General Information

Individuals have certain rights under privacy legislation.  A summary of your rights is set out below;

The right of access

You have the right to obtain access to your information, and certain other information.

The right to rectification

You are entitled to have your information corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

The right to erasure

This is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and may enable you to request the deletion or removal of your information where there is no compelling reason for it to be kept.  This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions.

The right to restrict processing

You have rights to ‘block’ or suppress further use of your information in certain circumstances. When processing is restricted, an organisation can still store your information, but may not use it further.

The right to data portability

You have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format in certain circumstances.

The right to object

You have the right to object to certain types of processing, in certain circumstances.  In particular, the right to object to the processing of their personal data based on the legitimate interests of an entity or on public interest grounds; the right to object to processing for direct marketing purposes (including profiling); the right to object to the use of personal data for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in certain circumstances.

For more information on your rights, or to make a request as set out above, please visit https://www.fordmoney.co.uk/privacy-policy or send us a secure message. Alternatively, you can apply in writing to our Freepost address:

RTUB-AAXH-UHKE
Ford Money
PO Box 871
Wallsend
NE28 5BT

Should you feel unhappy about any aspect of our products or our service, then our complaints procedure will help resolve your issue quickly and fairly.

You’ll need to contact our Customer Services Team. Please see our Contact Us section for our details.

We’ll send you a formal acknowledgement of your complaint within five business days and aim to have it resolved within eight weeks.

If you’re unhappy with our final response, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, who offer a free, independent and impartial service to help settle disputes.

If you’d like further details on making a complaint, download a PDF copy of Our Complaints Procedure.

Yes, as long as you can provide additional information regarding your tax status, which will differ dependent on whether you are a U.S. citizen or a citizen of another country.  Please also see our acceptable documents section for more information.

FATCA

FATCA stands for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. It’s a US law aimed at foreign financial institutions and intermediaries to prevent tax evasion by US citizens and residents through offshore accounts. If you’re a US citizen in the UK, then you’ll be able to apply for a Ford Money product provided that you make a FATCA declaration and inform us of your Tax Identification Number. For more information, please visit the HMRC website.

CRS

CRS stands for Common Reporting Standard. Developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it’s a global standard for the exchange of financial account information between tax authorities. If you’re required to report your income or are subject to tax in another country (other than the US which is subject to FATCA), then you’ll be able to apply for a Ford Money product provided that you make a CRS declaration and inform us of your Tax Identification Number(s). For more information, visit the HMRC website.

You’ll need to complete a declaration form regarding your tax status. You can find more information here.

Yes. You’re able to create a joint account either during your initial application or by adding a second account holder at a later stage. You can also remove a joint holder too from an existing account.

Please contact us by secure message or phone and we’ll take the precautionary measure of placing temporary restrictions on account access for both named holders, so no withdrawals can be made until the dispute is settled.

Once you’ve settled your dispute and are both ready to remove these restrictions we’ll need each of you to send us a signed and dated letter stating that you would like these restrictions lifted. Send your letters to our Freepost address:

RTUB-AAXH-UHKE
Ford Money
PO Box 871
Wallsend
NE28 5BT

This is a rule that was introduced by the UK Government in 2016. It means that if you earn money from interest on your savings, you can earn a certain amount of interest without having to pay tax on it. This applies to all your bank accounts, except ISA accounts. The amount you can earn tax-free depends on how much tax you pay. We recommend you check out HMRC current guidelines linked here to find out what your current allowance is. 

An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a way for people in the UK to save money without having to pay tax on the interest they earn. These accounts are particularly beneficial for people who want to avoid exceeding their Personal Savings Allowance for the current tax year. This is because the interest earned on an ISA is tax-free, and so the Personal Savings Allowance doesn’t apply to them.

Ford Money ISA’s are Portfolio ISAs. A Portfolio ISA is a type of Cash ISA that lets you spread your savings across multiple products. This means you have more control over your money and can choose how much to invest in each product.

For example, if you have £20,000 to invest, you could split it between several of the provider's products.

This could mean putting £5,000 in a Flexible Cash ISA, £5,000 in a 1 Year Fixed Cash ISA, and the remaining £10,000 in a 2 Year Fixed Cash ISA (e.g. 5+5+10 = 20).

Portfolio ISAs also accept "Transfers-in" of prior year ISAs, which means you can move money from other ISAs into your Portfolio ISA.

