Instant Saver Terms and Conditions

General info

Our agreement

Banking with Atom is straightforward, so we give you information when it’s relevant to you. At this point, our contract with you consists of our App T&Cs, our Registration T&Cs, our General T&Cs, these Instant Saver T&Cs and a product specific Summary Box, based on the account you open. Please ensure you read them, so you understand the terms of our agreement with you. If there’s any conflicting information, these Instant Saver T&Cs take priority. These T&Cs detail the agreement between you and Atom (‘we’/ ‘us’) when you have an Instant Saver account with us.Each condition of these T&Cs operates separately. If any court or competent authority decides that any of them are unlawful or unenforceable, the other conditions will remain in full force and effect.

Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and a UK resident to open an Instant Saver account.

Alternative format

Our digital format goes a long way towards achieving full accessibility for all, but if you need these T&Cs supplied in another format, or if we can help you to use our service in any other way, simply contact us via the Help button in the App, call us on 0333 399 0050 or email customersupport@atombank.co.uk.

Your data

Protecting your data

When you open an Instant Saver, we’ll ask you to give us the details of a UK current account in your name, which you’ll use to make payments in and out of your Instant Saver. This data will be held in a secure environment and will only be used to enable you to make payments in and out of your Instant Saver. Take a look at our Privacy Policy https://www.atombank.co.uk/policies/privacy-and-data for more information about how we protect your data.

Your account

Opening an Instant Saver

Once you’ve downloaded the App, registered your ID and verified your identity, you can open an Instant Saver account in the App. When you open an account, you’ll receive a variable rate of interest on the money you put in. You can see this rate in the account view in the App. Instant Savers don’t have a ‘cooling off’ period (a reflection time when you have the option to change your mind and close the account) as you can close your account at any time.

Account holders

Currently, Instant Savers can only be opened as sole accounts (just you) and are limited to one per customer. If you need someone else to operate your Instant Saver account, we can register a Power of Attorney (POA) for it. If we do this, your Attorney will be able to access information about your account and in some circumstances, we may restrict what you’re able to do. At this time, we’re only able to register a POA if you’re an existing Atom customer – i.e. you have opened at least one account with us. Please call us on 0333 399 0050 to discuss setting up a POA for your account.

Interest

You will earn interest on the money in your Instant Saver from the day you pay it into the account. Interest on your balance is calculated daily and will be paid at the rate stated in your Instant Saver Summary Box (based on the number of actual days in the relevant period and a year of 365 days). All interest is paid gross, in line with the Personal Savings Allowance (PSA). You can find more information about paying tax on your savings interest at https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings. Interest will be added to your Instant Saver account monthly on the day of the month you open the account (e.g. if you open the account on the 16th, your interest will be paid on the 16th every month). If you open your account on the 29th, 30th or 31st and that date doesn’t appear in a subsequent month, your interest will be paid on the last day of the month.

Changes to your rate

As your Instant Saver has a variable interest rate, it may change from time to time, for any of the following reasons:

  • If the underlying rate changes;
  • Where a change is needed to maintain our financial strength in the interests of all our customers;
  • If there are significant changes in the economic environment, and increasing variable rates is necessary to address the risks to our business that arise as a result.

When a variable rate changes, it will affect the interest you earn. If your rate’s going up, we’ll make the change as soon as possible and let you know once we’ve done it. If your rate’s going down, we’ll give you at least 14 days’ notice and confirm the impact of the change on the interest you’ll earn.

Charges

There are no charges applied to your Instant Saver account.

Statements

You can access your account and check your balance at any time in the App. You’ll also receive monthly and annual statements for your Instant Saver. Every calendar month, we’ll put your monthly statement in your Vault and let you know it’s ready. We’ll also let you know when your annual statement is put in your Vault, which will be within a few days of your account opening anniversary. If you need a statement for a specific reason, you can request one by calling us on 0333 399 0050 at any time.

