Code of Practice - Investment Guide

Our commitment to savers and depositors -
we will:

Correct any errors and handle complaints promptly.

The following links will take you to various sections within our Code of Practice:

Confidentiality: All customer data is held in strictest confidence and is not given to any person or company outside the Society without your written authority, or unless we are required to do so by law, or public duty. The information we hold may be used by us to send you details of other products or services we offer.

If you do not wish to receive details of other products or services, write to: Marketing Department, Harpenden Building Society, 14-16, Station Road, Harpenden, Herts. AL5 4SE

Dormant and lost accounts and unclaimed assets: If you have money in a dormant account, it will always be your property (or if you die, it will become part of your estate). This is the case no matter how many years pass.

If you ask us, we will tell you how to access these accounts either directly or via The Building Societies Association.

Interest rates: Interest is calculated on the daily balance of your account and is earned from the day after your deposit is invested in your account, until the day a withdrawal is made, irrespective of whether this is by cash or cheque.

If you have earned interest of £1 or more a statement will be sent to you annually detailing the amount of interest paid or credited on your account. Please retain this for reference purposes.

Information about current interest rates, closed issues and historic rates can be found on our website as well as from our Branches and Agency Offices.

We will notify customers of any changes by placing notices in newspapers covering the immediate area at each of the Society's Branches within seven days of any change. Details of rates paid on deposit accounts are available at any Branch or Agency Office. Full details of all interest rates paid during the preceding 12 months will be sent annually to each investor in March.

If we reduce the interest rate on your account by more than the amount of the preceding Bank of England base rate cut (or combination of cuts) we will notify you by post of the current rates payable on all our products and help you to switch or close your account without notice or penalty during a further period of not less than 30 days.

Joint accounts: Accounts may be held jointly with one other person. In the event of death of one person, funds held in the account pass automatically to the surviving joint holder upon production of a death certificate.

Joint holders may authorise each other to make withdrawals on one signature, but either joint holder may revoke this arrangement at any time.

Joint holders should consider the implications of dispute, separation or divorce when opening an account and the Society will be pleased to give further advice.

One or both holders may register to receive interest gross. Only the first named joint holder has the right to vote on ordinary or special resolutions at Meetings.

Keeping us up-to-date: Please make sure you let us know as soon as possible when you change your:

• Name,
• Address, or
• Telephone number

If we do not hold correct or sufficient information we may make your account dormant to protect us both.

Opening your account: When you open an Investment Account we are legally obliged to verify your identity and current address. Please ask your local Branch or Agency for details of acceptable documents.

If you decide within 14 days of opening your account that you would like to close it, or transfer to one of our other accounts, you are welcome to do so without penalty and interest will be paid at our Escalator account rate.

Payments into your account: We are pleased to accept deposits in sterling in the form of cash and cheques. When you write a cheques, it will help to prevent fraud if you put extra information about the account of the cheque especially if you are not personally paying a cheque in (for example, because you are sending a cheque by post).

If you are making a cheque payable to Harpenden Building Society, add further details in the payee line (for example, "Harpenden Building Society re M. Smith, account No. 123456789". You should also draw a line through unused space on the cheque so unauthorised people cannot add extra numbers or names.

Payments can be made in person or by post; we strongly advise you not to send cash by post, we cannot accept liability for any loss. Cheques paid into your account will be added to the balance straight away and will earn interest from the following day. We do not, however, receive value for them immediately. We, therefore, require seven working days clearance before you can draw against cheques paid in to your account. If your cheque is paid in at an Agency, ten working days clearance is required.

If for any reason a cheque paid into an account is returned by the Bank, a charge will be made to cover the costs incurred by the Society. Please refer to our latest Tariff of Charges. The maximum amount of cash which will be accepted by the Society is £3,000 per day. We regret that large amounts of coin cannot be accepted.

Superseded accounts: In the event that an account type is superseded (i.e. no longer available to new savers), the Society will EITHER:

a) maintain the interest rate on such accounts at the same level as an account with similar features from the current rage, OR
b) switch those accounts to an account type with similar features, OR
c) within 30 days of an account becoming superseded, contact savers affected to advise on alternative accounts and help them to switch without notice or penalty.

Taxation: Interest will be paid net of lower rate income tax or, subject to the required certification, gross. Registration Forms available on request.

Where tax deducted exceeds the tax liability, if any, a claim may be made to the Inland Revenue for repayment of tax. Tax Deduction Certificates for production to your Tax Office or Accountant will be issued on request only.

Withdrawals: Withdrawals may be made from the cleared funds in your account. We restrict cash withdrawals on all of our accounts to £250 per person per day at our Branches. Agency limits will vary.

Cheque withdrawals up to £10,000 are available from any of our Branches, on demand. For larger cheques we may require up to 48 hours notice. Cheques for less than £100 will incur an administration charge which will be payable at the time of the transaction. Please refer to our latest Tariff of Charges.