Ford Money Cash ISAs have ISA flexibility, this means that you can withdraw and replace money from your Ford Money Cash ISA in the same tax year without losing any of your tax-free entitlement. For more details on ISA flexibility and ISAs generally visit the HMRC website.

The tax year runs from 6th April to 5th April.

Should you move abroad once your account with us is already up and running, there are just a few steps you’ll need to take to ensure that you comply with our Terms and Conditions:

• You’ll need to inform us of your change of address. As our online system won’t recognise a non-UK address, we’ll need you to fill in a form and return it to us by post. You can download the form here.
• You’ll need to ensure you maintain a UK bank or building society account as your Connected Bank Account. If you need to make a change to your Connected Bank Account, you can find out how to do this here.
• You’ll need to complete a declaration form regarding your tax status, please get in contact with us so we can arrange for the correct for to be sent out to you. You can read more about non-UK tax residency here.

Please note that if you hold a Cash ISA with us you will no longer be able to make further deposits into this account in line with HMRC requirements.

We recognise that this can be a very difficult time for you and your family, but please rest assured our Contact Centre is available to offer support and guidance throughout this process.

To register the death on the account, we require a photocopy or original of the Death Certificate, along with a signed and dated cover letter. If you have any questions about the account, you can provide this in the cover letter.

We can also accept a Coroners Certificate of the Fact of Death, an Interim Death Certificate and a Death Certificate Verification form.

Once we have registered the death, we will write back to the executor to provide the balance of all accounts held in the deceased’s name and the next steps.

Please send your documentation to our Freepost address:

RTUB-AAXH-UHKE
Ford Money
PO Box 871
Wallsend
NE28 5BT

Yes, you can notify us of the death by email, however we usually require all documents to be posted to us.

If you do need to send us documents via email, we just need to let you know that this is not a secure method and that if you have any concerns regarding this, we recommend that you use a secure method such as post if you are able to.

If the combined balance is over £15,000, we will require the original Grant of Probate or Certificate of Confirmation (Scotland) to action any request regarding the account.

If the combined balance is under £15,000, we will provide you with an Administration of Small Estates form to complete which we will need to see alongside a copy of the Will (if available). If no Will has been left the Administration of Small Estates form needs to be signed by a Commissioner of Oaths.

Once the required documents have been received it can take up to 5 working days for these to be processed. We will send our response back by letter. We are aware it can take time for you to receive the documents we require. Once we have registered the death, the accounts will be frozen until we receive all the relevant information to action your request.  However, the account will continue to earn interest daily.

You can either request this when you initially notify us, or call us on 0345 266 1231 if the death has already been registered. This will be sent through the post.

You do not need to decide which action to take straight away, you can let us know when you are ready. This needs to be a letter signed and dated by all executors / beneficiaries listed on the Grant of Probate / Certificate of Confirmation or the Will. This can be individual letters, or one letter signed by all if there are multiple executors / beneficiaries.

ISA accounts

• Close the account and send the funds electronically to a specified account.  A spouse can claim the additional permitted subscriptions (APS) by transferring the funds to an ISA provider who offer APS Transfer. We do not accept APS so the funds would need to be transferred out.

Non-ISA accounts

• Close the account and send the funds electronically to a specified account.
• Transfer the account into someone else’s name.
• Transfer the funds into someone else’s account (subject to the T&Cs of that account)

Yes, we will require:

• A copy of the Death Certificate
• The funeral invoice
• The bank sort code, account number and name of the beneficiary you´d like the funds credited to

Yes, we will require:

• A copy of the Death Certificate
• The sum of money to be released
• The relevant HMRC form

Funds are paid directly to the HMRC.

A spouse can claim the additional permitted subscriptions (APS) by transferring the funds to an ISA provider who offer APS Transfer. We do not accept APS so the funds would need to be transferred out.

To proceed with an APS transfer we require:

• A copy of the Death Certificate
• A Grant of Probate or Certificate of Confirmation OR
• An administration of small estates form (if there´s no probate)
• A signed and dated withdrawal authority/letter signed by all named executors confirming this action.
• The original or copy of the marriage certificate to show the relationship between the deceased and the spouse.
• The sort code and account number of a current account we can send the funds to as we do not send payments directly to the new ISA provider.

No, once we have registered the death on the account, the attorney is removed from the account (as the Power of Attorney is now void), so you will no longer be able to access the account online.