Closing an Instant Saver

Your Instant Saver does not have an end date, so you can close your account at any time. If you tell us you want to close your account, we’ll add any outstanding interest to your balance so you can transfer all your money out and close it immediately. Once your account is closed, we’ll put your closing statement in your Vault and let you know it’s there. In some circumstances, we have a right to terminate our agreement immediately (see ‘Our right to terminate’ in our General T&Cs). In addition to this, it’s your responsibility to make sure you own a compatible device with a compatible operating system for as long as you have an Instant Saver account with us. (For more information about this, please see the ‘Device compatibility’ section in our App T&Cs.) If you refuse to meet this requirement, we may close your account immediately and transfer the balance and any interest due to your connected account.
If we need to close your account for any other reason (e.g. if we withdraw our Instant Saver from the market), we’ll give you two months’ notice, then transfer your balance and any interest due out of your account and close it.

Payments

Connected account

When you open an Instant Saver, we’ll ask you to give us the sort code and account number of a UK current account in your name, registered at your address. This will be your “connected account” and is the only external account you can use to make payments in and out of your Instant Saver. You can only have one connected account for your Instant Saver, but you can change it at any time. It is your responsibility to ensure you have a valid connected account linked to your Instant Saver; so if you close your connected account, you’ll have to replace it with a different one. If we’re unable to verify the current account details you give us for any reason, you won’t be able to connect it to your Instant Saver. This may mean you’re unable to open an Instant Saver or change your connected account.

Payments in and out

Payments in and out of your Instant Saver can only be made using the Faster Payment Service. You can make payments in and out of your Instant Saver at any time by logging into the App and following the instructions on the screen. As long as there’s enough money in your account, there is no limit on the number of payments you can make. If you have any problems making a payment out of your Instant Saver, you can call us on 0333 399 0050 at any time. All accepted inbound payments will usually show in the App immediately. All accepted outbound payments will leave your account and show in the App immediately, so once you’ve confirmed you want to make a payment, you won’t be able to change your mind. We’ll confirm in the App whether the destination bank has accepted your payment request. While the money should show up in your connected account immediately, this can take up to 2 hours depending on the other bank’s processing times. We monitor transactions to keep your account safe. If we see unusual activity, we may contact you and there may be a delay in processing payments while we complete fraud prevention checks. Your Instant Saver cannot be used to deposit income or pay bills.

Balance limits

The total funds held in your savings accounts with us cannot exceed our Maximum Balance Limit. This limit is currently £200,000 - you can deposit up to £100,000 in an Instant Saver and up to £100,000 in Fixed Savers. We may breach the limit in some circumstances - e.g. to add interest to your account.

The legal stuff

Changes to these T&Cs

We’ll give you 30 days’ notice to consider any changes to these T&Cs, unless they’re to your advantage, when we’ll make them straight away. In some circumstances, we may be required by regulation to give you more or less notice - in these cases, we’ll tell you how much time you have to review the changes. You can object to the changes before they take effect and depending on the circumstances, you may be able to close an impacted account; otherwise, you’ll be deemed to have accepted the changes from the date they take effect. We’ll only make changes to these T&Cs:

  • To reflect developments in our App or proposition (including our products / services);
  • To respond proportionately to changes in the law or decisions of the Financial Ombudsman Service;
  • To meet regulatory requirements;
  • To reflect new industry guidance or codes of practice which raise standards of consumer protection;
  • To proportionately reflect other legitimate cost increases or reductions associated with providing the particular product or service you use;
  • To ensure we are being fair to all our customers; and/or
  • To respond to changes in general banking practice for the benefit of all consumers.

We’ll only do this if we reasonably expect to be affected by one of the above reasons.

Compensation

Atom is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation to savers if a bank is unable to meet its financial obligations. Most savers – including individuals and small businesses – are covered by the scheme. An eligible saver is entitled to claim up to £85,000. For joint accounts, each account holder can claim up to £85,000 (a total of £170,000 where there are two account holders). The £85,000 covers all the funds held in the eligible customer’s accounts with the bank, including their share of any joint accounts, and not to each separate account. We’ll share detailed FSCS information with you when you apply for an Instant Saver account; and we’ll save this in your Vault once your account is opened. For more information about the FSCS (including amounts covered and eligibility to claim) please visit https://www.fscs.org.uk/. You can contact the FSCS directly with any compensation-related queries on 0800 678 1100 or 020 7741 4100.

Applicable law

These T&Cs are governed by the laws of England and Wales and if there’s any disagreement about them, or between us about your account, we each agree that this’ll be dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales.