Archives: FAQ - Savings

The information provided in this Summary Box is a summary of the key features of the Regular Savings account and is not intended to be a substitute for reading the terms and conditions that apply to the account.

Account name: Regular Savings

What is the interest rate?

The Regular Savings account offers a variable rate of interest of 1.75% gross* p.a./AER**

Interest is calculated on a daily basis and credited to your account on 31 December each year.

* We pay all savings interest gross, which means that no tax is deducted. It’s your responsibility to pay any tax due, based on your individual circumstances. Tax rules may change in future.

** AER stands for Annual Equivalent Rate and provides a means of comparing interest rates by showing what the rate would be if interest was paid and added once a year.

Can Ecology Building Society change the interest rate?

We may change interest rates at any time if we reasonably believe that the change is needed for any of the following reasons (which may relate to circumstances existing at the time or those that are expected to apply in the near future):
• to respond to changes in the Bank of England Base Rate
• to respond to changes in mortgage or interest rates generally (including the interest rates paid on similar accounts by other providers of financial services)
• to enable us to manage the difference between the interest rates charged to our borrowers and interest rates paid to our investors, or the providers of funds to us, taking into account the interests of the Society, our members, and your rights and interests as an account holder
• to respond to changes in the law or the decision of a court or ombudsman
• to meet relevant regulatory requirements
• to respond to new (or changes to) statements or codes of practice or industry guidance designed to enhance consumer protection
• to reflect changes to our costs in providing the account, including administration costs and costs of providing services or facilities
• to introduce or alter ‘tiers’ of interest where different rates apply depending on the amount in the account.

Where we make any such change, we will act reasonably and we will only make the change if we believe it is fair in the circumstances.

Any change we make to interest rates will be proportionate to the circumstances giving rise to the change.

For further information regarding interest rate changes including the process for notifying you, please refer to section 7 in our leaflet Saving with Ecology – General terms and conditions.

What would the estimated balance be after 12 months based on a monthly deposit of £250?

Based on an interest rate of 1.75% gross, the estimated balance on a monthly deposit of £250 after 12 months would be £3,028.44.

This projection is provided for illustrative purposes only and does not take into account your individual circumstances.

How do I open and manage my account?

Limited to one Regular Savings account per member.

To open an account, please go to the ‘How to apply for a Regular Savings Account’ section towards the bottom of this page. Alternatively, you can request to open an account by emailing [email protected] or calling us on 01535 650 770.

Operation is via Ecology’s online service (restrictions apply) or by free First Class Business Reply post.

You can save between £25 and £250 a month with the maximum investment being £3,000 per calendar year.

If your monthly payment is less than £250, you can top it up to the value of £250 by way of a bank transfer or cheque.

Please note, if funds received take the monthly payment in excess of £250, these will automatically be returned.

Only one monthly Direct Debit can be set up and we will collect payment from your bank account on the second working day of each month.

The minimum amount required to keep a Regular Savings account open is £25.

If you miss more than two payments in a calendar year we will close your account and transfer the whole balance, including accrued interest, to an Easy Access account.

Can I withdraw money?

As there is no notice period with the Regular Savings account, you have unrestricted access to your funds, however, only two withdrawals are allowed in a calendar year. If you make three withdrawals in a calendar year we will close your account and transfer the whole balance, including accrued interest, to an Easy Access account.

The minimum withdrawal amount is £25 and withdrawals must be for a specific amount unless the account is to be closed. Accounts can be closed upon request and with no penalty.

Withdrawals should be requested via our online service (restrictions apply). Withdrawals can also be requested by using one of our Withdrawal/Notification forms or by sending us a letter signed by whoever is authorised to operate the account.

Additional information
This Summary Box should be read in conjunction with the following leaflets before applying for a Regular Savings account:
• Regular Savings account leaflet
• Saving with Ecology – General terms and conditions
• FSCS Information Sheet
• Current savings rates and charges
• Our range of savings accounts
• Savings account identification requirements

We have mentioned that we share your personal information with Fraud Prevention Agencies and Credit Reference Agencies. They require us to pass on to you information about how they will use your personal information to perform their services or functions as data controllers in their own right.

Where you make your initial savings deposit via Worldpay, given Worldpay are also a data controller in their own right, you can find information about how they use your personal information to perform their services on their privacy notice.

These notices are separate to our own. They are available at the following links:

• Experian
• Equifax 
• TransUnion
• Worldpay

We may use your home or correspondence address, phone numbers and email address to contact you according to your marketing preferences. We may also use other platforms (e.g.Facebook and Google) to contact you according to your online preferences such as your cookie settings. This means we do this only if we have a legal ground which allows it under data protection laws – this will only be done when we have your consent. You can request we stop our marketing at any time by emailing [email protected] or by writing to Ecology Building Society, Ellis House, 7 Belton Road, Silsden, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD20 0EE or by following the instructions on how to unsubscribe within each marketing email.

Your personal information may be converted into statistical or aggregated data which cannot be used to re-identify you. It may then be used to produce statistical research and reports. This aggregated data may be shared and used in all the ways described in this privacy notice.

Your right to privacy is important to us. When you share your details with us, we want you to be confident that we will take reasonable steps to keep your data secure, and we will only use or share it in ways that we have set out in this notice.

Below is a list of the rights that all individuals have under data protection laws. They do not apply in all circumstances. If you wish to exercise any of them we will explain at that time if they are engaged or not.

• The right to be informed about the processing of your personal information;
• The right to have your personal information corrected if it is inaccurate and to have incomplete personal information completed (the ‘right to rectification‘);
• The right to object to the processing of your personal information;
• The right to restrict processing of your personal information;
• The right to have your personal information erased (the ‘right to be forgotten’);
• The right to request access to your personal information and to obtain information about how we process it;
• The right to move, copy or transfer your personal information (‘data portability’); and
• Rights in relation to automated decision making which has a legal effect or otherwise significantly affects you.

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office which enforces data protection laws: ico.org.uk. For more details on all of the above rights, you can contact our Data Protection Officer

If you wish to exercise any of these rights against the Credit Reference Agencies, the Fraud Prevention Agencies, or a broker or other intermediary who is data controller in its own right, you should contact them separately.

While we hold your data we will take reasonable steps to keep it safe and secure, and we will regularly review the rules around how long we keep it for.

Unless we explain otherwise to you, we will hold your personal information for the following periods:

• Retention in case of queries. We will retain the personal information that we need to keep in case of queries from you (for instance, if you apply unsuccessfully for a product or service) for six months unless we have to keep it for a longer period (see directly below);
• Retention in case of claims. We will retain the personal information that we need to keep for the period in which you might legally bring claims against us, which in practice means a maximum of six years from the date a savings account is closed and a maximum of 15 years from the date a mortgage is redeemed; and
• Retention in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements. We will retain the personal information that we need to keep even after the relevant contract you have with us has come to an end for a maximum of six years from the date a savings account is closed, a maximum of 15 years from the date a mortgage is redeemed and a maximum of six years from the date core capital deferred shares are transferred, and this will be to satisfy our legal and regulatory requirements.

 

If you would like further information about our data retention practices, please contact our Data Protection Officer.

In this section ‘monitoring’ means any listening to, recording of, viewing of, intercepting of, or taking and keeping records of calls, post, email, social media messages, in person face-to-face meetings and any other communications.

Telephone calls between us and you in connection with your application and the mortgage, savings account or core capital deferred shares will be recorded to make sure that we have a record of what has been discussed and what your instructions are. Certain in person meetings will also be recorded for the same purposes. We may monitor calls for quality control and staff training purposes.

We may monitor where permitted by law and we will do this where the law requires it. In particular, where we are required by the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory regime to record certain telephone lines or certain in person meetings we will do so.

Some of our monitoring may be to comply with regulatory rules, self regulatory practices or procedures relevant to our business; to prevent or detect crime; be in the interests of protecting the security of our communications systems and procedures; to have a record of what we have discussed with you and actions agreed with you; to protect you and to provide security for you (such as in relation to fraud risks on your account); and for quality control and staff training purposes.

Some of our monitoring may check for obscene or profane content in communications.

We may conduct short term carefully controlled monitoring of your activities on your mortgage, savings account or core capital deferred shares where this is necessary for our legitimate interests or to comply with our legal obligations. For instance, where we suspect fraud, money laundering or other crimes.

We need to ensure your personal data is accurate and up to date. You should tell us without delay if your details change (for example, if you move address) so that we can update our records. If you were introduced to us by a broker or other intermediary that is a data controller in its own right, you should contact them separately.

We are required by Money Laundering Regulations to collect and record personal data to confirm a customer’s identity.

To protect us against any fraudulent or other criminal activity we will check your details against, and share information with, fraud prevention agencies who maintain and share information on known and suspected fraudulent activity, such as Action Fraud.

We are required by law to report any suspicious transactions to the National Crime Agency, the police and other law enforcement agencies for crime detection and prevention purposes.