Sometimes it’s necessary for an account to be managed on behalf of the account holder. This is known as the Power of Attorney. Power of Attorney grants an individual (or group of people) the legal right to manage the financial affairs of someone else (known as the Donor).

There are many reasons why a Power of Attorney may be required. We only accept those where the Donor is losing or has lost the mental capacity to manage their own financial affairs.

Depending on whether you’re in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, there are different terms for Power of Attorney. Most common are Lasting Power of Attorney and Enduring Power of Attorney. These two terms are used when a third party applies to run someone’s financial affairs before they lose mental capacity.

 Can find more information of Power of Attorney here.

We will accept an unregistered Enduring Power of Attorney (although if unregistered this could not be used as evidence of identity), unless it contains a condition that it should not be used until the donor is losing or has lost mental capacity. An Enduring Power of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian as soon as the donor starts to lose mental capacity. Please note that where an unregistered Enduring Power of Attorney is presented to us, we may require written approval from the donor before opening the account.

To make an application for a Power of Attorney on an existing account held with us, please call our customer service team. You will need to provide the following documents as part of your application:

• Proof of identity for the Attorney,
• Proof of residency for the Attorney,
• Either the Power of Attorney document, or a Receivership or Deputy Order,
• The Power of Attorney application form that our customer services team will send to you.

Once you’ve completed the application form, send this together with the appropriate documentation to our Freepost address (you won’t need a stamp):

RTUB-AAXH-UHKE
Ford Money
PO Box 871
Wallsend
NE28 5BT

We’ll review your application and supporting documentation and, if everything is in order, we will send you a welcome letter containing your Customer ID and account number. To access and start managing the account online, you will then need to contact us to request a password.

To make an application as a Power of Attorney, please contact our customer service team. You will need to provide the following documents as part of your application:

• Proof of identity for the Account Donor
• Proof of residency for the Account Holder
• Proof of identity for the Attorney
• Proof of residency for the Attorney
• Either the Power of Attorney document or a Receivership or a Deputy Order
• The Power of Attorney application form that our customer services team will send to you

Once you’ve completed the application form, send it together with the appropriate documentation to our Freepost address (you won’t need a stamp):

RTUB-AAXH-UHKE
Ford Money
PO Box 871
Wallsend
NE28 5BT

We’ll review your application and supporting documentation and, if everything is in order, we will send you a welcome letter containing your Customer ID and Account Number.

To access and start managing your new account online, you will then need to contact us to request a password.

Making a deposit under Power of Attorney is straightforward and is no different to how you would manage your savings as a normal account holder. Please visit here for more information.

You’ll see that our website address starts with ‘https://’ instead of ‘http://’. The ‘S’ stands for secure and indicates that we’re fully protected by 256-bit encryption technology.

For further reassurance, whenever you log in to your account you'll see the date and time of your previous login. If it shows something different to what you recall, please call us immediately on 0345 266 1231.

Don’t create a password that can be easily guessed (such as your name or sequential numbers such as 1234). A good password should be a mixture of upper and lower-case letters, numbers plus permissible special characters which are as follows:

*@!#£$^&{}[]/¬'|

Ideally, you should be able to recall your password without having to write it down.

Even if you’re a joint account holder, you should always keep your personal security information safe and never share it with anyone.

In addition, here are some other tips:

• Keep your details up to date, especially your address and email. Ensure no-one else can access your email.
• Try to avoid accessing your account from a public computer. If you need to however, make sure you close the browser after you’ve finished having cleared all cookies and browsing history.
• Check your statements for unauthorised withdrawals. If you spot one, call us immediately on 0345 266 1231 . We'll normally refund them, along with lost interest, provided you’ve taken reasonable precautions to keep your security details safe and haven’t acted fraudulently. For additional assistance and advice on helping you to stay safe online visit the following links:
  https://www.getsafeonline.org/
  https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/
• Install a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to help protect your computer from hacking, especially on public Wi-Fi networks. A VPN is a method used to add security and privacy to private and public networks, like Wi-Fi Hotspots and the Internet. VPNs are most often used by corporations to protect sensitive data.
• Make sure your firewall software is up to date.
• Regularly scan your computer for viruses or malware.
• Always log out properly after you’ve finished managing your Ford Money account online. For extra peace of mind, we’ll automatically log you out after 5 minutes of inactivity onscreen.