to you for any costs or damage which may be caused by us acting in accordance with Applicable Law, banking practice or our internal regulations, compliance and control procedures or with the terms of our agreement with other banks or financial institutions regarding the transaction of business with those banks or institutions.
17.3 'Applicable Law' means any law, rule, regulation, order, ruling, judicial interpretation or directive, applicable to us or our agents, and any of their activities provided under these Conditions whether in England and Wales or elsewhere from time to time, including, but not limited to:
a) any requirement, code, guideline, policy recommendation or request whether or not mandatory, made by any regulation; and
b) the rules, customs and practices of any exchange, market, clearing house registration system or depository.
18. Ending the Agreement
18.1 The Agreement may be ended by you at any time by writing to us, but the Agreement will only end when:
a) all cheques issued with any Card that guarantees payment have been presented and paid and all other amounts owed on the Account(s) have been paid; and
b) all unused cheques, Card(s) and security devices have been returned to us.
18.2 We may require an Account to be closed at any time on giving notice of at least 30 days.Additionally, we may immediately close an Account and cancel any Card, in exceptional circumstances, such as:
a) the Account is, in our opinion, being operated improperly or in breach of any Term of the Agreement; or
b) if any dispute arises in relation to the Account or funds in it, whether between the Account holders (if more than one) or involving any other party or otherwise; or
c) in cases of suspected fraud.
We will immediately notify you of any such closure.
19. Your information
19.1 Who we are
We are a member of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (the Group). For information about our Group of companies please visit www.rbs.com and click on ‘About Us’, or for similar enquiries please telephone 0131 556 8555 or Textphone 0845 900 5960.
19.2 Your electronic information
If you contact us electronically, we may collect your electronic identifier (eg Internet Protocol (IP) address or telephone number) supplied by your service provider.
19.3 How we use your information and who we share it with
Your information includes information about your transactions. We may use and share your information with other members of the Group to help us and them:
- assess financial and insurance risks;
- recover debt;
- prevent and detect crime;
- understand our clients’ requirements;
- develop and test products and services;
We do not disclose your information to anyone outside the Group except:
- where we have your permission; or
- where we are required or permitted to do so by law; or
- to other companies who provide a service to us or you; or
- where we may transfer rights and obligations under this Agreement.
We may transfer your information to other countries. If we do this, we will ensure that anyone to whom we pass it provides an adequate level of protection. From time to time we may change the way we use your information.Where we believe you may not reasonably expect such a change we shall write to you. If you do not object to the change within 60 days, you consent to that change. If you would like a copy of the information we hold about you, please write to your commercial banker. A fee may be payable.
19.4 Credit reference agencies
A link between you and anyone with whom you have a joint Account or similar financial association will be recorded at credit reference agencies, creating a ‘financial association’. All parties’ information will be taken into account in future applications until one of you successfully files a ‘notice of disassociation’ at the credit reference agencies. We may make periodic searches of, and provide information (including how you manage your Account and any arrears) to, credit reference agencies and the Group to manage and take decisions about your Account. Such information may be used by other credit providers to take decisions about you and your financial associates.
19.5 Fraud prevention agencies
If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified or suspected, details may be passed to fraud prevention agencies. Law enforcement agencies may access and use this information.
We and other organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and money laundering, for example when:
- checking applications for and managing credit or other facilities and recovering debt;
- checking insurance proposals and claims;
- checking details of job applicants and employees.
We and other organisations that may access and use information recorded by fraud prevention agencies may do so from other countries.
We can provide the names and addresses of the agencies we use if you would like a copy of your information held by them.
Please contact your commercial banker.The agencies may charge a fee.